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Sample records for student assignment plan

  1. More Districts Factoring Poverty into Student-Assignment Plans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zehr, Mary Ann

    2010-01-01

    A growing number of school districts are trying to break up concentrations of poverty on their campuses by taking students' family income into consideration in school assignments. Some of the districts replaced race with socioeconomic status as a determining indicator after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that using race as the primary factor…

  2. WebAssign: Assessing Your Students' Understanding Continuously

    Science.gov (United States)

    Risley, John S.

    1999-11-01

    Motivating students to learn is a constant challenge for faculty. Technology can play a significant role. One such solution is WebAssign — a web-based homework system that offers new teaching and learning opportunities for educators and their students. WebAssign delivers, collects, grades, and records customized homework assignments over the Internet. Students get immediate feedback with credit and instructors can implement "Just-in-Time" teaching. In this talk, I will describe how assignments can be generated with different numerical values for each question, giving each student a unique problem to solve. This feature encourages independent thinking with the benefit of collaborative learning. Example assignments taken from textbook questions and intellectually engaging Java applet simulations will be shown. Studies and first-hand experience on the educational impact of using WebAssign will also be discussed.

  3. Student generated assignments about electrical circuits in a computer simulation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vreman-de Olde, Cornelise; de Jong, Anthonius J.M.

    2004-01-01

    In this study we investigated the design of assignments by students as a knowledge-generating activity. Students were required to design assignments for 'other students' in a computer simulation environment about electrical circuits. Assignments consisted of a question, alternatives, and feedback on

  4. Automation of block assignment planning using a diagram-based scenario modeling method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    In Hyuck Hwang

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Most shipbuilding scheduling research so far has focused on the load level on the dock plan. This is because the dock is the least extendable resource in shipyards, and its overloading is difficult to resolve. However, once dock scheduling is completed, making a plan that makes the best use of the rest of the resources in the shipyard to minimize any additional cost is also important. Block assignment planning is one of the midterm planning tasks; it assigns a block to the facility (factory/shop or surface plate that will actually manufacture the block according to the block characteristics and current situation of the facility. It is one of the most heavily loaded midterm planning tasks and is carried out manually by experienced workers. In this study, a method of representing the block assignment rules using a diagram was suggested through analysis of the existing manual process. A block allocation program was developed which automated the block assignment process according to the rules represented by the diagram. The planning scenario was validated through a case study that compared the manual assignment and two automated block assignment results.

  5. Automation of block assignment planning using a diagram-based scenario modeling method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hwang In Hyuck

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Most shipbuilding scheduling research so far has focused on the load level on the dock plan. This is be¬cause the dock is the least extendable resource in shipyards, and its overloading is difficult to resolve. However, once dock scheduling is completed, making a plan that makes the best use of the rest of the resources in the shipyard to minimize any additional cost is also important. Block assignment planning is one of the midterm planning tasks; it assigns a block to the facility (factory/shop or surface plate that will actually manufacture the block according to the block characteristics and current situation of the facility. It is one of the most heavily loaded midterm planning tasks and is carried out manu¬ally by experienced workers. In this study, a method of representing the block assignment rules using a diagram was su¬ggested through analysis of the existing manual process. A block allocation program was developed which automated the block assignment process according to the rules represented by the diagram. The planning scenario was validated through a case study that compared the manual assignment and two automated block assignment results.

  6. Developing and Evaluating Clinical Written Assignment in Clinical Teaching for the Senior B.S. Nursing Students: An action research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leila Valizadeh

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: In a four-year undergraduate level , the nursing students have to get prepared in the patients education, designing care plans, applying nursing processes and exercise the clinical decisions, in addition to learning practical skills. Therefore, multiple clinical teaching strategies in nursing must be applied. In this study the sheets for the mentioned fields were designed and used. Methods: In this action research in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, 64 nursing senior students and related instructors participated. Clinical written assignment included the patient’s health condition sheet, tables showing the used medicines and the precautions, the clinical and paraclinical tests and the results, identifying the patient problems, designing and implementing care plan and writing nursing reports with SOAPIE method. The instructors’ viewpoints were achieved through the group discussions and their notes taken. The perceived competency of the students was obtained through a questionnaire. The qualitative data was analyzed by the content analysis and quantitative using SPSS. Results: Both the students and the instructors agreed with the clinical written assignment. The desired care competency of the students before and after assignment was statistically significant (p<0.05. According to the instructors, intervention was useful for the senior students who have passed the courses needed for completing and using the different parts of these forms. Conclusion: Since a need is always felt in the trends of the nursing clinical teaching, the researchers recommend the clinical written assignment and their application along with other strategies for senior nursing students in clinical teaching.

  7. A career exploration assignment for first-year pharmacy students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sholy, Lydia; Zeenny, Rony

    2013-11-12

    To develop, implement, and assess student-learning outcomes from an assignment designed to expose first-year pharmacy students (P1) to a wide range of pharmacy career pathways. Students enrolled in a required Pharmacy Practice and Ethics course at the Lebanese American University chose 1 pharmacist career to investigate from a suggested list of 28 career pathways. Students completed a literature review on the selected career, interviewed a pharmacist practicing that career path in Lebanon, wrote a paper, and prepared and delivered a summary presentation to their classmates about the career pathway. Students peer evaluated their classmates after each presentation. More than 85% of the students scored ≥70% on the assignment based on their achievement of student learning outcomes. Responses on an anonymous questionnaire showed that more than 94.6% of students were satisfied with the extent to which the course allowed them to meet the established learning outcomes. A career exploration assignment provided pharmacy students with an opportunity to widen their knowledge and understanding of the different career pathways that are available for them.

  8. The Presentation Assignment: Creating Learning Opportunities for Diverse Student Populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spencer, Brenda H.; Bartle-Angus, Kathryn

    2000-01-01

    Finds the presentation assignment to be an effective method of providing students with the opportunity to apply the literacy skills they are learning in ways that are personally meaningful. Describes the presentation assignment framework and provides an example of an assignment that required students to analyze and interpret works of literature…

  9. Genetics of traffic assignment models for strategic transport planning

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bliemer, M.C.J.; Raadsen, M.P.H.; Brederode, L.J.N.; Bell, M.G.H.; Wismans, Luc Johannes Josephus; Smith, M.J.

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents a review and classification of traffic assignment models for strategic transport planning purposes by using concepts analogous to genetics in biology. Traffic assignment models share the same theoretical framework (DNA), but differ in capability (genes). We argue that all traffic

  10. Simulated annealing algorithm for solving chambering student-case assignment problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghazali, Saadiah; Abdul-Rahman, Syariza

    2015-12-01

    The problem related to project assignment problem is one of popular practical problem that appear nowadays. The challenge of solving the problem raise whenever the complexity related to preferences, the existence of real-world constraints and problem size increased. This study focuses on solving a chambering student-case assignment problem by using a simulated annealing algorithm where this problem is classified under project assignment problem. The project assignment problem is considered as hard combinatorial optimization problem and solving it using a metaheuristic approach is an advantage because it could return a good solution in a reasonable time. The problem of assigning chambering students to cases has never been addressed in the literature before. For the proposed problem, it is essential for law graduates to peruse in chambers before they are qualified to become legal counselor. Thus, assigning the chambering students to cases is a critically needed especially when involving many preferences. Hence, this study presents a preliminary study of the proposed project assignment problem. The objective of the study is to minimize the total completion time for all students in solving the given cases. This study employed a minimum cost greedy heuristic in order to construct a feasible initial solution. The search then is preceded with a simulated annealing algorithm for further improvement of solution quality. The analysis of the obtained result has shown that the proposed simulated annealing algorithm has greatly improved the solution constructed by the minimum cost greedy heuristic. Hence, this research has demonstrated the advantages of solving project assignment problem by using metaheuristic techniques.

  11. submission of art studio-based assignments: students experience

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    PUBLICATIONS1

    are reluctant to complete their studio assignments on time are critically ... tative and qualitative data, derived from survey and interviews were used to ... is therefore exploratory and studio based. It ... mogenous group of students who report pro- ... Assignment management .... The analyses in this study are based on data.

  12. Integrated assignment and path planning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphey, Robert A.

    2005-11-01

    A surge of interest in unmanned systems has exposed many new and challenging research problems across many fields of engineering and mathematics. These systems have the potential of transforming our society by replacing dangerous and dirty jobs with networks of moving machines. This vision is fundamentally separate from the modern view of robotics in that sophisticated behavior is realizable not by increasing individual vehicle complexity, but instead through collaborative teaming that relies on collective perception, abstraction, decision making, and manipulation. Obvious examples where collective robotics will make an impact include planetary exploration, space structure assembly, remote and undersea mining, hazardous material handling and clean-up, and search and rescue. Nonetheless, the phenomenon driving this technology trend is the increasing reliance of the US military on unmanned vehicles, specifically, aircraft. Only a few years ago, following years of resistance to the use of unmanned systems, the military and civilian leadership in the United States reversed itself and have recently demonstrated surprisingly broad acceptance of increasingly pervasive use of unmanned platforms in defense surveillance, and even attack. However, as rapidly as unmanned systems have gained acceptance, the defense research community has discovered the technical pitfalls that lie ahead, especially for operating collective groups of unmanned platforms. A great deal of talent and energy has been devoted to solving these technical problems, which tend to fall into two categories: resource allocation of vehicles to objectives, and path planning of vehicle trajectories. An extensive amount of research has been conducted in each direction, yet, surprisingly, very little work has considered the integrated problem of assignment and path planning. This dissertation presents a framework for studying integrated assignment and path planning and then moves on to suggest an exact

  13. Developing critical thinking skills from clinical assignments: a pilot study on nursing students' self-reported perceptions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchigiano, Gail; Eduljee, Nina; Harvey, Kimberly

    2011-01-01

    Clinical assignments in nursing education provide opportunities for students to develop thinking skills vital to the effective delivery of patient care. The purpose of the present study was to examine students' perceived levels of confidence for using thinking skills when completing two types of clinical assignments. Clinical educators and managers are challenged to develop teaching and learning strategies that help students think critically and reflectively and transfer these skills into sound nursing practice. This study is based on the theoretical framework of critical thinking within the nursing process framework. Undergraduate nursing students (n=51) completed surveys indicating their confidence in using seven thinking skills for nursing care. Students indicated significantly more confidence when implementing the journal format as compared with the care plan format when analysing information, determining relevance, making connections, selecting appropriate information, applying relevant knowledge and evaluating outcomes. The findings of the present study propose a new approach for enhancing students' thinking skills. Journaling is an effective strategy for enhancing students' thinking skills. Nursing managers are in key organisational positions for supporting and promoting the use of the journal format and building supportive and collaborative learning environments for students to develop thinking skills for managing patient care. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  14. An Experimental Study Related to Planning Abilities of Gifted and Average Students

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    Marilena Z. Leana-Taşcılar

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Gifted students differ from their average peers in psychological, social, emotional and cognitive development. One of these differences in the cognitive domain is related to executive functions. One of the most important executive functions is planning and organization ability. The aim of this study was to compare planning abilities of gifted students with those of their average peers and to test the effectiveness of a training program on planning abilities of gifted students and average students. First, students’ intelligence and planning abilities were measured and then assigned to either experimental or control group. The groups were matched by intelligence and planning ability (experimental: (13 gifted and 8 average; control: 14 gifted and 8 average. In total 182 students (79 gifted and 103 average participated in the study. Then, a training program was implemented in the experimental group to find out if it improved students’ planning ability. Results showed that boys had better planning abilities than girls did, and gifted students had better planning abilities than their average peers did. Significant results were obtained in favor of the experimental group in the posttest scores

  15. Midwifery students' evaluation of team-based academic assignments involving peer-marking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parratt, Jenny A; Fahy, Kathleen M; Hastie, Carolyn R

    2014-03-01

    Midwives should be skilled team workers in maternity units and in group practices. Poor teamwork skills are a significant cause of adverse maternity care outcomes. Despite Australian and International regulatory requirements that all midwifery graduates are competent in teamwork, the systematic teaching and assessment of teamwork skills is lacking in higher education. How do midwifery students evaluate participation in team-based academic assignments, which include giving and receiving peer feedback? First and third year Bachelor of Midwifery students who volunteered (24 of 56 students). Participatory Action Research with data collection via anonymous online surveys. There was general agreement that team based assignments; (i) should have peer-marking, (ii) help clarify what is meant by teamwork, (iii) develop communication skills, (iv) promote student-to-student learning. Third year students strongly agreed that teams: (i) are valuable preparation for teamwork in practice, (ii) help meet Australian midwifery competency 8, and (iii) were enjoyable. The majority of third year students agreed with statements that their teams were effectively coordinated and team members shared responsibility for work equally; first year students strongly disagreed with these statements. Students' qualitative comments substantiated and expanded on these findings. The majority of students valued teacher feedback on well-developed drafts of the team's assignment prior to marking. Based on these findings we changed practice and created more clearly structured team-based assignments with specific marking criteria. We are developing supporting lessons to teach specific teamwork skills: together these resources are called "TeamUP". TeamUP should be implemented in all pre-registration Midwifery courses to foster students' teamwork skills and readiness for practice. Copyright © 2013 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. "Why bother so incredibly much?": student perspectives on PISA science assignments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Serder, Margareta; Jakobsson, Anders

    2015-09-01

    Large-scale assessment, such as the Programme for International Assessment (PISA), plays an increasingly important role in current educational practice and politics. However, many scholars have questioned the validity and reliability of the tests and the extent to which they actually constitute trustworthy representations of students' knowledge. In the light of such critical voices the present article adopts a sociocultural perspective of human knowledge and action in order to explore the encounters between students and the science test assignments with which their knowledge is tested. Of particular interest in this study are the described "real-life situations" presented as the relevant background in which scientific literacy is assessed in PISA. According to the sociocultural theoretical onset the methodology used to approach the students' meaning making of the image of science as portrayed in the test were collaborative situations in which students work in small groups with units of PISA assignments, enabling a study of student-assignment encounters in action. The data we worked with consists of video-recordings from 71 Swedish 15-year-old students working with three released units from the PISA science test. According to our analysis, the "real-life situations" described in the test emerge as problematic in the students' meaning-making. This is demonstrated for instance by the students' positioning themselves as being different from and opposed to the fictional pictured students who appear in the backstories of the test. This article provides examples of how the scientific and academic language used by the fictional students in the assignments mediates distance and resistance among the students. The fictional students' use of strict scientific language and methods in day-to-day life situations leads them to be perceived as "little scientists" and as elite stereotypes of the scientific culture. We conclude that, by using assignments of this type, measurements of

  17. Homework Assignments to Enhance Student Engagement in Secondary Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buijs, Maartje; Admiraal, Wilfried

    2013-01-01

    Secondary school teachers often complain that their students show a disengaged attitude in class. Students do not prepare for lessons, they show a passive attitude towards classroom activities and they have a limited awareness of their own learning process. Based on a pilot study, four homework assignments were designed, implemented, and evaluated…

  18. Students' Evaluation of Writing Assignments in an Abnormal Psychology Course.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Procidano, Mary E.

    1991-01-01

    Presents a study in which students in an abnormal psychology class rated the usefulness of drafts for two writing assignments. Reports that a research proposal was more effective than a case study in generating interest in psychology and opportunity for creativity. Concludes that writing assignments should reflect important aspects of a…

  19. The Impact of Color-Coding Freshmen Integrated-Science Assignments on Student Achievement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sturdivant Allen, Anita Kay

    Students in Grade 9 exhibit high rates of grade retention and absenteeism. Educators have used different strategies that will increase the achievement of those students. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship existed between student achievement and the strategy to use colored paper for Grade 9 science assignments and tests. Itten's color theory provided the theoretical framework. Itten was one of the first researchers to explore the notion that the human eye can detect wavelengths as colors and that those colors can engage and create order in the human brain. A sample of students assigned to 4 classroom teachers at one high school who volunteered to take part in the study for 18 weeks were used in this quantitative study. Teachers administered student assessments on blue, green, yellow, and white paper. Each class was assigned 1 of the 4 colors for 4.5 weeks. The classes were then assigned a different color for the same length of time until each class had exposure to all 4 colors. Physical science exams given to students in the same grade or subject were used as the dependent variable. An ANOVA indicated that the groups using blue paper scored the highest on the physical science exams; students who used white paper earned the lowest scores. When comparing all 3 groups using colored paper (all three colored paper groups combined into one group) to the white paper groups, t-test results indicated that students using any colored paper scored higher than students using white paper. Further research on the impact of colored paper on student academic performance is necessary. Implications for positive social change indicate that new knowledge about instructional tools that impact student achievement deserves more attention.

  20. Modelling the Preferences of Students for Alternative Assignment Designs Using the Discrete Choice Experiment Methodology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brendan Kennelly

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper outlines how a discrete choice experiment (DCE can be used to learn more about how students are willing to trade off various features of assignments such as the nature and timing of feedback and the method used to submit assignments. A DCE identifies plausible levels of the key attributes of a good or service and then presents the respondent with alternative bundles of these attributes and their levels and asks the respondent to choose between particular bundles. We report results from a DCE we conducted with undergraduate business students regarding their preferences for assignment systems. We find that the most important features of assignments are how relevant the assignments are for exam preparation and the nature of the feedback that students receive. We also find that students generally prefer online to paper assignments. We argue that the DCE approach has a lot of potential in education research.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kolluru, Srikanth

    2012-08-10

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

  2. The use of writing assignments to help students synthesize content in upper-level undergraduate biology courses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sparks-Thissen, Rebecca L

    2017-02-01

    Biology education is undergoing a transformation toward a more student-centered, inquiry-driven classroom. Many educators have designed engaging assignments that are designed to help undergraduate students gain exposure to the scientific process and data analysis. One of these types of assignments is use of a grant proposal assignment. Many instructors have used these assignments in lecture-based courses to help students process information in the literature and apply that information to a novel problem such as design of an antiviral drug or a vaccine. These assignments have been helpful in engaging students in the scientific process in the absence of an inquiry-driven laboratory. This commentary discusses the application of these grant proposal writing assignments to undergraduate biology courses. © FEMS 2017. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristen Lee Williams Walton

    2016-12-01

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

  4. Optimal assignment methods in three-form planned missing data designs for longitudinal panel studies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jorgensen, T.D.; Rhemtulla, M.; Schoemann, A.; McPherson, B.; Wu, W.; Little, T.D.

    2014-01-01

    Planned missing designs are becoming increasingly popular, but because there is no consensus on how to implement them in longitudinal research, we simulated longitudinal data to distinguish between strategies of assigning items to forms and of assigning forms to participants across measurement

  5. The "Post-Racial" Politics of Race: Changing Student Assignment Policy in Three School Districts

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDermott, Kathryn A.; Frankenberg, Erica; Diem, Sarah

    2015-01-01

    Many school districts have recently revised, or tried to revise, their policies for assigning students to schools, because the legal and political status of racial and other kinds of diversity is uncertain, and the districts are facing fiscal austerity. This article presents case studies of politics and student assignment policy in three large…

  6. Strategies to Support PGCE Mathematics and Science Students Preparing for Assignments at Masters Level

    OpenAIRE

    Tas, Maarten; Forsythe, Sue

    2010-01-01

    The main aim of this study was to analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of support strategies being put into place for students who need to write assignments at Masters Level. In preparation for writing a 5000 word assignment on an aspect of teaching Mathematics or Science, 57 Science and Mathematics PGCE students were asked to write a 500 word synopsis which included an introduction, description of the main focus, questions that the assignment would address and possible strategies for teach...

  7. THE ANALYSIS OF INTERFERENCE ON WRITING ASSIGNMENTS OF THE MIDWIFERY STUDENTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I G. A. Agung Sintha Satwika

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available This research aims at investigating and analyzing the interference which occurred in English text made by the students of Akademi Kebidanan Bali Wisnu Dharma. The data of this writing were collected from the writing assignment of the students at Akademi Kebidanan Bali Wisnu Dharma, which was divided into six groups. The data were obtained by reading intensively those texts and followed by applying the note taking technique. The result of this study indicates that the interference occurred on those writing assignments in terms of semantics level, spelling, copula, syntax, literal translation, redundancy, over generalization, and interference in terms of English pronoun.

  8. Psychology Students' Understanding of the Skill-Based Learning Fostered through University Assignments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martini, Tanya S.; Rail, Ashley; Norton, Cole

    2015-01-01

    We examined first-year psychology majors' (N = 195) beliefs about the relevance of two types of university assignments (individual essay and group wiki) and their connection to the development of career-related skills. Students reported that assignments were only somewhat relevant to their career goals, and relevance ratings were typically…

  9. Pairing students in clinical assignments to develop collaboration and communication skills.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartges, Mali

    2012-01-01

    Skillful collaboration and communication among healthcare team members are associated with favorable patient outcomes. Student nurses need opportunities for supervised development of these crucial and intertwined skills. The author describes the implementation of a practice-change project for simultaneously developing collaboration and communication skills by pairing prelicensure student nurses in clinical assignments. This easily adapted strategy increases options for faculty looking to stimulate student acquisition of these professional skills.

  10. Impact of reflective writing assignments on dental students' views of cultural competence and diversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isaac, Carol; Behar-Horenstein, Linda; Lee, Barbara; Catalanotto, Frank

    2015-03-01

    To respond to widespread disparities in access to oral health care, the Institute of Medicine, the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA), and the U.S. surgeon general have stressed that prospective dentists should become culturally competent, socially responsible practitioners. The aim of this study was to examine linguistic differences in dental students' reflective writing assignments before and after interviewing an individual who was culturally different from themselves. The authors analyzed 160 documents from 80 first-year dental students at the University of Florida in 2012. This cohort consisted of 36 male (45%) and 44 female (55%) students; 26 (32%) were from underrepresented minority (URM) groups and 54 (68%) were identified as white non-minority. Text analysis software identified word counts, categories, frequencies, and contexts. Significantly positive differences occurred for interviews between assignments 1 and 2 (p=0.005 to pcultural diversity. Differences were observed for Factor 1 ("important others' influence") between assignments (p<0.001), assignments by interview categories (p=0.033), and URM/majority participants by assignments by interview category (p=0.018). Factor 4 ("my social world in relation to others") was statistically different between assignments for URM/majority participants (p=0.019). Factor 5 ("wrong because") was statistically different for gender (p=0.041), suggesting that males may have experienced a rebound effect from stereotype suppression. The findings suggest that the use of reflective writing and interviews affected the students' awareness of how important others had influenced their lives and attitudes and facilitated their questioning preconceived assumptions. Reactions to coursework focusing on social and personal domains warrant further investigation.

  11. Students' Understanding and Perceptions of Assigned Team Roles in a Classroom Laboratory Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ott, Laura E.; Kephart, Kerrie; Stolle-McAllister, Kathleen; LaCourse, William R.

    2018-01-01

    Using a cooperative learning framework in a quantitative reasoning laboratory course, students were assigned to static teams of four in which they adopted roles that rotated regularly. The roles included: team leader, protocol manager, data recorder, and researcher. Using a mixed-methods approach, we investigated students' perceptions of the team roles and specifically addressed students' understanding of the roles, students' beliefs in their ability to enact the roles, and whether working with assigned team roles supported the teams to work effectively and cohesively. Although students expressed confidence in their understanding of the team roles, their understanding differed from the initial descriptions. This suggests that students' understanding of team roles may be influenced by a variety of factors, including their experiences within their teams. Students also reported that some roles appeared to lack a purpose, implying that for roles to be successful, they must have a clear purpose. Finally, the fact that many students reported ignoring the team roles suggests that students do not perceive roles as a requirement for team productivity and cohesion. On the basis of these findings, we provide recommendations for instructors wishing to establish a classroom group laboratory environment. PMID:29681667

  12. FLEET ASSIGNMENT MODELLING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to the airline scheduling process and methods of its modeling. This article describes the main stages of airline scheduling process (scheduling, fleet assignment, revenue management, operations, their features and interactions. The main part of scheduling process is fleet assignment. The optimal solution of the fleet assignment problem enables airlines to increase their incomes up to 3 % due to quality improving of connections and execution of the planned number of flights operated by less number of aircraft than usual or planned earlier. Fleet assignment of scheduling process is examined and Conventional Leg-Based Fleet Assignment Model is analyzed. Finally strong and weak aspects of the model (SWOT are released and applied. The article gives a critical analysis of FAM model, with the purpose of identi- fying possible options and constraints of its use (for example, in cases of short-term and long-term planning, changing the schedule or replacing the aircraft, as well as possible ways to improve the model.

  13. Investigating the Correlation Between Pharmacy Student Performance on the Health Science Reasoning Test and a Critical Thinking Assignment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nornoo, Adwoa O; Jackson, Jonathan; Axtell, Samantha

    2017-03-25

    Objective. To determine whether there is a correlation between pharmacy students' scores on the Health Science Reasoning Test (HSRT) and their grade on a package insert assignment designed to assess critical thinking. Methods. The HSRT was administered to first-year pharmacy students during a critical-thinking course in the spring semester. In the same semester, a required package insert assignment was completed in a pharmacokinetics course. To determine whether there was a relationship between HSRT scores and grades on the assignment, a Spearman's rho correlation test was performed. Results. A very weak but significant positive correlation was found between students' grades on the assignment and their overall HSRT score (r=0.19, p critical-thinking skills in pharmacy students.

  14. Identifying and Remediating Student Misconceptions in Introductory Biology via Writing-to-Learn Assignments and Peer Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halim, Audrey S; Finkenstaedt-Quinn, Solaire A; Olsen, Laura J; Gere, Anne Ruggles; Shultz, Ginger V

    2018-06-01

    Student misconceptions are an obstacle in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses and unless remediated may continue causing difficulties in learning as students advance in their studies. Writing-to-learn assignments (WTL) are characterized by their ability to promote in-depth conceptual learning by allowing students to explore their understanding of a topic. This study sought to determine whether and what types of misconceptions are elicited by WTL assignments and how the process of peer review and revision leads to remediation or propagation of misconceptions. We examined four WTL assignments in an introductory biology course in which students first wrote about content by applying it to a realistic scenario, then participated in a peer-review process before revising their work. Misconceptions were identified in all four assignments, with the greatest number pertaining to protein structure and function. Additionally, in certain contexts, students used scientific terminology incorrectly. Analysis of the drafts and peer-review comments generated six profiles by which misconceptions were addressed through the peer-review process. The prevalent mode of remediation arose through directed peer-review comments followed by correction during revision. It was also observed that additional misconceptions were elicited as students revised their writing in response to general peer-review suggestions.

  15. Planning Assignments of the Italian Metropolitan Cities. Early Trends

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giuseppe Mazzeo

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The last stage of the process of establishment of the Italian Metropolitan Cities, which took place in 2014, follows of a few decades the start of this institutional reform. In 1990, in fact, the Act 142 (Local Autonomies Reform had planned metropolitan areas as the administrative organization more suitable to provide these territories of structures for the management and the strategic development alike the best international models. The paper proposes to analyse the first activities taken by the Italian Metropolitan Cities in the sector of territorial government, three years after the enactment in 2014 of Act nr. 56.  Focal point of the analysis is the jurisdiction in the formation of two plans (the Strategic Plan and the Metropolitan Territorial Plan and the following relationships among them, in the logical assumption that between them a necessary and strict consistency there should be. In the first part, the paper analyses some factors characterizing the metropolitan areas and the functions that the law assigns to the new institution in the territorial government sector. The second part outlines the updated situation with regard to the formation of the sectoral tools (Strategic Plan, Territorial Plan and homogeneous zones. The third part analyses the progresses in three Metropolitan Cities taken as sample (Milan, Genoa and Bologna and, in general, to those of Southern Italy. In the last part, the paper exposes some considerations regarding the issues raised in the article, particularly about the innovativeness of the tools and the timeline for the implementation of the act.

  16. Evolution of Various Library Instruction Strategies: Using Student Feedback to Create and Enhance Online Active Learning Assignments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcie Lynne Jacklin

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available This case study traces the evolution of library assignments for biological science students from paper-based workbooks in a blended (hands-on workshop to blended learning workshops using online assignments to online active learning modules which are stand-alone without any face-to-face instruction. As the assignments evolved to adapt to online learning supporting materials in the form of PDFs (portable document format, screen captures and screencasting were embedded into the questions as teaching moments to replace face-to-face instruction. Many aspects of the evolution of the assignment were based on student feedback from evaluations, input from senior lab demonstrators and teaching assistants, and statistical analysis of the students’ performance on the assignment. Advantages and disadvantages of paper-based and online assignments are discussed. An important factor for successful online learning may be the ability to get assistance.

  17. A mass merchandiser's role in enhancing pharmacy students' business plan development skills for medication therapy management services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moultry, Aisha Morris

    2011-09-10

    To develop a relationship between a pharmacy management course and a mass merchandiser and to determine whether involving pharmacy managers from the mass merchandiser in the course would enhance student skills in developing a business plan for medication therapy management services. The pharmacy managers from the mass merchandiser participated in lectures, provided panel discussions, and conducted a business plan competition. Learning was assessed by means of 4 examinations and 1 project (ie, the business plan). At the conclusion of the semester, surveys were administered to solicit student input and gain insight from pharmacy managers on the perceived value of this portion of the course. Students' average grade on the business plan assignment, which included the oral presentation, the peer assessment, and the written proposal, was 92.2%. Approximately 60% (n=53) of surveyed students agreed or strongly agreed that their management skills had improved because of the participation of pharmacy managers from the mass merchandiser. All of the managers enjoyed participating in the experience. The involvement of pharmacy managers from a mass merchandiser enhanced student learning in the classroom, and managers felt that their participation was an important contribution to the development of future pharmacists.

  18. A Student-Led Feedback Protocol on Writing Assignments in a History of Mathematics Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Diana

    2014-01-01

    History of math courses are commonly offered in mathematics departments. Such courses naturally lend themselves to writing assignments, and a growing body of research supports writing as a means to learn mathematics. This article details two such assignments, providing an overview of the course in which they are situated, and a student-led…

  19. A First Assignment to Create Student Buy-In in an Introductory Business Statistics Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newfeld, Daria

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents a sample assignment to be administered after the first two weeks of an introductory business focused statistics course in order to promote student buy-in. This assignment integrates graphical displays of data, descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation analysis through the lens of a marketing analysis study. A marketing sample…

  20. Longitudinal evaluation of the importance of homework assignment completion for the academic performance of middle school students with ADHD.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langberg, Joshua M; Dvorsky, Melissa R; Molitor, Stephen J; Bourchtein, Elizaveta; Eddy, Laura D; Smith, Zoe; Schultz, Brandon K; Evans, Steven W

    2016-04-01

    The primary goal of this study was to longitudinally evaluate the homework assignment completion patterns of middle school age adolescents with ADHD, their associations with academic performance, and malleable predictors of homework assignment completion. Analyses were conducted on a sample of 104 middle school students comprehensively diagnosed with ADHD and followed for 18 months. Multiple teachers for each student provided information about the percentage of homework assignments turned in at five separate time points and school grades were collected quarterly. Results showed that agreement between teachers with respect to students assignment completion was high, with an intraclass correlation of .879 at baseline. Students with ADHD were turning in an average of 12% fewer assignments each academic quarter in comparison to teacher-reported classroom averages. Regression analyses revealed a robust association between the percentage of assignments turned in at baseline and school grades 18 months later, even after controlling for baseline grades, achievement (reading and math), intelligence, family income, and race. Cross-lag analyses demonstrated that the association between assignment completion and grades was reciprocal, with assignment completion negatively impacting grades and low grades in turn being associated with decreased future homework completion. Parent ratings of homework materials management abilities at baseline significantly predicted the percentage of assignments turned in as reported by teachers 18 months later. These findings demonstrate that homework assignment completion problems are persistent across time and an important intervention target for adolescents with ADHD. Copyright © 2015 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Task Assignment and Path Planning for Multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Using 3D Dubins Curves †.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Wenyu; Zhang, Meiyan; Zheng, Yahong Rosa

    2017-07-11

    This paper investigates the task assignment and path planning problem for multiple AUVs in three dimensional (3D) underwater wireless sensor networks where nonholonomic motion constraints of underwater AUVs in 3D space are considered. The multi-target task assignment and path planning problem is modeled by the Multiple Traveling Sales Person (MTSP) problem and the Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to solve the MTSP problem with Euclidean distance as the cost function and the Tour Hop Balance (THB) or Tour Length Balance (TLB) constraints as the stop criterion. The resulting tour sequences are mapped to 2D Dubins curves in the X - Y plane, and then interpolated linearly to obtain the Z coordinates. We demonstrate that the linear interpolation fails to achieve G 1 continuity in the 3D Dubins path for multiple targets. Therefore, the interpolated 3D Dubins curves are checked against the AUV dynamics constraint and the ones satisfying the constraint are accepted to finalize the 3D Dubins curve selection. Simulation results demonstrate that the integration of the 3D Dubins curve with the MTSP model is successful and effective for solving the 3D target assignment and path planning problem.

  2. Single-Sex Schools, Student Achievement, and Course Selection: Evidence from Rule-Based Student Assignments in Trinidad and Tobago

    OpenAIRE

    C. Kirabo Jackson

    2011-01-01

    Existing studies on single-sex schooling suffer from biases because students who attend single-sex schools differ in unmeasured ways from those who do not. In Trinidad and Tobago students are assigned to secondary schools based on an algorithm allowing one to address self-selection bias and estimate the causal effect of attending a single-sex school versus a similar coeducational school. While students (particularly females) with strong expressed preferences for single-sex schools benefit, mo...

  3. A Web-based Peer Assessment System for Assigning Student Scores in Cooperative Learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anon Sukstrienwong

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Working in groups has become increasingly important in order to develop students' skills. However, it can be more successful when peers cooperate and are involved in the assigned tasks. However, several educators firmly show disadvantages when all peers received the same reward, regardless of individual contribution. Some teachers also considering peer assessment to be time and effort consuming because preparation and monitoring are needed. In order to overcome these problems, we have developed a web-based peer assessment referred to as the ‘Scoring by Peer Assessment System’ (SPAS that allows teachers to set up the process of peer assessment, in order to assign scores that reflect the contribution of each student. Moreover, a web-based application allows students to evaluate their peers regarding their individual contribution where cooperative learning and peer assessment are used. The paper describes the system design and the implementation of our peer assessment application.

  4. Creative Writing Assignments in a Second Language Course: A Way to Engage Less Motivated Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arshavskaya, Ekaterina

    2015-01-01

    This article makes a case for using creative writing in a second language course. Creative writing increases students' enthusiasm for writing skills development and supports students' creativity, which is a fundamental aspect of education. In order to engage less motivated students, a series of creative writing assignments was implemented in a…

  5. Writing Assignments that Promote Active Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Narayanan, M.

    2014-12-01

    Encourage students to write a detailed, analytical report correlating classroom discussions to an important historical event or a current event. Motivate students interview an expert from industry on a topic that was discussed in class. Ask the students to submit a report with supporting sketches, drawings, circuit diagrams and graphs. Propose that the students generate a complete a set of reading responses pertaining to an assigned topic. Require each student to bring in one comment or one question about an assigned reading. The assignment should be a recent publication in an appropriate journal. Have the students conduct a web search on an assigned topic. Ask them to generate a set of ideas that can relate to classroom discussions. Provide the students with a study guide. The study guide should provide about 10 or 15 short topics. Quiz the students on one or two of the topics. Encourage the students to design or develop some creative real-world examples based on a chapter discussed or a topic of interest. Require that students originate, develop, support and defend a viewpoint using a specifically assigned material. Make the students practice using or utilizing a set of new technical terms they have encountered in an assigned chapter. Have students develop original examples explaining the different terms. Ask the students to select one important terminology from the previous classroom discussions. Encourage the students to explain why they selected that particular word. Ask them to talk about the importance of the terminology from the point of view of their educational objectives and future career. Angelo, T. A. (1991). Ten easy pieces: Assessing higher learning in four dimensions. In T. A. Angelo (Ed.), Classroom research: Early lessons from success (pp. 17-31). New Directions for Teaching and Learning, No. 46. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

  6. Planning Nurses in Maternity Care: a Stochastic Assignment Problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Phillipson, Frank

    2015-01-01

    With 23 percent of all births taking place at home, The Netherlands have the highest rate of home births in the world. Also if the birth did not take place at home, it is not unusual for the mother and child to be out of hospital in a few hours after the baby was born. The explanation for both is the very well organised maternity care system. However, getting the right maternity care nurse available on time introduces a complex planning issue that can be recognized as a Stochastic Assignment Problem. In this paper an expert rule based approach is combined with scenario analysis to support the planner of the maternity care agency in his work. (paper)

  7. Planning Nurses in Maternity Care: a Stochastic Assignment Problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillipson, Frank

    2015-05-01

    With 23 percent of all births taking place at home, The Netherlands have the highest rate of home births in the world. Also if the birth did not take place at home, it is not unusual for the mother and child to be out of hospital in a few hours after the baby was born. The explanation for both is the very well organised maternity care system. However, getting the right maternity care nurse available on time introduces a complex planning issue that can be recognized as a Stochastic Assignment Problem. In this paper an expert rule based approach is combined with scenario analysis to support the planner of the maternity care agency in his work.

  8. Students' Understanding and Perceptions of Assigned Team Roles in a Classroom Laboratory Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ott, Laura E.; Kephart, Kerrie; Stolle-McAllister, Kathleen; LaCourse, William R.

    2018-01-01

    Using a cooperative learning framework in a quantitative reasoning laboratory course, students were assigned to static teams of four in which they adopted roles that rotated regularly. The roles included: team leader, protocol manager, data recorder, and researcher. Using a mixed-methods approach, we investigated students' perceptions of the team…

  9. Task Assignment and Path Planning for Multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Using 3D Dubins Curves †

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenyu Cai

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates the task assignment and path planning problem for multiple AUVs in three dimensional (3D underwater wireless sensor networks where nonholonomic motion constraints of underwater AUVs in 3D space are considered. The multi-target task assignment and path planning problem is modeled by the Multiple Traveling Sales Person (MTSP problem and the Genetic Algorithm (GA is used to solve the MTSP problem with Euclidean distance as the cost function and the Tour Hop Balance (THB or Tour Length Balance (TLB constraints as the stop criterion. The resulting tour sequences are mapped to 2D Dubins curves in the X − Y plane, and then interpolated linearly to obtain the Z coordinates. We demonstrate that the linear interpolation fails to achieve G 1 continuity in the 3D Dubins path for multiple targets. Therefore, the interpolated 3D Dubins curves are checked against the AUV dynamics constraint and the ones satisfying the constraint are accepted to finalize the 3D Dubins curve selection. Simulation results demonstrate that the integration of the 3D Dubins curve with the MTSP model is successful and effective for solving the 3D target assignment and path planning problem.

  10. The Student Plan

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Krejsler, John B.

    2009-01-01

    that must reconcile the challenges of student diversity, differentiated teaching, the documentation of achievement and so forth. Social technologies reduce complexity by coding procedures, thus signalling what is expected in terms of learning activities, and by coding subject positions, thereby guiding...... teachers and students in terms of the roles they may position themselves in. Some of the most prevalent social technologies adopted by schools today include project work, logbooks, social contracts, interactive testing, and student and personal action plans....

  11. The Context-Specific Conceptions of Learning in Case-Based Accounting Assignments, Students' Characteristics and Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moilanen, Sinikka

    2017-01-01

    The present study contributes to accounting education literature by describing context-specific conceptions of learning related to case assignments, and by exploring the associations between the conceptions of learning, students' characteristics and performance. The data analysed consist of 1320 learning diaries of 336 students, connected with…

  12. Delay functions in trip assignment for transport planning process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leong, Lee Vien

    2017-10-01

    In transportation planning process, volume-delay and turn-penalty functions are the functions needed in traffic assignment to determine travel time on road network links. Volume-delay function is the delay function describing speed-flow relationship while turn-penalty function is the delay function associated to making a turn at intersection. The volume-delay function used in this study is the revised Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) function with the constant parameters, α and β values of 0.8298 and 3.361 while the turn-penalty functions for signalized intersection were developed based on uniform, random and overflow delay models. Parameters such as green time, cycle time and saturation flow were used in the development of turn-penalty functions. In order to assess the accuracy of the delay functions, road network in areas of Nibong Tebal, Penang and Parit Buntar, Perak was developed and modelled using transportation demand forecasting software. In order to calibrate the models, phase times and traffic volumes at fourteen signalised intersections within the study area were collected during morning and evening peak hours. The prediction of assigned volumes using the revised BPR function and the developed turn-penalty functions show close agreement to actual recorded traffic volume with the lowest percentage of accuracy, 80.08% and the highest, 93.04% for the morning peak model. As for the evening peak model, they were 75.59% and 95.33% respectively for lowest and highest percentage of accuracy. As for the yield left-turn lanes, the lowest percentage of accuracy obtained for the morning and evening peak models were 60.94% and 69.74% respectively while the highest percentage of accuracy obtained for both models were 100%. Therefore, can be concluded that the development and utilisation of delay functions based on local road conditions are important as localised delay functions can produce better estimate of link travel times and hence better planning for future

  13. Medical Students' Empathy for Vulnerable Groups: Results From a Survey and Reflective Writing Assignment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wellbery, Caroline; Saunders, Pamela A; Kureshi, Sarah; Visconti, Adam

    2017-12-01

    As medical education curricula increasingly acknowledge the contributions of the social determinants of health to individual health, new methods of engaging students in the care of vulnerable groups are needed. Empathy is one way to connect students with patients, but little is known about how to nurture students' empathy on behalf of populations. This study examined the relationship between individual and social empathy as groundwork for cultivating students' empathy for vulnerable groups. In 2014-2015, first-year medical students completed the Social Empathy Index at the start and end of a two-semester population health course, and they completed a reflective writing assignment exploring the challenges of caring for vulnerable patients. Pre- and posttest mean survey scores were compared, and reflective writing assignments were analyzed for themes concerning social empathy. Data from 130 students were analyzed. Scores for the contextual understanding of systemic barriers domain increased significantly. There was a trend toward increased cumulative social empathy scores that did not reach statistical significance. Students' essays revealed three themes relating to individual empathy as the foundation for social empathy; civic and moral obligations; and the role of institutional practices in caring for vulnerable groups. This study extends understanding of empathy beyond care for the individual to include care for vulnerable groups. Thus, social empathy may function as a valuable concept in developing curricula to support students' commitment to care for the underserved. Educators first need to address the many barriers students cited that impede both individual and social empathy.

  14. Detecting Plagiarism in MS Access Assignments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Anil

    2013-01-01

    Assurance of individual effort from students in computer-based assignments is a challenge. Due to digitization, students can easily use a copy of their friend's work and submit it as their own. Plagiarism in assignments puts students who cheat at par with those who work honestly and this compromises the learning evaluation process. Using a…

  15. Plagiarism-Proofing Assignments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Doug

    2004-01-01

    Mr. Johnson has discovered that the higher the level of student engagement and creativity, the lower the probability of plagiarism. For teachers who would like to see such desirable results, he describes the characteristics of assignments that are most likely to produce them. Two scenarios of types of assignments that avoid plagiarism are…

  16. Using Cloud collaboration for writing assignments by students with disabilities: a case study using action research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kjrsten Keane

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Though separated by geographical distance, a student with disabilities, his advisor, and his writing coach consorted in the Cloud using Google applications to achieve a writing goal. Our scenario demonstrates how emerging technologies can bridge transactional distance and “virtually” supplant face-to-face conferencing around a college writing assignment. Individual levels of technical acumen with digital technology evolved to bridge the psychological and communication space between the student and his instructors. As a result, the telecollaborators developed an efficient coaching process adaptable for all students who need assistance in revising college writing assignments at a distance. Action research frames our discussion of the Cloud collaboration and provides a scaffold for student autonomy. The advantages as well and disadvantages of Cloud collaboration are outlined with reference to the National Institute of Standards of Technology definition of Cloud Computing and the Seven Principles of Universal Course Design.http://dx.doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.6.1.79

  17. The Facebook-in-Action: Challenging, Harnessing and Enhancing Students Class Assignments and Projects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saifudin, Adam Mohd; Yacob, Aizan; Saad, Rohaizah

    2016-01-01

    Issues of universities students harnessing and capitalizing the usage of Facebook for their own learning capabilities and effective thinking is always the focus of education scholars, in assessing the quality class assignments and projects produced by them. Therefore, Facebook is now becoming unbearable influence since the internet activation in…

  18. Investigating Students' Use and Adoption of "With-Video Assignments": Lessons Learnt for Video-Based Open Educational Resources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pappas, Ilias O.; Giannakos, Michail N.; Mikalef, Patrick

    2017-01-01

    The use of video-based open educational resources is widespread, and includes multiple approaches to implementation. In this paper, the term "with-video assignments" is introduced to portray video learning resources enhanced with assignments. The goal of this study is to examine the factors that influence students' intention to adopt…

  19. Technical Note: Is bulk electron density assignment appropriate for MRI-only based treatment planning for lung cancer?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prior, Phil; Chen, Xinfeng; Gore, Elizabeth; Johnstone, Candice; Li, X Allen

    2017-07-01

    MRI-based treatment planning in radiation therapy (RT) is prohibitive, in part, due to the lack of electron density (ED) information within the image. The dosimetric differences between MRI- and CT-based planning for intensity modulated RT (IMRT) of lung cancer were investigated to assess the appropriateness of bulk ED assignment. Planning CTs acquired for six representative lung cancer patients were used to generate bulk ED IMRT plans. To avoid the effect of anatomic differences between CT and MRI, "simulated MRI-based plans" were generated by forcing the relative ED (rED) to water on CT-delineated structures using organ specific values from the ICRU Report 46 and using the mean rED value of the internal target volume (ITV) from the planning CT. The "simulated MRI-based plans" were generated using a research planning system (Monaco v5.09.07a, Elekta, AB) and employing Monte Carlo dose calculation. The following dose-volume-parameters (DVPs) were collected from both the "simulated MRI-based plans" and the original planning CT: D 95 , the dose delivered to 95% of the ITV & planning target volume (PTV), D 5 and V 5 , the volume of normal lung irradiated ≥5 Gy. The percent point difference and relative dose difference were used for comparison with the CT based plan for V 5 and D 95 respectively. A total of five plans per patient were generated; three with the ITV rED (rED ITV ) = 1.06, 1.0 and the mean value from the planning CT while the lung rED (rED lung ) was fixed at the ICRU value of 0.26 and two with rED lung = 0.1 and 0.5 while the rED ITV was fixed to the mean value from the planning CT. Noticeable differences in the ITV and PTV DVPs were observed. Variations of the normal lung V 5 can be as large as 9.6%. In some instances, varying the rED ITV between rED mean and 1.06 resulted in D 95 increases ranging from 3.9% to 6.3%. Bulk rED assignment on normal lung affected the DVPs of the ITV and PTV by 4.0-9.8% and 0.3-19.6% respectively. Dose volume histograms

  20. A Framework to Manage through Control and Automation a semester long student Project assignment in e-Learning Environment

    OpenAIRE

    Chaumun, Mamade Ajmal

    2013-01-01

    Managing semester-long project assignments is not always an easy task since teachers need to keep track of many elements of the project that will reflect in a proper assessment of the students’ work. Integrating an LMS into the educational process and therefore to assign, track, and assess the project may add to the complication, this can be very challenging and especially when students work in groups. Students expect support and guidance from teachers in all stages of the project...

  1. Students' Plans for Lifelong Learning and Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plavšic, Marlena; Dikovic, Marina

    2015-01-01

    One of the roles of higher education is to prepare and encourage students for lifelong learning. However, no evidence can be found about students' plans for further learning and teaching related to formal, non-formal and informal context. The purpose of this study was to explore these students' plans in relation to their study group, level of…

  2. Digital Video as a Personalized Learning Assignment: A Qualitative Study of Student Authored Video Using the ICSDR Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, Laurie O.; Cox, Thomas D.

    2018-01-01

    Students within this study followed the ICSDR (Identify, Conceptualize/Connect, Storyboard, Develop, Review/Reflect/Revise) development model to create digital video, as a personalized and active learning assignment. The participants, graduate students in education, indicated that following the ICSDR framework for student-authored video guided…

  3. Students win national financial planning contest

    OpenAIRE

    Sutphin, Michael D.

    2007-01-01

    Three Virginia Tech students studying financial planning have won the 2007 Ameriprise Financial Planning Invitational, bringing home $10,000 in scholarship money to support the financial planning program in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

  4. Perfectionism in students and positive career planning attitudes

    OpenAIRE

    Stoeber, Joachim; Mutinelli, Sofia; Corr, Philip J.

    2016-01-01

    In today's uncertain job market, university students who show positive attitudes in their career planning have an advantage. Yet, we know little what personality characteristics are associated with individual differences in career planning attitudes. The present study examined 177 university students to investigate whether perfectionism (self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed) predicted students' positive career planning attitudes (career adaptability, career optimism, and per...

  5. Using Business Plans for Teaching Entrepreneurship

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimmerman, John

    2012-01-01

    Many educators use the preparation of a Business Plan as a culminating assignment in entrepreneurship courses. Additionally, a number of institutions and organizations conduct business plan competitions to further entrepreneurship education. The objective for both of these exercises is to prepare student entrepreneurs for the challenging task of…

  6. Variability in Clinical Integration Achieved by Athletic Training Students across Different Clinical Sport Assignments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dodge, Thomas M.; Mazerolle, Stephanie M.; Bowman, Thomas G.

    2015-01-01

    Context: Clinical integration impacts athletic training students' (ATSs) motivation and persistence. Research has yet to elucidate the manner in which different clinical placements can influence clinical integration. Objective: To examine differences in the levels of clinical integration achieved by ATSs across various clinical sport assignments.…

  7. Agribusiness Planning - Teaching and Cases at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada

    OpenAIRE

    Brown, William J.

    2005-01-01

    The University of Saskatchewan (U of S) offers 2 courses in agribusiness planning where students form groups of 3 or 4 and prepare a complete business plan for an actual or planned agribusiness. Individuals or groups wishing to have a agribusiness plan completed can apply to the U of S and a student group will be assigned to their project. The components of a business plan includes the following sections; the executive summary, the introduction to the business being planned, the industry over...

  8. Junior High Career Planning: What Students Want

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bardick, Angela D.; Bernes, Kerry B.; Magnusson, Kris C.; Witko, Kim D.

    2004-01-01

    This research used "The Comprehensive Career Needs Survey" to assess the career counselling needs of 3,562 junior high students in Southern Alberta. This article examines junior high students' responses regarding their perceptions of (a) the relevance of career planning, (b) who they would approach for help with career planning, and (c)…

  9. Single-Sex Schools, Student Achievement, and Course Selection: Evidence from Rule-Based Student Assignments in Trinidad and Tobago. NBER Working Paper No. 16817

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, C. Kirabo

    2011-01-01

    Existing studies on single-sex schooling suffer from biases due to student selection to schools and single-sex schools being better in unmeasured ways. In Trinidad and Tobago students are assigned to secondary schools based on an algorithm allowing one to address self-selection bias and cleanly estimate an upper-bound single-sex school effect. The…

  10. The surfacing of past assessment strategies within interdisciplinary teams when encountering an open-ended assignment in an undergraduate sustainability course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartman, K.; Dzulkifli, D. D. B.; Moynihan, M. A.; Salman, R.; Goodkin, N.

    2017-12-01

    267 undergraduate students in an interdisciplinary environmental sustainability course were divided into 66 groups for the duration of the semester. The formation of the groups proceeded by first assigning all of the science majors to groups in a random order. This was followed by assigning the engineering majors, the liberal arts majors, and finally the business majors in turn. After all of the students had been assigned to a group, every group had at least one engineering student and one science student. 11 groups had a liberal arts student but no business student. 26 groups had a business student but no liberal arts student. 29 groups were composed of students from all four majors. During the semester, the groups created an environmental action plan to address one of Singapore's major sustainability concerns: food. In service of the course's emphasis on interdisciplinary communication, the groups were required to create a video to support their environmental action plan. The evaluation method for the videos built on our prior work with rubrics (Hartman & Goodkin, 2016). While we provided a number of examples of videos communicating environmental action plans, students were not prescribed a particular format for their video. To the consternation of some students, the instructor deliberately left the video assessment open-ended. After the semester ended, a researcher coded all 66 videos for the food sustainability issues they identified, their proposed solutions, and their video approach. Approaches included animations, virtual handwriting/drawing, role-playing, PowerPoint presentations, and picture slideshows. Given the open-ended nature of the video project, we hypothesized that groups would converge on approaches that at least one team member was familiar with. We knew from prior work with the business school, that its students engage in role-play activities fairly frequently. Teams with a business major and without a liberal arts major adopted the role

  11. Improving Geoscience Learning and Increasing Student Engagement Using Online Interactive Writing Assignments with Calibrated Peer Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harbor, Jon

    2014-05-01

    Peer review is a hallmark of the publication process for scientific research, yet it is rarely used as a pedagogical approach in university geoscience courses. Learning outcomes for university geoscience courses include content knowledge and critical thinking and analysis skills, and often include written communication of scientific issues or concepts. Because lecture and memorization is not the most effective learning approach for many students, instructors are increasingly exploring teaching approaches that involve active engagement. In this context, writing assignments that engage students in using content, constructing arguments, and critiquing other students' work are highly desirable. However, many of us struggle with extensive writing requirements in our courses because the workload associated with having the instructor provide detailed comments on writing is daunting, especially in large-enrollment courses, and organizing effective peer review by students is very challenging. Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) is a web-based program that involves students in writing and in reviewing each other's writing. It is designed to allow for more involved writing and feedback experiences with much less instructor time. Here we report on the results of a qualitative-methods analysis of narrative survey responses from students using CPR in an introductory geoscience class. In addition to an impact on the students' writing and their understanding of what goes in to effective writing, the results indicate that CPR acted as reinforcement for content learning, and an impetus for gaining a deeper understanding of content material. It allowed students to see how other students explained and analyzed content, and to check their understanding of a topic in relation to other students in the class. Not surprisingly, the instructor reported that students performed far better on exam questions that tested knowledge covered by CPR assignments.

  12. My Favorite Assignment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    ABCA Bulletin, 1983

    1983-01-01

    Describes three assignments for enticing business communication students to undertake library research: an analysis of a Fortune 500 company, a career choice report, and a report on an organization that offers potential employment. (AEA)

  13. Determining the relationship between students' scores using traditional homework assignments to those who used assignments on a non-traditional interactive CD with tutor helps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tinney, Charles Evan

    2007-12-01

    By using the book "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" by Raymond A. Serway as a guide, CD problem sets for teaching a calculus-based physics course were developed, programmed, and evaluated for homework assignments during the 2003-2004 academic year at Utah State University. These CD sets were used to replace the traditionally handwritten and submitted homework sets. They included a research-based format that guided the students through problem-solving techniques using responseactivated helps and suggestions. The CD contents were designed to help the student improve his/her physics problem-solving skills. The analyzed score results showed a direct correlation between the scores obtained on the homework and the students' time spent per problem, as well as the number of helps used per problem.

  14. Calibrated peer review assignments for the earth sciences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudd, J.A.; Wang, V.Z.; Cervato, C.; Ridky, R.W.

    2009-01-01

    Calibrated Peer Review ??? (CPR), a web-based instructional tool developed as part of the National Science Foundation reform initiatives in undergraduate science education, allows instructors to incorporate multiple writing assignments in large courses without overwhelming the instructor. This study reports successful implementation of CPR in a large, introductory geology course and student learning of geoscience content. For each CPR assignment in this study, students studied web-based and paper resources, wrote an essay, and reviewed seven essays (three from the instructor, three from peers, and their own) on the topic. Although many students expressed negative attitudes and concerns, particularly about the peer review process of this innovative instructional approach, they also recognized the learning potential of completing CPR assignments. Comparing instruction on earthquakes and plate boundaries using a CPR assignment vs. an instructional video lecture and homework essay with extensive instructor feedback, students mastered more content via CPR instruction.

  15. Applying the theory of planned behavior: nursing students' intention to seek clinical experiences using the essential clinical behavior database.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Linda

    2002-03-01

    This study examined the antecedents and determinants predictive of whether nursing students (N = 92) intend to ask for assignments to perform nursing behaviors after using a database to record essential clinical behaviors. The results of applying the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to behavioral intention using multivariant path analysis suggested that the endogenous variables, attitude and subjective norms, had a significant effect on the intention to ask for assignments to perform nursing behaviors. In addition, it was primarily through attitudes and subjective norms that the respective antecedents or exogenous variables, behavioral beliefs and normative beliefs, affected the intention to ask for assignments to perform nursing behaviors. The lack of direct influence of perceived behavioral control on intention and the direct negative impact of control belief on intention were contrary to expectations, given the tenets of the TPB.

  16. Embedded Library Guides in Learning Management Systems Help Students Get Started on Research Assignments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dominique Daniel

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Objective – To determine whether library guides embedded in learning management systems (LMS get used by students, and to identify best practices for the creation and promotion of these guides by librarians. Design – Mixed methods combining quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis (survey, interviews, and statistical analysis. Setting – A large public university in the United States of America. Subjects – 100 undergraduate students and 14 librarians. Methods – The researchers surveyed undergraduate students who were participating in a Project Information Literacy study about their use of library guides in the learning management system (LMS for a given quarter. At that university, all course pages in the LMS are automatically assigned a library guide. In addition, web usage data about the course-embedded guides was analyzed and high use guides were identified, namely guides that received an average of at least two visits per student enrolled in a course. The researchers also conducted a qualitative analysis of the layout of the high use guides, including the number of widgets (or boxes and links. Finally, librarians who created high use library guides were interviewed. These mixed methods were designed to address four research questions: 1 Were students finding the guides in the LMS, and did they find the guides useful? 2 Did high use guides differ in design and composition? 3 Were the guides designed for a specific course, or for an entire department or college? and, 4 How did the librarians promote use? Main Results – Only 33% of the students said they noticed the library guide in the LMS course page, and 21% reported using the guide. Among those who used the guide, the majority were freshmen (possibly because embedding of library guides in the LMS had just started at the university. Library guides with high use in relation to class enrollment did not significantly differ from low use guides in terms of numbers of

  17. Automating Formative and Summative Feedback for Individualised Assignments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamilton, Ian Robert

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on the rationale behind the use of a unique paper-based individualised accounting assignment, which automated the provision to students of immediate formative and timely summative feedback. Design/methodology/approach: As students worked towards completing their assignment, the package provided…

  18. Scaffolding students’ assignments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Slot, Marie Falkesgaard

    2013-01-01

    This article discusses scaffolding in typical student assignments in mother tongue learning materials in upper secondary education in Denmark and the United Kingdom. It has been determined that assignments do not have sufficient scaffolding end features to help pupils understand concepts and build...... objects. The article presents the results of empirical research on tasks given in Danish and British learning materials. This work is based on a further development of my PhD thesis: “Learning materials in the subject of Danish” (Slot 2010). The main focus is how cognitive models (and subsidiary explicit...... learning goals) can help students structure their argumentative and communica-tive learning processes, and how various multimodal representations can give more open-ended learning possibilities for collaboration. The article presents a short introduction of the skills for 21st century learning and defines...

  19. Use of prelecture assignment to enhance learning in pharmacology lectures for the 2nd year medical students

    OpenAIRE

    Ahsan, Marya; Mallick, Ayaz Khurram

    2016-01-01

    Objectives: Majority of teaching hours allotted by the Medical Council of India in pharmacology are utilized in the form of didactic lecture. Although these lectures are an excellent tool to deliver the information to a large group of students, it usually ends up as a one-sided teaching session with most students being the passive listeners. To make these lectures interesting and effective, we introduced the students to prelecture assignment (PLA) in the form of clinical case before the deliv...

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2018-06-01

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

  1. Toward efficient task assignment and motion planning for large-scale underwater missions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Somaiyeh MahmoudZadeh

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available An autonomous underwater vehicle needs to possess a certain degree of autonomy for any particular underwater mission to fulfil the mission objectives successfully and ensure its safety in all stages of the mission in a large-scale operating field. In this article, a novel combinatorial conflict-free task assignment strategy, consisting of an interactive engagement of a local path planner and an adaptive global route planner, is introduced. The method takes advantage of the heuristic search potency of the particle swarm optimization algorithm to address the discrete nature of routing-task assignment approach and the complexity of nondeterministic polynomial-time-hard path planning problem. The proposed hybrid method is highly efficient as a consequence of its reactive guidance framework that guarantees successful completion of missions particularly in cluttered environments. To examine the performance of the method in a context of mission productivity, mission time management, and vehicle safety, a series of simulation studies are undertaken. The results of simulations declare that the proposed method is reliable and robust, particularly in dealing with uncertainties, and it can significantly enhance the level of a vehicle’s autonomy by relying on its reactive nature and capability of providing fast feasible solutions.

  2. The Utility of Writing Assignments in Undergraduate Bioscience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Libarkin, Julie; Ording, Gabriel

    2012-01-01

    We tested the hypothesis that engagement in a few, brief writing assignments in a nonmajors science course can improve student ability to convey critical thought about science. A sample of three papers written by students (n = 30) was coded for presence and accuracy of elements related to scientific writing. Scores for different aspects of scientific writing were significantly correlated, suggesting that students recognized relationships between components of scientific thought. We found that students' ability to write about science topics and state conclusions based on data improved over the course of three writing assignments, while the abilities to state a hypothesis and draw clear connections between human activities and environmental impacts did not improve. Three writing assignments generated significant change in student ability to write scientifically, although our results suggest that three is an insufficient number to generate complete development of scientific writing skills. PMID:22383616

  3. [Aspirations of medical students: "planning for a secure career" - results of an online-survey among students at five medical schools in Germany].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Götz, K; Miksch, A; Hermann, K; Loh, A; Kiolbassa, K; Joos, S; Steinhäuser, J

    2011-02-01

    In times of shortage of doctors, expectations and interests of the future generation of doctors towards their career aspiration is of major importance. The aim of this study was to analyze expectations of medical students at the five medical schools in the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg (Germany) concerning their career choice and factors influencing it. Between January and February 2010, 1299 medical students (out of 12 062 medical students at the five medical schools) participated in an online-survey. In addition to sociodemographic items, career choice and aspects of planning reliability were raised. Three quarters of the students assign a medical profession for their future occupation. There is a dominance of internal medicine (n = 152), gynaecology (n = 127), paediatrics (n = 125), surgery (n = 115), anaesthesiology (n = 101), and family medicine (n = 88). The time point of decision varies between the different undergraduate years of medical school and specialty. Students at the beginning of their studies seem to be interested mostly in surgery. During medical school the interests towards internal medicine grows. Regarding planning dependability important aspects for medical students were to work in a job that has a future (61.2 % fully agree), to have a safe job (57.7 %), and to have a safe income (57.1 %). Less important seems to be to have good opportunity to earn money (29.6 %). Interest in a certain specialty changes markedly at during medical school. Factors such as economical guarantee, good future prospects and also the studies itself have an essential impact for students on choosing a specific career. Strategies to face physicians' shortage in different specialties need to be close to the needs and expectations of future physicians. This is not only valid for the undergraduate time period but also for the work circumstances of their future. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  4. The career planning, athletic identity, and student role identity of intercollegiate student athletes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lally, Patricia S; Kerr, Gretchen A

    2005-09-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the career planning of university student athletes and relationships between their career planning and athletic and student role identities. Two retrospective in-depth interviews were held with four male and four female university student athletes. Participants entered university with vague or nonexistent career objectives and invested heavily in their athletic roles. In the latter years of their college career, the participants discarded their sport career ambitions and allowed the student role to become more prominent in their identity hierarchies. The current findings support Brown and Hartley's (1998) suggestion that student athletes may invest in both the athlete and student role identities simultaneously and that investing in the latter may permit the exploration of nonsport career options.

  5. Investigating the Correlation Between Pharmacy Student Performance on the Health Science Reasoning Test and a Critical Thinking Assignment

    OpenAIRE

    Nornoo, Adwoa O.; Jackson, Jonathan; Axtell, Samantha

    2017-01-01

    Objective. To determine whether there is a correlation between pharmacy students? scores on the Health Science Reasoning Test (HSRT) and their grade on a package insert assignment designed to assess critical thinking.

  6. Personal Reflection: Reflections on a Family Health History Assignment for Undergraduate Public Health and Nursing Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rooks, Ronica N.; Ford, Cassandra

    2013-01-01

    This personal reflection describes our experiences with incorporating the scholarship of teaching and learning and problem-based techniques to facilitate undergraduate student learning and their professional development in the health sciences. We created a family health history assignment to discuss key concepts in our courses, such as health…

  7. Teaching Complaint and Adjustment Letters--And Tact (My Favorite Assignment).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deimling, Paula

    1992-01-01

    Describes a three-part assignment in which each student writes a complaint letter and an adjustment letter responding to another student's complaint letter. Discusses how the third part of the assignment--journal entries--allows students to formulate their own criteria for excellent letters based upon their reactions to the letters they receive.…

  8. Student Affairs Assessment, Strategic Planning, and Accreditation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fallucca, Amber

    2017-01-01

    This chapter illustrates how student affairs units participate in accreditation across regional agency expectations and program-level requirements. Strategies for student affairs units to engage in campus strategic planning processes to further highlight their contributions are also recommended.

  9. Effective Homework Assignments. Research Brief

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, Harris

    2008-01-01

    Perhaps more than any question other than "How much time should students spend doing homework?" parents and educators want to know, "What kinds of homework assignments are most effective?" Clearly, the answers to this question vary according to many factors, especially the developmental level of students and the topic area. Generally, answers are…

  10. Teaching Tip: Improving Students' Email Communication through an Integrated Writing Assignment in a Third-Year Toxicology Course.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kedrowicz, April A; Hammond, Sarah; Dorman, David C

    Client communication is important for success in veterinary practice, with written communication being an important means for veterinarian-client information sharing. Effective communication is adapted to clients' needs and wants, and presents information in a clear, understandable manner while accounting for varying degrees of client health literacy. This teaching tip describes the use of a mock electronic mail assignment as one way to integrate writing into a required veterinary toxicology course. As part of this project, we provide baseline data relating to students' written communication that will guide further development of writing modules in other curricula. Two independent raters analyzed students' writing using a coding scheme designed to assess adherence to the guidelines for effective written health communication. Results showed that the majority of students performed satisfactorily or required some development with respect to recommended guidelines for effective written health communication to facilitate client understanding. These findings suggest that additional instruction and practice should emphasize the importance of incorporating examples, metaphors, analogies, and pictures to create texts that are comprehensible and memorable to clients. Recommendations are provided for effective integration of writing assignments into the veterinary medicine curriculum.

  11. The Automatic Sweetheart: An Assignment in a History of Psychology Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sibicky, Mark E.

    2007-01-01

    This article describes an assignment in a History of Psychology course used to enhance student retention of material and increase student interest and discussion of the long-standing debate between humanistic and mechanistic models in psychology. Adapted from William James's (1955) automatic sweetheart question, the assignment asks students to…

  12. A Case-Study Assignment to Teach Theoretical Perspectives in Abnormal Psychology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perkins, David V.

    1991-01-01

    Describes an assignment that requires students to organize, prepare, and revise a case study in abnormal behavior. Explains that students employ a single theoretical perspective in preparing a report on a figure from history, literature, the arts, or current events. Discusses the value of the assignment for students. (SG)

  13. Planning Student Flow with Linear Programming: A Tunisian Case Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bezeau, Lawrence

    A student flow model in linear programming format, designed to plan the movement of students into secondary and university programs in Tunisia, is described. The purpose of the plan is to determine a sufficient number of graduating students that would flow back into the system as teachers or move into the labor market to meet fixed manpower…

  14. A comprehensive medical student career development program improves medical student satisfaction with career planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zink, Brian J; Hammoud, Maya M; Middleton, Eric; Moroney, Donney; Schigelone, Amy

    2007-01-01

    In 1999, the University of Michigan Medical School (UMMS) initiated a new career development program (CDP). The CDP incorporates the 4-phase career development model described by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Careers in Medicine (CiM). The CDP offers self-assessment exercises with guidance from trained counselors for 1st- and 2nd-year medical students. Career exploration experiences include Career Seminar Series luncheons, shadow experiences with faculty, and a shadow program with second-year (M2) and fourth-year (M4) medical students. During the decision-making phase, students work with trained faculty career advisors (FCA). Mandatory sessions are held on career selection, preparing the residency application, interviewing, and program evaluation. During the implementation phase, students meet with deans or counselors to discuss residency application and matching. An "at-risk plan" assists students who may have difficulty matching. The CiM Web site is extensively used during the 4 stages. Data from the AAMC and UMMS Graduation Questionnaires (GQ) show significant improvements for UMMS students in overall satisfaction with career planning services and with faculty mentoring, career assessment activities, career information, and personnel availability. By 2003, UMMS students had significantly higher satisfaction in all measured areas of career planning services when compared with all other U.S. medical students.

  15. Student Centric Learning Through Planned Hard work - An Innovative Model

    OpenAIRE

    Aithal, Sreeramana; Aithal, Shubrajyotsna

    2016-01-01

    The strategies followed by educational institutions and the students become very important when the performance of students in the examinations is concerned. By means of properly planned and well guided model of training and motivation to do hard work, students can follow a well disciplined study plan and become exceptionally successful in examinations. Teaching and training by experienced and dedicated faculty members, continuous support by parents and motivating the students based on settin...

  16. One of My Favorite Assignments: Automated Teller Machine Simulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oberman, Paul S.

    2001-01-01

    Describes an assignment for an introductory computer science class that requires the student to write a software program that simulates an automated teller machine. Highlights include an algorithm for the assignment; sample file contents; language features used; assignment variations; and discussion points. (LRW)

  17. The "Outsider/Insider" Assignment: A Pedagogical Innovation for Teaching Cross-Cultural Understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, Angela Cora

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, I describe an innovative assignment for teaching undergraduate students cross-cultural understanding. The Outsider/Insider assignment simultaneously teaches facts about cultural difference and skills for managing cross-cultural encounters. Briefly, the assignment is to write two short papers, one in which the student describes a…

  18. FORECASTING CAREER PLANNING OF STUDENT OF UNIVERSITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aleksandra Danilenko

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available In this article the forecasting model of career planning of student of University. This model has an empirical nature and lets to control the process and the content of student learning taking into account of his individual characteristics and the predictions of his potential careers.

  19. Enhancing Transportation Education through On-line Simulation using an Agent-Based Demand and Assignment Model

    OpenAIRE

    Shanjiang Zhu; Feng Xie; David Levinson

    2005-01-01

    This research explores the effectiveness of using simulation as a tool for enhancing classroom learning in the Civil Engineering Department of the University of Minnesota at Twin Cities. The authors developed a modern transportation planning software package, Agent-based Demand and Assignment Model (ADAM), that is consistent with our present understanding of travel behavior, that is platform independent, and that is easy to learn and is thus usable by students. An in-class project incorporate...

  20. The Student Business Plan: Useful or Not?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Colin; Penaluna, Andy; Matlay, Harry; Penaluna, Kathryn

    2013-01-01

    This article offers a critical discussion of the role of the business plan in current enterprise educational practice. In addition to reviewing recent work that considers the "for" and "against" arguments about the use of business plans in higher education, the authors suggest that the context of student learning is largely…

  1. Negotiating Languages and Cultures: Enacting Translingualism through a Translation Assignment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiernan, Julia; Meier, Joyce; Wang, Xiqiao

    2016-01-01

    This collaborative project explores the affordances of a translation assignment in the context of a learner-centered pedagogy that places composition students' movement among languages and cultures as both a site for inquiry and subject of analysis. The translation assignment asks students to translate scholarly articles or culture stories from…

  2. University of Venda's male students' attitudes towards contraception and family planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raselekoane, Nanga R; Morwe, Keamogetse G; Tshitangano, Takalani

    2016-07-08

    Many young men continue to disregard the importance of contraception and family planning in South Africa. The fact that even university students also do not take contraception and family planning seriously poses a serious threat to their own health and well-being. This paper aims at investigating the attitudes of male students towards contraception and the promotion of female students' sexual health rights and well-being at the University of Venda. Quantitative research method is used to determine how attitudes of 60 male students towards contraception can jeopardise the health and well-being of both male and female students. This study reveals that the majority of 60 male students at the University of Venda have a negative attitude towards contraceptives. As a result, male students at the University of Venda are not keen on using contraceptives. Male students' negative attitude and lack of interest in contraceptives and family planning also limit progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals on primary health care, especially with regard to sexual and reproductive health and well-being of female students at the University of Venda. The fact that more than half of the male students interviewed did not take contraception and family planning seriously poses a serious threat to health and well-being of students, including violation of female students' sexual and reproductive health rights in South Africa. This calls for radical health promotion and sexual and reproductive rights programmes which should specifically target male students at the University of Venda.

  3. Transdisciplinary assignments in graduate health education as a model for future collaboration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christie, Catherine; Smith, A Russell; Bednarzyk, Michele

    2007-01-01

    Transdisciplinary health care continues to be at the forefront of patient treatment in the medical arena, in part due to escalating health care costs, an increasing aging population, and the development of multiple chronic diseases. Gaining the knowledge, experience, and principles associated with transdisciplinary teamwork to successfully prepare for modern-day practice is therefore essential for individuals of various health care professions. This report describes an assignment developed and implemented to facilitate professional interaction between graduate physical therapy, nutrition, and nursing students. The objectives of this assignment were to determine through student evaluation the effects of a transdisciplinary experience on students' understanding of the role of another discipline and students' communication skills across disciplines. When evaluating the assignment, students most often remarked that they developed a greater understanding of the roles of the included disciplines and reported a significant increase in communication skills. However, some students did not concur that this assignment was effective due to the scheduling conflicts and lack of teamwork that can occur during a collaborative project. The students' reports of their experiences in completing the assignment provide valuable insights for implementing and/or updating a preparatory transdisciplinary education component in other settings. Additional research can focus on the challenges faced by the majority of the students venturing into actual health care or "real-world" settings for comparative studies.

  4. Interactive Level Design for iOS Assignment Delivery: A Case Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anson Brown

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an application of an iOS-based online gaming assignment in a real classroom. The core concept of the project is a gameplay environment involving two players that have full control over creation and modification of levels. This level design mechanism was implemented in an iOS-based game in the area of genetics and based on an existing written assignment. The game includes support for both instructors, who have the ability to create and post assignments and students, who can take the assignments. Two trials of the iOS application consisted of in-class testing of twenty- one students. Students first took the original paper assignment, followed by the iOS version. Start times, end times, and grades were recorded for both versions. A comprehensive study of the grades and times for the iOS version of the assignment versus the paper version was conducted and is presented in this paper. Our Study showed that the iOS version was completed much faster in nearly every case while a strong delivery mechanism is needed to ensure student grades and completion of the assignment will not be affected. These results are not unexpected due to some major difference between the two formats. Future updates and additions will address any currently existing issues.

  5. SU-F-J-162: Is Bulky Electron Density Assignment Appropriatefor MRI-Only Based Treatment Planning for Lung Cancer?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Prior, P; Chen, X; Johnstone, C; Gore, E; Li, X [Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI (United States)

    2016-06-15

    Purpose: To assess the appropriateness of bulky electron density assisment for MRI-only treatment planning for lung cancer via comparing dosimetric difference between MRI- and CT-based plans. Methods: Planning 4DCTs acquired for six representative lung cancer patients were used to generate CT-based IMRT plans. To avoid the effect of anatomic difference between CT and MRI, MRI-based plans were generated using CTs by forcing the relative electron density (rED) of organ specific values from ICRU report 46 and using the mean rED value of the internal target volume (ITV) of the patient for the ITV. Both CT and “MRI” plans were generated using a research planning system (Monaco, Elekta) employing Monte Carlo dose calculation the following dose-volume-parameters (DVPs): D99 – dose delivered to 99% of the ITV/PTV volume; D95; D5; D1; Vpd –volume receiving the prescription dose; V5 – volume of normal lung irradiated > 5 Gy; and V20. The percent point difference and dose difference was used for comparison for Vpd-V5-V20 and D99-D1, respectively. Four additional plans per patient were calculated with rEDITV = 0.6 and 1.0 and rEDlung = 0.1 and 0.5. Results: Noticeable differences in the ITV and PTV point doses and DVPs were observed. Variations in Vpd ranged from 0.0–6.4% and 0.32–18.3% for the ITV and PTV, respectively. The ITV and PTV variations in D99, D95, D5 and D1 were 0.15–3.2 Gy. The normal lung V5 & V20 variations were no larger than 1.9%. In some instances, varying the rEDITV between rEDmean, 0.6 and 1.0 resulted in D95 increases ranging from 3.9–6.3%. Uniform rED assignment on normal lung affected DVPs of ITV and PTV by 4.0–9.8% and 0.3–19.6%, respectively. Conclusion: The commonly-used uniform rED assignment in MRI-only based planning may not be appropriate for lung-cancer. A voxel based method, e.g. synthetic CT generated from MRI data, is required. This work was partially funded by Elekta, Inc.

  6. Self-Regulated Assignment Attack Strategy: Evaluating the Effects of a Classroom-Level Intervention on Student Management of Curricular Activities in a Resource Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ness, Bryan M.; Sohlberg, McKay Moore

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a classroom-based strategy instruction package grounded in self-regulated learning. The Self-Regulated Assignment Attack Strategy (SAAS) targeted self-regulation of assignment management and related academic-behavioral variables for 6th grade students in resource support classrooms. SAAS was…

  7. Final Evaluation of Assignment: Media Literacy. A Report to the Discovery Channel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kubey, Robert; Serafin, Gina Marcello

    The Assignment: Media Literacy curriculum is a 6-module media literacy curriculum developed by Renee Hobbs of Babson College and her staff in collaboration with the Discovery Channel. There are three versions of Assignment: Media Literacy, one for elementary school students, one for middle school students, and one for high school students. Close…

  8. With Interest It Comes To...Unconscionable Clauses in Sales Contracts. A Student's Lesson Plan [and] A Teacher's Lesson Plan [and] A Lawyer's Lesson Plan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howard, Estelle; And Others

    One of a series of secondary level teaching units presenting case studies with pro and con analysis of particular legal problems, the document presents a student's lesson plan, a teacher's lesson plan, and a lawyer's lesson plan on unconscionable clauses in sales contracts. The unit acquaints students with the operation of sales contracts and…

  9. Work-Plan Heroes: Student Strategies in Lower-Secondary Norwegian Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dalland, Cecilie P.; Klette, Kirsti

    2014-01-01

    This article explores how individualized teaching methods, such as the use of work plans, create new student strategies in Norwegian lower secondary classrooms. Work plans, which are frequently set up as instructional tools in Norwegian classrooms, outline different types of tasks and requirements that the students are supposed to do during a…

  10. Web-Based Problem-Solving Assignment and Grading System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brereton, Giles; Rosenberg, Ronald

    2014-11-01

    In engineering courses with very specific learning objectives, such as fluid mechanics and thermodynamics, it is conventional to reinforce concepts and principles with problem-solving assignments and to measure success in problem solving as an indicator of student achievement. While the modern-day ease of copying and searching for online solutions can undermine the value of traditional assignments, web-based technologies also provide opportunities to generate individualized well-posed problems with an infinite number of different combinations of initial/final/boundary conditions, so that the probability of any two students being assigned identical problems in a course is vanishingly small. Such problems can be designed and programmed to be: single or multiple-step, self-grading, allow students single or multiple attempts; provide feedback when incorrect; selectable according to difficulty; incorporated within gaming packages; etc. In this talk, we discuss the use of a homework/exam generating program of this kind in a single-semester course, within a web-based client-server system that ensures secure operation.

  11. Scientist Spotlight Homework Assignments Shift Students' Stereotypes of Scientists and Enhance Science Identity in a Diverse Introductory Science Class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schinske, Jeffrey N.; Perkins, Heather; Snyder, Amanda; Wyer, Mary

    2016-01-01

    Research into science identity, stereotype threat, and possible selves suggests a lack of diverse representations of scientists could impede traditionally underserved students from persisting and succeeding in science. We evaluated a series of metacognitive homework assignments ("Scientist Spotlights") that featured counterstereotypical…

  12. Role of Pharmacy Residency Training in Career Planning: A Student's Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McElhaney, Ashley; Weber, Robert J

    2014-12-01

    Pharmacy students typically become more focused on career planning and assessment in the final year of their PharmD training. Weighing career options in the advanced pharmacy practice experience year can be both exciting and stressful. The goal of this article is to provide a primer on how pharmacy students can assess how a residency can fit into career planning. This article will describe the various career paths available to graduating students, highlight ways in which a residency can complement career choices, review the current state of the job market for pharmacists, discuss the current and future plans for residency programs, and present thoughts from some current and former residents on why they chose to complete a residency. Most career paths require some additional training, and a residency provides appropriate experience very quickly compared to on-the-job training. Alternative plans to residency training must also be considered, as there are not enough residency positions for candidates. Directors of pharmacy must consider several factors when giving career advice on pharmacy residency training to pharmacy students; they should provide the students with an honest assessment of their work skills and their abilities to successfully complete a residency. This assessment will help the students to set a plan for improvement and give them a better chance at being matched to a pharmacy residency.

  13. Medical Students' Knowledge of Fertility Awareness-Based Methods of Family Planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danis, Peter G; Kurz, Sally A; Covert, Laura M

    2017-01-01

    Traditional medical school curricula have not addressed fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) of family planning. The objective of this study was to assess (1) 3-year medical students' knowledge of FABMs of family planning, (2) their confidence in utilizing that knowledge in patient care, and (3) to implement focused education on FABMs to improve knowledge and confidence. Third-year medical students at one institution in the United States were given a 10-question assessment at the beginning of their OB-GYN rotation. Two lectures about FABMs and their clinical applications were given during the rotation. Students were given the same questions at the end of the rotation. Each questionnaire consisted of eight questions to assess a student's knowledge of FABMs and two questions to assess the student's confidence in sharing and utilizing that information in a clinical setting. McNemar's test was used to analyze the data. Two hundred seventy-seven students completed a pretest questionnaire and 196 students completed the posttest questionnaire. Medical knowledge improved from an initial test score of 38.99% to final test score of 53.57% ( p  Medical schools may not include FABMs in OB-GYN curriculum; however, to patients, these methods remain a sought after and valid form of family planning. This study shows that brief, focused education can increase medical students' knowledge of and confidence with FABMs of family planning.

  14. Using business plan development as a capstone project for MPH programs in Canada: validation through the student perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papadopoulos, Andrew; Britten, Nicole; Hatcher, Meghan; Rainville, Keira

    2013-10-01

    Master of Public Health (MPH) programs have been developed across Canada as a response to the need for adequately trained individuals to work in the public health sector. Educational institutions that deliver MPH programs have a responsibility to ensure that graduates of their program have the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes to begin a successful career in public health. The Public Health Agency of Canada has created the core competencies for public health to guide the development, delivery and evaluation of MPH programs. In Canada, a capstone project is the recommended method of evaluating the MPH graduate's ability to demonstrate proficiency in the public health core competencies. A business plan that develops the framework for a public health program is an ideal capstone project currently used in practice within the University of Guelph MPH program. This group assignment incorporates all 36 of the public health core competencies while providing students with a real-world public health experience, and should be considered for inclusion within MPH programs across Canada. Business planning provides students the opportunity to engage in practice-based learning, applying theoretical knowledge to practice. Further, the ability to develop realistic but financially feasible public health problems is an invaluable skill for MPH graduates. As the development of programs becomes more restricted and the continuation of other programs are under constant threat, the ability to develop a sound business plan is a required skill for individuals entering the public health sector, and will ensure students are able to maximize outcomes given tight fiscal budgets and limited resources.

  15. Postgraduate diploma collaborative assignment: Implications for ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Postgraduate diploma collaborative assignment: Implications for ESL students ... and collaborative teaching/learning model involving the major course convenors. ... The quality of the work and mood of all concerned improved tremendously.

  16. Student Directed Learning: An Online Exhibition for a Historic Costume Collection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saiki, Diana; Nam, Jinhee; Beck, Jessica

    2012-01-01

    This article highlights the structure, procedures, and outcomes of a course organized using a student-directed learning approach to develop an online exhibition website as an outcome for a client. The teaching strategy required students to work in teams and carefully plan assignments to build on the development of the exhibition. Students said…

  17. Experiencing Postsecondary Transition Planning: The Perspective of Students with Moderate Special Needs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Platt, Petra W.

    2013-01-01

    Special educators must engage students with special needs in transition planning to help students set and achieve goals with regard to postsecondary education, vocation, community engagement, and independent living. Researchers have examined many aspects of transition planning, but few have examined how students with special needs experience the…

  18. Evaluation of a Brief Homework Assignment Designed to Reduce Citation Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schuetze, Pamela

    2004-01-01

    I evaluated a brief homework assignment designed to reduce citation problems in research-based term papers. Students in 2 developmental psychology classes received a brief presentation and handout defining plagiarism with tips on how to cite sources to avoid plagiarizing. In addition, students in 1 class completed 2 brief homework assignments in…

  19. Types of Sentences in EFL Students' Paragraph Assignments: A Quantitative Study on Teaching and Learning Writing at Higher Education Level

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Syayid Sandi Sukandi

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available This research investigates Indonesian EFL students writing four types of English sentences in their paragraph writing assignments that were posted online in Writing 1 course of English Education at STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat. The analysed types of sentences are Simple Sentence (code: S.S., Compound Sentence (code: C.S.1, Complex Sentence (code: C.S.2, and Compound-Complex Sentence (code: C.C.S. The percentage of each type of sentences that appears in the students’ writings within each five genres represents the students’ syntactical composition. Moreover, this research focuses on quantitatively analysing the above five types of sentences that appeared in students’ assignments in each type of following genres: argumentative, descriptive, process, cause-effect, and comparison-contrast. Data are taken from 10% samples of all population. The finding shows that writing Simple Sentence in paragraphs is a common type of sentence that is used by the students. It indicates that the guiding process to teaching students about writing paragraphs with varied sentence types is important for further development of teaching process of writing.

  20. Scaffolding Assignments and Activities for Undergraduate Research Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher, Sarah; Justwan, Florian

    2018-01-01

    This article details assignments and lessons created for and tested in research methods courses at two different universities, a large state school and a small liberal arts college. Each assignment or activity utilized scaffolding. Students were asked to push beyond their comfort zone while utilizing concrete and/or creative examples,…

  1. Career/Education Plans and Student Engagement in Secondary School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plasman, Jay Stratte

    2018-01-01

    Student engagement in education is key to ensuring successful learning. Engagement becomes crucial as students progress through high school and transition into young adulthood; however, engaging them in high school can be an arduous task. A career/education plan can help students make strong connections between their work in high school and their…

  2. Student mistreatment in medical school and planning a career in academic medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haviland, Mark G; Yamagata, Hisashi; Werner, Leonard S; Zhang, Kehua; Dial, Thomas H; Sonne, Janet L

    2011-01-01

    Student mistreatment in medical school is a persistent problem with both known and unexplored consequences [corrected]. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a perception of having been mistreated in medical school had an association with planning a full-time career in academic medicine. Using Association of American Medical Colleges' 2000-2004 Medical School Graduation Questionnaire data, we evaluated the relationship between students' mistreatment experience and their career choice, academic versus nonacademic setting. Meta-analysis and regression were used to evaluate this relationship. At medical schools where relatively high percentages of graduating seniors were planning academic careers, students reporting mistreatment experiences were less likely at graduation to be planning careers in academic medicine. A perception of having been mistreated in medical school is related to students' career choices, a finding that may be useful to medical school administrators/faculty and students as mistreatment is addressed in program planning, counseling, and faculty recruitment.

  3. On pole structure assignment in linear systems

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Loiseau, J.-J.; Zagalak, Petr

    2009-01-01

    Roč. 82, č. 7 (2009), s. 1179-1192 ISSN 0020-7179 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA102/07/1596 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Keywords : linear systems * linear state feedback * pole structure assignment Subject RIV: BC - Control Systems Theory Impact factor: 1.124, year: 2009 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2009/AS/zagalak-on pole structure assignment in linear systems.pdf

  4. Introduction to Strategic Planning in Student Affairs: A Model for Process and Elements of a Plan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellis, Shannon E.

    2010-01-01

    Planning from a strategic perspective has been a mainstay of organizational management for decades. Founded in the private sector, strategic planning is now embraced by the nonprofit world as a catalyst for sound resource allocation, transformative decision making, and motivating staff. Student affairs professionals who think, plan, and act…

  5. Learning About and Benefiting From Peer Review: A Course Assignment for Doctoral Students at Two Different Universities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sethares, Kristen A; Morris, Nancy S

    2016-06-01

    Peer review is an expectation of PhD-prepared nurses but a lack of evidence in the best methods to train students is of concern. Guided by the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) model, faculty at two universities developed, implemented, and evaluated a peer review assignment for 22 second-year PhD nursing students. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. Students reported the process of peer review was beneficial (82%) because it informed their own writing (59%), assisted them to read more critically (73%), and increased their appreciation of the role of peer review in the revision process (77%). Giving constructive feedback was difficult for students, but the feedback they received was helpful. Peer review is important to the development of science and an expectation of PhD-prepared nurses. Methods to include peer review in education are needed. [J Nurs Educ. 2016;55(6):342-344.]. Copyright 2016, SLACK Incorporated.

  6. Application of Network Planning to Teaching Wind-Surfing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zybko, Przemyslaw; Jaczynowski, Lech

    2008-01-01

    Study aim: To determine the effects of network planning on teaching untrained subjects windsurfing. Material and methods: Untrained physical education students (n = 390), aged 19-23 years, took part in the study while staying on a summer camp. They were randomly assigned into two groups: experimental (n = 216) and control (n = 174). Two methods of…

  7. Dynamic online peer evaluations to improve group assignments in nursing e-learning environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adwan, Jehad

    2016-06-01

    The purpose of this research was to evaluate the use of online peer evaluation forms for online group activities in improving group project outcomes. The investigator developed and used a web-based Google Forms® self and peer evaluation form of 2 group assignments' rubric for junior and senior nursing students. The form covered elements of the assignments including: research activity, analysis of the literature, writing of report, participation in making of presentation, overall contribution to the project, and participation in the weekly group discussions. Items were rated from 1 (did not contribute) to 5 (outstanding contribution) in addition to NA when one activity did not apply. The self and peer evaluation process was conducted twice: once after group assignment 1 and once after group assignment 2. The group assignments final products were done in the form of VoiceThread online presentations that were shared with the rest of the class reflecting the groups' work on a health informatics topic of interest. Data collected as the students completed self and peer evaluations for group assignments 1 and 2. Also, optional comments regarding member performance were collected to add contextual information in addition to ratings. Students received credit for completing the peer evaluations and the grade for the particular assignment was affected by their performance based on peer evaluations of their contributions. Students' peer evaluations showed in a color-coded spreadsheet which enabled the course faculty to view real time results of students' ratings after each assignment. The faculty provided timely and tailored feedback to groups or individuals as needed, using positive feedback and commending high performance while urging struggling individual students and groups to improve lower ratings in specific areas. Comparing evaluations of both assignments, there were statistically significant improvements among all students. The mean scores of the entire sample were

  8. An Empirical Examination of the Roles of Ability and Gender in Collaborative Homework Assignments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Jeffrey

    2010-01-01

    The author investigates how ability and gender affect grades on homework projects performed by assigned pairs of students in an undergraduate macroeconomics course. The assignment grade is found to depend on the ability of both students, and the relative importance of the stronger and weaker student differs in predictable ways depending on the…

  9. Teaching advance care planning to medical students with a computer-based decision aid.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Michael J; Levi, Benjamin H

    2011-03-01

    Discussing end-of-life decisions with cancer patients is a crucial skill for physicians. This article reports findings from a pilot study evaluating the effectiveness of a computer-based decision aid for teaching medical students about advance care planning. Second-year medical students at a single medical school were randomized to use a standard advance directive or a computer-based decision aid to help patients with advance care planning. Students' knowledge, skills, and satisfaction were measured by self-report; their performance was rated by patients. 121/133 (91%) of students participated. The Decision-Aid Group (n = 60) outperformed the Standard Group (n = 61) in terms of students' knowledge (p satisfaction with their learning experience (p student performance. Use of a computer-based decision aid may be an effective way to teach medical students how to discuss advance care planning with cancer patients.

  10. The survey of American college students computer technology preferences & purchasing plans

    CERN Document Server

    2009-01-01

    This report presents data from a survey of more than 400 American college students.  The report presents data on student computer ownership of both PCs and laptops, purchasing plans for PCs and laptops, as well as purchasing plans for cell phones and digital cameras.  The report also provides details on how student finance their computer purchases, how much money comes from parents or guardians, and how much from the student themselves, or from their parties.  In addition to data on PCs the report provides detailed info on use of popular word processing packages such as Word, WordPerfect and Open Office.

  11. How Primary Education students organize the planning of the written

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Luis Gallego Ortega

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available The present paper deals with a study aimed at providing an insight into how students with Primary Education plan their written expression. The exploratory and qualitative investigation resorts to the “collective case study” and it is used the “cognitive interview” to obtain the items, applying the “content analysis” in the interpretation of them. This research has allowed us to identify the process in content organization, how students make these operations and the main difficulties founded in it. The results of the research show that, although these students normally make the operations of this textual organization process, they have important difficulties regarding the general planning of the ideas in a text. Finally, this article gives some guidelines for the teaching of writing structure in Primary Education students.

  12. A Comparative Analysis of Pair-work and Individual Assignments In two ELT Grammar Classes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olcay Sert

    2005-10-01

    Full Text Available Assignments prepared in pair-work have long been evaluated to be more successful whencompared to individually prepared assignments in many respects in foreign language learningcontexts. However, there is not much research conducted to reveal the advantages of pair-work in preparing assignments and the linguistic characteristics of the finished texts. In this paper, depending upon an experimental study with the first year students in Department of EnglishLanguage Teaching at Hacettepe University, quality of pair-work assignments and the factors affecting the preparation process are discussed and compared to individual assignments. Results indicate a variety of advantages of student collaboration in preparing written work since outputsare far more grammatical, include less spelling mistakes, and indicate a higher level ofgrammatical awareness. Additionally, pair-work helps students build positive interpersonalrelationships and create a high level of academic solidarity and confidence.

  13. Evoked Feelings, Assigned Meanings and Constructed Knowledge Based on Mistakes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luciane Guimarães Batistella Bianchini

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available By means of Piaget's critical clinical method, the study investigated the meanings assigned to mistakes by four students in different activities and interactive situations. The research also analyzed the results of using self-regulatory situations in understanding mistakes initially committed by the students. Data collection instruments consisted of games, video recordings, diaries and interviews. Following intervention, the students were able to recognize their competence, establish positive interactions within the group, and avoid viewing mistakes as obstacles to learning. We concluded that the meanings assigned to mistakes depend on certain variables, among them feelings nurtured by the individuals about themselves, the other, and the object of knowledge.

  14. Volcanic Eruption: Students Develop a Contingency Plan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meisinger, Philipp; Wittlich, Christian

    2013-04-01

    , causing a blockage and afflux of the Rhine, which, due to the given conditions of a very narrow valley, would lead to excessive flooding affecting even the greater Rhine-Main-region. Not to mention the consequences of a pyroclastic flow, dropping volcanic bombs and further hazardous/disastrous consequences. In comparison to other "potentially active" or "active volcanoes", e.g. the Vesuvius, the Laacher See is scarcely monitored and according to recent publications poorly analyzed in terms of contingency and evacuation plans. This offers space for critical analysis and creative solutions to an existing problem. Short: We need geographers and their knowledge to provide help. Given these facts, the Laacher See could be the layout for a very interesting geography project bringing together previously gained knowledge and understanding of volcanic activities, their destructive powers, consequences and risks in case of an eruption in combination with their topographical characteristics. Your students thereby act the role of a geoscientist developing contingency plans and evacuation zones for the greater Laacher See area. This involves a detailed analysis of the topographical characteristics based on (classic) topographic maps or online via the use of a GIS (e.g. Google maps). In a second step students enlist the possible consequences they already know according to their range and copy them onto a transparency layer on the topographic map. Using such a layer technique students add population density, important topographic features and maybe even anticipated wind directions to their map. The information density and the specific layout of this map are thereby only determined by the student's previous knowledge, their personal abilities and skills and the amount of time provided. This offers the opportunities to even differentiate the task within your group and provide support adjusted to the individual students level. On the basis of their own thematic map your students should be

  15. The Effects of Source, Revision Possibility, and Amount of Feedback on Marketing Students' Impressions of Feedback on an Assignment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ackerman, David S.; Dommeyer, Curt J.; Gross, Barbara L.

    2017-01-01

    This study examines how three factors affect students' reactions to critical feedback on an assignment--amount of feedback (none vs. low amount vs. high amount), source of feedback (instructor-provided feedback vs. peer-provided feedback), and the situational context of the feedback (revision of paper is or is not possible). An incomplete 3 × 2 ×…

  16. Meningococcal disease awareness and meningoccocal vaccination among Greek students planning to travel abroad.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pavli, Androula; Katerelos, Panagiotis; Maltezou, Helena C

    2017-06-09

    Objective Students living in dormitories are at increased risk for meningococcal disease. Our aim was to evaluate Greek students planning to study abroad about their level of meningococcal disease awareness and attitudes and practices towards meningococcal vaccination. Methods We studied 231 Greek ERASMUS students using a questionnaire. Results Students had a mean number of 4.1 correct answers out of six questions. In particular 66.5% 79.3%, 72.3% and 82.3% of them answered correctly about the etiology, transmission, epidemiology and treatment of meningococcal disease, respectively. Only 23.4% were vaccinated, whereas 14.7% were planning to do so in the near future. Students who answered correctly ≥5 questions were more likely to be male, vaccinated against meningococcal meningitis and science students. Conclusion We found an overall good level of knowledge about meningococcal disease among Greek students planning to study or already studying abroad. Knowledge about meningococcal disease was associated with vaccine uptake. However, vaccination rate against meningococcal disease was low.

  17. Strategic Planning Process Exercise: A Semester-Long Experiential Approach to Engage Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Jitendra

    2018-01-01

    Strategic planning provides a sense of direction and can have a significant impact on the future of an organization. Students wanting to serve in leadership positions need to demonstrate a firm understanding of the concepts necessary to work on this complex process. Careful planning also ensures students' survival in a competitive business…

  18. Student Engagement and Leadership of the Transition Planning Process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, James E.; Williams-Diehm, Kendra

    2013-01-01

    The Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Career Development and Transition (DCDT) has been a longstanding leader and advocate in the field of secondary education for students with disabilities. This paper traces the history of student engagement in transition planning primarily through the lens of DCDT's journal "Career…

  19. What's Next? Planning and Financing Your Post-Secondary Education. Revised. Students Finance. Study Your Options.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alberta Learning, Edmonton.

    This guide is designed to help students in Alberta, Canada, plan and finance postsecondary education. A student who has made financial plans will have more options when it is time to choose an institution for postsecondary education. How to choose the right school depends on what a student wants from education and what he or she plans for the…

  20. What's Next? Planning and Financing Your Post-Secondary Education. Students Finance. Study your Options. Revised.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Human Resources Development Canada, Ottawa (Ontario).

    This updated guide is designed to help students in Alberta, Canada, plan and finance postsecondary education. A student who has made financial plans will have more options when it is time to choose an institution for postsecondary education. How to choose the right school depends on what a student wants from education and what he or she plans for…

  1. Moving beyond "Bookish Knowledge": Using Film-Based Assignments to Promote Deep Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olson, Joann S.; Autry, Linda; Moe, Jeffry

    2016-01-01

    This article investigates the effectiveness of a film-based assignment given to adult learners in a graduate-level group counseling class. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four students; data analysis suggested film-based assignments may promote deep approaches to learning (DALs). Participants indicated the assignment helped them…

  2. Developing Team Skills through a Collaborative Writing Assignment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Theda Ann

    2014-01-01

    Employers want students who are able to work effectively as members of a team, and expect universities to develop this ability in their graduates. This paper proposes a framework for a collaborative writing assignment that specifically develops students' ability to work in teams. The framework has been tested using two iterations of an action…

  3. Training the Next Generation: Developing Health Education Skills in Undergraduate Public Health Students at a Historically Black College and University

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Krista Mincey

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available With the looming workforce crisis, undergraduate public health students could be an important link in filling this demand. As public health continues to face challenges in the future, it is important that the future workforce is not only diverse but also trained in a manner that exposes them to real-world experiences that give them an opportunity to apply coursework to solve problems. This article outlines how a health program planning course was taught at a Historically Black College and University using assignments that promote active learning. Students were assessed on their ability to plan and implement a health activity based on a developed metric. Student and instructor reflections were collected from final assessments of the health programs by both groups. All elements of the course are discussed from course design, structure, assignments, and outcomes along with student and instructor reflections and lessons learned. Results suggest that including assignments focused on active learning are beneficial to helping students learn course material. As public health continues to change, more work needs to focus on teaching pedagogies that better prepare students to address future public health issues.

  4. Investigation of educational intervention based on Theory of Planned Behavior on breakfast consumption among middle school students of Qom City in 2012.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gharlipour, Zabihollah; Ghaffari, Mohtasham; Hoseini, Zahra; Heidarabadi, Akbar Babaei; Tavassoli, Elahe; Hozuri, Mohammad; Jang, Shahram Arsang; Reisi, Mahnoush; Sahraiyan, Maryam

    2015-01-01

    Eating breakfast is crucial for adolescents to be healthy. It also improves students' capacity of learning and doing school homework. Although healthy habits such as eating breakfast, weight control, and regular sleep increase the lifespan in adults, the effects of healthy habits on school-age children have not been studied much. The present study aimed at investigating the impact of an educational program based on Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) on eating breakfast among middle school students. This interventional study was conducted on sixth-grade students in Qom City during the academic year 2012-2013. First, 97 students were randomly assigned to the experimental group and 97 other students were assigned to the control group. Then, a questionnaire was developed on eating breakfast by the researchers according to the TPB. A pilot study was conducted to assess the reliability of the questionnaire. To assess the validity of the questionnaire, advice by a panel of experts was sought. To carry out a pre-test, both groups answered the questions. After analyzing the pre-test results, the required content was developed for the experimental group. Educational methods included delivering speech, discussion groups, pamphlets, and posters. The required educationalcontent was provided for students during five sessions and for parents in one session. To determine the effect of educational intervention, a post-test study was carried out 2 months after the intervention. Collected data were analyzed using independent t-test, χ,([2]) and repeated measures. In the experimental group, 36.7% of students were eating breakfast at least in a day of a week, before educational intervention. After implementation of the educational program, only 32.7% of them were continuing their past habit. There was a significant difference between themean scores of attitudes, perceived behavioral control, intention, and practice of eating breakfast in the experimental and control groups (P students

  5. The (digital) natives are restless: designing and implementing an interactive digital media assignment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voge, Catherine; Hirvela, Kari; Jarzemsky, Paula

    2012-01-01

    To create an opportunity for students to connect with the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses competencies and demonstrate learning via knowledge transference, the authors piloted a digital media assignment. Students worked in small groups to create an unfolding patient care scenario with embedded decision points, using presentation software. The authors discuss the assignment and its outcomes.

  6. Generalizable Skills in Individualized Vocational Program Planning for Special Needs Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stodden, Robert A.; Boone, Rosalie

    1986-01-01

    The authors address planning issues and suggest methods of interagency cooperation, integration of generalizable skills in individualized educational planning/programming, developing goals and objectives, and using student assessment and evaluation information. (CT)

  7. Graduate Student Project: Operations Management Product Plan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fish, Lynn

    2007-01-01

    An operations management product project is an effective instructional technique that fills a void in current operations management literature in product planning. More than 94.1% of 286 graduates favored the project as a learning tool, and results demonstrate the significant impact the project had in predicting student performance. The author…

  8. Interprofessional education for first year psychology students: career plans, perceived relevance and attitudes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Lynne D; Forman, Dawn

    2015-05-01

    Undergraduate psychology students have been largely excluded from interprofessional education (IPE) initiatives. In contrast to many health professions, undergraduate psychology students do not engage in work placements as part of their degree, and many enter careers outside the health care context. However, the collaborative skills gained through an IPE experience may well be beneficial to students who work in this wider context. This research examines whether undergraduate psychology students' views of IPE vary according to their planned career directions, and if so, whether the perceived relevance of IPE mediates the relationships. A sample of 188 Australian university undergraduate psychology students completed an online questionnaire following completion of a first-year IPE health sciences program. Path analysis indicated that psychology students' attitudes towards IPE are associated with both professional identification and practitioner orientation, fully mediated through the perceived relevance of IPE to future career and study plans. Stronger professional identification and practitioner orientation were associated with greater perceived relevance and more positive and less negative attitudes towards IPE. Placing a stronger emphasis on the generalizability of IP skills taught may increase students' awareness of the relevance outside of the health context, reducing disengagement of students planning alternative careers.

  9. International medical students and migration: the missing dimension in Australian workforce planning?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawthorne, Lesleyanne; Hamilton, Jan

    2010-09-06

    To investigate the potential contribution of international medical students at Australian universities to the Australian medical workforce. A prospective survey in 2006-2007 of 619 international medical students in their final 2 years of undergraduate- and graduate-entry medical courses across eight Australian universities, followed by a 2009 survey of 88 international medical graduates of the University of Melbourne (most of whom were respondents of the earlier survey), assessing the correlation between students' intended place of internship and their actual place of internship. The survey respondents' preferred internship location; the proportion of respondents who intended to remain in practice in Australia long term; and correlation between respondents' intended internship locations and actual placements in their first postgraduate year. Of the 619 international medical students surveyed in 2006, 358 (58%) responded. Most planned to undertake Australian internships and seek permanent-resident status, although a third were undecided about their long-term plans. Nationality was a highly significant variable. Most preferred city rather than regional or rural training locations and expressed interest in migrating to Australia. The 2009 survey of the University of Melbourne's 2008 medical graduates showed a high correlation between students' plans in their last two years of study and outcomes in their first postgraduate year, with 73% accepting Victorian internships for 2009. International medical students studying at Australian universities represent a substantial and highly acceptable medical workforce resource for Australia. Their requirement for internships needs to be considered in, and should influence, infrastructure planning.

  10. Leadership for All Students: Planning for More Inclusive School Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Black, William R.; Simon, Marsha D.

    2014-01-01

    Educational policies and leadership practice has evolved to support efforts for inclusive education for students with disabilities. This article focuses on how leaders support and develop inclusive practices for students with disability through engaging institutional norms and inertia; developing inclusive practice as a planned organization-wide…

  11. Career Assessment and Planning Strategies for Postsecondary Students with Disabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roessler, Richard T.; Hennessey, Mary L.; Hogan, Ebony M.; Savickas, Suzanne

    2009-01-01

    Career assessment and planning services that enable students with disabilities to make successful transitions from higher education to careers are an important component often missing in the postsecondary educational experience. Comprehensive services in this regard involve students in considering how to incorporate their preferences, assets, and…

  12. Metacognition Modules: A Scaffolded Series of Online Assignments Designed to Improve Students’ Study Skills

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jean A. Cardinale

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Many first-year biology students begin college with high aspirations but limited skills in terms of those needed for their success. Teachers are increasingly focused on students’ lack of metacognitive awareness combined with students’ inability to self-regulate learning behaviors. To address this need, we have designed a series of out-of-class assignments to provide explicit instruction on memory and learning. Our metacognition modules consist of six video assignments with reflective journaling prompts, allowing students to explore the relationship between the learning cycle, neuroplasticity, memory function, expert and novice thinking, and effective study strategies. By setting lessons on improving study behavior within a biological context, we help students grasp the reason for changing their behavior based on an understanding of biological functions and their application to learning. Students who complete these scaffolded journaling assignments show a shift toward a growth mindset and a consistent ability to evaluate the efficacy of their own study behaviors. In this article, we discuss the modules and student assignments, as well as provide in depth support for faculty who wish to adopt the modules for their own courses.

  13. Patricia Knapp’s Landmark Project to Develop a Plan of Curriculum-Integrated Library Instruction. A review of: Knapp, P. B. (1966. The Monteith College library experiment. New York, NY: Scarecrow Press.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carol D. Howe

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Objective – To create a college-level, four-year plan of library instruction in which assignments directly relate to students’ course work. To develop tools to assess the plan’s effectiveness in improving students’ library skills and contributing to their overall academic success.Design – Exploratory longitudinal cohort study employing pilot library assignments, interviews, and questionnaires.Setting – Monteith College, one of eleven colleges at Wayne State University. Monteith was a small liberal arts college established in 1959 which stressed innovative teaching methods such as team-teaching, small-group discussion, and independent study (Worrell, 2002.Subjects – Teaching faculty from all three college divisions—social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities—and students at Monteith College. Over the course of the study the college employed between 15 and 30 faculty members and enrolled 300 to 700 students.Methods – The project team consisted of project director Patricia Knapp, a project librarian, and a project research analyst. The team worked with the teaching faculty to develop course-related library assignments. Students completed a series of assignments over several semesters as part of their course requirements. The assignment series changed over the course of the project. Students who entered in the fall of 1959 or the spring of 1960 completed Sequence A consisting of six assignments. Students who entered in the fall of 1960 completed Sequence B, six assignments that were a mixture of original and revised assignments. Students who entered in the spring or fall of 1961 completed two revised library assignments.In the summer of 1961, the investigators conducted the first of two small studies. They interviewed a random sample of 21 Monteith students about their experiences with the library and the required library assignments. The students also completed library performance tests such as choosing a subject heading

  14. Emigration preferences and plans among medical students in Poland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Krajewski-Siuda Krzysztof

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Migration and ethical recruitment of health care workers is receiving increased attention worldwide. Europe’s aging population is creating new opportunities for medical doctors for finding employment in other countries, particularly those of a better standard of living. Methods We conducted a survey among 1214 medical students in five out of eleven universities in Poland with medical schools in October 2008. A series of statistical tests was applied to analyse the characteristics of potential migrants. Projections were obtained using statistical analyses: descriptive, multifactorial logistic regression and other statistical methods . Results We can forecast that 26–36% of Polish medical students will emigrate over the next few years; 62% of respondents estimated the likelihood of emigration at 50%. Students in their penultimate year of study declared a stronger desire to migrate than those in the final year. At the same time, many students were optimistic about career opportunities in Poland. Also noted among students were: the decline in interest in leaving among final year students, their moderate elaboration of departure plans, and their generally optimistic views about the opportunities for professional development in Poland. Conclusions The majority of Polish students see the emigration as a serious alternative to the continuation of their professional training. This trend can pose a serious threat to the Polish health care system, however the observed decline of the interest in leaving among final year students, the moderate involvement in concrete departure plans and the optimistic views about the opportunities for professional development in Poland suggest that the actual scale of brain drain of young Polish doctors due to emigration will be more limited than previously feared.

  15. Unintended Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Consequences of Group Assignments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neu, Wayne A.

    2012-01-01

    Pedagogical strategies can be thought of as a set of stimuli placed in students' environment to influence their cognition, affect, and behavior. The design of strategies such as group assignments and a comprehensive understanding of their consequences for students should then include an analysis of all three of these elements and the…

  16. Written Assignments for Abnormal Psychology at Howard Community College, Fall 1988.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bell, James

    Designed for students enrolled in an Abnormal Psychology course at Howard Community College (Maryland), this booklet explains the requirements for the course's writing assignments, which are designed to teach the skills of comparison and contrast, analysis, critical thinking, and synthesis. Following an overview of class assignments and…

  17. Art for the Smart: Paper and oral presentation assignments for an Earth Materials course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wetzel, L. R.

    2011-12-01

    A letter from the fictional Art for the Smart company addresses students in the Earth Materials course: "You might be wondering why an artist needs a geology consultant. I am creating a sculpture garden filled with mythical beings. I would like each student to recommend two unique minerals for one of these sculptures..." For this project students randomly select a mythical being, two mineral groups, and a mineral characteristic. For example, a student might be assigned the goddess Freya, a sulfate, a vanadate, and twinning. Students then choose a specific mineral from each group, describe their physical and chemical characteristics, and recommend how the minerals could be incorporated into the sculpture. Reports are presented in short oral presentations and two-page business letters with accompanying bibliography and illustrations. The letter format provides a concise way to communicate results to the Art for the Smart "client" while preparing students for their job-hunting days ahead. The oral presentations are structured as features for a news program. Talks are limited to three to five minutes and four slides: title page, mineral #1, mineral #2, and mythical being. The strict limits help students concentrate on scientific content and smooth delivery rather than flashy visual aids. The student audience and the professor evaluate each in-class presentation. This has become a popular assignment because it engages student imaginations to relate minerals to mythical beings and creatively design a sculpture. Each project is unique and therefore more interesting for both students and faculty to evaluate. The projects are nearly impossible to plagiarize from previous years or from internet sources. Earth Materials is a sophomore level course for Geoscience and Marine Science majors at Eckerd College. The Art for the Smart project leads into an assignment for the second half of the semester featuring building stones. A new "client" sends a letter to the class explaining

  18. Automated grading of homework assignments and tests in introductory and intermediate statistics courses using active server pages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stockburger, D W

    1999-05-01

    Active server pages permit a software developer to customize the Web experience for users by inserting server-side script and database access into Web pages. This paper describes applications of these techniques and provides a primer on the use of these methods. Applications include a system that generates and grades individualized homework assignments and tests for statistics students. The student accesses the system as a Web page, prints out the assignment, does the assignment, and enters the answers on the Web page. The server, running on NT Server 4.0, grades the assignment, updates the grade book (on a database), and returns the answer key to the student.

  19. Python Source Code Plagiarism Attacks on Introductory Programming Course Assignments

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  20. Scientist Spotlight Homework Assignments Shift Students' Stereotypes of Scientists and Enhance Science Identity in a Diverse Introductory Science Class.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schinske, Jeffrey N; Perkins, Heather; Snyder, Amanda; Wyer, Mary

    2016-01-01

    Research into science identity, stereotype threat, and possible selves suggests a lack of diverse representations of scientists could impede traditionally underserved students from persisting and succeeding in science. We evaluated a series of metacognitive homework assignments ("Scientist Spotlights") that featured counterstereotypical examples of scientists in an introductory biology class at a diverse community college. Scientist Spotlights additionally served as tools for content coverage, as scientists were selected to match topics covered each week. We analyzed beginning- and end-of-course essays completed by students during each of five courses with Scientist Spotlights and two courses with equivalent homework assignments that lacked connections to the stories of diverse scientists. Students completing Scientist Spotlights shifted toward counterstereotypical descriptions of scientists and conveyed an enhanced ability to personally relate to scientists following the intervention. Longitudinal data suggested these shifts were maintained 6 months after the completion of the course. Analyses further uncovered correlations between these shifts, interest in science, and course grades. As Scientist Spotlights require very little class time and complement existing curricula, they represent a promising tool for enhancing science identity, shifting stereotypes, and connecting content to issues of equity and diversity in a broad range of STEM classrooms. © 2016 J. N. Schinske et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 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).

  1. Student-Faculty Interactions about Disappointing Grades: Application of the Goals-Plans-Actions Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henningsen, Mary Lynn Miller; Valde, Kathleen S.; Russell, Gregory A.; Russell, Gregory R.

    2011-01-01

    The goals-plans-actions model and the theory of planned behavior were used to predict what lead to students having a conversation about a disappointing grade with a faculty member. Participants (N = 130) completed two surveys. In the first survey, participants completed measures of primary and secondary goals, planning, decision to engage,…

  2. ELearning Strategic Planning 2020: The Voice of Future Students as Stakeholders in Higher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finger, Glenn; Smart, Vicky

    2013-01-01

    Most universities are undertaking information technology (IT) strategic planning. The development of those plans often includes the voices of academics and sometimes engages alumni and current students. However, few engage and acknowledge the voice of future students. This paper is situated within the "Griffith University 2020 Strategic…

  3. Robotics and STEM Learning: Students' Achievements in Assignments According to the P3 Task Taxonomy--Practice, Problem Solving, and Projects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barak, Moshe; Assal, Muhammad

    2018-01-01

    This study presents the case of development and evaluation of a STEM-oriented 30-h robotics course for junior high school students (n = 32). Class activities were designed according to the P3 Task Taxonomy, which included: (1) practice-basic closed-ended tasks and exercises; (2) problem solving--small-scale open-ended assignments in which the…

  4. Talking about Money Is Taboo: Perceptions of Financial Planning Students and Implications for the Financial Planning Industry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alsemgeest, Liezel

    2016-01-01

    Communication about money is a social, cultural and psychological taboo and yet it is essential in the financial planning industry, as a financial planner cannot be effective if all information is not disclosed. This article examines how financial planning students perceive communication about money, their willingness to talk about it and their…

  5. Promoting Discussion in Peer Instruction: Discussion Partner Assignment and Accountability Scoring Mechanisms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chou, Chih-Yueh; Lin, Pin-Hsun

    2015-01-01

    Peer instruction (PI) involves students answering questions and peer discussion learning activities. PI can enhance student performance and engagement in classroom instruction. However, some students do not engage in the discussions. This study proposes two mechanisms, discussion partner assignment and accountability scoring mechanisms, to form…

  6. Mapping Learning Outcomes and Assignment Tasks for SPIDER Activities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lyn Brodie

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Modern engineering programs have to address rapidly changing technical content and have to enable students to develop transferable skills such as critical evaluation, communication skills and lifelong learning. This paper introduces a combined learning and assessment activity that provides students with opportunities to develop and practice their soft skills, but also extends their theoretical knowledge base. Key tasks included self directed inquiry, oral and written communication as well as peer assessment. To facilitate the SPIDER activities (Select, Prepare and Investigate, Discuss, Evaluate, Reflect, a software tool has been implemented in the learning management system Moodle. Evidence shows increased student engagement and better learning outcomes for both transferable as well as technical skills. The study focuses on generalising the relationship between learning outcomes and assignment tasks as well as activities that drive these tasks. Trail results inform the approach. Staff evaluations and their views of assignments and intended learning outcomes also supported this analysis.

  7. Integrating Graphing Assignments into a Money and Banking Course Using FRED

    Science.gov (United States)

    Staveley-O'Carroll, James

    2018-01-01

    Over the course of one semester, six empirical assignments that utilize FRED are used to introduce students of money and banking courses to the economic analysis required for the conduct of monetary policy. The first five assignments cover the following topics: inflation, bonds and stocks, monetary aggregates, the Taylor rule, and employment.…

  8. Anticipating students' reasoning and planning prompts in structured problem-solving lessons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vale, Colleen; Widjaja, Wanty; Doig, Brian; Groves, Susie

    2018-02-01

    Structured problem-solving lessons are used to explore mathematical concepts such as pattern and relationships in early algebra, and regularly used in Japanese Lesson Study research lessons. However, enactment of structured problem-solving lessons which involves detailed planning, anticipation of student solutions and orchestration of whole-class discussion of solutions is an ongoing challenge for many teachers. Moreover, primary teachers have limited experience in teaching early algebra or mathematical reasoning actions such as generalising. In this study, the critical factors of enacting the structured problem-solving lessons used in Japanese Lesson Study to elicit and develop primary students' capacity to generalise are explored. Teachers from three primary schools participated in two Japanese Lesson Study teams for this study. The lesson plans and video recordings of teaching and post-lesson discussion of the two research lessons along with students' responses and learning are compared to identify critical factors. The anticipation of students' reasoning together with preparation of supporting and challenging prompts was critical for scaffolding students' capacity to grasp and communicate generality.

  9. Generalised Assignment Matrix Methodology in Linear Programming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jerome, Lawrence

    2012-01-01

    Discrete Mathematics instructors and students have long been struggling with various labelling and scanning algorithms for solving many important problems. This paper shows how to solve a wide variety of Discrete Mathematics and OR problems using assignment matrices and linear programming, specifically using Excel Solvers although the same…

  10. An Overview of Fiduciary Standards and Suitability for Financial Planning Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chong, James T.; Jennings, Penelope R.; Phillips, G. Michael

    2015-01-01

    Financial planning is an interdisciplinary field including finance and business law topics. Consequently, standard pedagogical resources often omit topics that fall between these fields. To address a key gap in educational materials for financial planning students and faculty, this article reviews recent regulatory developments for financial…

  11. Debriefing to Improve Student Ability to Assess and Plan for the Care of Persons With Disability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takeda, Mikiko Y; Smith, Mark J; Cone, Catherine J

    2017-12-01

    Although recent literature suggests that students should be trained in the care of persons with disability (PWDs) as a form of cultural sensitivity (CS), healthcare professionals may receive limited experience during their formal training. After pharmacy students in 2 previous years of testing failed to adequately assess and plan for the care of a standardized patient's chief complaint and disability in an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), the investigators added debriefing to the OSCE to determine if it would improve student's ability to assess and plan for the care of PWD. Two sequentially enrolled second-year pharmacy school student cohorts participated in this study (control n = 90; intervention n = 82). During the OSCE, students interviewed and examined a standardized patient with a simulated physical disability and other chronic disease states. Students were then instructed to develop a care plan considering the patient's disability and other disease states. The intervention cohort received debriefing; the control did not. Students documented the care plan in a subjective, objective, assessment, and plan (SOAP) note. Investigators assessed SOAP note score (general ability of students to write a SOAP note) and CS score (specific ability to care for PWD) to determine the effectiveness of the debriefing. The intervention group showed a significantly higher percent mean CS score than the control group (93.6% ± 19% and 61.1% ± 30.7%, respectively, P improvement in pass rates (those students scoring ≥70% on the OSCE) of 59.4% with 92.7% of the students passing in the intervention group versus 33.3% of the students passing in the control group (P improved students' performance in developing care plans for disabled patients. Ideally, longitudinal studies should be completed to determine if these skills transfer from debriefings to clinical practice. Development of effective training and assessment methods is essential for students to obtain

  12. Toward Authentic IEPs and Transition Plans: Student, Parent, and Teacher Perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cavendish, Wendy; Connor, David

    2018-01-01

    This mixed-methods study examined perspectives on factors that influence meaningful student and parent involvement in Individualized Education Program (IEP) transition planning. Survey data and open-ended qualitative interviews with urban high school students with a learning disability (LD; n = 16), their parents (n = 9), and their teachers (n =…

  13. Comparative attitude and plans of the medical students and young Nepalese doctors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lakhey, M; Lakhey, S; Niraula, S R; Jha, D; Pant, R

    2009-01-01

    Many doctors are leaving Nepal to work abroad. To understand this problem better, we decided to study the attitude and plans of young doctors and medical students. This cross-sectional study was conducted at Kathmandu Medical College involving 65 first year medical students, 100 interns and 100 house officers. The data collected was entered in Microsoft excel and analysed by SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) programme. Chi-square test was used to compare two proportions. Significance level was set at 5%. Only 2% house officers said that their job prospects were excellent as compared to 22.4% of students, whereas 20% house officers as compared to 9% students thought job prospects in Nepal were poor (p= 0.003). Eighty two percent of students thought that a doctor's service to his country was very important as compared to 51% of interns (p= 0.001) and 58% of house officers. Forty percent of students, 58% of interns and 48% of house officers (no statistical significance between the three groups) planned to migrate to a developed country after graduation. Eighty eight percent of students, 89% interns and 74% of house officers (no statistical significant differences between the three groups) were of the opinion that improving career opportunities or working environment of the doctor could make the profession more attractive. Although majority of students, interns and house officers were of the opinion that a doctor's service to his community/country was very important, almost half of them still planned to migrate to a developed country after graduation. Improving the chances of professional advancement and professional working environment can make the profession more attractive, and therefore, may decrease this tendency for brain drain from our country.

  14. The effects of patients initiated aggression on Chinese medical students' career planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Zhonghui; Li, Jing; Chen, Yuhua; Cui, Kaijun

    2017-12-28

    Patient initiated aggression is common among Chinese health-care workers, reaching over 10,000 incidents annually (Jinyang web. http://6d.dxy.cn/article/55497 . 2013), and the tense doctor-patient relationship generates stress among medical students. Because of the paucity of data (few surveys pay attention to the effects of violence perpetrated by patients on medical students), this study aimed to characterize patient initiated aggression against medical students. In this cross-sectional survey conducted at a medical school in West China in 2015, 157 medical students completed a self-administered questionnaire and the Short Form-36, which assesses quality of life. The associations between patient initiated aggression exposure and medical students' career planning or quality of life were assessed using a chi-square test. Of the 157 medical students, 48 (30.6%) reported having suffered patient initiated aggression at least once during the previous year in the form of mental abuse (20.4%), offensive threat (14.6%), physical violence (8.3%), sexual harassment (verbal: 8.3% or physical: 1.6%), and extreme violence (physical violence leading to surgical treatment or hospitalization) (0.6%). Insufficient communication was the primary reason cited (27.2%). Emotional attack (mental abuse and offensive threat) occurrence differed among age groups (χ 2  = 9.786, P = 0.020) and was ubiquitous among those aged >30 years old. Women were more likely than men to suffer physical violence (χ 2  = 6.796, P = 0.009). Patient initiated aggression was not significantly associated with medical students' career planning or quality of life. In this study, patient initiated aggression, albeit common, as in the rest of China, did not appear to be associated with medical students' career planning or quality of life. However, the characteristics described can inform policymaking and the design of programs to minimize patient initiated aggression occurrence.

  15. Asset Mapping: A Course Assignment and Community Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crozier, Mary; Melchior, Florence

    2013-01-01

    Asset mapping is a relatively new data collection strategy to identify services, staff capacity, programs, resources, values, and other protective factors in a geographic area that can be juxtaposed to risk factors when initiating community planning. A substance abuse prevention course for undergraduates added an assignment of assessing community…

  16. The Effect of School Improvement Planning on Student Achievement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huber, David J.; Conway, James M.

    2015-01-01

    This study evaluated the hypothesis that schools in Connecticut's Alliance Districts (lowest-performing districts) with higher-quality school improvement plans (SIPs) would have higher levels of student achievement. An exploratory research question evaluated whether SIPs predicted achievement of particular subgroups. SIPs were obtained and scored…

  17. Applying new science leadership theory in planning an international nursing student practice experience in Nepal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doyle, Rose Marie

    2004-09-01

    Planning an international practice experience for nursing students is a challenging, but rewarding, opportunity. Kwantlen University College faculty members' experience of planning for 8 Bachelor of Science in Nursing students to study abroad was no exception. Faculty members' and students' interest prompted a request for a placement in Nepal. The faculty members involved in the planning were dedicated to using a process that would enable them to remain true to the program philosophy and theoretical underpinnings throughout the entire experience, from the planning phase to the follow-up presentation. Using Wheatley's theory, the students and faculty members reexamined their personal leadership styles to ensure they remained relationship focused, rather than task focused. Wheatley maintained that because the potentiality lies in building strong relationships, it is important to support the creative power that lies in those involved in a project. This article describes new science leadership and relates it to the planning phase for the practice experience in Nepal. Then, reflections on how the philosophy of the program may have influenced the experience are shared. Finally, critical reflection on using this theory in nursing education is presented.

  18. PAIR'14 / PAIR'15 STUDENT CONFERENCES ON PLANNING IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ROBOTICS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Editorial Foreword

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Dear Readerthe original idea of the student conference on “Planning in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics” (PAIR is to join young researchers from particular laboratories in Czech Republic, where planning problems are investigated from artificial intelligence (AI or robotics points of view. The first year of PAIR has been organized at the Dept. of Computer Science, Faculty Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University in 2014.At PAIR 2014, laboratories from Prague and Brno were presented. In particular, students and researchers from Charles University, Czech Technical University in Prague, Brno University of Technology, and Central European Institute of Technology participated at the event. Beside an introduction of the particular research groups and their topics, students presented contributions on their current research results. Ten papers were presented on topics ranging from domain–independent planning, trajectory planning to applications for unmanned aerial and legged robots. This first event provides us an initial experience with the community of young researchers in Czech Republic that are working planning in robotic or AI. Based on the success of PAIR 2014, we decided to continue with our effort to establish a suitable fora for students that are geographically very close, but usually do not meet, because of participation on different Robotics and AI events.The second student conference on Planning in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (PAIR 2015 successfully continues the tradition of the first year of the conference organized in Prague. This year, the conference was collocated with 10th anniversary of RoboTour contest in Písek. This format enable us to extend the impact of the PAIR conference and improve the visibility of the growing student community. The conference reached a good amount of interesting papers focused on image processing for mobile robots, swarm control, driving simulation, robot control, or domain

  19. Practical Homework Assignments As Part Of Chemistry Teaching And Learning

    OpenAIRE

    Dragica Trivic; Mirjana Markovi; Miomir Randjelovi

    2010-01-01

    The paper presents two examples of classroom practices when practical research tasks in primary and secondary school are assigned as homework. The task for primary school students was aimed at developing divergent thinking, which is evidenced and illustrated by some examples of students’ solutions. The task for secondary school students illustrates how these students are able to apply their classroom knowledge of acids, bases and indicators on the substances they can find in everyday life. Th...

  20. Big Data on a Smaller Scale: A Social Media Analytics Assignment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischbach, Sarah; Zarzosa, Jennifer

    2018-01-01

    It is truly important for students to understand how to monitor online marketing buzz. This assignment, social media analytics, utilizes the content analysis research method to build student's in-depth understanding on how to evaluate and interpret user-generated content (UGC) to create social media campaigns. The authors adapted Resnik and…

  1. The Relation between Academic Procrastination of University Students and Their Assignment and Exam Performances: The Situation in Distance and Face-to-Face Learning Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yilmaz, M. Betul

    2017-01-01

    The relation between assignment and exam performances of the university students and their academic procrastination behaviors in distance and face-to-face learning environments was investigated in this study. Empirical research carried out both in face-to-face and online environments have generally shown a negative correlation between academic…

  2. Factors Related to the Number of Fast Food Meals Obtained by College Meal Plan Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dingman, Deirdre A.; Schulz, Mark R.; Wyrick, David L.; Bibeau, Daniel L.; Gupta, Sat N.

    2014-01-01

    Objectives: This study tested whether days on campus, financial access through a meal plan, and health consciousness were associated with number of meals that college students obtained from fast food restaurants. Participants and Methods: In April 2013, all students currently enrolled in a meal plan were invited to participate in an online survey…

  3. Senior dental students' career intentions, work-life balance and retirement plans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stewart, F M J; Drummond, J R; Carson, L; Theaker, E D

    2007-09-08

    To gather information from senior dental students about their future career plans, with particular emphasis on work-life balance issues, their attitudes towards the NHS and retirement plans. Senior dental students at the Universities of Dundee and Manchester were asked to complete a voluntary anonymous questionnaire. In all 141 questionnaires were completed, 42 by students in Manchester and 114 in Dundee. On qualification nearly all surveyed intend to work full time but after five years one quarter (26%) of females intend to work part time. This is significantly (p work full time. Although the majority (65%) intend to work in general practice significant numbers (19%) wish to have a career in hospital dentistry and very few (3%) in community dentistry. Senior students seem to show no more commitment to the NHS than those in our previous study of dental school applicants. Only 3% intend to work exclusively for the NHS and 18% intend to work exclusively in the private sector. Surprising numbers had plans to retire or go part time before 60 years of age. Only 20% of the sample intended to continue working full time after the age of 60 years. The mode age that those surveyed intended to start a family was 30 years and a large majority of both sexes thought this would interrupt their professional life. More than half of the sample intend to take time out of dentistry until their children attended primary school (female 63%, male 38%) and 6% (female 6%, male 8%) until secondary school. Many of our findings suggest that future generations of dentists may have a pattern of professional life that will have the effect of reducing their clinical commitment, although it is not possible to determine how significant an effect this will have on the workforce. It may, however, be appropriate to take career intention into account when workforce planning.

  4. Care plans using concept maps and their effects on the critical thinking dispositions of nursing students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atay, Selma; Karabacak, Ukke

    2012-06-01

    It is expected that nursing education improves abilities of students in solving problems, decision making and critical thinking in different circumstances. This study was performed to analyse the effects of care plans prepared using concept maps on the critical thinking dispositions of students. An experimental group and a control group were made up of a total of 80 freshman and sophomore students from the nursing department of a health school. The study used a pre-test post-test control group design. The critical thinking dispositions of the groups were measured using the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory. In addition, the care plans prepared by the experimental group students were evaluated using the criteria for evaluating care plans with concept maps. T-test was used in analysing the data. The results showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the total and sub-scale pre-test scores between the experimental group and control group students. There were also significant differences in the total and sub-scale post-test scores between the experimental group and control group students. There were significant differences between concept map care plan evaluation criteria mean scores of the experimental students. In the light of these findings, it could be argued that the concept mapping strategy improves critical thinking skills of students. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

  5. Text Linguistics in Research Papers Prepared by University Students: Teaching through Lesson Plans and Textbooks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manuel Albarrán-Santiago

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This research project revolves around the properties of text linguistics under a qualitative approach.  The author analyzed drafts of a research paper by two university students as well as lesson plans and textbooks of high school Spanish Language and Literature courses and lesson plans of courses from the Licentiate degree in Education.  According to the information from the drafts, students struggle with coherence and cohesion in writing; however, they succeed in choosing the correct language for the type of writing.  Difficulties are most likely due to fact that this topic is not included in secondary education plans and is not commonly addressed in textbooks or university classes.  In conclusion, teachers should include the properties of text linguistics in their lesson plans in order to help students overcome these difficulties.

  6. Teacher-Child Interaction Training: A Pilot Study With Random Assignment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernandez, Melanie A; Adelstein, Jonathan S; Miller, Samantha P; Areizaga, Margaret J; Gold, Dylann C; Sanchez, Amanda L; Rothschild, Sara A; Hirsch, Emily; Gudiño, Omar G

    2015-07-01

    Teacher-Child Interaction Training (TCIT), adapted from Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), is a classroom-based program designed to provide teachers with behavior management skills that foster positive teacher-student relationships and to improve student behavior by creating a more constructive classroom environment. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate TCIT in more classrooms than previously reported in the literature, with older children than previously reported, using random assignment of classrooms to TCIT or to a no-TCIT control condition and conducting all but two sessions within the classroom to enhance feasibility. Participants included 11 kindergarten and first grade classroom teachers and their 118 students from three urban, public schools in Manhattan, with five classrooms randomly assigned to receive TCIT and six to the no-TCIT control condition. Observations of teacher skill acquisition were conducted before, during, and after TCIT for all 11 teachers, and teacher reports of student behavior were obtained at these same time points. Teacher satisfaction with TCIT was assessed following training. Results suggested that after receiving TCIT, teachers increased rates of positive attention to students' appropriate behavior, decreased rates of negative attention to misbehavior, reported significantly less distress related to student disruptive behavior, and reported high satisfaction with the training program. Our study supports the growing evidence-base suggesting that TCIT is a promising approach for training teachers in positive behavior management strategies and for improving student disruptive behavior in the classroom. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  7. Intentions to Cheat: Ajzen's Planned Behavior and Goal-Related Personality Facets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lonsdale, Damian

    2017-02-17

    This study sought to test antecedents to college students' intentions to cheat by utilizing Ajzen's ( 1991 ) theory of planned behavior (TPB), and four goal-related personality facets. Those facets were behavioral approach, behavioral inhibition, need for achievement-hope of success, and need for achievement-fear of failure. As hypothesized, perceived friends' and parents' attitudes toward academic dishonesty (two subjective norms) and perceived ease of cheating (perceived behavioral control) all positively predicted overall intentions to cheat. Perceived friends' attitudes seemed to play a more influential role than perceived parents' attitudes. Interestingly, male students reported greater parental acceptance of academic misconduct than female students reported. Among the personality facets, behavioral approach and need for achievement-hope of success were positive and negative predictors of cheating intentions, respectively. A more fine-grained examination of take-home assignments revealed that students considered them easier to cheat on and reported greater intentions to cheat on them in comparison to other forms of academic work (e.g., exams and papers). Also, need for achievement-fear of failure positively predicted intentions to cheat on take-home assignments, but not other cheating intentions. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

  8. Designing Internet research assignments: building a framework for instructor collaboration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Ward

    2000-01-01

    Full Text Available Internet knowledge is increasing steadily among instructors in the academic world. As courses incorporate more instructional technology, traditional undergraduate research assignments are adapting to reflect the changing world of information and information access. New library assignments reflect this shift as well, with term papers and research projects asking students to use Web sites as an information resource, in addition to the standard literature of periodicals and monographs. But the many pitfalls the library profession has learned in its own metamorphosis during the past decade are often repeated in these newer course assignments. The authors in this paper present a framework for librarians to interact with instructors to incorporate Internet resources into traditional term paper and research assignments. They suggest a framework for creating sample assignments librarians can take to campus instructional units, to show the teaching community at large what the library profession has learned from first-hand experience.

  9. Assessment of Student Memo Assignments in Management Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Julie Ann Stuart; Stanny, Claudia J.; Reid, Randall C.; Hill, Christopher J.; Rosa, Katie Martin

    2015-01-01

    Frequently in Management Science courses, instructors focus primarily on teaching students the mathematics of linear programming models. However, the ability to discuss mathematical expressions in business terms is an important professional skill. The authors present an analysis of student abilities to discuss management science concepts through…

  10. Langley Research Center Strategic Plan for Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Proctor, Sandra B.

    1994-01-01

    Research assignment centered on the preparation of final draft of the NASA Langley Strategic Plan for Education. Primary research activity consisted of data collection, through interviews with LaRC Office of Education and NASA Headquarters staff, university administrators and faculty, and school administrators / teachers; and documentary analysis. Pre-college and university programs were critically reviewed to assure effectiveness, support of NASA and Langley's mission and goals; National Education Goals; and educational reform strategies. In addition to these mandates, pre-college programs were reviewed to address present and future LaRC activities for teacher enhancement and preparation. University programs were reviewed with emphasis on student support and recruitment; faculty development and enhancement; and LaRC's role in promoting the utilization of educational technologies and distance learning. The LaRC Strategic Plan for Education will enable the Office of Education to provide a focused and well planned continuum of education programs for students, teachers and faculty. It will serve to direct and focus present activities and programs while simultaneously offering the flexibility to address new and emerging directions based on changing national, state, and agency trends.

  11. A Strategic Planning for a College Student-Segment Shopping Mall

    OpenAIRE

    Astri Anindya Sari; Hanson Endra Kusuma; Baskoro Tedjo

    2011-01-01

    In the midst of shopping mall development today, an understanding of consumer behaviors and preferences is absolutely a must if we want to plan successfuly a shopping mall. This knowledge will provide input for strategic planning so that the concept offered for shopping mall development will meet the consumers’ demand and may win the market competition. This study explores the preferences of students in Bandung as one of the potential market segments of the shopping mall. Qualitative study w...

  12. Development of Lesson Plans and Student Worksheets Based Socio-Scientific Issues on Pollution Environmental Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahayu, S.; Meyliana, M.; Arlingga, A.; Reny, R.; Siahaan, P.; Hernani, H.

    2017-09-01

    The aim of this study is to develop lesson plans and student worksheets based socio-scientific issues on pollution environmental topic for seventh-grade junior high school students. Environmental pollution topic split into several subtopics namely air pollution, water pollution and soil pollution. The composing of lesson plans were developed based on socio-scientific issues with five stages, namely (1) Motivate; (2) Challenge; (3) Collect scientific evidence; (4) Analyse the evidence; (5) Build knowledge and make connections; and (6) Use evidence. While student worksheets contain articles on socio-scientific issues, practice, and there are a few questions to determine students’ reasoning. The method that is used in this research is research and development (R & D method). Development model used in this study is a model of Plomp that consists of four stages, namely: (1) Initial Research; (2) Design; (3) Realization or Construction; (4) Testing, evaluation and revision; (5) Implementation, while the research was limited to the fourth stage. Lesson plans and student worksheets based on socio-scientific issues was validated through an expert validation. The result showed that lesson plans and student worksheets based socio-scientific issues on pollution theme have a very decent and be able to apply in science classroom.

  13. Grouped to Achieve: Are There Benefits to Assigning Students to Heterogeneous Cooperative Learning Groups Based on Pre-Test Scores?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Werth, Arman Karl

    Cooperative learning has been one of the most widely used instructional practices around the world since the early 1980's. Small learning groups have been in existence since the beginning of the human race. These groups have grown in their variance and complexity overtime. Classrooms are getting more diverse every year and instructors need a way to take advantage of this diversity to improve learning. The purpose of this study was to see if heterogeneous cooperative learning groups based on student achievement can be used as a differentiated instructional strategy to increase students' ability to demonstrate knowledge of science concepts and ability to do engineering design. This study includes two different groups made up of two different middle school science classrooms of 25-30 students. These students were given an engineering design problem to solve within cooperative learning groups. One class was put into heterogeneous cooperative learning groups based on student's pre-test scores. The other class was grouped based on random assignment. The study measured the difference between each class's pre-post gains, student's responses to a group interaction form and interview questions addressing their perceptions of the makeup of their groups. The findings of the study were that there was no significant difference between learning gains for the treatment and comparison groups. There was a significant difference between the treatment and comparison groups in student perceptions of their group's ability to stay on task and manage their time efficiently. Both the comparison and treatment groups had a positive perception of the composition of their cooperative learning groups.

  14. The Impact of Support Services on Students' Test Anxiety and/or Their Ability to Submit Assignments: A Focus on Vision Impairment and Intellectual Disability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Datta, Poulomee; Talukdar, Joy

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated the influence of the support services on the test anxiety of students and/or their ability to submit assignments in each of the two disability groups, those with vision impairment and those with intellectual disability, who were placed in specialist and mainstream educational settings in South Australia. Interviews were…

  15. A Hybrid Model for Making Online Assignments Effective In a Traditional Classroom

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronda Sturgill

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Today’s college student has grown up in a world filled with technology and many current college students routinely utilize the latest and most up to date forms of technology. The result is an ever-changing way of communicating between faculty members and students. Many faculty members, however, are intimidated by the use of the terms “technology”, “online” and “distance education.” This often results in a communication gap between faculty and students where faculty members will “lose” students on the first day of class. Advantages of incorporating online tools into the course structure include freeing up additional class time, enhancing classroom discussions, and allowing students to remain current with information in their field. This hybrid instructional model focuses on the integration of technology tools as a supplement to traditional classroom teaching. This paper will describe how to effectively incorporate and implement technology using online course tools in a traditional classroom setting. Specific examples of online assignments, discussions, and assessments from an allied health education program and class will be discussed. Lessons learned and challenges confronted when adapting to the utilization of specific online course assignments and tools will be discussed.

  16. Gender difference in academic planning activity among medical students.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huy Van Nguyen

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: In Vietnam, as doctor of medicine is socially considered a special career, both men and women who are enrolled in medical universities often study topics of medicine seriously. However, as culturally expected, women often perform better than men. Because of this, teaching leadership and management skill (LMS to develop academic planning activity (APA for female medical students would also be expected to be more effective than male counterparts. This research aimed to compare by gender the effect of teaching LMS on increasing APA, using propensity score matching (PSM. METHODS: In a cross-sectional survey utilizing a self-reported structured questionnaire on a systematic random sample of 421 male and female medical students in Hanoi Medical University, this study adopted first regression techniques to construct a fit model, then PSM to create a matched control group in order to allow for evaluating the effect of LMS education. RESULTS: There were several interesting gender differences. First, while for females LMS education had both direct and indirect effects on APA, it had only direct effect on males' APA. Second, after PSM to adjust for the possible confounders to balance statistically two groups - with and without LMS education, there is statistically a significant difference in APA between male and female students, making a net difference of 11% (p<.01, equivalent to 173 students. The difference in APA between exposed and matched control group in males and females was 9% and 20%, respectively. These estimates of 9.0 and 20.0 percentage point increase can be translated into the practice of APA by 142 males and 315 females, respectively, in the population. These numbers of APA among male and female students can be explained by LMS education. CONCLUSIONS: Gender appears to be a factor explaining in part academic planning activity.

  17. Academic Self-Perceptions of Ability and Course Planning among Academically Advanced Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudasill, Kathleen Moritz; Callahan, Carolyn M.

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to examine the contribution of gender to the academic self-perceptions of ability and related coursework plans for high school and college across academically advanced students. Participants were academically advanced students (N = 447) from grades 5 to 12. Findings revealed that (a) girls' self-perceptions of ability…

  18. Integrating student-focused career planning into undergraduate gerontology programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manoogian, Margaret M; Cannon, Melissa L

    2018-04-02

    As our global older adult populations are increasing, university programs are well-positioned to produce an effective, gerontology-trained workforce (Morgan, 2012; Silverstein & Fitzgerald, 2017). A gerontology curriculum comprehensively can offer students an aligned career development track that encourages them to: (a) learn more about themselves as a foundation for negotiating career paths; (b) develop and refine career skills; (c) participate in experiential learning experiences; and (d) complete competency-focused opportunities. In this article, we discuss a programmatic effort to help undergraduate gerontology students integrate development-based career planning and decision-making into their academic programs and achieve postgraduation goals.

  19. Student`s research initiatives in the study of strategic planning of regional development

    OpenAIRE

    Malchykova, Daria; Korobov, Volodymyr; Pylypenko, Ihor

    2017-01-01

    An article describes methodological foundations and principles of the various aspects of the process of strategic planning of regional development study. One of the priorities of innovative pedagogical and methodological work in teaching the competence approach appears. Competence in this approach is the ability of students to solve concrete tasks of regional development evaluation. According to dalto-competence approach the following principles were offered: scientific, systematic, interdisc...

  20. Justifying the Use of Internet Sources in School Assignments on Controversial Issues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mikkonen, Teemu

    2018-01-01

    Introduction: This study concerns students' criteria in the evaluation of Internet sources for a school assignment requiring reflections on a controversial issue. The findings are elaborated by analysing students' discursive accounts in justifying the use or non-use of sources. Method: The interview data was collected in a Finnish upper secondary…

  1. Online supervision at the university - A comparative study of supervision on student assignments face-to-face and online

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Søren Smedegaard Bengtsen

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Through an empirical study of supervision on student assignments at the university across face-to-face and online settings, we show firstly the limiting implications of traditional dichotomies between face-to-face and online supervision. Secondly we show that more attention must be given to the way different digital tools influence the supervisory dialogue. These findings illustrate a form of ‘torn pedagogy’; that online tools and platforms destabilize and tear traditional understandings of supervision pedagogy apart. Also we forge a new concept of “format supervision” that enables supervisors to understand and reflect their supervision practice as a deliberate choice between face-to-face and online formats.

  2. Online supervision at the university - A comparative study of supervision on student assignments face-to-face and online

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Søren Smedegaard Bengtsen

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Through an empirical study of supervision on student assignments at the university across face-to-face and online settings, we show firstly the limiting implications of traditional dichotomies between face-to-face and online supervision. Secondly we show that more attention must be given to the way different digital tools influence the supervisory dialogue. These findings illustrate a form of ‘torn pedagogy’; that online tools and platforms destabilize and tear traditional understandings of supervision pedagogy apart. Also we forge a new concept of “format supervision” that enables supervisors to understand and reflect their supervision practice as a deliberate choice between face-to-face and online formats.

  3. MENGATASI LEARNED HELPLESSNESS PADA SISWA TINGGAL KELAS MELALUI KONSELING RASIONAL EMOTIF TEKNIK HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Riski Aulia

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to determine the efforts and success in overcoming learned helplessness behavior in students failing grades through rational emotive counseling techniques homework assignments. Type of study used is action research. The subjects studied are two repetition students who experienced learned helplessness. Data collection methods used were interviews, observation and documentation. While the data analysis using qualitative analysis.The results of the study showed that after given counseling in the action cycles 1 and 2, showed that the clients learned helplessness criteria is very low with a decreased percentage. It was concluded that the learned helplessness in repetition students can be solve by using rational emotive counseling with homework assignments technique.

  4. DEVELOPMENT AND IMPROVEMENT OF BUSINESS HIGHER EDUCATION THROUGH IMPLEMENTATION OF STUDENTS LEARNING OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT PLAN (SLOAP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zoran Ivanovski

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available This study presents new vision how to upgrade business higher education at the Faculty of Economics at University of Tourism and Management in Skopje (UTMS. This paper is result of analyses of best practices of leading higher education institutions as well authors experience in higher education and business education and practice. The UTMS is orientated to introduce best practices and objective standards in order to offer high-quality business education for its students. UTMS has mission for permanent implementation of quality improvement measures as a way to achieve high professional and academic standards and become part of prosperous and respective Universities. In order to achieve this goal, UTMS plan to use additional measures, outcomes assessment as a way to measure institutional effectiveness, as well as effective technique for identifying where changes and improvements are necessary. UTMS has developed Students Learning Outcomes Assessment Plan (SLOAP as a way to reach this goal.Based on permanent analysis of students needs as well as business sector suggestions about desirable level of knowledge, skills and competence of the students from Faculty of Economics, gained from conducted evaluations, UTMS decide to make additional improvement and development of business education. This process have 4 phases: 1 evaluation of students attitude towards curricula and the instructors efficiency, 2preparation of the SLOAP (Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Plan document, 3 implementation of two direct measures from the SLOAP through assessment analysis and action planning, and 4 monitoring changes and improvements made as a result of action planning.The first phase was completed in spring semester 2012, as well as second one with development of Comprehensive Exam and Capstone Course as direct measures. Complete SLOAP also has indirect measures like student satisfaction inventory, course evaluations, alumni, and employers’ surveys, and a

  5. Clinical placements and nursing students' career planning: a qualitative exploration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKenna, Lisa; McCall, Louise; Wray, Natalie

    2010-04-01

    Many nursing students enter undergraduate programmes with preconceived ideas about their future nursing careers, and intend to practice in particular areas such as midwifery or paediatrics. Through clinical placements, students are exposed to different clinical areas and professional socialization is facilitated. However, little is known about the influence of clinical placements on students' career intentions. This paper reports nursing findings drawn from a large qualitative study conducted in Victoria, Australia that sought to explore the influence of health professional students' clinical placements on their future career intentions. Participants were invited to be involved in either face-to-face or focus group interviews depending upon their own preference. Thematic data analysis revealed three main themes: 're-affirming career choice', 'working in a particular area' and 'work location'. Findings from the study add to our understanding of factors influencing nursing students' planning for their future careers including the impact of clinical placements.

  6. Curricular Activities that Promote Metacognitive Skills Impact Lower-Performing Students in an Introductory Biology Course.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dang, Nathan V; Chiang, Jacob C; Brown, Heather M; McDonald, Kelly K

    2018-01-01

    This study explores the impacts of repeated curricular activities designed to promote metacognitive skills development and academic achievement on students in an introductory biology course. Prior to this study, the course curriculum was enhanced with pre-assignments containing comprehension monitoring and self-evaluation questions, exam review assignments with reflective questions related to study habits, and an optional opportunity for students to explore metacognition and deep versus surface learning. We used a mixed-methods study design and collected data over two semesters. Self-evaluation, a component of metacognition, was measured via exam score postdictions, in which students estimated their exam scores after completing their exam. Metacognitive awareness was assessed using the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) and a reflective essay designed to gauge students' perceptions of their metacognitive skills and study habits. In both semesters, more students over-predicted their Exam 1 scores than under-predicted, and statistical tests revealed significantly lower mean exam scores for the over-predictors. By Exam 3, under-predictors still scored significantly higher on the exam, but they outnumbered the over-predictors. Lower-performing students also displayed a significant increase in exam postdiction accuracy by Exam 3. While there was no significant difference in students' MAI scores from the beginning to the end of the semester, qualitative analysis of reflective essays indicated that students benefitted from the assignments and could articulate clear action plans to improve their learning and performance. Our findings suggest that assignments designed to promote metacognition can have an impact on students over the course of one semester and may provide the greatest benefits to lower-performing students.

  7. Personal Financial Planning for Retirement: A Study with Specialization Courses' Students of a Higher Education Institution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jônatas Dietrich

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available This article presents the results of a research aimed to identify whether students of specialization of a higher education institution of Rio Grande do Sul held a personal financial planning for retirement. Yet, through this study it was sought to determine how these students do their financial planning for retirement, and those who do not realize it why they do not. To develop this study, the method used had quantitative and descriptive approach, the results were obtained through a research conducted in the first half of 2015 with 166 students in 11 courses of specialization of a higher education institution. As a result, it was found that less than half of respondents hold a financial planning for retirement, the majority uses the private pension as a major investment for such planning and that those who do not realize allege the lack of resources to save and invest or, yet, they consider themselves too young to start this planning, but it was found that the vast majority of participants do not realize that financial planning for retirement plan to do it. Still, it was contacted that the level of knowledge of personal finance and items related to social security is greatest among participants who hold a personal financial planning for retirement.

  8. The Examination of the Effectiveness of an Educational Intervention based on the Planned Behavior Theory on Improving Pubertal Health Behavior in Female High School Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Farnaz Eslamimehr

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Background: Puberty is a period of psychological, physical, mental, emotional and social growth that stability and development of personality occurs in this period. This study aimed to determine the effect of planned behavior theory on improving pubertal health behavior in female first grade high school students. Materials and Methods:  A quasi-experimental intervention was conducted in female high school in Khamir city, Iran in 2015. One of the schools were randomly assigned to the control group and other to the experimental group. Using the formula sample, 60 students were selected from each school. Samples were evaluated in two stages through pre-test and two months later via post-test by administered questionnaire including questions about demographic characteristics and structures of planned behavior theory. The content of training was presented through lecture group discussion with teaching aids such as booklet and pamphlet. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: The intervention group mean age at first menstrual period was 12.30 ± 0.84 years old and for control group was 12.25 ± 0.79 years old. The results showed that two months after the intervention, health behaviors, subjective norms, behavioral intention, perceived behavioral control, and attitude, were significantly higher than pre- intervention (P

  9. Suicidal ideation, plans and attempts among medical college students in china: The effect of their parental characteristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Long; Zhou, Chengchao; Xu, Lingzhong; Li, Shixue; Kong, Fanlei; Chu, Jie

    2017-01-01

    Medical college students are a high-risk population of suicidal ideation, plan and attempt. However, few studies discuss the effect of parental characteristics on suicidal ideation, plans and attempts among medical college students in China. A total of 2198 respondents answered the questionnaires referring social-demographic characteristics, psychological conditions, parental characteristics, suicidal ideation, plan and attempt. The prevalence of suicidal ideation, plan and attempt among the subjects were 17.9%, 5.2% and 4.3%, respectively. The results of multiple logistic regression showed that male, mother's education level, mother's parenting style, relationship in parents and psychological condition were associated with lifetime suicidal ideation. Male, mother's vocation, mother's parenting style, relationship in parents and psychological conditions were associated with suicide plan. Male, relationship in parents and psychological condition were associated with suicide attempt. Those imply that mother may play more roles on suicidal ideation and plan than father among medical college students in China. Psychological condition has a very strong association with suicidal ideation, plan and attempt. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Developing Problem Solving and Communication Skills through Memo Assignments in a Management Science Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Julie Ann Stuart; Reid, Randall C.

    2010-01-01

    The authors describe how to structure a memo format for homework assignments in which a manager requests analysis of a particular issue from the student. The student must respond with a memo stating a recommendation and describing the solution approach. The results from using the memo format include improved student performance and professional…

  11. Using Pinterest in Undergraduate Social Work Education: Assignment Development and Pilot Survey Results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Lisa R.; Hitchcock, Laurel Iverson

    2017-01-01

    This article describes the development, implementation, and assessment of a social media assignment using Pinterest as a tool for student engagement and professional development in two undergraduate social work courses. Twenty-one undergraduate students enrolled in Human Behavior and the Social Environment (HBSE) courses completed the assignment…

  12. PLUS: 'Planning Land Use with Students' is a Local Land Use Policy That Showcase the Geosciences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turrin, M.

    2014-12-01

    Land Use decisions in the local community are well represented in geoscience topics and issues, and provide an excellent opportunity to showcase a wide range of geoscience careers to high school students. In PLUS (Planning Land Use with Students) we work with youth corps, volunteer agencies and the County Departments of Planning, Transportation, Public Health, Water Resources to run a program for high school seniors to engage the students in the complex layers of decision making connected with land use as we showcase geoscience careers (http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/edu/plus/index.html). How development occurs, what resources are in use and who makes these decisions is both interesting and relevant for students. We develop case studies around current, active, local land use issues large enough in scale to have a formal environmental review at the County and/or the State level. Sections of each case study are dedicated to addressing the range of environmental issues that are central to each land use decision. Water, its availability, planned use and treatment on the site, brings in both a review of local hydrology and a discussion of storm water management. Air quality and the impact of the proposed project's density, transportation plans, and commercial and industrial uses brings in air quality issues like air quality ratings, existing pollution, and local air monitoring. A review of the site plans brings in grading plans for the project area, which highlights issues of drainage, soil stability, and exposure to toxins or pollutants depending on the historic use of the site. Brownfield redevelopments are especially challenging with various monitoring, clean up and usage restrictions that are extremely interesting to the students. Students' work with mentors from the community who represent various roles in the planning process including a range of geosciences, community business members and other players in the planning process. This interplay of individuals provides

  13. Noise disturbance in open-plan study environments: a field study on noise sources, student tasks and room acoustic parameters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braat-Eggen, P Ella; van Heijst, Anne; Hornikx, Maarten; Kohlrausch, Armin

    2017-09-01

    The aim of this study is to gain more insight in the assessment of noise in open-plan study environments and to reveal correlations between noise disturbance experienced by students and the noise sources they perceive, the tasks they perform and the acoustic parameters of the open-plan study environment they work in. Data were collected in five open-plan study environments at universities in the Netherlands. A questionnaire was used to investigate student tasks, perceived sound sources and their perceived disturbance, and sound measurements were performed to determine the room acoustic parameters. This study shows that 38% of the surveyed students are disturbed by background noise in an open-plan study environment. Students are mostly disturbed by speech when performing complex cognitive tasks like studying for an exam, reading and writing. Significant but weak correlations were found between the room acoustic parameters and noise disturbance of students. Practitioner Summary: A field study was conducted to gain more insight in the assessment of noise in open-plan study environments at universities in the Netherlands. More than one third of the students was disturbed by noise. An interaction effect was found for task type, source type and room acoustic parameters.

  14. Space Station Freedom operations planning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Accola, Anne L.; Keith, Bryant

    1989-01-01

    The Space Station Freedom program is developing an operations planning structure which assigns responsibility for planning activities to three tiers of management. The strategic level develops the policy, goals and requirements for the program over a five-year horizon. Planning at the tactical level emphasizes program integration and planning for a two-year horizon. The tactical planning process, architecture, and products have been documented and discussed with the international partners. Tactical planning includes the assignment of user and system hardware as well as significant operational events to a time increment (the period of time from the arrival of one Shuttle to the manned base to the arrival of the next). Execution-level planning emphasizes implementation, and each organization produces detailed plans, by increment, that are specific to its function.

  15. Articles as Assignments - Modalities and Experiences of Wikipedia Use in University Courses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wannemacher, Klaus

    In spite of perceived quality deficits, Wikipedia is a popular information resource among students. Instructors increasingly take advantage of the positive student attitude through actively integrating Wikipedia as a learning tool into university courses. The contribution raises the question if Wikipedia assignments in university courses are suited to make complex research, editing and bibliographic processes through which scholarship is produced transparent to students and to effectively improve their research and writing skills.

  16. THE ORTHOGRAPHIC NORM IN SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivana Đorđev

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the results of research conducted with the primary objective to determine in which areas secondary school students usually make orthographic mistakes when writing (official written assignments. Starting from the hypothesis that the punctuation writing of whole and split words are areas in which secondary school students (regardless of age and school orientation achieved the weakest achievements an (exploratory research was conducted on a corpus of 3,135 written assignments written in the school year of 2010/11. The research sample was intentional, descriptive and analytical methods were used for the description and the analysis of the results. The results showed the following (1 secondary school students usually make mistakes in punctuation of written assignments - we recorded 4,487 errors in the use of signs to denote intonation and meaning of a text (errors of this type make 53.93% of the total number of spelling errors reported in the corpus of research; by frequency of errors the second are errors related to writing whole and split words (11.02%, the third error is in the use of the capital letter (9.34%; (2 most problems in orthography have second grade students, quantum of mistakes is almost the same with first graders and seniors, but in all grades the most frequent errors are in punctuation, writing of whole and split words and the use of capital letters; (3 Although school orientation affects the spelling skills of pupils, the weakest orthographic achievements are also recorded in punctuation, writing of whole and split words and capitalization, so those are areas that need to be thoroughly addressed in teaching and methodology literature. The results are, on the one hand, a picture of the current status of teaching orthography and grammar knowledge of secondary school students. On the other hand, the research results can be applied in all phases of methodical practical work in teaching orthography, the upgrading the

  17. Teaching planning theory as planner roles in urban planning education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olesen, Kristian

    2018-01-01

    Planning theory is often portrayed as a subject that urban planning students find too abstract and fail to see the relevance of. This paper advocates the perspective that planning theory can be made more student-friendly. This requires, firstly, that academic discussions about the relevance...... of planning theory for urban planning practice are integrated into the course module. If students are to appreciate planning theory, it requires that they understand how planning theory can inspire planning practice. Secondly, it requires careful considerations to the pedagogy of planning theory. The paper...... suggests that teaching planning theory as a variety of planner roles offers a helpful pedagogical approach for helping students construct their identities as urban planners. The paper builds on the author’s own experiences of teaching planning theory in a master’s urban planning programme, and has been...

  18. Curricular Activities that Promote Metacognitive Skills Impact Lower-Performing Students in an Introductory Biology Course†

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dang, Nathan V.; Chiang, Jacob C.; Brown, Heather M.

    2018-01-01

    This study explores the impacts of repeated curricular activities designed to promote metacognitive skills development and academic achievement on students in an introductory biology course. Prior to this study, the course curriculum was enhanced with pre-assignments containing comprehension monitoring and self-evaluation questions, exam review assignments with reflective questions related to study habits, and an optional opportunity for students to explore metacognition and deep versus surface learning. We used a mixed-methods study design and collected data over two semesters. Self-evaluation, a component of metacognition, was measured via exam score postdictions, in which students estimated their exam scores after completing their exam. Metacognitive awareness was assessed using the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) and a reflective essay designed to gauge students’ perceptions of their metacognitive skills and study habits. In both semesters, more students over-predicted their Exam 1 scores than under-predicted, and statistical tests revealed significantly lower mean exam scores for the over-predictors. By Exam 3, under-predictors still scored significantly higher on the exam, but they outnumbered the over-predictors. Lower-performing students also displayed a significant increase in exam postdiction accuracy by Exam 3. While there was no significant difference in students’ MAI scores from the beginning to the end of the semester, qualitative analysis of reflective essays indicated that students benefitted from the assignments and could articulate clear action plans to improve their learning and performance. Our findings suggest that assignments designed to promote metacognition can have an impact on students over the course of one semester and may provide the greatest benefits to lower-performing students. PMID:29904551

  19. Self-expression assignment as a teaching approach to enhance the interest of Kuwaiti women in biological sciences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    El-Sabban, Farouk

    2008-06-01

    Stimulating the interest of students in biological sciences necessitates the use of new teaching methods and motivating approaches. The idea of the self-expression assignment (SEA) has evolved from the prevalent environment at the College for Women of Kuwait University (Safat, State of Kuwait), a newly established college where the number of students is low and where students have varied backgrounds and interests and are being instructed biological sciences in English for the first time. This SEA requires each student to choose a topic among a long list of topics and interact with it in any way to produce a finished product without the interference of the course instructor. Students are told that the SEA will be graded based on their commitment, creative thinking, innovation in developing the idea, and finishing up of the chosen assignment. The SEA has been implemented in three introductory courses, namely, Biology, Introduction to Human Nutrition and Food Science, and The Human Body. Many interesting projects resulted from the SEA, and, based on an administered survey, students assessed this assignment very favorably. Students expressed their pleasure of experiencing freedom in choosing their own topics, interacting with such topics, learning more about them, and finishing up their projects. Students appreciated this type of exposure to biological sciences and expressed that such an experience enhanced their interest in such sciences.

  20. Intraprofessional, team-based treatment planning for oral health students in the comprehensive care clinic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mattheos, Nikos; Storrs, Mark; Foster, Lea; Oberholzer, Theunis

    2012-12-01

    In 2009, Griffith University School of Dentistry and Oral Health, in Queensland, Australia, introduced into its various curricula the concept of team-based treatment planning (TBTP), aiming to facilitate intraprofessional, interdisciplinary training and peer learning among its students. Fifty student teams were organized, each of which included students from three programs (Dental Science, Oral Health Therapy, and Dental Technology) and three years of study (third-, fourth-, and fifth-year students). This study prospectively evaluated the impact of TBTP on students' perceptions and attitudes towards teamwork and their role in a team of peers. A total of 202 students who participated in fifty TBTP teams were prospectively surveyed at baseline and at six and twelve months after introduction of TBTP. "Reliable" and "responsible" were reported to be the most important qualities of both an effective team leader and member. Fifth-year students identified "hard-working" as an important quality of the ideal leader as opposed to the fourth-year students who ranked "supportive" higher. Attitudes of the fifth-year students towards TBTP appeared to have declined significantly from the previous years, while fourth-year students remained consistently more positive. In addition, fourth-year students appeared more likely to enjoy working in a team and considered themselves more effective in a team. No gender differences were observed, other than female students' appearing less confident to lead a team. It was concluded that the function of student-directed interdisciplinary, intraprofessional treatment planning teams might pose disproportionate strain on fifth-year students, impacting their attitudes to such modes of work.

  1. Assessment of Understanding: Student Teachers' Preparation, Implementation and Reflection of a Lesson Plan for Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Juhler, Martin Vogt

    2017-05-01

    Research finds that student teachers often fail to make observable instructional goals, without which a secure bridge between instruction and assessment is precluded. This is one reason that recent reports state that teacher education needs to become better at helping student teachers to develop their thinking about and skills in assessing pupils' learning. Currently in Europe, the Lesson Study method and the Content Representation tool, which both have a specific focus on assessment, have started to address this problem. This article describes and discusses an intervention in which Lesson Study was used in combination with Content Representation in student teachers' field practice. Empirical materials from one group of student teachers were analyzed to illustrate how the student teachers worked with assessment during the planning of a lesson, how they implemented it in a research lesson, and how they used the gathered observations to make claims about assessment aims. The findings suggest that the student teachers placed greater emphasis on assessment through the intervention. However, it is also found that more attention should have been dedicated to the planning phase and that the group did not manage to keep a research focus throughout the Lesson Study process. This suggests that it properly would be beneficial with several planning sessions prior to the research lesson, as well as having an expert teacher leading the Lesson Study.

  2. Student perceptions of reproductive health education in US medical schools: a qualitative analysis of students taking family planning electives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veazey, Kathryn; Nieuwoudt, Claudia; Gavito, Christina; Tocce, Kristina

    2015-01-01

    Abortion services will be sought by an estimated one in three US women before they reach age 45. Despite the importance of family planning (FP) care, many medical schools do not currently offer formal education in this area, and students are unable to meet associated competency standards prior to graduation. The purpose of this study was to explore students' motivations in pursuing FP electives throughout the United States, their experiences during these courses, and any impact of these rotations on their plans for future practice. We conducted a qualitative study consisting of semi-structured interviews with medical students upon completing fourth-year FP electives at US medical schools. Thirty-seven LCME-accredited US medical schools offered fourth-year FP electives. Course directors at 21 of these institutions recruited study participants between June 2012 and June 2013. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed with ATLAS/ti software to identify salient themes. We interviewed 29 students representing 14 institutions from all regions of the United States (East Coast, Midwest, South, and West Coast). Five central themes emerged. Medical students are using FP electives to fill gaps in the standard curriculum. Elective participation did not change students' pre-elective stance on abortion. Many students intend to provide abortion in the future but identified possible limiting factors. Proficiency in contraception and options counseling were top competencies desired and gained. Students reported excellent satisfaction with FP electives and would recommend it to their peers, regardless of their personal beliefs. Interview data revealed that students are using FP electives to fill gaps within preclinical and clinical medical school curriculum. Future physicians will be unable to provide comprehensive care for their female patients if they are not provided with this education. Research should be directed at development and analysis of comprehensive FP curricula

  3. Making Economic Principles Personal: Student Journals and Reflection Papers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brewer, Stephanie M.; Jozefowicz, James J.

    2006-01-01

    The authors address two informal writing assignments implemented in introductory economics classes. One assignment involves students writing short reflection papers, and the other assignment involves students writing short journal entries for a designated period of time. Both assignments are designed to help students realize that economics is…

  4. Factors affecting nursing students' intention to report medication errors: An application of the theory of planned behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ben Natan, Merav; Sharon, Ira; Mahajna, Marlen; Mahajna, Sara

    2017-11-01

    Medication errors are common among nursing students. Nonetheless, these errors are often underreported. To examine factors related to nursing students' intention to report medication errors, using the Theory of Planned Behavior, and to examine whether the theory is useful in predicting students' intention to report errors. This study has a descriptive cross-sectional design. Study population was recruited in a university and a large nursing school in central and northern Israel. A convenience sample of 250 nursing students took part in the study. The students completed a self-report questionnaire, based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. The findings indicate that students' intention to report medication errors was high. The Theory of Planned Behavior constructs explained 38% of variance in students' intention to report medication errors. The constructs of behavioral beliefs, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control were found as affecting this intention, while the most significant factor was behavioral beliefs. The findings also reveal that students' fear of the reaction to disclosure of the error from superiors and colleagues may impede them from reporting the error. Understanding factors related to reporting medication errors is crucial to designing interventions that foster error reporting. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Use of a Social Annotation Platform for Pre-Class Reading Assignments in a Flipped Introductory Physics Class

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kelly Miller

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we illustrate the successful implementation of pre-class reading assignments through a social learning platform that allows students to discuss the reading online with their classmates. We show how the platform can be used to understand how students are reading before class. We find that, with this platform, students spend an above average amount of time reading (compared to that reported in the literature and that most students complete their reading assignments before class. We identify specific reading behaviors that are predictive of in-class exam performance. We also demonstrate ways that the platform promotes active reading strategies and produces high-quality learning interactions between students outside class. Finally, we compare the exam performance of two cohorts of students, where the only difference between them is the use of the platform; we show that students do significantly better on exams when using the platform.

  6. A Marketing Plan for Recruiting Students into Pharmacy School-based Graduate Programs. A Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holdford, David A.; Stratton, Timothy P.

    2000-01-01

    Outlines a marketing plan for recruiting students into pharmacy school-based graduate programs, particularly into social and administrative sciences. Addresses challenges and opportunities when recruiting, the need to clearly define the "product" that graduate programs are trying to sell to potential students, types of students…

  7. Trends in landscape research and landscape planning : implications for PhD students

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tress, G.; Tress, B.; Fry, G.; Antrop, M.

    2005-01-01

    This chapter introduces the contents of the book through an analysis of current trends in landscape research and landscape planning and a discussion of the consequences of these trends for PhD students.

  8. Exploring students learning approaches in MOOCs

    OpenAIRE

    Faucon, Louis Pierre

    2017-01-01

    This study aims at understanding different students approaches for solving assignments in MOOCs. It makes use of a large dataset of logs from students interaction with the MOOC platform Coursera on a course about functional programming with Scala. In total more than 10.000 students participated in the assignments. Learning approaches are divided in two categories: starting with video lectures (V) and start- ing with the assignment (A); and students are divided in three groups: those applying ...

  9. Using Content Reading Assignments in a Psychology Course to Teach Critical Reading Skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Camp, Debbie; Van Camp, Wesley

    2013-01-01

    Liberal arts students are expected to graduate college with fully developed critical reading and writing skills. However, for a variety of reasons these skills are not always as well developed as they might be--both during and upon completion of college. This paper describes a reading assignment that was designed to increase students'…

  10. A Study of Interest and Perception of the Financial Planning Profession Among Finance Undergraduate Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Leon; Severns, Roger

    2016-01-01

    We conducted an annual survey of undergraduate students taking finance courses over the past 5 years (2009-2014). Our results showed that although more than 70% of students considered the financial planning profession to some extent, the percentage of students who had seriously considered it declined over time, despite the increasing number of new…

  11. The Value of Interactive Assignments in the Online Learning Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Florenthal, Bela

    2016-01-01

    The offerings of Web-based supplemental material for textbooks have been increasingly growing. When deciding to adopt a textbook, instructors examine the added value of the associated supplements, also called "e-learning tools," to enhance students' learning of course concepts. In this study, one such supplement, interactive assignments,…

  12. Predicting Assignment Submissions in a Multiclass Classification Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bogdan Drăgulescu

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Predicting student failure is an important task that can empower educators to counteract the factors that affect student performance. In this paper, a part of the bigger problem of predicting student failure is addressed: predicting the students that do not complete their assignment tasks. For solving this problem, real data collected by our university’s educational platform was used. Because the problem consisted of predicting one of three possible classes (multi-class classification, the appropriate algorithms and methods were selected. Several experiments were carried out to find the best approach for this prediction problem and the used data set. An approach of time segmentation is proposed in order to facilitate the prediction from early on. Methods that address the problems of high dimensionality and imbalanced data were also evaluated. The outcome of each approach is shown and compared in order to select the best performing classification algorithm for the problem at hand.

  13. Surveying Medical Students to Gauge Library Use and Plan for a New Medical Library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aronoff, Nell

    2016-01-01

    In spring 2015, a 45-question survey was e-mailed to 585 medical students at the University at Buffalo (UB) in order to gauge their use of library spaces, resources, equipment, and services at UB's Health Sciences Library and plan for a library space located within a new medical school building. Students' self-reported use of the library during the academic year is presented along with the features they would like to see in their ideal library space. The responses generated in the survey are a barometer of current use and will be used in the planning process.

  14. Using cooperative learning for a drug information assignment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Earl, Grace L

    2009-11-12

    To implement a cooperative learning activity to engage students in analyzing tertiary drug information resources in a literature evaluation course. The class was divided into 4 sections to form expert groups and each group researched a different set of references using the jigsaw technique. Each member of each expert group was reassigned to a jigsaw group so that each new group was composed of 4 students from 4 different expert groups. The jigsaw groups met to discuss search strategies and rate the usefulness of the references. In addition to group-based learning, teaching methods included students' writing an independent research paper to enhance their abilities to search and analyze drug information resources. The assignment and final course grades improved after implementation of the activity. Students agreed that class discussions were a useful learning experience and 75% (77/102) said they would use the drug information references for other courses. The jigsaw technique was successful in engaging students in cooperative learning to improve critical thinking skills regarding drug information.

  15. A Mass Merchandiser's Role in Enhancing Pharmacy Students’ Business Plan Development Skills for Medication Therapy Management Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Objectives. To develop a relationship between a pharmacy management course and a mass merchandiser and to determine whether involving pharmacy managers from the mass merchandiser in the course would enhance student skills in developing a business plan for medication therapy management services. Design. The pharmacy managers from the mass merchandiser participated in lectures, provided panel discussions, and conducted a business plan competition. Learning was assessed by means of 4 examinations and 1 project (ie, the business plan). At the conclusion of the semester, surveys were administered to solicit student input and gain insight from pharmacy managers on the perceived value of this portion of the course. Assessment. Students’ average grade on the business plan assignment, which included the oral presentation, the peer assessment, and the written proposal, was 92.2%. Approximately 60% (n = 53) of surveyed students agreed or strongly agreed that their management skills had improved because of the participation of pharmacy managers from the mass merchandiser. All of the managers enjoyed participating in the experience. Conclusions. The involvement of pharmacy managers from a mass merchandiser enhanced student learning in the classroom, and managers felt that their participation was an important contribution to the development of future pharmacists. PMID:21969719

  16. A General Chemistry Assignment Analyzing Environmental Contamination for the Depue, IL, National Superfund Site

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saslow Gomez, Sarah A.; Faurie-Wisniewski, Danielle; Parsa, Arlen; Spitz, Jeff; Spitz, Jennifer Amdur; Loeb, Nancy C.; Geiger, Franz M.

    2015-01-01

    The classroom exercise outlined here is a self-directed assignment that connects students to the environmental contamination problem surrounding the DePue Superfund site. By connecting chemistry knowledge gained in the classroom with a real-world problem, students are encouraged to personally connect with the problem while simultaneously…

  17. Thinking Like a Psychologist Introductory Psychology Writing Assignments: Encouraging Critical Thinking and Resisting Plagiarism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wentworth, Diane Keyser; Whitmarsh, Lona

    2017-01-01

    Teaching the general psychology course provides instructors with the opportunity to invite students to explore the dynamics of behavior and mental processes through the lens of theory and research. Three innovative writing assignments were developed to teach students to think like a psychologist, operationalized as enhancing critical thinking,…

  18. The Development and Use of Individual Learning Plans for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in Victoria, Australia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, P. Margaret; Byrnes, Linda J.

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated the Individual Learning Plans of eighty-eight students who were deaf and hard of hearing attending facilities and schools for the deaf in Victoria Australia. The students' assessment and planning portfolios were scrutinised for evidence of formal and informal assessment used to generate goals for the Individual Learning…

  19. The Impact of Adding Online Homework Assignments to an Introduction to Physical Geology Class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brevik, Eric C.

    2017-04-01

    As instructors we are constantly looking for ways to improve student performance in the classroom. In an attempt to improve student performance in my GEOL 105 - Introduction to Physical Geology class, I added online homework assignments from the Pearson Mastering Geology program beginning in the Fall semester of 2014. There were several anticipated advantages to the online homework approach. If a student is struggling with a question they can get hints that don't tell them the answer, but are designed to stimulate their thinking and lead them towards the correct answer. The students also know immediately after submitting their answers which questions they got right and which were wrong, and they can go back to the wrong answers and try to determine the correct answer so they know what it is. This gives them much more rapid feedback than traditional paper homework, all of which makes this a more student-centered approach to learning. It is also my hope that the students find the online homework more interesting and interactive than paper-based homework, which I hope in turn will stimulate the students to be more likely to do the homework and take it seriously while also having some fun while doing it. As of the end of Fall semester 2016, I had been using the online homework assignments in my classes for three years. Therefore, I analyzed student performance in the three years prior to adopting the online homework and compared it to performance over the three years since adopting online homework. In the three years prior to adopting the online homework, the average grade in my classes was 73.8%; afterwards the average grade was 81.3%, for an improvement of 7.5% on average. Most of that improvement was in average test scores, which increased by 6.3% (67.4% prior to 73.6% after). The online homework did not improve the performance of the top students, but it did improve the performance of the other students. Prior to adopting the online homework, grade distribution in

  20. A Comparative Study of the Determinants of Future Plans and Expectations of Business Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Black, Gregory S.; Schofield, April L.

    2018-01-01

    Current university juniors and seniors have plans and expectations for after they graduate. In an effort to better understand these plans and expectations, the authors assessed a sample of 334 university students enrolled in business classes. The study examined the impact of three categories of independent variables--family influences, demographic…

  1. Predicting College Students' Intention to Graduate: A Test of the Theory of Planned Behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutter, Nate; Paulson, Sharon

    2016-01-01

    The current study examined whether it is possible to increase college students' intention to earn a four-year degree with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Three research questions were examined: (1) Can the TPB predict traditional undergraduates' graduation intention? (2) Does graduation intention differ by traditional students' year of…

  2. Teaching Medical Students About "The Conversation": An Interactive Value-Based Advance Care Planning Session.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lum, Hillary D; Dukes, Joanna; Church, Skotti; Abbott, Jean; Youngwerth, Jean M

    2018-02-01

    Advance care planning (ACP) promotes care consistent with patient wishes. Medical education should teach how to initiate value-based ACP conversations. To develop and evaluate an ACP educational session to teach medical students a value-based ACP process and to encourage students to take personal ACP action steps. Groups of third-year medical students participated in a 75-minute session using personal reflection and discussion framed by The Conversation Starter Kit. The Conversation Project is a free resource designed to help individuals and families express their wishes for end-of-life care. One hundred twenty-seven US third-year medical students participated in the session. Student evaluations immediately after the session and 1 month later via electronic survey. More than 90% of students positively evaluated the educational value of the session, including rating highly the opportunities to reflect on their own ACP and to use The Conversation Starter Kit. Many students (65%) reported prior ACP conversations. After the session, 73% reported plans to discuss ACP, 91% had thought about preferences for future medical care, and 39% had chosen a medical decision maker. Only a minority had completed an advance directive (14%) or talked with their health-care provider (1%). One month later, there was no evidence that the session increased students' actions regarding these same ACP action steps. A value-based ACP educational session using The Conversation Starter Kit successfully engaged medical students in learning about ACP conversations, both professionally and personally. This session may help students initiate conversations for themselves and their patients.

  3. Protein secondary structure assignment revisited: a detailed analysis of different assignment methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    de Brevern Alexandre G

    2005-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A number of methods are now available to perform automatic assignment of periodic secondary structures from atomic coordinates, based on different characteristics of the secondary structures. In general these methods exhibit a broad consensus as to the location of most helix and strand core segments in protein structures. However the termini of the segments are often ill-defined and it is difficult to decide unambiguously which residues at the edge of the segments have to be included. In addition, there is a "twilight zone" where secondary structure segments depart significantly from the idealized models of Pauling and Corey. For these segments, one has to decide whether the observed structural variations are merely distorsions or whether they constitute a break in the secondary structure. Methods To address these problems, we have developed a method for secondary structure assignment, called KAKSI. Assignments made by KAKSI are compared with assignments given by DSSP, STRIDE, XTLSSTR, PSEA and SECSTR, as well as secondary structures found in PDB files, on 4 datasets (X-ray structures with different resolution range, NMR structures. Results A detailed comparison of KAKSI assignments with those of STRIDE and PSEA reveals that KAKSI assigns slightly longer helices and strands than STRIDE in case of one-to-one correspondence between the segments. However, KAKSI tends also to favor the assignment of several short helices when STRIDE and PSEA assign longer, kinked, helices. Helices assigned by KAKSI have geometrical characteristics close to those described in the PDB. They are more linear than helices assigned by other methods. The same tendency to split long segments is observed for strands, although less systematically. We present a number of cases of secondary structure assignments that illustrate this behavior. Conclusion Our method provides valuable assignments which favor the regularity of secondary structure segments.

  4. Teachers grading practices : an analysis of the reliability of teacher-assigned grade point average (GPA)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Lans, R. M.; van de Grift, W. J. C. M.; van Veen, K.

    2015-01-01

    In previous research, teachers report that they use a hodgepodge of factors when grading students. This has led researchers to suspect that teacher-assigned grades are inflated by teacher-student interactions; the hodgepodge hypothesis. Teachers also are reported to differ in grading leniency; the

  5. Learners’ preferences towards Corrective feedback in writing assignments in tertiary education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Horbacauskiene Jolita

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available For several decades, there has been a heated debate about the value of providing corrective feedback in writing assignments in English as a foreign language (EFL classes. Despite the fact that corrective feedback in writing has been analysed from various angles, learners’ expectations regarding feedback given by language instructors are still to be considered, especially in different learning settings. Student attitudes have been found to be associated with motivation, proficiency, learner anxiety, autonomous learning, etc. (Elwood & Bode, 2014. Thus, the aim of this paper was to compare EFL learners’ attitudes towards corrective feedback and self-evaluation of writing skills in different learning settings. Students at two technological universities in France and Lithuania were surveyed and asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire combining the Likert scale and rank order questions. The results indicate that frequency of writing assignments seems to have little or no impact on students’ self-evaluation of writing skills. Moreover, although the two groups of students showed preference for feedback on different error types (e.g., feedback on structure vs. feedback on grammar, nevertheless, indirect corrective feedback with a clue was favoured by all the respondents.

  6. Integrating the Liberal Arts and Chemistry: A Series of General Chemistry Assignments to Develop Science Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Diane M.; Chengelis Czegan, Demetra A.

    2016-01-01

    This paper describes assignments that have been implemented in a General Chemistry I course to promote science literacy. This course was chosen in particular because it reaches a broad audience, which includes nonscience majors. The assignment series begins with several discussions and tasks to develop information literacy, in which students find…

  7. A Literary Review and a Plan for Principals: Extracurricular Activities, Academic Achievement, and Secondary Students' Success.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reynolds, Richard Kent; Karr-Kidwell, PJ

    Extracurricular activities have enhanced the lives of students through the years and continue to provide students with additional skills they need to succeed in school and life. This paper offers an extensive literature review of the effect of extracurricular activities on student development and offers a plan for extending successful…

  8. Statistical analysis of MRI-only based dose planning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Korsholm, M. E.; Waring, L. W.; Paulsen, Rasmus Reinhold

    2012-01-01

    . MRIonly based RT eliminates these errors and reduce the time and costs of a CT scan. The aim of this study is to investigate the dosimetric differences of a treatment plan when the dose calculation is based on MRI as compared to CT. Materials and Methods: Four diagnostic groups are investigated; 12...... as a clinically approved treatment plan. The treatment planning software is Eclipse v.10.0 (Varian Medical Systems). The dose calculation based on MRI data is evaluated in two different ways; a homogeneous density assigned MRI (MRI unit), where the entire body is assigned an HU equal to water and a heterogeneous...... density assigned MRI (MRI bulk) where in addition the CT segmented bone is transferred to the MRI and assigned an age dependent HU based on ICRU report 46. The CT based clinical treatment plan and structure set are registered to the corresponding MRI unit and MRI bulk. The body is outlined on both the MRI...

  9. DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PLANS, DEFINED BENEFIT PLANS, AND THE ACCUMULATION OF RETIREMENT WEALTH

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poterba, James; Rauh, Joshua; Venti, Steven; Wise, David

    2010-01-01

    The private pension structure in the United States, once dominated by defined benefit (DB) plans, is currently divided between defined contribution (DC) and DB plans. Wealth accumulation in DC plans depends on the participant's contribution behavior and on financial market returns, while accumulation in DB plans is sensitive to a participant's labor market experience and to plan parameters. This paper simulates the distribution of retirement wealth under representative DB and DC plans. It uses data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to explore how asset returns, earnings histories, and retirement plan characteristics contribute to the variation in retirement wealth outcomes. We simulate DC plan accumulation by randomly assigning individuals a share of wages that they and their employer contribute to the plan. We consider several possible asset allocation strategies, with asset returns drawn from the historical return distribution. Our DB plan simulations draw earnings histories from the HRS, and randomly assign each individual a pension plan drawn from a sample of large private and public defined benefit plans. The simulations yield distributions of both DC and DB wealth at retirement. Average retirement wealth accruals under current DC plans exceed average accruals under private sector DB plans, although DC plans are also more likely to generate very low retirement wealth outcomes. The comparison of current DC plans with more generous public sector DB plans is less definitive, because public sector DB plans are more generous on average than their private sector counterparts. PMID:21057597

  10. The effectiveness of advance organiser model on students' academic achievement in learning work and energy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gidena, Asay; Gebeyehu, Desta

    2017-11-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the advance organiser model (AOM) on students' academic achievement in learning work and energy. The design of the study was quasi-experimental pretest-posttest nonequivalent control groups. The total population of the study was 139 students of three sections in Endabaguna preparatory school in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. Two sections with equivalent means on the pretest were taken to participate in the study purposely and one section assigned as the experimental group and the other section assigned as the control group randomly. The experimental group was taught using the lesson plan based on the AOM, and the control group was taught using the lesson plan based on the conventional teaching method. Pretest and posttest were administered before and after the treatment, respectively. Independent sample t-test was used to analyse the data at the probability level of 0.05. The findings of the study showed that the AOM was more effective than the conventional teaching method with effect size of 0.49. This model was also effective to teach male and female students and objectives namely understanding and application. However, both methods were equally important to teach work and energy under the objective knowledge level.

  11. Student-peer mentoring on a drug information response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodis, Jennifer Lin; Backo, Jennifer; Schmidt, Brittany M; Pruchnicki, Maria C

    2014-03-12

    To implement a student peer-mentoring program with a drug information response assignment in an introductory pharmacy practice course. Second-year student pharmacists (P2 mentors) enrolled in an independent study course were randomly assigned first-year student pharmacists (P1 mentees) to mentor on a drug information assignment. The P2 mentors provided feedback to P1 mentees' assignment drafts. The P1 mentees had the opportunity to revise the draft prior to turning in the completed assignment to course faculty members for grading. Both P1 mentees and P2 mentors agreed the mentorship improved their ability to prepare a drug information response (76% and 100%, respectively). A majority of the student pharmacists would choose to be involved in the program again. The student peer-mentoring program was successful in improving student pharmacists' perceptions of ability to compose a drug information response.

  12. Librarian-Faculty Collaboration on a Library Research Assignment and Module for College Experience Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keyes, Anne; Barbier, Pat

    2013-01-01

    A librarian and faculty member collaborated on creating a library research module for students in the faculty member's college success classes to help them learn the fundamentals of information literacy. Using the assignment "My Ideal Job," the students met four or more times with the librarian in a computer classroom to learn how to do…

  13. Expectancy-Value Models for the STEM Persistence Plans of Ninth-Grade, High-Ability Students: A Comparison between Black, Hispanic, and White Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andersen, Lori; Ward, Thomas J.

    2014-01-01

    Group differences in the effects of the expectancies and values that high-ability students have for science and mathematics on plans to persist in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) were investigated. A nationally representative sample of ninth-grade students, the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS: 2009; n =…

  14. Career choice in engineering students: its relationship with motivation, satisfaction and the development of professional plans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iciar Pablo-Lerchundi

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Choosing a university degree is a relevant process for the personal, social and economic development. This study was designed to explore the students' choice for technical degrees. It is centered on the relationship between the quality of their choice and their motivation, satisfaction and development of professional plans. The inquiry involved an incidental sample of 89 students from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM in Architecture, Computer Sciences and Forestry Engineering. After the analysis of the ad hoc adapted inventory, descriptive data and the results concerning dependence between the variables considered (analyzed with Pearson's chi-squared test are presented. Non-parametric tests were used to asses differences on satisfaction by gender and degree studied. Results show dependence between the students' motivation and satisfaction, and the later and their professional plans' content. Gender and degree are also dependent with professional plans' temporality, as well as degree with their structure. No significant differences were found for the means in satisfaction.

  15. BiteScis: Connecting K-12 teachers with science graduate students to produce lesson plans on modern science research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Battersby, Cara

    2016-01-01

    Many students graduate high school having never learned about the process and people behind modern science research. The BiteScis program addresses this gap by providing easily implemented lesson plans that incorporate the whos, whats, and hows of today's scienctific discoveries. We bring together practicing scientists (motivated graduate students from the selective communicating science conference, ComSciCon) with K-12 science teachers to produce, review, and disseminate K-12 lesson plans based on modern science research. These lesson plans vary in topic from environmental science to neurobiology to astrophysics, and involve a range of activities from laboratory exercises to art projects, debates, or group discussion. An integral component of the program is a series of short, "bite-size" articles on modern science research written for K-12 students. The "bite-size" articles and lesson plans will be made freely available online in an easily searchable web interface that includes association with a variety of curriculum standards. This ongoing program is in its first year with about 15 lesson plans produced to date.

  16. An assigned responsibility system for robotic teleoperation control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Small, Nicolas; Lee, Kevin; Mann, Graham

    2018-01-01

    This paper proposes an architecture that explores a gap in the spectrum of existing strategies for robot control mode switching in adjustable autonomy. In situations where the environment is reasonably known and/or predictable, pre-planning these control changes could relieve robot operators of the additional task of deciding when and how to switch. Such a strategy provides a clear division of labour between the automation and the human operator(s) before the job even begins, allowing for individual responsibilities to be known ahead of time, limiting confusion and allowing rest breaks to be planned. Assigned Responsibility is a new form of adjustable autonomy-based teleoperation that allows the selective inclusion of automated control elements at key stages of a robot operation plan's execution. Progression through these stages is controlled by automatic goal accomplishment tracking. An implementation is evaluated through engineering tests and a usability study, demonstrating the viability of this approach and offering insight into its potential applications.

  17. Using Activity Theory to Examine How Teachers' Lesson Plans Meet Students' Learning Needs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chizhik, Estella Williams; Chizhik, Alexander Williams

    2018-01-01

    How is lesson planning useful? This research study used Cultural Historical Activity Theory and intersubjectivity to answer this questions. This research explored to what extent teacher candidates' lesson plans (i.e., alignment among objectives, assessment, and instruction), and analyses of assessment data mediate their thinking about students'…

  18. Grouping puts figure-ground assignment in context by constraining propagation of edge assignment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks, Joseph L; Brook, Joseph L; Driver, Jon

    2010-05-01

    Figure-ground organization involves the assignment of edges to a figural shape on one or the other side of each dividing edge. Established visual cues for edge assignment primarily concern relatively local rather than contextual factors. In the present article, we show that an assignment for a locally unbiased edge can be affected by an assignment of a remote contextual edge that has its own locally biased assignment. We find that such propagation of edge assignment from the biased remote context occurs only when the biased and unbiased edges are grouped. This new principle, whereby grouping constrains the propagation of figural edge assignment, emerges from both subjective reports and an objective short-term edge-matching task. It generalizes from moving displays involving grouping by common fate and collinearity, to static displays with grouping by similarity of edge-contrast polarity, or apparent occlusion. Our results identify a new contextual influence on edge assignment. They also identify a new mechanistic relation between grouping and figure-ground processes, whereby grouping between remote elements can constrain the propagation of edge assignment between those elements. Supplemental materials for this article may be downloaded from http://app.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.

  19. A heuristics-based solution to the continuous berth allocation and crane assignment problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Hamdy Elwany

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Effective utilization plans for various resources at a container terminal are essential to reducing the turnaround time of cargo vessels. Among the scarcest resources are the berth and its associated cranes. Thus, two important optimization problems arise, which are the berth allocation and quay crane assignment problems. The berth allocation problem deals with the generation of a berth plan, which determines where and when a ship has to berth alongside the quay. The quay crane assignment problem addresses the problem of determining how many and which quay crane(s will serve each vessel. In this paper, an integrated heuristics-based solution methodology is proposed that tackles both problems simultaneously. The preliminary experimental results show that the proposed approach yields high quality solutions to such an NP-hard problem in a reasonable computational time suggesting its suitability for practical use.

  20. High-Poverty Urban High School Students' Plans for Higher Education: Weaving Their Own Safety Nets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cilesiz, Sebnem; Drotos, Stephanie M.

    2016-01-01

    This qualitative study investigates high-poverty urban high school students' views of and plans regarding higher education, using Bourdieu's theory of reproduction in education as theoretical framework. Interview data from 76 students from six high-poverty urban schools in a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States were analyzed using…

  1. The Impact of a Collaborative Wiki Assignment on Teaching and Learning in a Teacher Education Program

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vanessa Joy Bravo

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available This study explored students’ perceptions and behaviors of public wiki use during a collaborative Wikipedia assignment in a graduate technology and literacy education course. Results confirmed that the majority of students had an overall positive experience posting content on Wikipedia. Students learned how to use Wikipedia through collaborative practice, including, how to adhere to its standards and cite work properly, the importance of critically evaluating online information, and the value of publishing work to an authentic audience. Students (prospective and current teachers reported numerous ways in which collaboration on Wikipedia could be integrated into their K-12 classrooms in order to promote higher order thinking and foster meaningful knowledge construction. Pedagogical practices for the effective integration of public wiki assignments in higher education and K-12 settings are recommended.

  2. Causal Effects of Single-Sex Schools on College Entrance Exams and College Attendance: Random Assignment in Seoul High Schools

    OpenAIRE

    Park, Hyunjoon; Behrman, Jere R.; Choi, Jaesung

    2013-01-01

    Despite the voluminous literature on the potentials of single-sex schools, there is no consensus on the effects of single-sex schools because of student selection of school types. We exploit a unique feature of schooling in Seoul—the random assignment of students into single-sex versus coeducational high schools—to assess causal effects of single-sex schools on college entrance exam scores and college attendance. Our validation of the random assignment shows comparable socioeconomic backgroun...

  3. Planning of questions for various level of reading of textbooks for early grade students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edita Haxhijaha

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available During the entire history of education, questioning has been one of the usual techniques of teaching. Despite all the changes in the education theory and technology, this technique continues to be usual, because it is an efficient tool to increase learning. Questioning is an interactive relation, which enlivens the conversation, by giving continuity to the finding of final result. Questioning should be assessed as a technique, which gives high results, when it is managed successfully and with attention towards the teacher, playing meanwhile an important role during the learning of students. Through various planed activities, I tried to influence teachers in order to plan as many questions as possible, for the development of student’s critical thinking. Taking into account the development of further activities I focused in the results extracted from the data gained from the observation of teachers, target group, consultations with teachers, and took into consideration various literature which considered this issue. This research included five teachers that teach in classes 1-5, in the ELSS “Emin Duraku” in Prizren/Kosovo. Observation consisted of two periods. Results of the first period of observation showed that while preparing the teaching work, specifically planning of questions I noticed that a big number were direct questions with a low level of thinking. The research continued by maintaining the target group focused where important discussions were held about the importance of planning the questions of different levels that helped students to understand what they read and also contributed to the increasing of their interest for reading-understanding of various school texts. Then the second period of observation was conducted. Results showed that there were differences in the planning of questions by teachers, compared to the results of the first period of observation. Conclusions of this operational research showed that students can

  4. Edge-Assignment and Figure-Ground Segmentation in Short-Term Visual Matching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Driver, Jon; Baylis, Gordon

    1996-01-01

    Eight experiments involving 99 college students examined the role of edge-assignment in a contour matching task. Edge-matching performance was not based solely on a raw description of the edges themselves. Results suggest a pervasive tendency within the visual system to go beyond the edges toward figural shapes. (SLD)

  5. Which characteristics of planning matter? Individual and dyadic physical activity plans and their effects on plan enactment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keller, Jan; Fleig, Lena; Hohl, Diana Hilda; Wiedemann, Amelie U; Burkert, Silke; Luszczynska, Aleksandra; Knoll, Nina

    2017-09-01

    Past research supports individual planning as an effective intervention strategy to increase physical activity in individuals. A similar strategy, dyadic planning, adds a planning partner who supports an individual's planning processes. Whether the two planning formats differ in terms of participants' entered plan content and whether and how different content characteristics are linked to plan enactment remains unknown. By investigating the content of generated plans, this study aimed at distinguishing plan characteristics of the two planning formats and examining their role as predictors of later plan enactment. Secondary analyses of a three-arm RCT with German couples (data collection between 2013 and 2015). Couples were assigned to an individual (IPC, n = 114) or dyadic planning condition (DPC, n = 111) and formulated up to 5 physical activity plans for a target person. Couples assigned to a control condition were not included as they did not generate plans. The following characteristics were distinguished and coded for each plan: number of planned opportunities, presence of a planned routine, planned cue- or activity-related specificity, activity-related intensity, and chronological plan rank. One week before (T0) and two weeks following (T2) the intervention (T1), increase vs. no increase of the planned activity was coded as a dichotomous plan enactment variable. Multilevel logistic regressions were fit. Plan enactment was higher in dyadic than in individual planners. Findings indicated that routines (e.g., after work) were positively related to plan enactment, whereas a high specificity of when-cues (e.g., Friday at 6.30 p.m.) showed a negative relationship. None of the examined plan characteristics could explain differences in enactment between IPC and DPC. Linking health behaviours to other behavioural routines seems beneficial for subsequent plan enactment. Dyadic planning was linked with higher enactment rates than individual planning. However, as

  6. Planning for Student Assessment: Participant's Handbook. Bilingual Evaluation Technical Assistance, Workshop III.

    Science.gov (United States)

    California Univ., Los Angeles. Center for the Study of Evaluation.

    This participant's handbook is designed to be used in conjunction with a workshop for planning bilingual student assessment. The following materials are included: (1) simulation materials, including descriptions of simulated programs, tests, test manuals, and printouts; (2) checklists, diagrams, and charts illustrating important points of the…

  7. Student perceptions of reproductive health education in US medical schools: a qualitative analysis of students taking family planning electives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathryn Veazey

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Background: Abortion services will be sought by an estimated one in three US women before they reach age 45. Despite the importance of family planning (FP care, many medical schools do not currently offer formal education in this area, and students are unable to meet associated competency standards prior to graduation. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore students’ motivations in pursuing FP electives throughout the United States, their experiences during these courses, and any impact of these rotations on their plans for future practice. Method: We conducted a qualitative study consisting of semi-structured interviews with medical students upon completing fourth-year FP electives at US medical schools. Thirty-seven LCME-accredited US medical schools offered fourth-year FP electives. Course directors at 21 of these institutions recruited study participants between June 2012 and June 2013. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed with ATLAS/ti software to identify salient themes. Results: We interviewed 29 students representing 14 institutions from all regions of the United States (East Coast, Midwest, South, and West Coast. Five central themes emerged. Medical students are using FP electives to fill gaps in the standard curriculum. Elective participation did not change students’ pre-elective stance on abortion. Many students intend to provide abortion in the future but identified possible limiting factors. Proficiency in contraception and options counseling were top competencies desired and gained. Students reported excellent satisfaction with FP electives and would recommend it to their peers, regardless of their personal beliefs. Conclusions: Interview data revealed that students are using FP electives to fill gaps within preclinical and clinical medical school curriculum. Future physicians will be unable to provide comprehensive care for their female patients if they are not provided with this education. Research

  8. Training Students to Steal: A Practical Assignment in Computer Security Education

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dimkov, T.; Pieters, Wolter; Hartel, Pieter H.

    Practical courses in information security provide students with first-hand knowledge of technical security mechanisms and their weaknesses. However, teaching students only the technical side of information security leads to a generation of students that emphasize digital solutions, but ignore the

  9. Empowering Student Learning Through Rubric-Referenced Self-Assessment*

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Xiaohua; Canty, Anne

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of rubric-referenced self-assessment on performance of anatomy assignments in a group of chiropractic students. Methods: Participants (N = 259) were first-quarter students who were divided into a treatment group (n = 130) and a comparison group (n = 129). The intervention for both groups involved the use of rubrics to complete the first draft of assignments. General feedback was given by the instructor, and then the students had the opportunity to amend the assignments before resubmission (second draft). The treatment group, however, was also asked to perform rubric-referenced self-assessment of their assignments during their second draft. Although the comparison group was also provided with the identical rubrics for the assignments, the students in this group did not perform rubric-referenced self-assessment. Results: The results revealed that the students in the treatment group who used a rubric-referenced self-assessment learning tool received statistically significant higher scores than the comparison group, who did not use this rubric-referenced self-assessment tool. Conclusion: This study suggests that practicing rubric-referenced self-assessment enhances student performance on assignments. However, educators continue to face the challenge of developing practical and useful rubric tools for student self-assessment PMID:22778527

  10. Application of Planned Behavior Theory to Account for College Students' Occupational Intentions in Contingent Employment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Jie-Tsuen

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to apply Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior to examine college students' intentions to engage in contingent employment. Data were collected from 845 students in 8 colleges and universities in Taiwan. The results of structural equation modeling analyses indicated that both attitude and subjective norms were…

  11. Determinants of Fast Food Consumption among Iranian High School Students Based on Planned Behavior Theory

    OpenAIRE

    Sharifirad, Gholamreza; Yarmohammadi, Parastoo; Azadbakht, Leila; Morowatisharifabad, Mohammad Ali; Hassanzadeh, Akbar

    2013-01-01

    Objective. This study was conducted to identify some factors (beliefs and norms) which are related to fast food consumption among high school students in Isfahan, Iran. We used the framework of the theory planned behavior (TPB) to predict this behavior. Subjects & Methods. Cross-sectional data were available from high school students (n = 521) who were recruited by cluster randomized sampling. All of the students completed a questionnaire assessing variables of standard TPB model including at...

  12. Effects of Students' Participation in Authoring of Multimedia Materials on Student Acquisition of Vocabulary.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nikolova, Ofelia R.

    2002-01-01

    Investigated the effects on vocabulary acquisition of student participation in authoring a multimedia institutional module. Sixty-two subjects were randomly assigned to two groups, and each group was randomly assigned to one of two treatments. Showed evidence that students learn vocabulary significantly better when they participate in the creation…

  13. A randomized controlled trial of a brief online intervention to reduce alcohol consumption in new university students: Combining self-affirmation, theory of planned behaviour messages, and implementation intentions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norman, Paul; Cameron, David; Epton, Tracy; Webb, Thomas L; Harris, Peter R; Millings, Abigail; Sheeran, Paschal

    2018-02-01

    Excessive alcohol consumption increases when students enter university. This study tests whether combining (1) messages that target key beliefs from the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) that underlie binge drinking, (2) a self-affirmation manipulation to reduce defensive processing, and (3) implementation intentions (if-then plans to avoid binge drinking) reduces alcohol consumption in the first 6 months at university. A 2 (self-affirmation) × 2 (TPB messages) × 2 (implementation intention) between-participants randomized controlled trial with 6-month follow-up. Before starting university, students (N = 2,951) completed measures of alcohol consumption and were randomly assigned to condition in a full-factorial design. TPB cognitions about binge drinking were assessed immediately post-intervention (n = 2,682). Alcohol consumption was assessed after 1 week (n = 1,885), 1 month (n = 1,389), and 6 months (n = 892) at university. TPB cognitions were assessed again at 1 and 6 months. Participants who received the TPB messages had significantly less favourable cognitions about binge drinking (except perceived control), consumed fewer units of alcohol, engaged in binge drinking less frequently, and had less harmful patterns of alcohol consumption during their first 6 months at university. The other main effects were non-significant. The findings support the use of TPB-based interventions to reduce students' alcohol consumption, but question the use of self-affirmation and implementation intentions before starting university when the messages may not represent a threat to self-identity and when students may have limited knowledge and experience of the pressures to drink alcohol at university. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Alcohol consumption increases when young people enter university. Significant life transitions represent potential teachable moments to change behaviour. Interventions with a strong theoretical

  14. Beyond Student Learning Outcomes: Developing Comprehensive, Strategic Assessment Plans for Advising Programmes

    Science.gov (United States)

    McClellan, Jeffrey L.

    2011-01-01

    This article argues that while the importance of assessment in academic advising is clear and the current emphasis on defining and measuring student learning outcomes represents an essential component of any comprehensive advising assessment plan, an even more comprehensive understanding of programme assessment is needed. Drawing upon business…

  15. Educational Debt in the Context of Career Planning: A Qualitative Exploration of Medical Student Perceptions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillips, Julie P; Wilbanks, Deana M; Salinas, Diana F; Doberneck, Diane M

    2016-01-01

    Phenomenon: Medical students in the United States face increasing educational debt because medical education costs have risen while public investment in higher education has declined. Contemporary students borrow more money and accumulate debt far surpassing that of previous generations of physicians, and both interest rates and terms of loan repayment have changed significantly in the last decade. As a result, the experiences of medical students differ from the experiences of physician educators. Little is known about how contemporary medical students view their debt in the context of career planning. Understanding contemporary U.S. medical students' lived experiences of educational debt is important, because high debt levels may affect medical students' well-being and professional development. The study's purpose was to explore contemporary students' views of their debt in the context of career planning. In 2012, 2nd-year medical students enrolled in a health policy course at one medical school were invited to write an essay about how debt influences their career choices. The authors analyzed 132 essays using immersion and crystallization and iterative, team-based coding. Code-recode strategies, member checking, and reflexivity ensured validity and rigor. Three themes emerged about the meaning of debt: debt symbolizes lack of social investment, debt reinforces a sense of entitlement, and debt is a collective experience. Four approaches to debt management emerged: anticipation, avoidance, acceptance, and disempowerment. Insights: Medical students' views of debt are more complex than previously reported. Medical educators should recognize that many students experience debt as a stressor, acknowledge students' emotions about debt, and invite discussion about the culture of entitlement in medical education and how this culture affects students' professionalism. At the same time, educators should emphasize that students have many repayment options and that regardless

  16. A Post-Final Assignment for the Methods Course: Providing an Incentive to Professional Growth for Future Teachers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bentley, Michael L.

    This paper describes J. Rosengren's post-final assignment and M. Harmin's truth signs activity that were incorporated into a secondary science methods course for preservice teachers. The strength of the post-final assignment is that it is a strategy for extending student learning past the end of a course and even beyond the initial teaching…

  17. Fast and Rigorous Assignment Algorithm Multiple Preference and Calculation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ümit Çiftçi

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available The goal of paper is to develop an algorithm that evaluates students then places them depending on their desired choices according to dependant preferences. The developed algorithm is also used to implement software. The success and accuracy of the software as well as the algorithm are tested by applying it to ability test at Beykent University. This ability test is repeated several times in order to fill all available places at Fine Art Faculty departments in every academic year. It has been shown that this algorithm is very fast and rigorous after application of 2008-2009 and 2009-20010 academic years.Key Words: Assignment algorithm, student placement, ability test

  18. Center Planning and Development Student Engineer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenkins, Kenneth T.

    2013-01-01

    This fall I was the Student Trainee (Engineering) Pathways Intern (co-op) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in the Center Planning Development (CPD) Directorate. CPD works with commercial companies who are interested using KSCs unique capabilities in spaceflight, spacecraft processing, ground systems and Research Development (RD) projects that fall in line with NASAs mission and goals. CPD is divided into four (4) groups: (1) AD-A, which works on the Master Planning for center, (2) AD-B (where I am), which works on project management and integration, (3) AD-C, which works on partnership development, and (4) AD-T, which works on the RD aspects of partnerships. CPDs main goal is to one day make KSC the worlds largest spaceport and maintain the center as a leader in space exploration. CPD is a very diverse group with employees having a wide knowledge of not only the Space Shuttle, but also that of the Apollo era. Our director of CPD, Scott Colloredo, is on the advisory board for Commercial Space Operations (CSO) and has a degree at ERAU. I worked on a number of different tasks for AD-B, as well as CPD, that includes, but not limited to: reviewing and reissuing engineering drawings from the Apollo and Shuttle eras, to supporting NASA rocket launches (MAVEN), and working on actual agreementsproposals that will be used in the partnership process with multiple partners. Most of the work I have done is sensitive information and cannot be disclosed.

  19. Comparing Examples: WebAssign versus Textbook

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Evan; Polak, Jeff; Hardin, Ashley; Risley, John, , Dr.

    2005-11-01

    Research shows students can learn from worked examples.^1 This pilot study compared two groups of students' performance (10 each) in solving physics problems. One group had access to interactive examples^2 released in WebAssign^3, while the other group had access to the counterpart textbook examples. Verbal data from students in problem solving sessions was collected using a think aloud protocol^4 and the data was analyzed using Chi's procedures.^5 An explanation of the methodology and results will be presented. Future phases of this pilot study based upon these results will also be discussed. ^1Atkinson, R.K., Derry, S.J., Renkl A., Wortham, D. (2000). ``Learning from Examples: Instructional Principles from the Worked Examples Research'', Review of Educational Research, vol. 70, n. 2, pp. 181-214. ^2Serway, R.A. & Faughn, J.S. (2006). College Physics (7^th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole. ^3 see www.webassign.net ^4 Ericsson, K.A. & Simon, H.A. (1984). Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ^5 Chi, Michelene T.H. (1997). ``Quantifying Qualitative Analyses of Verbal Data: A Practical Guide,'' The Journal of the Learning Sciences, vol. 6, n. 3, pp. 271-315.

  20. Learning Context When Studying Financial Planning in High Schools: Nesting of Student, Teacher, and Classroom Characteristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danes, Sharon M.; Rodriguez, Michael C.; Brewton, Katherine E.

    2013-01-01

    Grounded in social construction theory, the current study investigates the learning context when studying financial planning in high school by analyzing the nesting of student, teacher and classroom characteristics. Key findings were that three student characteristics (initial financial knowledge, gender, senior grade level), one teacher variable…

  1. A study of a science-based peer reading assignment and its effects on first grade student understanding and use of describing words in science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearson, Meghan Jeanne

    The first grade curriculum for science in Colorado requires students be able to use describing words to depict and compare objects and people; however, first graders struggle with using specific enough language to create strong descriptions. With science education research encouraging teachers to use alternative teaching methods to approach these challenging topics, it is important to provide teachers with resources appropriate to their students. One such alternative learning method is a reading partner. Reading partners have been shown to increase vocabulary, boost school performance, and improve self-esteem in children. This study analyzed the effectiveness of using a science-based peer reading assignment about describing words on increasing a first grader's understanding of the topic. The book required the class to work together to help the characters describe different images and characters in the book with the intent that students were engaged during the reading. In pre-interview and post-interview, students described pictures, and their responses were analyzed for quality of the describing words provided and the number of strong (specific and not opinion) describing words provided. In the post-interview, students had an overall increase in the number of strong describing words provided. The quantitative data was analyzed by comparing strong describing words used pre-reading and post-reading, and the effect size was very large. The results indicate reading the book explaining describing words that asked for student participation did increase students understanding and use of describing words.

  2. Determining Distance Education Students' Readiness for Mobile Learning at University of Ghana Using the Theory of Planned Behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tagoe, Michael Ayitey; Abakah, Ellen

    2014-01-01

    The use of mobile technologies in the classroom is transforming teaching and learning in higher institutions. This study investigated University of Ghana Distance Education students' perceptions toward mobile learning. The paper using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) explained how students' beliefs influenced students' intention to adopt…

  3. Factors Influencing the Career Planning and Development of University Students in Jordan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khasawneh, Samer

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to translate and validate an Arabic version of the career influence inventory for use in Jordan. The study also investigated perceptions of university students of the influential factors that have influenced their career planning and development. The validated career influence inventory was administered to 558…

  4. Institutional Planning: What Role for Directors of Student Admissions and Financial Aid?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haines, John R.

    1976-01-01

    According to the director of Higher Education Management Services for the New York State Education Department, the offices of admissions and student financial aid have long been excluded from the institutional planning process. In an era of projected enrollment declines and increased competition, these offices need to assume a critical new role.…

  5. A/H1N1 Vaccine Intentions in College Students: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agarwal, Vinita

    2014-01-01

    Objective: To test the applicability of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in college students who have not previously received the A/H1N1 vaccine. Participants: Undergraduate communication students at a metropolitan southern university. Methods: In January-March 2010, students from voluntarily participating communication classes completed a…

  6. The effect of a career activity on the students' perception of the nursing profession and their career plan: A single-group experimental study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yilmaz, Arzu Akman; Ilce, Arzu; Can Cicek, Saadet; Yuzden, Ganime Esra; Yigit, Ummuhan

    2016-04-01

    Students' conceptualizations of nursing and their reasons for choosing the profession motivate them and affect their education, work performance and career plans. Nursing educators should support them to plan their careers consciously during their education. The study aimed to investigate the effect of career-planning event for nursing students on their conceptualizations of the nursing profession and their career plans. The study was as single-group experimental study using a pre-test and post-test. The career-planning event was held in the conference hall of the university involved in the current study, and was open to the all students of the nursing school. The sample of the study consisted of 105 students who participated in the "Nursing Career Symposium" held on 27 March 2015. Methods At the event, the importance of career planning and the opportunities of the nursing profession was presented. The data were collected using a questionnaire consisted of two sections including descriptive characteristics and the opinions of the students regarding their career plans and Perception of Nursing Profession Scale. The students completed the first section of the questionnaire before the career event began and the second section of the questionnaire and scale both before and after the event. The participants had positive conceptualizations of the profession. Following a career event, the participants' opinions of professional qualities and professional status as measured through the Perception of Nursing Profession Scale showed a significant increase, and that the event had made an important contribution to their career plans. In the light of these results, it is possible to suggest that such events have an important place during education in that they introduce the nursing profession, and they develop the students' positive thoughts regarding the profession in terms of both course content and teaching methodology. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Incorporating Inquiry into Upper-Level Undergraduate Homework Assignments: The Mini-Journal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whittington, Alan; Speck, Angela; Witzig, Stephen; Abell, Sandra

    2010-05-01

    The US National Science Education Standards (2000) state that science should be taught through inquiry. The five essential features of classroom inquiry are that the leaner (i) engages in scientifically oriented questions, (ii) gives priority to evidence in responding to questions, (iii) formulates explanations from evidence, (iv) connects explanations to scientific knowledge, and (v) communicates and justifies explanations. One difficulty in achieving this vision at the university level lies in the common perception that inquiry be fully open and unstructured, and that its implementation will be impractical due to time and material constraints. In an NSF-funded project, "CUES: Connecting Undergraduates to the Enterprise of Science," faculty developed new inquiry-based laboratory curriculum materials using a "mini-journal" approach, which is designed as an alternative to the cookbook laboratory and represents the way that scientists do science. Here we adapt this approach to a homework assignment in an upper-level Planetary Science class, and show that inquiry is achievable in this setting. Traditional homeworks in this class consisted of problem sets requiring algebraic manipulation, computation, and in most cases an appraisal of the result Longer questions are broken down into chunks worth 1 to 4 points. In contrast, the mini-journal is a short article that is modeled in the way that scientists do and report science. It includes a title, abstract, introduction (with clear statement of the problem to be tackled), a description of the methods, results (presented as both tables and graphs), a discussion (with suggestions for future work) and a list of cited work. Students devise their research questions and hypothesis from the paper based on a logical next step in the investigation. Guiding questions in the discussion can assist the students ("it would be interesting to evaluate the effect of ..."). Students submit their own minijournal, using the same journal

  8. A Research Study for Developing a Strategic Plan for Recruiting Academically Superior Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prasad, Sarada; Murphy, Michael

    The study reported in this document was conducted to facilitate strategic recruiting and marketing plans aimed at enhancing enrollments of academically superior students at the University of Wisconsin-Washington County (UWWC). Data on college choice criteria, perceptions, evaluations, information sources, "influentials," and choice outcomes…

  9. An Experimental Analysis of the Relation between Assigned Grades and Instructor Evaluations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Dale L.; Cook, Patrick; Buskist, William

    2011-01-01

    The perceived relation between assigned student grades and instructor evaluations of teaching has been the subject of much debate, though few laboratory studies have been conducted with adequate controls. Marsh and Roche suggested that experimental field studies may be a particularly promising avenue for further analyses of this relation. The…

  10. UOP LDR 300 All Assignments New

    OpenAIRE

    ADMIN

    2018-01-01

    UOP LDR 300 All Assignments New Check this A+ tutorial guideline at http://www.ldr300assignment.com/ldr-300-uop/ldr-300-all-assignments-latest For more classes visit http://www.ldr300assignment.com LDR 300 Week 1 Assignment Leadership Assessment (2 Papers) LDR 300 Week 2 Assignment Leadership Theories Matrix (2 Set) LDR 300 Week 2 Assignment Formulating Leadership Part I (2 Papers) LDR 300 Week 3 Assignment Interaction and Influence Amo...

  11. The influence of gender and personality traits on the career planning of Swiss medical students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buddeberg-Fischer, Barbara; Klaghofer, Richard; Abel, Thomas; Buddeberg, Claus

    2003-10-11

    Since the 1990s, as many women as men have been entering and graduating from medical schools in Western countries. Up to date, prospective studies of physicians' career paths are lacking. This paper presents the data of the first assessment of a longitudinal survey of a cohort of Swiss medical school graduates, evaluated with regard to how gender and personality traits contribute to their academic achievement and further career planning. In 2001, 719 graduate students (52.9% females, 47.1% males) returned a postal questionnaire comprising sections on personality traits, career motivation, and career planning. Female graduates scored higher on traits such as helpfulness, relationship consciousness, empathy, family responsibility, and job security. Male students scored higher on traits such as independence, decisiveness, self-confidence, activity, income, and prestige. Women were further advanced in the writing of their thesis (p = 0.04), chose different topics (p extrinsic career motivation predict advanced academic achievement, whereas self-esteem and intrinsic career motivation influence the choice of speciality. The results indicate that women plan their career more purposefully than men, and that not only gender but also personality traits and career motivation play an important role in academic achievement and career planning.

  12. Fair Package Assignment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lahaie, Sébastien; Parkes, David C.

    We consider the problem of fair allocation in the package assignment model, where a set of indivisible items, held by single seller, must be efficiently allocated to agents with quasi-linear utilities. A fair assignment is one that is efficient and envy-free. We consider a model where bidders have superadditive valuations, meaning that items are pure complements. Our central result is that core outcomes are fair and even coalition-fair over this domain, while fair distributions may not even exist for general valuations. Of relevance to auction design, we also establish that the core is equivalent to the set of anonymous-price competitive equilibria, and that superadditive valuations are a maximal domain that guarantees the existence of anonymous-price competitive equilibrium. Our results are analogs of core equivalence results for linear prices in the standard assignment model, and for nonlinear, non-anonymous prices in the package assignment model with general valuations.

  13. The planning of decommissioning activities within nuclear facilities - Generating a Baseline Decommissioning Plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meek, N.C.; Ingram, S.; Page, J.

    2003-01-01

    BNFL Environmental Services has developed planning tools to meet the emerging need for nuclear liabilities management and decommissioning engineering both in the UK and globally. It can provide a comprehensive baseline planning service primarily aimed at nuclear power stations and nuclear plant. The paper develops the following issues: Decommissioning planning; The baseline decommissioning plan;The process; Work package; Compiling the information; Deliverables summary; Customer Benefits; - Planning tool for nuclear liability life-cycle management; - Robust and reliable plans based upon 'real' experience; - Advanced financial planning; - Ascertaining risk; - Strategy and business planning. The following Deliverables are mentioned:1. Site Work Breakdown Structure; 2. Development of site implementation strategy from the high level decommissioning strategy; 3. An end point definition for the site; 4. Buildings, operational systems and plant surveys; 5. A schedule of condition for the site; 6. Development of technical approach for decommissioning for each work package; 7. Cost estimate to WBS level 5 for each work package; 8. Estimate of decommissioning waste arisings for each work package; 9. Preparation of complete decommissioning programme in planning software to suit client; 10. Risk modelling of work package and overall project levels; 11. Roll up of costs into an overall cost model; 12. Cash flow, waste profiling and resource profiling against the decommissioning programme; 13. Preparation and issue of Final Report. Finally The BDP process is represented by a flowchart listing the following stages: [Power Station project assigned] → [Review project and conduct Characterisation review of power station] → [Identify work packages] → [Set up WBS to level 3] → [Assign work packages] → [Update WBS to level 4] →[Develop cost model] → [Develop logic network] → [Develop risk management procedure] ] → [Develop project strategy document]→ [Work package

  14. Students' Perceptions of a Scaffolded Approach to Learning Financial Planning: An Empirical Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cull, Michelle; Davis, Glenda

    2013-01-01

    In the aftermath of the global financial crisis (GFC), one understandable area of scrutiny and pressure for reform is the educational background and professionalism of personal financial advisers. This Australian study reports on a three-year investigation into students' perceptions of "scaffolded" instruction in financial planning. The…

  15. Connecting Psychological Science with Climate Change: A Persuasion and Social Influence Assignment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Munro, Geoffrey D.; Behlen, Margaret M.

    2017-01-01

    Students often have little understanding of the role psychological science plays in informing us about the impact of human behavior when addressing climate change. We designed an assignment for a social psychology course based on Frantz and Mayer's use of the decision tree model of helping behavior to identify the psychological barriers that…

  16. Argumentation in Science Class: Its Planning, Practice, and Effect on Student Motivation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taneja, Anju

    Studies have shown an association between argumentative discourse in science class, better understanding of science concepts, and improved academic performance. However, there is lack of research on how argumentation can increase student motivation. This mixed methods concurrent nested study uses Bandura's construct of motivation and concepts of argumentation and formative feedback to understand how teachers orchestrate argumentation in science class and how it affects motivation. Qualitative data was collected through interviews of 4 grade-9 science teachers and through observing teacher-directed classroom discourse. Classroom observations allowed the researcher to record the rhythm of discourse by characterizing teacher and student speech as teacher presentation (TP), teacher guided authoritative discussion (AD), teacher guided dialogic discussion (DD), and student initiation (SI). The Student Motivation Towards Science Learning survey was administered to 67 students before and after a class in which argumentation was used. Analysis of interviews showed teachers collaborated to plan argumentation. Analysis of discourse identified the characteristics of argumentation and provided evidence of students' engagement in argumentation in a range of contexts. Student motivation scores were tested using Wilcoxon signed rank tests and Mann-Whitney U-tests, which showed no significant change. However, one construct of motivation---active learning strategy---significantly increased. Quantitative findings also indicate that teachers' use of multiple methods in teaching science can affect various constructs of students' motivation. This study promotes social change by providing teachers with insight about how to engage all students in argumentation.

  17. Students' Perspectives on Interprofessional Teamwork Before and After an Interprofessional Pain Education Course.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simko, Lynn Coletta; Rhodes, Diane C; McGinnis, Kathleen A; Fiedor, Jaclyn

    2017-08-01

    Objective. To evaluate changes in pharmacy and nursing student perspectives before and after completion of an interprofessional education (IPE) course. Methods. A pre- and post-perception scale descriptive prospective study design utilizing Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS) and Collaboration and Satisfaction about Care Decisions (CSACD) with self-reported statements of knowledge and importance of professional roles was used. Results. Significant improvement was shown for IEPS and CSACD overall and for both pharmacy and nursing students. Post-scores improved from 2013 to 2014, with significant improvements for IEPS. Pharmacy student findings show an increase in knowledge and importance of their roles and those of nursing students. Nursing students grew significantly in their knowledge of the pharmacist's role only. Conclusion. An IPE course for nursing and pharmacy students, taught by diverse health professionals with a care plan and simulation assignments, fosters the Interprofessional Education Collaborative panel's competencies for IPE.

  18. Using interviews to understand the assignment mechanism in a nonexperimental study: the case of eighth grade algebra.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rickles, Jordan H

    2011-10-01

    Many inquiries regarding the causal effects of policies or programs are based on research designs where the treatment assignment process is unknown, and thus valid inferences depend on tenuous assumptions about the assignment mechanism. This article draws attention to the importance of understanding the assignment mechanism in policy and program evaluation studies, and illustrates how information collected through interviews can develop a richer understanding of the assignment mechanism. Focusing on the issue of student assignment to algebra in 8th grade, I show how a preliminary data collection effort aimed at understanding the assignment mechanism is particularly beneficial in multisite observational studies in education. The findings, based on ten interviews and administrative data from a large school district, draw attention to the often ignored heterogeneity in the assignment mechanism across schools. These findings likely extend beyond the current research project in question to related educational policy issues such as ability grouping, tracking, differential course taking, and curricular intensity, as well as other social programs in which the assignment mechanism can differ across sites.

  19. National plan of quotas assignment. 2005-2007 reference period

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2004-07-01

    This document described the national plan of greenhouse gases quotas allocation, in application of the directive 2003/87/CE. Data and results presented could well be modified in particular in function of corrective demands proposed by the owners since the beginning of the public consulting to the notification of the affected quotas quantity. It presents in seven chapters the determination of the final quotas quantity, the determination of the final quotas quantity per each activity sectors and per installation, the technical aspects, the community policy and legislation, the public consultation and other criteria analysis. (A.L.B.)

  20. Teaching Undergraduate Students to Visualize and Communicate Public Health Data with Infographics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shanks, Justin D; Izumi, Betty; Sun, Christina; Martin, Allea; Byker Shanks, Carmen

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore the degree to which an infographic assignment facilitated student learning around health science issues, as well as the ways in which the assignment was an effective teaching tool. The objectives of the assignment were to (1) understand the purposes of and potential uses for infographics, (2) cultivate creative visual communication skills, and (3) disseminate a complex health topic to diverse audiences. The infographic assignment was developed at Montana State University and piloted at Portland State University. Students were assigned to small groups of three or four to create an infographic focused on a health science issue. The assignment was divided into four steps: brainstorming, developing, designing, and finalizing. Focus groups were conducted to assess how learning occurred throughout the assignment and identify any opportunities for modification of the assignment. This study was conducted with freshman students enrolled at Portland State University, a public university located in downtown Portland, OR, USA. Thirty four students completed the assignment and 31 students participated in one of three focus groups. Four themes emerged from focus groups: (1) Communicating Science-Related Topics to Non-experts, (2) Developing Professional Skills, (3) Understanding Health Issues, and (4) Overall Experience. This article outlines the assignment, discusses focus group results, and presents assignment modifications. It is clear that the infographic assignment facilitated learning about accessing and translating data. This assignment is ideally suited for use with diverse college-age audiences in health education and health promotion fields.

  1. Exploring the intentions of pharmacy students towards pharmacy ownership by using theory of planned behaviour

    OpenAIRE

    Khan, Muhammad Umair; Ahmad, Akram; Fayyaz, Muhammad; Ashraf, Nida; Bhagavathula, Akshaya

    2016-01-01

    Objective The objective of this study was to assess the association of the constructs of theory of planned behaviour (behavioural beliefs, normative beliefs, control beliefs) and demographic variables with the intentions of pharmacy students to become pharmacy owner. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted between October and November, 2014, using a pretested, self-administered questionnaire delivered to a sample of 350 pharmacy students at a private university of Pakistan. Behavioural ...

  2. Involvement in Transition Planning Meetings among High School Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffin, Megan M.; Taylor, Julie Lounds; Urbano, Richard C.; Hodapp, Robert M.

    2014-01-01

    Although students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are least likely to attend and participate in transition planning meetings, little is known about factors related to their involvement. Using a national data set, we conducted regressions to identify predictors of the involvement of 320 youth with ASD. Attendance positively related to higher…

  3. [An investigation of career choice, plans and expectations and practice preferences of male and female dental students

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Daalmans, M.T.; Vissia, M.S.; Kuijpers-Jagtman, A.M.; Lagro-Janssen, A.L.M.

    2004-01-01

    Aim of this study was to get more insight into the career choice, plans and expectations, and practice pattern preferences of male and female dental students in The Netherlands. A structured questionnaire was sent out to all 5th year dental students in The Netherlands in the academic year 2001/2002

  4. Mini-Journals: Incorporating Inquiry, Quantitative Skills and Writing into Homework Assignments for Geochemistry and Planetary Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whittington, A. G.; Speck, A.; Witzig, S.

    2011-12-01

    As part of an NSF-funded project, "CUES: Connecting Undergraduates to the Enterprise of Science," new inquiry-based homework materials were developed for two upper-level classes at the University of Missouri: Geochemistry (required for Geology majors, fulfills the computing requirement by having 50% of the grade come from five spreadsheet-based homework assignments), and Solar System Science (open to seniors and graduate students, co-taught and cross-listed between Geology and Physics & Astronomy). Inquiry involves activities where the learner engages in scientifically oriented questions, gives priority to evidence in responding to questions, formulates explanations from evidence, connects explanations to scientific knowledge, and communicates and justifies explanations. We engage students in inquiry-based learning by presenting homework exercises as "mini-journal" articles that follow the format of a scientific journal article, including a title, authors, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion and citations to peer-reviewed literature. The mini-journal provides a scaffold and serves as a springboard for students to develop and carry out their own follow-up investigation. They then present their findings in the form of their own mini-journal. Mini-journals replace traditional homework problem sets with a format that more directly reflects and encourages scientific practice. Students are engaged in inquiry-based homework which encompass doing, thinking, and communicating, while the mini-journal allows the instructor to contain lines of inquiry within the limits posed by available resources. In the examples we present, research is conducted via spreadsheet modeling, where the students develop their own spreadsheets. Example assignments from Geochemistry include "Trace Element Partitioning During Mantle Melting and MORB Crystallization" and "Isotopic Investigations of Crustal Evolution in the Midcontinent US". The key differences between the old and new

  5. Information Literacy Skills: Teacher and Student Viewpoints. A review of: Herring, James E. “A Critical Investigation of Students’ and Teachers’ View of the Use of Information Literacy Skills in School Assignments.” School Library Media Research 9 (2006. 14 May 2007 .

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julie Stephens

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available Objective – To examine student and teacher views of information literacy skills in school assignments in order to determine: 1 To what extent did students value the use of a research model booklet (PLUS? 2 How confident were the students about doing a good assignment and did the PLUS booklet affect their confidence? 3What benefits and limitations did students identify from individual brainstorming and concept mapping in relation to learning more about their topic and producing a good assignment? 4 To what extent did students see value in doing preliminary reading to revise their initial keywords and concept maps? 5 What reading and note‐taking strategies did students adopt when using print and electronic resources? 6 To what extent (and why did students prefer to use electronic rather than print resources? 7 What are the implications for teachers and school library media specialists (SLMS?Design – Qualitative, action research; collaborative inquiry.Setting – Ripon Grammar School, Yorkshire, United Kingdom (high school/coeducational.Subjects – Fifty‐two students in the second year of high school (year 8 enrolled in a science class studying sound technology; the school library media specialist (SLMS; science teachers.Methods – Students in this study had previously been taught a variety of information skills and had been introduced to a research model called PLUS (Purpose, Location, Use, Self‐Evaluation. Students were given a PLUS model booklet, were required to select a topic in the area of sound technology, and were expected to do brainstorming and concept mapping and to produce a 600‐word essay. After the assignment was completed, three methods of data collection were employed to determine students’ and teachers’ views: 1 post‐assignment questionnaire 2 group interviews with students and teachers 3semi‐structured interview with the school librarian.Main results – Responses indicated that students were

  6. A Study of Business Student Choice to Study Abroad: A Test of the Theory of Planned Behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Presley, Adrien; Damron-Martinez, Datha; Zhang, Lin

    2010-01-01

    Study abroad experiences are becoming increasingly common with business students. In this study, we build upon previous research into the motivations of students to study abroad by using Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior as a theoretical basis for identifying the factors which might influence their intention to study abroad. A survey administered…

  7. Improving in organization of in-site planning for NPP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gitel'man, L.D.; Khanin, V.V.; Trunov, V.M.; Khanin, R.V.

    1986-01-01

    The organization of NPP section activity planning is considered. With regard to the structure of in-site plans by time and content, their distribution in organization control structure, order of plan development, stimulation, accounting and estimation of plan fulfillment, plan indices for each shop and plan-assignment form are developed

  8. Teaching Undergraduate Students to Visualize and Communicate Public Health Data with Infographics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Justin D. Shanks

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to explore the degree to which an infographic assignment facilitated student learning around health science issues, as well as the ways in which the assignment was an effective teaching tool. The objectives of the assignment were to (1 understand the purposes of and potential uses for infographics, (2 cultivate creative visual communication skills, and (3 disseminate a complex health topic to diverse audiences. The infographic assignment was developed at Montana State University and piloted at Portland State University. Students were assigned to small groups of three or four to create an infographic focused on a health science issue. The assignment was divided into four steps: brainstorming, developing, designing, and finalizing. Focus groups were conducted to assess how learning occurred throughout the assignment and identify any opportunities for modification of the assignment. This study was conducted with freshman students enrolled at Portland State University, a public university located in downtown Portland, OR, USA. Thirty four students completed the assignment and 31 students participated in one of three focus groups. Four themes emerged from focus groups: (1 Communicating Science-Related Topics to Non-experts, (2 Developing Professional Skills, (3 Understanding Health Issues, and (4 Overall Experience. This article outlines the assignment, discusses focus group results, and presents assignment modifications. It is clear that the infographic assignment facilitated learning about accessing and translating data. This assignment is ideally suited for use with diverse college-age audiences in health education and health promotion fields.

  9. The Influence of Career-Focused Education on Student Career Planning and Development: A Comparison of CTE and Non-CTE Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mobley, Catherine; Sharp, Julia L.; Hammond, Cathy; Withington, Cairen; Stipanovic, Natalie

    2017-01-01

    Our study is part of a broader longitudinal study of a state-mandated career-focused school reform policy. We investigate whether career and technical education (CTE) and non-CTE students differed in interactions with guidance counselors, level of participation in career planning and development, and beliefs about the relevance of having a career…

  10. NIF conventional facilities construction health and safety plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benjamin, D W

    1998-01-01

    The purpose of this Plan is to outline the minimum health and safety requirements to which all participating Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and non-LLNL employees (excluding National Ignition Facility [NIF] specific contractors and subcontractors covered under the construction subcontract packages (e.g., CSP-9)-see Construction Safety Program for the National Ignition Facility [CSP] Section I.B. ''NIF Construction Contractors and Subcontractors'' for specifics) shall adhere to for preventing job-related injuries and illnesses during Conventional Facilities construction activities at the NIF Project. For the purpose of this Plan, the term ''LLNL and non-LLNL employees'' includes LLNL employees, LLNL Plant Operations staff and their contractors, supplemental labor, contract labor, labor-only contractors, vendors, DOE representatives, personnel matrixed/assigned from other National Laboratories, participating guests, and others such as visitors, students, consultants etc., performing on-site work or services in support of the NIF Project. Based upon an activity level determination explained in Section 1.2.18, in this document, these organizations or individuals may be required by site management to prepare their own NIF site-specific safety plan. LLNL employees will normally not be expected to prepare a site-specific safety plan. This Plan also outlines job-specific exposures and construction site safety activities with which LLNL and non-LLNL employees shall comply

  11. Enhanced Peer Assessment in MOOC Evaluation Through Assignment and Review Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramón Alcarria

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The rapid evolution of MOOCs in recent years has produced a change in the education of students and in the development of professional skills. There is an increasing pressure on universities to establish procedures for the recognition and certification of student participation in MOOCs. In order to guarantee that the evaluation procedures are in line with the quality of the procedures traditionally established in the university, a proposal for an enhanced peer assessment is required to allow a more precise review of the students' tasks and the assessments provided by his colleagues, considering procedures of verification of originality and a complete rubric for the peer review that takes into account reviewer’s history for a correct grade calibration. This paper describes the implementation of the evaluation tool, and an experimental validation that indicates that the majority of the students who have used the tool for the revision of assignments have generated grades closer to the revisions generated by the professors in the study.

  12. Creating a Learner-Centered Teaching Environment Using Student Choice in Assignments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanewicz, Cheryl; Platt, Angela; Arendt, Anne

    2017-01-01

    Learner-centered teaching (LCT) has been found to be a more effective pedagogy for online students, as traditional teaching methods do not work well in online courses. Professors in an upper-level technology management class revised their online introductory course to incorporate cafeteria-style grading. This LCT approach allowed students to…

  13. Language and Aspiration of the Students on Global Outlook: a Review Based on Malaysia Education Development Plan (2013- 2025

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sharipah Nur Mursalina Syed Azmy

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The Malaysia Education Development Plan (2013 – 2025 (pre-school to post-secondary education was launched by the Ministry of Education on October 2011. This plan aimed at transforming the national education system holistically and was based upon the international standard to instil the national aspiration and to prepare the students with sufficient competitive edge when upon completion of their study. This paper reviewed the six aspirations outlined in the Malaysia Education Development Plan which encompassed knowledge, thinking skills, leadership skills, bilingual skills, ethics and spirituality, and national identity. Each of these elements provide a holistic approach in ensuring the students are well equipped not only with knowledge and soft skills, but most instrumentally they are able to engulf the spirit of national identity. This is highly important in today’s world as without it, the country would not be able to move forward with its Vision 2020 when the people are not united and prepared to strive for excellence. This paper discovered that the six aspirations listed in the Malaysia Education Development Plan are embedded strategically in each of the thrust in developing the new generation of students.

  14. Culturally Responsive Education: Developing Lesson Plans for Vietnamese Students in the American Diaspora

    Science.gov (United States)

    Douglas, Cynthia M.

    2015-01-01

    This article focuses on the application of the philosophical principles of John Dewey and Culturally Responsive Education in the creation of lesson plans for Vietnamese students in the American Diaspora. Through a Fulbright-Hayes Program a group of teachers from the New York City Public School System and Long Island spent six weeks in Vietnam…

  15. Planning at a Higher Level: Ideas, Form, and Academic Language in Student Prewriting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, Paul

    2012-01-01

    For students, writing is too frequently a matter of going through the motions, perhaps no truer than with the traditional academic essay. Although there are many culprits for this disengagement, one is surely an over-emphasis on form--and particularly set form--to the detriment of content. When form becomes formula, planning is stultified, losing…

  16. Method for assigning sites to projected generic nuclear power plants

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Holter, G.M.; Purcell, W.L.; Shutz, M.E.; Young, J.R.

    1986-07-01

    Pacific Northwest Laboratory developed a method for forecasting potential locations and startup sequences of nuclear power plants that will be required in the future but have not yet been specifically identified by electric utilities. Use of the method results in numerical ratings for potential nuclear power plant sites located in each of the 10 federal energy regions. The rating for each potential site is obtained from numerical factors assigned to each of 5 primary siting characteristics: (1) cooling water availability, (2) site land area, (3) power transmission land area, (4) proximity to metropolitan areas, and (5) utility plans for the site. The sequence of plant startups in each federal energy region is obtained by use of the numerical ratings and the forecasts of generic nuclear power plant startups obtained from the EIA Middle Case electricity forecast. Sites are assigned to generic plants in chronological order according to startup date.

  17. Method for assigning sites to projected generic nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Holter, G.M.; Purcell, W.L.; Shutz, M.E.; Young, J.R.

    1986-07-01

    Pacific Northwest Laboratory developed a method for forecasting potential locations and startup sequences of nuclear power plants that will be required in the future but have not yet been specifically identified by electric utilities. Use of the method results in numerical ratings for potential nuclear power plant sites located in each of the 10 federal energy regions. The rating for each potential site is obtained from numerical factors assigned to each of 5 primary siting characteristics: (1) cooling water availability, (2) site land area, (3) power transmission land area, (4) proximity to metropolitan areas, and (5) utility plans for the site. The sequence of plant startups in each federal energy region is obtained by use of the numerical ratings and the forecasts of generic nuclear power plant startups obtained from the EIA Middle Case electricity forecast. Sites are assigned to generic plants in chronological order according to startup date

  18. Seven Birds with One Magic Bullet: Designing Assignments that Encourage Student Participation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krause-Jensen, Jakob

    2010-01-01

    At the Danish University School of Education we have experimented with a form of assessment called "active participation". A week before each class students are given reading guidelines and questions to help them approach the texts, and on the basis of one of those questions the students each write a two-page essay. The students are…

  19. The Effect of Person Centered Planning Activities on the IEP/Transition Planning Process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miner, Craig A.; Bates, Paul E.

    1997-01-01

    A study of 22 students with mental retardation and their families evaluated the impact of person-centered planning activities on several variables related to a student's individual education program/transition planning meeting. Person-centered planning had a significant effect on parent participation in meetings, but not on discussion of…

  20. Learning bridge tool to improve student learning, preceptor training, and faculty teamwork.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karimi, Reza; Cawley, Pauline; Arendt, Cassandra S

    2011-04-11

    To implement a Learning Bridge tool to improve educational outcomes for pharmacy students as well as for preceptors and faculty members. Pharmacy faculty members collaborated to write 9 case-based assignments that first-year pharmacy (P1) students worked with preceptors to complete while at experiential sites. Students, faculty members, and preceptors were surveyed about their perceptions of the Learning Bridge process. As in our pilot study,(1) the Learning Bridge process promoted student learning. Additionally, the Learning Bridge assignments familiarized preceptors with the school's P1 curriculum and its content. Faculty teamwork also was increased through collaborating on the assignments. The Learning Bridge assignments provided a compelling learning environment and benefited students, preceptors, and faculty members.

  1. "My Work Is Bleeding": Exploring Students' Emotional Responses to First-Year Assignment Feedback

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shields, Sam

    2015-01-01

    This paper explores the emotional responses that assignment feedback can provoke in first-year undergraduates. The literature on the link between emotions and learning is well established, but surprisingly research on the relationship between emotions and feedback is still relatively scarce. This article aims to make an additional contribution to…

  2. Dynamic Sequence Assignment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1983-12-01

    D-136 548 DYNAMIIC SEQUENCE ASSIGNMENT(U) ADVANCED INFORMATION AND 1/2 DECISION SYSTEMS MOUNTAIN YIELW CA C A 0 REILLY ET AL. UNCLSSIIED DEC 83 AI/DS...I ADVANCED INFORMATION & DECISION SYSTEMS Mountain View. CA 94040 84 u ,53 V,..’. Unclassified _____ SCURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE REPORT...reviews some important heuristic algorithms developed for fas- ter solution of the sequence assignment problem. 3.1. DINAMIC MOGRAMUNIG FORMULATION FOR

  3. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Predict College Students' Intention to Intervene With a Suicidal Individual.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aldrich, Rosalie S

    2015-01-01

    Suicide among college students is an issue of serious concern. College peers may effectively intervene with at-risk persons due to their regular contact and close personal relationships with others in this population of significantly enhanced risk. The current study was designed to investigate whether the theory of planned behavior constructs predicted intention to intervene when a college peer is suicidal. Undergraduate students (n = 367) completed an on-line questionnaire; they answered questions about their attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control regarding suicide and suicide intervention, as well as their intention to intervene when someone is suicidal. The data were analyzed using multiple regression. The statistical significance of this cross-sectional study indicates that the theory of planned behavior constructs predicts self-reported intention to intervene with a suicidal individual. Theory of planned behavior is an effective framework for understanding peers' intention to intervene with a suicidal individual.

  4. Forming Student Online Teams for Maximum Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olson, Joel D.; Ringhand, Darlene G.; Kalinski, Ray C.; Ziegler, James G.

    2015-01-01

    What is the best way to assign graduate business students to online team-based projects? Team assignments are frequently made on the basis of alphabet, time zones or previous performance. This study reviews personality as an indicator of student online team performance. The personality assessment IDE (Insights Discovery Evaluator) was administered…

  5. Comprehensive Statewide Plan for Postsecondary Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nebraska's Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education, 2016

    2016-01-01

    The constitution and statutes of Nebraska assign the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education the responsibility for comprehensive planning for postsecondary education in Nebraska. The purpose of the "Comprehensive Plan for Postsecondary Education" is to provide direction for the future of postsecondary education in Nebraska.…

  6. Student Perceptions of Scholarly Writing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shirley Peganoff O'Brien

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Learning the process of scholarly writing, including the significance of peer review, is an essential element in the preparation of students for professional practice. This descriptive research study, using Scholarship of Teaching and Learning methodology, explores one approach to teaching scholarly writing in an occupational science/occupational therapy curriculum. The writing assignment was designed to offer multiple points for feedback and revision and instructional features to reinforce learning. A survey of students [n = 169] participating in this scholarly writing project was conducted yearly to gather their perceptions of learning. The results revealed four key elements: instructional strategies are needed to support scholarly writing, students value explicit instructor feedback, a successful writing experience opens the possibility for students to write in their professional future, and students will develop the habits of a writer given structure and pedagogical considerations in the assignment construction. This experience shows students will work to achieve the expected standard for scholarship once writing is made an essential part of the course and their efforts are supported by scaffolding the assignment. Through this experience, it was also learned students need opportunities for repetition and practice to refine scholarly writing. Suggestions for future research are proposed.

  7. Image acquisition, transmission and assignment in 60Co container inspection system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu Zhifang; Zhou Liye; Liu Ximing; Wang Liqiang

    1999-01-01

    The author describes the data acquisition mode and image reconstruction method in 60 Co container inspection system, analyzes the relationship between line pick period and geometry distortion, makes clear the demand to data transmitting rate. It discusses several data communication methods, draws up a plan for network, realizes automatic direction and reasonable assignment of data in the system, cooperation of multi-computer and parallel processing, thus greatly improves the systems inspection efficiency

  8. Can Facebook Make Students Remember? An Experimental Study from Japan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acar, Adam

    2014-01-01

    This study experimentally manipulated the way students submit their assignments and tested the number of new words that are learned in each condition. The results showed that students who submitted their assignments through Facebook learned as much as those who submitted their assignment in a traditional way. In the light of these findings, we can…

  9. Drafting and acting on feedback supports student learning when writing essay assignments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freestone, Nicholas

    2009-06-01

    A diverse student population is a relatively recent feature of the higher education system in the United Kingdom. Consequently, it may be thought that more "traditional" types of assessment based around essay writing skills for science undergraduates may be of decreasing value and relevance to contemporary students. This article describes a study in which the process of feedback on, and associated redrafting of, an essay was closely supervised to improve essay writing skills and subsequent exam performance. The results of this study show that students can significantly improve their learning and academic performance, as assessed by final examination mark, by a process that more closely mimics a "real-world" situation of review and redrafting. Additionally, the data show that students benefit from feedback only when this is used appropriately by the student. The article also discusses the continuing importance and relevance of essay writing skills so that writing, and acting upon feedback to do with that writing, remains an integral part of the process of learning.

  10. Determinants of Fast Food Consumption among Iranian High School Students Based on Planned Behavior Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gholamreza Sharifirad

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective. This study was conducted to identify some factors (beliefs and norms which are related to fast food consumption among high school students in Isfahan, Iran. We used the framework of the theory planned behavior (TPB to predict this behavior. Subjects & Methods. Cross-sectional data were available from high school students who were recruited by cluster randomized sampling. All of the students completed a questionnaire assessing variables of standard TPB model including attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavior control (PBC, and the additional variables past behavior, actual behavior control (ABC. Results. The TPB variables explained 25.7% of the variance in intentions with positive attitude as the strongest (, and subjective norms as the weakest (, determinant. Concurrently, intentions accounted for 6% of the variance for fast food consumption. Past behavior and ABC accounted for an additional amount of 20.4% of the variance in fast food consumption. Conclusion. Overall, the present study suggests that the TPB model is useful in predicting related beliefs and norms to the fast food consumption among adolescents. Subjective norms in TPB model and past behavior in TPB model with additional variables (past behavior and actual behavior control were the most powerful predictors of fast food consumption. Therefore, TPB model may be a useful framework for planning intervention programs to reduce fast food consumption by students.

  11. Determinants of Fast Food Consumption among Iranian High School Students Based on Planned Behavior Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharifirad, Gholamreza; Yarmohammadi, Parastoo; Azadbakht, Leila; Morowatisharifabad, Mohammad Ali; Hassanzadeh, Akbar

    2013-01-01

    Objective. This study was conducted to identify some factors (beliefs and norms) which are related to fast food consumption among high school students in Isfahan, Iran. We used the framework of the theory planned behavior (TPB) to predict this behavior. Subjects & Methods. Cross-sectional data were available from high school students (n = 521) who were recruited by cluster randomized sampling. All of the students completed a questionnaire assessing variables of standard TPB model including attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavior control (PBC), and the additional variables past behavior, actual behavior control (ABC). Results. The TPB variables explained 25.7% of the variance in intentions with positive attitude as the strongest (β = 0.31, P intentions accounted for 6% of the variance for fast food consumption. Past behavior and ABC accounted for an additional amount of 20.4% of the variance in fast food consumption. Conclusion. Overall, the present study suggests that the TPB model is useful in predicting related beliefs and norms to the fast food consumption among adolescents. Subjective norms in TPB model and past behavior in TPB model with additional variables (past behavior and actual behavior control) were the most powerful predictors of fast food consumption. Therefore, TPB model may be a useful framework for planning intervention programs to reduce fast food consumption by students. PMID:23936635

  12. Flipping the Classroom in Medical Student Education: Does Priming Work?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emily Rose

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction The emergency medicine (EM clerkship curriculum at Los Angeles County + University of Southern California Medical Center includes monthly lectures on pediatric fever and shortness of breath (SOB. This educational innovation evaluated if learning could be enhanced by “priming” the students with educational online videos prior to an in-class session. Factors that impacted completion rates were also evaluated (planned specialty and time given for video viewing. Methods Twenty-minute videos were to be viewed prior to the didactic session. Students were assigned to either the fever or SOB group and received links to those respective videos. All participating students took a pre-test prior to viewing the online lectures. For analysis, test scores were placed into concordant groups (test results on fever questions in the group assigned the fever video and test results on SOB questions in the group assigned the SOB video and discordant groups (crossover between video assigned and topic tested. Each subject contributed one set of concordant results and one set of discordant results. Descriptive statistics were performed with the Mann-Whitney U test. Lecture links were distributed to students two weeks prior to the in-class session for seven months and three days prior to the in-class session for eight months (in which both groups included both EM-bound and non-EM bound students. Results In the fifteen-month study period, 64% of students rotating through the EM elective prepared for the in class session by watching the videos. During ten months where exclusively EM-bound students were rotating (n=144, 71.5% of students viewed the lectures. In four months where students were not EM-bound (n=54, 55.6% of students viewed the lectures (p=0.033. Participation was 60.2% when lecture links were given three days in advance and 68.7% when links were given two weeks in advance (p=0.197. In the analysis of concordant scores, the pre-test averaged 56

  13. Strategic planning processes and hospital financial performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaissi, Amer A; Begun, James W

    2008-01-01

    Many common management practices in healthcare organizations, including the practice of strategic planning, have not been subject to widespread assessment through empirical research. If management practice is to be evidence-based, evaluations of such common practices need to be undertaken. The purpose of this research is to provide evidence on the extent of strategic planning practices and the association between hospital strategic planning processes and financial performance. In 2006, we surveyed a sample of 138 chief executive officers (CEOs) of hospitals in the state of Texas about strategic planning in their organizations and collected financial information on the hospitals for 2003. Among the sample hospitals, 87 percent reported having a strategic plan, and most reported that they followed a variety of common practices recommended for strategic planning-having a comprehensive plan, involving physicians, involving the board, and implementing the plan. About one-half of the hospitals assigned responsibility for the plan to the CEO. We tested the association between these planning characteristics in 2006 and two measures of financial performance for 2003. Three dimensions of the strategic planning process--having a strategic plan, assigning the CEO responsibility for the plan, and involving the board--are positively associated with earlier financial performance. Further longitudinal studies are needed to evaluate the cause-and-effect relationship between planning and performance.

  14. Periodic Table of Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Mike

    1998-01-01

    Presents an exercise in which an eighth-grade science teacher decorated the classroom with a periodic table of students. Student photographs were arranged according to similarities into vertical columns. Students were each assigned an atomic number according to their placement in the table. The table is then used to teach students about…

  15. Geographical assignment of hospitalists in an urban teaching hospital: feasibility and impact on efficiency and provider satisfaction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bryson, Christine; Boynton, Greta; Stepczynski, Anna; Garb, Jane; Kleppel, Reva; Irani, Farzan; Natanasabapathy, Siva; Stefan, Mihaela S

    2017-10-01

    To evaluate whether implementation of a geographic model of assigning hospitalists is feasible and sustainable in a large hospitalist program and assess its impact on provider satisfaction, perceived efficiency and patient outcomes. Pre (3 months) - post (12 months) intervention study conducted from June 2014 through September 2015 at a tertiary care medical center with a large hospitalist program caring for patients scattered in 4 buildings and 16 floors. Hospitalists were assigned to a particular nursing unit (geographic assignment) with a goal of having over 80% of their assigned patients located on their assigned unit. Satisfaction and perceived efficiency were assessed through a survey administered before and after the intervention. Geographic assignment percentage increased from an average of 60% in the pre-intervention period to 93% post-intervention. The number of hospitalists covering a 32 bed unit decreased from 8-10 pre to 2-3 post-intervention. A majority of physicians (87%) thought that geography had a positive impact on the overall quality of care. Respondents reported that they felt that geography increased time spent with patient/caregivers to discuss plan of care (p < 0.001); improved communication with nurses (p = 0.0009); and increased sense of teamwork with nurses/case managers (p < 0.001). Mean length of stay (4.54 vs 4.62 days), 30-day readmission rates (16.0% vs 16.6%) and patient satisfaction (79.9 vs 77.3) did not change significantly between the pre- and post-implementation period. The discharge before noon rate improved slightly (47.5% - 54.1%). Implementation of a unit-based model in a large hospitalist program is feasible and sustainable with appropriate planning and support. The geographical model of care increased provider satisfaction and perceived efficiency; it also facilitated the implementation of other key interventions such as interdisciplinary rounds.

  16. ERROR ANALYSIS ON INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS’ SENTENCE WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rentauli Mariah Silalahi

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Students’ error analysis is very important for helping EFL teachers to develop their teaching materials, assessments and methods. However, it takes much time and effort from the teachers to do such an error analysis towards their students’ language. This study seeks to identify the common errors made by 1 class of 28 freshmen students studying English in their first semester in an IT university. The data is collected from their writing assignments for eight consecutive weeks. The errors found were classified into 24 types and the top ten most common errors committed by the students were article, preposition, spelling, word choice, subject-verb agreement, auxiliary verb, plural form, verb form, capital letter, and meaningless sentences. The findings about the students’ frequency of committing errors were, then, contrasted to their midterm test result and in order to find out the reasons behind the error recurrence; the students were given some questions to answer in a questionnaire format. Most of the students admitted that careless was the major reason for their errors and lack understanding came next. This study suggests EFL teachers to devote their time to continuously check the students’ language by giving corrections so that the students can learn from their errors and stop committing the same errors.

  17. Emerging Information Literacy and Research-Method Competencies in Urban Community College Psychology Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolfe, Kate S.

    2015-01-01

    This article details an assignment developed to teach students at urban community colleges information-literacy skills. This annotated bibliography assignment introduces students to library research skills, helps increase information literacy in beginning college students, and helps psychology students learn research methodology crucial in…

  18. Consensus training: an effective tool to minimize variations in periodontal diagnosis and treatment planning among dental faculty and students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    John, Vanchit; Lee, Seung-Jun; Prakasam, Sivaraman; Eckert, George J; Maupome, Gerardo

    2013-08-01

    Considerable disagreements and variations exist in diagnosis and treatment planning of periodontal disease. Achieving high interrater periodontal diagnosis can prove challenging. The objectives of this study were to measure variations in periodontal diagnosis and treatment planning among predoctoral periodontics faculty members after consensus training and to compare such variation with those identified in third- and fourth-year dental students. Nine electronically stored case vignettes and survey instruments were made available to eighteen faculty members and twenty dental students under standardized conditions. A chi-square test was used to compare responses between groups, and multirater kappa tests were used to evaluate interrater agreement/reliability. Of the nine cases, only one differed between groups significantly in terms of treatment. Also, third-year students differed from fourth-year students on the diagnosis of aggressive periodontitis versus chronic periodontitis. Most respondents were able to distinguish clearly among diagnoses of chronic periodontitis, aggressive periodontitis, and gingivitis. This study established a baseline assessment of the current status of consensus after training. We will reassess variations after addressing the specific challenges identified. Programs designed and implemented to help decrease the variation in periodontal diagnosis and treatment planning among faculty members may ultimately translate into better agreement and better standardization of dental instruction.

  19. Cross-cultural validity of the theory of planned behavior for predicting healthy food choice in secondary school students of Inner Mongolia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimazaki, Takashi; Bao, Hugejiletu; Deli, Geer; Uechi, Hiroaki; Lee, Ying-Hua; Miura, Kayo; Takenaka, Koji

    2017-11-01

    Unhealthy eating behavior is a serious health concern among secondary school students in Inner Mongolia. To predict their healthy food choices and devise methods of correcting unhealthy choices, we sought to confirm the cross-cultural validity of the theory of planned behavior among Inner Mongolian students. A cross-sectional study, conducted between November and December 2014. Overall, 3047 students were enrolled. We devised a questionnaire based on the theory of planned behavior to measure its components (intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) in relation to healthy food choices; we also assessed their current engagement in healthy food choices. A principal component analysis revealed high contribution rates for the components (69.32%-88.77%). A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the components of the questionnaire had adequate model fit (goodness of fit index=0.997, adjusted goodness of fit index=0.984, comparative fit index=0.998, and root mean square error of approximation=0.049). Notably, data from participants within the suburbs did not support the theory of planned behavior construction. Several paths did not predict the hypothesis variables. However, attitudes toward healthy food choices strongly predicted behavioral intention (path coefficients 0.49-0.77, ptheory of planned behavior can apply to secondary school students in urban areas. Furthermore, attitudes towards healthy food choices were the best predictor of behavioral intentions to engage in such choices in Inner Mongolian students. Copyright © 2017 Diabetes India. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Effects of curriculum-based measurement on teachers' instructional planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuchs, L S; Fuchs, D; Stecker, P M

    1989-01-01

    This study assessed the effects of curriculum-based measurement (CBM) on teachers' instructional planning. Subjects were 30 teachers, assigned randomly to a computer-assisted CBM group, a noncomputer CBM group, and a contrast group. In the CBM groups, teachers specified 15-week reading goals, established CBM systems to measure student progress toward goals at least twice weekly, and systematically evaluated those data bases to determine when instructional modifications were necessary. Contrast teachers monitored student progress toward Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals as they wished and were encouraged to develop instructional programs as necessary. At the end of a 12- to 15-week implementation period, teachers completed a questionnaire with reference to one randomly selected pupil. Analyses of variance indicated no difference between the CBM groups. However, compared to the contrast group, CBM teachers (a) used more specific, acceptable goals; (b) were less optimistic about goal attainment; (c) cited more objective and frequent data sources for determining the adequacy of student progress and for deciding whether program modifications were necessary; and (d) modified student programs more frequently. Questionnaire responses were correlated with verifiable data sources, and results generally supported the usefulness of the self-report information. Implications for special education research and practice are discussed.

  1. Increasing Student Interest and Comprehension of Production Planning and Control and Operations Performance Measurement Concepts Using a Production Line Game

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cox, James F., III; Walker, Edward D., II

    2005-01-01

    Production planning and control (PPC) systems and operations performance measures are topics that students generally find both boring and difficult to understand. In the article, the authors present a production line game that they have found to be an effective tool to increase student interest in the topics as well as student comprehension. The…

  2. Strategic Planning and Financial Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conneely, James F.

    2010-01-01

    Strong financial management is a strategy for strategic planning success in student affairs. It is crucial that student affairs professionals understand the necessity of linking their strategic planning with their financial management processes. An effective strategic planner needs strong financial management skills to implement the plan over…

  3. Teaching Copywriting Students about the Mature Market.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drewniany, Bonnie

    Advertising educators have a responsibility to make students aware of the importance of the mature market (older people) and to teach them methods to reach this group. An assignment in a copywriting class asked students to write and design ads to promote blue jeans to adults over 50. The assignment accomplished three things: (1) helped students…

  4. Predicting Change over Time in Career Planning and Career Exploration for High School Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Creed, Peter A.; Patton, Wendy; Prideaux, Lee-Ann

    2007-01-01

    This study assessed 166 high school students in Grade 8 and again in Grade 10. Four models were tested: (a) whether the T1 predictor variables (career knowledge, indecision, decision-making selfefficacy, self-esteem, demographics) predicted the outcome variable (career planning/exploration) at T1; (b) whether the T1 predictor variables predicted…

  5. Students, Please Turn to YouTube for Your Assignments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Graham

    2012-01-01

    Using the Flipped Classroom approach, the teacher "flips" the presentation of the material, the lesson, to non-class time by preparing a video that compresses the material and posting it on a website, such as YouTube, which the students can view at home or anywhere they choose. The teacher, in this case a Math teacher, is then free to…

  6. Using a digital storytelling assignment to teach public health advocacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Castro, A B; Levesque, Salem

    2018-03-01

    The need and expectation for advocacy is central to public health nursing practice. Advocacy efforts that effectively call attention to population health threats and promote the well-being of communities rely on strategies that deliver influential messaging. The digital story is a lay method to capture meaningful, impactful stories that can be used to advocate for public health concerns. Readily available, user-friendly digital technologies allow engagement in digital media production to create digital stories. This paper describes how digital story making can be utilized as an academic assignment to teach public health advocacy within an undergraduate nursing curriculum. Providing nursing students this artistic outlet can facilitate meeting academic learning goals, while also equipping them with creative skills that can be applied in future professional practice. Nursing educators can take advantage of institutional resources and campus culture to support the use of novel digital media assignments that facilitate application of advocacy concepts. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  7. Increasing Student-Learning Team Effectiveness with Team Charters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunsaker, Phillip; Pavett, Cynthia; Hunsaker, Johanna

    2011-01-01

    Because teams are a ubiquitous part of most organizations today, it is common for business educators to use team assignments to help students experientially learn about course concepts and team process. Unfortunately, students frequently experience a number of problems during team assignments. The authors describe the results of their research and…

  8. A monograph assignment as an integrative application of evidence-based medicine and pharmacoeconomic principles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Law, Anandi V; Jackevicius, Cynthia A; Bounthavong, Mark

    2011-02-10

    To describe the development and assessment of monographs as an assignment to incorporate evidence-based medicine (EBM) and pharmacoeconomic principles into a third-year pharmacoeconomic course. Eight newly FDA-approved drugs were assigned to 16 teams of students, where each drug was assigned to 2 teams. Teams had to research their drug, write a professional monograph, deliver an oral presentation, and answer questions posed by faculty judges. One team was asked to present evidence for inclusion of the drug into a formulary, while another team presented evidence against inclusion. The teams' average score on the written report was 99.1%; on the oral presentation, 92.5%, and on the online quiz given at the end of the presentations, 77%. Monographs are a successful method of incorporating and integrating learning across different concepts, as well as increasing relevance of pharmacoeconomics in the PharmD curriculum.

  9. Noise disturbance in open-plan study environments : a field study on noise sources, student tasks and room acoustic parameters

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Braat-Eggen, P.E.; van Heijst, A.W.M.; Hornikx, M.C.J.; Kohlrausch, A.G.

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this study is to gain more insight in the assessment of noise in open-plan study environments and to reveal correlations between noise disturbance experienced by students and the noise sources they perceive, the tasks they perform and the acoustic parameters of the open-plan study

  10. Differences in eighth grade science student and teacher perceptions of students' level of input into academic planning and decision making

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chapman, Jarrett Michael

    Teachers are expected to improve their planning, instruction, and assessment as they progress through their career. An important component to teachers knowing what to modify in their teaching style is being able to solicit meaningful feedback from students. This mixed-methods study was conducted to provide teachers with a quantitative method to collect data about their teaching using the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES). Phase 1 allowed students to provide anonymous feedback to their teachers that the teachers could later reflect upon in conjunction with the students' other feedback. Using measures of central tendencies, it was determined that of the five categories of the CLES the area of student negotiation was statistically different from the other categories. While eight teachers had sufficient (n>10) student data to be invited to participate in Phase 2, only five of the teachers choose to participate in a semi-structured interview to further examine the potential differences between teacher and student perception of student negotiation with the curriculum, instruction and assessment that occurs in the classroom. Coding the interview transcripts led to three categories: 1) teaching style (with themes including curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and sub themes of teacher centered and student centered); 2) external pressures (with themes of standards , standardized tests, and socioeconomic conditions); 3) effectiveness of student negotiation (with themes of positive effect or no effect on motivation). The five teachers who participated in Phase 2 had varying levels of awareness and willingness to adjust their classroom curriculum, instruction, and assessment to include student negotiation. All but one teacher, however, saw the value in increasing student negotiation in the classroom and desired to continue to change their teaching to include more student negotiation.

  11. Using HL7 in hospital staff assignments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Unluturk, Mehmet S

    2014-02-01

    Hospital staff assignments are the instructions that allocate the hospital staff members to the hospital beds. Currently, hospital administrators make the assignments without accessing the information regarding the occupancy of the hospital beds and the acuity of the patient. As a result, administrators cannot distinguish between occupied and unoccupied beds, and may therefore assign staff to unoccupied beds. This gives rise to uneven and inefficient staff assignments. In this paper, the hospital admission-discharge-transfer (ADT) system is employed both as a data source and an assignment device to create staff assignments. When the patient data is newly added or modified, the ADT system updates the assignment software client with the relevant data. Based on the relevant data, the assignment software client is able to construct staff assignments in a more efficient way. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Gender identity and gender role orientation in female assigned patients with disorders of sex development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mattila, Aino K; Fagerholm, Riitta; Santtila, Pekka; Miettinen, Päivi J; Taskinen, Seppo

    2012-11-01

    Gender identity and gender role orientation were assessed in 24 female assigned patients with disorders of sex development. A total of 16 patients were prenatally exposed to androgens, of whom 15 had congenital adrenal hyperplasia and 1 was virilized due to maternal tumor. Eight patients had 46,XY karyotype, of whom 5 had partial and 3 had complete androgen insensitivity syndrome. Gender identity was measured by the 27-item Gender Identity/Gender Dysphoria Questionnaire for Adolescents and Adults with 167 female medical students as controls, and gender role was assessed by the femininity and masculinity subscales of the 30-item Bem Sex Role Inventory with 104 female and 64 male medical students as controls. No patient reached the cutoff for gender identity disorder on the Gender Identity/Gender Dysphoria Questionnaire for Adolescents and Adults. However, patients with 46,XY karyotype demonstrated a somewhat more conflicted gender identity, although the overall differences were relatively small. As to gender role orientation, patients with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome had high scores on the femininity and masculinity scales of the Bem Sex Role Inventory, which made them the most androgynous group. Our findings, although clinically not clear cut, suggest that patients with disorders of sex development are a heterogeneous group regarding gender identity and gender role outcomes, and that this issue should be discussed with the family when treatment plans are made. Copyright © 2012 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Animation of planning algorithms

    OpenAIRE

    Sun, Fan

    2014-01-01

    Planning is the process of creating a sequence of steps/actions that will satisfy a goal of a problem. The partial order planning (POP) algorithm is one of Artificial Intelligence approach for problem planning. By learning G52PAS module, I find that it is difficult for students to understand this planning algorithm by just reading its pseudo code and doing some exercise in writing. Students cannot know how each actual step works clearly and might miss some steps because of their confusion. ...

  14. Hispanic-American Students' Attitudes toward Enrolling in High School Chemistry: A Study of Planned Behavior and Belief-Based Change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crawley, Frank E.; Koballa, Thomas R., Jr.

    The study sought to: (1) identify the determinants that motivate Hispanic-American students to enroll in high school chemistry; and (2) determine if providing belief-based information to students and their parents/guardians increases chemistry registration. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) guided the…

  15. Analysis of Work Assignments After Medical Ethics Workshop for First-Year Residents at Siriraj Hospital

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sakda Sathirareuangchai

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Background: Upon entering the residency training program, all 1st year residents at Siriraj Hospital must join medical ethics workshop held by the Division of Postgraduate Studies. At the end of the workshop, the residents were given a work assignment to write a clinical ethics situation they have encountered in their past practice. Methods: This study is an analysis of content described in the work assignments in order to gain the information regarding common medical ethics dilemmas, which the physicians faced in the early days of practice. Results: 740 work assignments were reviewed. The 4 most common ethical principle mentioned in these assign- ments were autonomy (144, 19.5%, palliative care (133, 18.0%, beneficence (121, 16.4%, and confidentiality (110, 14.9%. More than half of the situations described were during their internship (474, 64.1% and tended to distributed equally among community hospital (39.1%, university hospital (28.0%, and general hospital (24.3%. Conclusion: This study should raise the awareness of the medical educator towards these medical ethics issues during curriculum planning.

  16. Teacher Attitudes on Including Students with Behavior Intervention Plans in a High-School Inclusive Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tucker, Thurman D.

    2017-01-01

    This research examined attitudes to determine factors influencing teachers' attitudes toward including students with behavior intervention plans in inclusive high-school classrooms. For Research Question 1 one-way ANOVAs analyzed quantitative data with no significant differences found and qualitative data discovered common patterns that BIPs are…

  17. Fast Food Consumption Behaviors in High-School Students based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)

    OpenAIRE

    Kamal Mirkarimi; Morteza Mansourian; Mohammad Javad Kabir; Rahman Berdi Ozouni- Davaji; Maryam Eri; Seyed Ghadir Hosseini; Mostafa Qorbani; Omid Safari; Babak Rastgari Mehr; Mehdi Noroozi; Abdurrahman Charkazi; Hossein Shahnazi

    2016-01-01

    Background: Studies report inappropriate snack and junk food consumption patterns in children and young adults in Iran. The current survey was aimed to explore fast food consumption behaviors in high-school students based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done among 500 high-school students. Samples were selected based on cluster sampling method at first and simple random at second. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. ...

  18. The text plan concept: contributions to the writing planning process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Lúcia Tinoco Cabral

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Students - at different levels, ranging from early grades up to PhD - face problems both on comprehension and text production. This paper focuses on the text plan concept according to the DTA (Discourse Text Analysis approach, i.e., a principle of organization that allows students to put into practice the production intention as well as to arrange text information while producing; being responsible for the text compositional structure (Adam, 2008. The study analyzes the relation between text plan and the writing planning process, in which the first one provides the second with theoretical support. In order to develop such research, the study covers some issues related to the reading skill, analyzes an argumentative text as per its textual plan, and presents some reflections on the writing process, focusing on the relation between textual plan and the writing planning process.

  19. Using optimal combination of teaching-learning methods (open book assignment and group tutorials) as revision exercises to improve learning outcome in low achievers in biochemistry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rajappa, Medha; Bobby, Zachariah; Nandeesha, H; Suryapriya, R; Ragul, Anithasri; Yuvaraj, B; Revathy, G; Priyadarssini, M

    2016-07-08

    Graduate medical students of India are taught Biochemistry by didactic lectures and they hardly get any opportunity to clarify their doubts and reinforce the concepts which they learn in these lectures. We used a combination of teaching-learning (T-L) methods (open book assignment followed by group tutorials) to study their efficacy in improving the learning outcome. About 143 graduate medical students were classified into low (75%: group 3, n = 46) achievers, based on their internal assessment marks. After the regular teaching module on the topics "Vitamins and Enzymology", all the students attempted an open book assignment without peer consultation. Then all the students participated in group tutorials. The effects on the groups were evaluated by pre and posttests at the end of each phase, with the same set of MCQs. Gain from group tutorials and overall gain was significantly higher in the low achievers, compared to other groups. High and medium achievers obtained more gain from open book assignment, than group tutorials. The overall gain was significantly higher than the gain obtained from open book assignment or group tutorials, in all three groups. All the three groups retained the gain even after 1 week of the exercise. Hence, optimal use of novel T-L methods (open book assignment followed by group tutorials) as revision exercises help in strengthening concepts in Biochemistry in this oft neglected group of low achievers in graduate medical education. © 2016 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 44(4):321-325, 2016. © 2016 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

  20. Medical students' unique experience of army leadership training: a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Earis, John; Garner, J; Haddock, D; Jenkins, J; Jha, V

    2017-10-01

    To assess the interactive experience of first year medical students attending the leadership and management course hosted by a British Army Reserve Field Hospital developed in partnership with Liverpool University. 244 students submitted a 1000-word structured reflective learning assignment about their reaction to, learning from and any behaviour and attitude changes as a result of, the training. The assignments were thematically analysed to identify how aspects of the training had impacted upon the students' understanding of leadership and teamwork. Their comments relating to the army were analysed to gain insight into their views and experience of the training. Students were surprised at how enjoyable and useful they found the course. Initially they expressed scepticism about what they could learn in an army-based environment. However, the training, particularly command and planning tasks, helped them appreciate and understand the different skills individuals can bring to a team environment, and the importance of everyone contributing. While some students were challenged by aspects of the course, with support and encouragement from team-mates and the army personnel, they learned they could achieve more together. Teaching leadership and management skills to medical students is a challenge which can be effectively addressed by adapting and developing army training resources. Students overcame initial scepticism about participating, and learned a lot about themselves and each other. In addition, the army developed a better understanding of the doctors of the future. The expertise of the army in delivering this training was crucial to its success as the medical school could not have provided this experience unsupported. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

  1. [Gender-specific evaluation of student's career planning during medical study in terms of orthopaedic trauma].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mooij, S C; Antony, P; Ruesseler, M; Pfeifer, R; Drescher, W; Simon, M; Pape, H-C; Knobe, M

    2011-08-01

    Due to recent changes in the medical licencing act as well as to the introduction of a new model-course programme for medical studies, careers in medicine have become increasingly more attractive. However, there is still a dramatic shortage in younger generation physicians, especially within the surgical fields. The goal of this cross-sectional study was the gender-specific assessment of the ideal career wishes of students during medical school, with a focus being placed in orthopaedic trauma surgery. During the winter semester of 2010/2011 an online questionnaire (www.surveymonkey.com) was created for students enrolled in their 3rd to 12th semester (n=887). The questionnaire consisted of 50 questions [Likert scale (LS); 5 = agree, 1 = disagree] along with 10 free response questions. The scope of these questions ranged from personal career goals, within the context of their learning environment, to general life goals and planning. With regard to career choice, a differentiation was made between students' ideal career choices/subjects (IS), which were based solely on personal affinity, and so-called reality-based subjects (RS), which students considered more practical and to which they were more likely to apply in the future. The response rate was 36,4% (n=323, 23,4 years, 6.3 semesters, 226 [70.0%] female [f] and 97 [30.0%] male [m]). A total of 206 students (63.8%; m=55.7% vs. f=66.7%; p=0.047) were able to pinpoint an IS, this percentage increased with increasing semester number (p=0.048). Overall, 29.1% of students indicated that their IS lay in the field of orthopaedic trauma, while 20.0% of men and 19.1% of women saw it as a realistic career path (RS). Throughout the course of their studies, from the 3rd semester to their practical year, a declining tendency was observed regarding the agreement between ideal and realistic career paths. Particularly evident was a decreasing interest in the field of orthopaedic trauma, beginning around the 9th semester and

  2. Integrating a Career Planning and Development Program into the Baccalaureate Nursing Curriculum: Part I. Impact on Students' Career Resilience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waddell, Janice; Spalding, Karen; Canizares, Genevieve; Navarro, Justine; Connell, Michelle; Jancar, Sonya; Stinson, Jennifer; Victor, Charles

    2015-11-24

    Student nurses often embark on their professional careers with a lack of the knowledge and confidence necessary to navigate them successfully. An ongoing process of career planning and development (CPD) is integral to developing career resilience, one key attribute that may enable nurses to respond to and influence their ever-changing work environments with the potential outcome of increased job satisfaction and commitment to the profession. A longitudinal mixed methods study of a curriculum-based CPD program was conducted to determine the program's effects on participating students, new graduate nurses, and faculty. This first in a series of three papers about the overall study's components reports on undergraduate student outcomes. Findings demonstrate that the intervention group reported higher perceived career resilience than the control group, who received the standard nursing curriculum without CPD. The program offered students the tools and resources to become confident, self-directed, and active in shaping their engagement in their academic program to help achieve their career goals, whereas control group students continued to look uncertainly to others for answers and direction. The intervention group recognized the value of this particular CPD program and both groups, albeit differently, highlighted the key role that faculty played in students' career planning.

  3. Using Open Educational Resources to Help Students Understand the Sub-Prime Lending Crisis

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDowell, Evelyn A.

    2010-01-01

    In this paper, I describe an assignment designed to give students an intermediate level of understanding of the causes of the crisis using online educational resources widely available on the internet. I implemented the assignment in an undergraduate intermediate accounting course. Feedback from students indicate the assignment enhanced their…

  4. Strategic planning for health care management information systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenberger, H R; Kaiser, K M

    1985-01-01

    Using a planning methodology and a structured design technique for analyzing data and data flow, information requirements can be derived to produce a strategic plan for a management information system. Such a long-range plan classifies information groups and assigns them priorities according to the goals of the organization. The approach emphasizes user involvement.

  5. Transformational Leadership Plans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aguas, Pedro P.; Zapata, Liliana Valle; Arellano, Danilsa Lorduy

    2017-01-01

    Higher education institutions are aware of the need to incorporate learning-driven assessment artifacts into their doctoral programs to ensure successful leadership development. However, in attempting to integrate learning into students' future performance, it appears that there is no general agreement upon the most effective assignments. The…

  6. Enhancing of Self-Efficacy in Teacher Education Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malinauskas, Romualdas K.

    2017-01-01

    In this study, the effectiveness of training module on enhancing self-efficacy in teacher education students was investigated. Sixty-eight (68) teacher education students (M age = 22.74; SD = 0.57) participated in this study, 36 of whom were assigned to an experimental group and the other 32 were assigned to a control group. The training module on…

  7. Using spreadsheets to develop applied skills in a business math course: Student feedback and perceived learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas Mays

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the redesign of a business math course and its delivery in both face-to-face and online formats. Central to the redesigned course was the addition of applied spreadsheet exercises that served as both learning and summative assessment tools. Several other learning activities and assignments were integrated in the course to address diverse student learning styles and levels of math anxiety. Students were invited to complete a survey that asked them to rank course activities and assignments based on how well they helped the student learn course material. Open-ended items were also included in the survey. In the online course sections, students reported higher perceived learning from the use the spreadsheet-based application assignments, while face-to-face students preferred demonstrations. Qualitative remarks from the online students included numerous comments about the positive learning impact of the business application spreadsheet-based assignments, as well as the link between these assignments and what students considered the “real world.”

  8. Planning Public Transport

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Jonas Lohmann Elkjær; Landex, Alex

    2009-01-01

    This good practice guide is composed for the master course 13120 Public Transport Planning held at the Department of Transport, Technical University of Denmark. It is intended to use as guide in the different planning aspects and assignments of the course. Since the course is about the planning...... of new public transport infrastructure this guide also focuses on the planning of new infrastructure. Furthermore, the new infrastructure in the course is expected to be a light rail and even though this guide aims at being general for public transport some of the issues evidently become more relevant...... will enable a capability for planning both bus and rail. The guide is build as a full sketch investigation of a new public transport project ranging chronological from project clarification to physical and timetable planning to traffic modeling and project appraisal. The same steps that are expected...

  9. Gender-Inclusive Housing Preferences: A Survey of College-Aged Transgender Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krum, Tiana E.; Davis, Kyle S.; Galupo, M. Paz

    2013-01-01

    Traditional on-campus housing assignments at colleges and universities are made on the basis of legal sex, where students are housed only with other students of the same legal sex. This method is problematic for transgender and gender-nonconforming students, who may not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. Recently, some…

  10. Transition Planning for Foster Youth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geenen, Sarah J.; Powers, Laurie E.

    2006-01-01

    The study evaluated the IEPs/Individualized Transition Plans of 45 students who were in special education and foster care, and compared them to the plans of 45 students who were in special education only. Results indicate that the transition plans of foster youth with disabilities were poor in quality, both in absolute terms and in comparison to…

  11. Relative Contributions of Planned Behaviour and Social Capital on Educational Continuation Decisions of Disadvantaged Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edannur, Sreekala

    2018-01-01

    The present study is conducted to understand the relative contributions of planned behavior and social capital on educational continuation decisions of VIII standard students belonging to backward class in India. Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) are the three social groups dealt as backward classes in…

  12. A note on ranking assignments using reoptimization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Christian Roed; Nielsen, L.R.; Andersen, K.A.

    2005-01-01

    We consider the problem of ranking assignments according to cost in the classical linear assignment problem. An algorithm partitioning the set of possible assignments, as suggested by Murty, is presented where, for each partition, the optimal assignment is calculated using a new reoptimization...

  13. Design and development of an intelligent nursing bed - a pilot project of "joint assignment".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiehui Jiang; Tingwei Liu; Yuting Zhang; Yu Song; Mi Zhou; Xiaosong Zheng; Zhuangzhi Yan

    2017-07-01

    The "joint assignment" is a creative bachelor education project for Biomedical Engineering (BME) in Shanghai University (SHU), China. The objective of this project is to improve students' capabilities in design thinking and teamwork through practices in the process of the design and development of complex medical product. As the first step, a pilot project "design and development of intelligent nursing bed" was set up in May 2015. This paper describes details of how project organization and management, various teaching methods and scientific evaluation approaches were achieved in this pilot project. For example, a method containing one main line and four branches is taken to manage the project and "prototyping model" was used as the main research approach. As a result a multi-win situation was achieved. The results showed, firstly, 62 bachelor students including 16 BME students were well trained. They improved themselves in use of practical tools, communication skills and scientific writing; Secondly, commercial companies received a nice product design on intelligent nursing bed, and have been working on industrializing it; Thirdly, the university and associated schools obtained an excellent practical education experience to supplement traditional class education; Fourthly and most importantly, requirements from end-users will be met. The results also showed that the "joint assignment" task could become a significant component in BME bachelor education.

  14. Competitive Traffic Assignment in Road Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Krylatov Alexander Y.

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Recently in-vehicle route guidance and information systems are rapidly developing. Such systems are expected to reduce congestion in an urban traffic area. This social benefit is believed to be reached by imposing the route choices on the network users that lead to the system optimum traffic assignment. However, guidance service could be offered by different competitive business companies. Then route choices of different mutually independent groups of users may reject traffic assignment from the system optimum state. In this paper, a game theoretic approach is shown to be very efficient to formalize competitive traffic assignment problem with various groups of users in the form of non-cooperative network game with the Nash equilibrium search. The relationships between the Wardrop’s system optimum associated with the traffic assignment problem and the Nash equilibrium associated with the competitive traffic assignment problem are investigated. Moreover, some related aspects of the Nash equilibrium and the Wardrop’s user equilibrium assignments are also discussed.

  15. Process Model Improvement for Source Code Plagiarism Detection in Student Programming Assignments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kermek, Dragutin; Novak, Matija

    2016-01-01

    In programming courses there are various ways in which students attempt to cheat. The most commonly used method is copying source code from other students and making minimal changes in it, like renaming variable names. Several tools like Sherlock, JPlag and Moss have been devised to detect source code plagiarism. However, for larger student…

  16. Understanding Physical Activity Behavior in African American and Caucasian College Students: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blanchard, Chris; Fisher, Janet; Sparling, Phil; Nehl, Erich; Rhodes, Ryan; Courneya, Kerry; Baker, Frank

    2008-01-01

    Only 30% of college students meet the recommended amount of physical activity (PA) for health benefits, and this number is lower for African American students. Moreover, the correlates of PA may vary by ethnicity. Objective: In the present study, the authors tested the utility of the theory of planned behavior for explaining PA intentions and…

  17. High School Students' Engagement in Planning Investigations: Findings from a Longitudinal Study in Spain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crujeiras-Pérez, B.; Jiménez-Aleixandre, M. P.

    2017-01-01

    This paper examines the process of high school students' planning investigations in the chemistry laboratory across two consecutive academic years in terms of their actions and their progress. The context is a set of five inquiry-based laboratory tasks in which participants (9th and 10th graders, 14-15 and 15-16 years of age) are required to plan…

  18. Real life working shift assignment problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sze, San-Nah; Kwek, Yeek-Ling; Tiong, Wei-King; Chiew, Kang-Leng

    2017-07-01

    This study concerns about the working shift assignment in an outlet of Supermarket X in Eastern Mall, Kuching. The working shift assignment needs to be solved at least once in every month. Current approval process of working shifts is too troublesome and time-consuming. Furthermore, the management staff cannot have an overview of manpower and working shift schedule. Thus, the aim of this study is to develop working shift assignment simulation and propose a working shift assignment solution. The main objective for this study is to fulfill manpower demand at minimum operation cost. Besides, the day off and meal break policy should be fulfilled accordingly. Demand based heuristic is proposed to assign working shift and the quality of the solution is evaluated by using the real data.

  19. Backbone assignment and secondary structure of the PsbQ protein from Photosystem II

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Horničáková, M.; Kohoutová, Jaroslava; Schlagnitweit, J.; Wohlschlager, Ch.; Ettrich, Rüdiger; Fiala, R.; Schoefberger, W.; Müller, N.

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 5, č. 2 (2011), s. 169-175 ISSN 1874-2718 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LC06010 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60870520 Keywords : Photosystem II * PsbQ * Missing link * NMR resonance assignment * Protein-protein interaction Subject RIV: BO - Biophysics Impact factor: 0.720, year: 2011 http://www.springerlink.com/content/3n38075w5h1l1082/fulltext.pdf

  20. Does Empathy Predict Instructional Assignment-Related Stress? A Study in Special and General Education Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Platsidou, Maria; Agaliotis, Ioannis

    2017-01-01

    The role of empathy in the teaching profession has been vastly investigated in relation to its effect on students, but research on how teachers' empathy affects their own well-being at work is limited. This study investigated empathy and instructional assignment-related stress factors of primary school teachers serving in general or special…

  1. Lurking on the Internet: A Small-Group Assignment that Puts a Human Face on Psychopathology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lowman, Joseph; Judge, Abigail M.; Wiss, Charles

    2010-01-01

    Lurking on the Internet aims to put a human face on psychopathology for the abnormal psychology course. Student groups are assigned major diagnostic categories and instructed to search the Internet for discussion forums, individual blogs, or YouTube videos where affected individuals discuss their symptoms and lives. After discussing the ethics of…

  2. 24 CFR 221.770 - Assignment option.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Assignment option. 221.770 Section... § 221.770 Assignment option. A mortgagee holding a conditional or firm commitment issued on or before... mortgagee's approved underwriter on or before November 30, 1983) has the option to assign, transfer and...

  3. Using Game Elements to Increase Student Engagement in Course Assignments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armier, David Des, Jr.; Shepherd, Craig E.; Skrabut, Stan

    2016-01-01

    Gamification incorporates game-elements in non-gaming situations to enhance student engagement and desired behavior. This study examined participant's willingness to take part in gamified activities where reward systems were not directly tied to course grades. Participants enrolled in a technology integration course for preservice teachers, were…

  4. Job Assignments under Moral Hazard

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Koch, Alexander; Nafziger, Julia

    Inefficient job assignments are usually explained with incomplete information about employees' abilities or contractual imperfections. We show that inefficient assignments arise even without uncertainty about the employee's ability and with complete contracts. Building on this result we provide...

  5. EZ-ASSIGN, a program for exhaustive NMR chemical shift assignments of large proteins from complete or incomplete triple-resonance data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zuiderweg, Erik R. P., E-mail: zuiderwe@umich.edu; Bagai, Ireena [The University of Michigan Medical School, Department of Biological Chemistry (United States); Rossi, Paolo [Rutgers University, Center for Integrative Proteomics Research (United States); Bertelsen, Eric B. [Arbor Communications, Inc. (United States)

    2013-10-15

    For several of the proteins in the BioMagResBank larger than 200 residues, 60 % or fewer of the backbone resonances were assigned. But how reliable are those assignments? In contrast to complete assignments, where it is possible to check whether every triple-resonance Generalized Spin System (GSS) is assigned once and only once, with incomplete data one should compare all possible assignments and pick the best one. But that is not feasible: For example, for 200 residues and an incomplete set of 100 GSS, there are 1.6 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 260} possible assignments. In 'EZ-ASSIGN', the protein sequence is divided in smaller unique fragments. Combined with intelligent search approaches, an exhaustive comparison of all possible assignments is now feasible using a laptop computer. The program was tested with experimental data of a 388-residue domain of the Hsp70 chaperone protein DnaK and for a 351-residue domain of a type III secretion ATPase. EZ-ASSIGN reproduced the hand assignments. It did slightly better than the computer program PINE (Bahrami et al. in PLoS Comput Biol 5(3):e1000307, 2009) and significantly outperformed SAGA (Crippen et al. in J Biomol NMR 46:281-298, 2010), AUTOASSIGN (Zimmerman et al. in J Mol Biol 269:592-610, 1997), and IBIS (Hyberts and Wagner in J Biomol NMR 26:335-344, 2003). Next, EZ-ASSIGN was used to investigate how well NMR data of decreasing completeness can be assigned. We found that the program could confidently assign fragments in very incomplete data. Here, EZ-ASSIGN dramatically outperformed all the other assignment programs tested.

  6. 24 CFR 221.255 - Assignment option.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Assignment option. 221.255 Section... Assignment option. (a) A mortgagee holding a mortgage insured pursuant to a conditional or firm commitment issued on or before November 30, 1983 has the option to assign, transfer and deliver to the Commissioner...

  7. Safety plan for the cooperative telerobotic retrieval system equipment development area

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Haney, T.J.; Jessmore, J.J.

    1995-07-01

    This plan establishes guidelines to minimize safety risks for the cooperative telerobotic retrieval project at the North Boulevard Annex (NBA). This plan has the dual purpose of minimizing safety risks to workers and visitors and of securing sensitive equipment from inadvertent damage by nonqualified personnel. This goal will be accomplished through physical control of work zones and through assigned responsibilities for project personnel. The scope of this plan is limited to establishing the working zone boundaries and entry requirements, and assigning responsibilities for project personnel. This plan does not supersede current safety organization responsibilities for the Landfill Stabilization Focus Area Transuranic (LSFA TRU) Arid outlined in the Environment, Safety, Health, and Quality Plan for the Buried Waste Integrated Demonstration Program; Tenant Manual; Idaho Falls Building Emergency Control Plan;; applicable Company Procedures; the attached Interface Agreement (Appendix A).

  8. Safety plan for the cooperative telerobotic retrieval system equipment development area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haney, T.J.; Jessmore, J.J.

    1995-07-01

    This plan establishes guidelines to minimize safety risks for the cooperative telerobotic retrieval project at the North Boulevard Annex (NBA). This plan has the dual purpose of minimizing safety risks to workers and visitors and of securing sensitive equipment from inadvertent damage by nonqualified personnel. This goal will be accomplished through physical control of work zones and through assigned responsibilities for project personnel. The scope of this plan is limited to establishing the working zone boundaries and entry requirements, and assigning responsibilities for project personnel. This plan does not supersede current safety organization responsibilities for the Landfill Stabilization Focus Area Transuranic (LSFA TRU) Arid outlined in the Environment, Safety, Health, and Quality Plan for the Buried Waste Integrated Demonstration Program; Tenant Manual; Idaho Falls Building Emergency Control Plan;; applicable Company Procedures; the attached Interface Agreement (Appendix A)

  9. Exploring Plagiarism into Perspectives of Indonesian Academics and Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rina Agustina

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Plagiarism has been done by students from around the globes. There has been a heated discussion of finding reasons why plagiarism occurred in academic world and Eastern students in particular. This research wants to explore how actually students perceive plagiarism in their academic writing as well as how lecturers coped with plagiarism in the students’ assignments. The research participants were taken from 2 different majors, 32 English Education students and 10 Psychology students as well as 5 lecturers from English Education Department and 3 lecturers from Psychology Faculty in one of private universities in Central Java Province, Indonesia. Questionnaires were distributed to those respondents and also interviews were conducted to several lecturers and students. The results of questionnaire and interview showed that both students and lecturers knew and understand the essence of plagiarism, however, students admitted that they still plagiarised in their assignment. Lecturers, on the other hand, revealed that they could figure out when students plagiarised others’ works. However, it was limited to crossing over assignments between students. In other words, detecting plagiarism was done manually and restricted to students’ written works only. In conclusion, despite comprehending the meaning of plagiarism, student still plagiarised since there was not any real action from lecturers to encounter it.

  10. An algorithm for ranking assignments using reoptimization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Christian Roed; Nielsen, Lars Relund; Andersen, Kim Allan

    2008-01-01

    We consider the problem of ranking assignments according to cost in the classical linear assignment problem. An algorithm partitioning the set of possible assignments, as suggested by Murty, is presented where, for each partition, the optimal assignment is calculated using a new reoptimization...... technique. Computational results for the new algorithm are presented...

  11. 48 CFR 42.602 - Assignment and location.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Assignment and location... Assignment and location. (a) A CACO may be assigned only when (1) the contractor has at least two locations..., or a full-time CACO may be assigned. In determining the location of the CACO, the responsible agency...

  12. Design and Assessment of an Assignment-Based Curriculum to Teach Scientific Writing and Scientific Peer Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glaser, Rainer E.

    2014-01-01

    A writing-intensive, upper-level undergraduate course which integrates content, context, collaboration, and communication in a unique fashion, is described. The topic of the seminar is "Scientific Writing in Chemistry" and an assignment-based curriculum was developed to instruct students on best practices in all aspects of science…

  13. The Kitchen Is Your Laboratory: A Research-Based Term-Paper Assignment in a Science Writing Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Clinton D.

    2011-01-01

    A term-paper assignment that encompasses the full scientific method has been developed and implemented in an undergraduate science writing and communication course with no laboratory component. Students are required to develop their own hypotheses, design experiments to test their hypotheses, and collect empirical data as independent scientists in…

  14. STUDENT PLANNING TIME IN ORAL TESTS

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    WangLei

    2004-01-01

    This paper describes the process of planning in an oral test situation. Since many researchers have studied the impact of pretask planning in the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) field and some have explored the same subject into the area of oral tests, the present study tries to make a tentative attempt to see what the test takers are actually doing in the planning time while taking an oral test. A questionnaire was designed with the effort to find out whether planning time results in an increased focus on form, particularly at the level of strategic attention to form.The result of the investigation tells us that restricted by the type of situation, test takers can only plan the framework of what they are going to say, which may differ to the results achieved by previous studies.

  15. Virtual patient care: an interprofessional education approach for physician assistant, physical therapy and occupational therapy students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shoemaker, Michael J; Platko, Christina M; Cleghorn, Susan M; Booth, Andrew

    2014-07-01

    The purpose of this retrospective qualitative case report is to describe how a case-based, virtual patient interprofessional education (IPE) simulation activity was utilized to achieve physician assistant (PA), physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) student IPE learning outcomes. Following completion of a virtual patient case, 30 PA, 46 PT and 24 OT students were required to develop a comprehensive, written treatment plan and respond to reflective questions. A qualitative analysis of the submitted written assignment was used to determine whether IPE learning objectives were met. Student responses revealed three themes that supported the learning objectives of the IPE experience: benefits of collaborative care, role clarification and relevance of the IPE experience for future practice. A case-based, IPE simulation activity for physician assistant and rehabilitation students using a computerized virtual patient software program effectively facilitated achievement of the IPE learning objectives, including development of greater student awareness of other professions and ways in which collaborative patient care can be provided.

  16. EZ-ASSIGN, a program for exhaustive NMR chemical shift assignments of large proteins from complete or incomplete triple-resonance data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zuiderweg, Erik R. P.; Bagai, Ireena; Rossi, Paolo; Bertelsen, Eric B.

    2013-01-01

    For several of the proteins in the BioMagResBank larger than 200 residues, 60 % or fewer of the backbone resonances were assigned. But how reliable are those assignments? In contrast to complete assignments, where it is possible to check whether every triple-resonance Generalized Spin System (GSS) is assigned once and only once, with incomplete data one should compare all possible assignments and pick the best one. But that is not feasible: For example, for 200 residues and an incomplete set of 100 GSS, there are 1.6 × 10 260 possible assignments. In “EZ-ASSIGN”, the protein sequence is divided in smaller unique fragments. Combined with intelligent search approaches, an exhaustive comparison of all possible assignments is now feasible using a laptop computer. The program was tested with experimental data of a 388-residue domain of the Hsp70 chaperone protein DnaK and for a 351-residue domain of a type III secretion ATPase. EZ-ASSIGN reproduced the hand assignments. It did slightly better than the computer program PINE (Bahrami et al. in PLoS Comput Biol 5(3):e1000307, 2009) and significantly outperformed SAGA (Crippen et al. in J Biomol NMR 46:281–298, 2010), AUTOASSIGN (Zimmerman et al. in J Mol Biol 269:592–610, 1997), and IBIS (Hyberts and Wagner in J Biomol NMR 26:335–344, 2003). Next, EZ-ASSIGN was used to investigate how well NMR data of decreasing completeness can be assigned. We found that the program could confidently assign fragments in very incomplete data. Here, EZ-ASSIGN dramatically outperformed all the other assignment programs tested

  17. Determinants of responsibility for health, spiritual health and interpersonal relationship based on theory of planned behavior in high school girl students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rezazadeh, Afsaneh; Solhi, Mahnaz; Azam, Kamal

    2015-01-01

    Adolescence is a sensitive period of acquiring normal and abnormal habits for all oflife. The study investigates determinants of responsibility for health, spiritual health and interpersonal relations and predictive factors based on the theory of planned behavior in high school girl students in Tabriz. In this Cross-sectional study, 340 students were selected thorough multi-stage sampling. An author-made questionnaire based on standard questionnaires of Health Promotion and Lifestyle II (HPLPII), spiritual health standards (Palutzian & Ellison) and components of the theory of planned behavior (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intention) was used for data collection. The questionnaire was validated in a pilot study. Data were analyzed using SPSS v.15 and descriptive and analytical tests (Chi-square test, Pearson correlation co-efficient and liner regression test in backward method). Students' responsibility for health, spiritual health, interpersonal relationships, and concepts of theory of planned behavior was moderate. We found a significant positive correlation (ptheory of planned behavior. Attitude and perceived behavioral control predicted 35% of intention of behavioral change (pbehavioral control predicted 74% of behavioral change in accountability for health (pbehavioral change in spiritual health (pbehavioral change in interpersonal relationship (pbehavioral intention and its determinants such as perceived behavioral control should be noted in promoting intervention programs.

  18. Sequence determination and resonance assignments of an Azomonas siderophore using 13C natural abundance 13C-1H HNCA experiment

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Wasielewski, E.; Abdallah, M. A.; Kyslík, Pavel; Kieffer, B.

    2001-01-01

    Roč. 4, - (2001), s. 765-770 ISSN 1387-1609 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z5020903 Keywords : determination * resonance * assignments Subject RIV: EE - Microbiology, Virology Impact factor: 0.555, year: 2001

  19. Assigning poetry reading as a way of introducing students to qualitative data analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raingruber, Bonnie

    2009-08-01

    The aim of the paper is to explain how poetry reading can be used to teach interpretive analysis of qualitative data. A number of studies were located in the nursing literature that focused on using poetry to help students develop empathy for patients, to teach students to reflect on their own practice, and to assist them in developing self-understanding. No studies were found that described the use of poetry reading as a way of teaching the skill of interpretive analysis. There are, however, a number of parallels between the principles of poetry reading and qualitative analysis that suggest that this method of teaching would be successful. International papers published on PubMed, Medline, and CINAHL were reviewed to identify challenges facing educators and ways of teaching the process of qualitative data analysis using poetry reading. Using poetry reading to teach skills of qualitative data analysis helps motivate students, cultivates a reflective mindset, and develops the skill of working as a member of an interpretive group. Framing interpretive work as being like reading poetry helps students pick up more quickly on the art that is a major component of the work. This approach also helps students learn the importance of cultural and contextual particulars as they begin analyzing qualitative data. Using poetry reading to introduce students to the complex skill of qualitative data analysis is an effective pedagogical strategy.

  20. THE STRATEGIC PLANNING (SWOT ANALYSIS OUTCOMES AND SUGGESTIONS ACCORDING TO THE STUDENTS AND THE LECTURERS WITHIN THE DISTANCE EDUCATION SYSTEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tugba Yanpar YELKEN

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, strategic planning has become one of the subjects that many institutions work on to ensure the intuitions’ appropriate management based on realistic results. Therefore, this planning has to be taken into account and should provide planning direction on the bases of its results. Basically, the manager of strategic planning, leadership and strategic thinking and to act to help planners designed the tools, processes and concepts is a group. At the same time, the organization of the development and effective strategies will help to place. The purpose of this research is to provide SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis and to present new suggestions based on the opinions of students in the distance education system. In this work, we have applied Survey Method. The study group has consisted of 70 students and 11 instructors of Mersin Vocational School of Higher Education (MVSHE. All the data was surveyed during the spring semester of 2009. In the development of the questionnaire, a relevant literature has been investigated. Also, expert opinion has also been provided for the survey materials and survey articles. The questionnaire is finalized according to the expert’s opinion. The questionnaire was applied in the internet environment to both the students and the instructors. The outcomes of the survey have been evaluated quantatively along the direction of the survey’s fundamental question: “What are your views on strategic planning (SWOT of distance education?” The suggestions have been made about the distance learning education based on the findings of the survey.

  1. Center Planning and Development Student Engineer at KSC

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenkins, Kenneth T., Jr.

    2015-01-01

    This summer I was the Student Trainee (Engineering) Pathways Intern (co-op) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in the Center Planning & Development (CPD) Directorate. CPD works with commercial companies who are interested in using KSC's unique capabilities for spaceflight, spacecraft processing, ground systems and Research & Development (R&D) projects that fall in line with NASA's Mission and Vision. CPD is divided into three (3) groups: (1) AD-A, which works on the Master Planning for the center, (2) AD-B (where I am), which works on project control, management and integration, and (3) AD-C, which works on partnership development. CPD's main goal is to make KSC the world's preeminent multi-user spaceport and maintain the center as a leader in space exploration. CPD is a very diverse group of employees having a wide knowledge of not only the Space Shuttle, but also Expendable Launch Vehicles (ELV). The director of CPD, Scott Colloredo, is on the advisory board for Commercial Space Operations (CSO) and has a degree from ERAU. I worked on a number of different tasks for AD-B, as well as CPD, that includes, but not limited to: reviewing and reissuing engineering documents, weekly notes for CPD and senior management, engineering familiarizations with facilities at KSC, leading a tour for the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Career Services office, and working on actual agreements/proposals that will be used in the partnership process with multiple partners, along with other projects. Most of the work I have done is sensitive information and cannot be disclosed.

  2. Application of Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) Writing Assignments to Enhance Experiments with an Environmental Chemistry Focus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Margerum, Lawrence D.; Gulsrud, Maren; Manlapez, Ronald; Rebong, Rachelle; Love, Austin

    2007-01-01

    The browser-based software program, Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) developed by the Molecular Science Project enables instructors to create structured writing assignments in which students learn by writing and reading for content. Though the CPR project covers only one experiment in general chemistry, it might provide lab instructors with a method…

  3. Helping Students Test Programs That Have Graphical User Interfaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthew Thornton

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available Within computer science education, many educators are incorporating software testing activities into regular programming assignments. Tools like JUnit and its relatives make software testing tasks much easier, bringing them into the realm of even introductory students. At the same time, many introductory programming courses are now including graphical interfaces as part of student assignments to improve student interest and engagement. Unfortunately, writing software tests for programs that have significant graphical user interfaces is beyond the skills of typical students (and many educators. This paper presents initial work at combining educationally oriented and open-source tools to create an infrastructure for writing tests for Java programs that have graphical user interfaces. Critically, these tools are intended to be appropriate for introductory (CS1/CS2 student use, and to dovetail with current teaching approaches that incorporate software testing in programming assignments. We also include in our findings our proposed approach to evaluating our techniques.

  4. Creating Masterpieces: How Course Structures and Routines Enable Student Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dean, Kathy Lund; Fornaciari, Charles J.

    2014-01-01

    Over a five-year period, we made a persistent observation: Course structures and routines, such as assignment parameters, student group process rules, and grading schemes were being consistently ignored. As a result, we got distracted by correcting these structural issues and were spending less time on student assignment performance. In this…

  5. Planning for College Success

    Science.gov (United States)

    PEPNet, 2009

    2009-01-01

    "Planning for College Success" (PCS) is a curriculum model designed by Sharon Downs, M.S., for a course intended to assist deaf and hard of hearing students during their initial introduction to college life. This program allows students to work one-on-one with a counselor to plan for their college success. The program includes short-term goals and…

  6. School Improvement Plans and Student Achievement: Preliminary Evidence from the Quality and Merit Project in Italy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caputo, Andrea; Rastelli, Valentina

    2014-01-01

    This study provides preliminary evidence from an Italian in-service training program addressed to lower secondary school teachers which supports school improvement plans (SIPs). It aims at exploring the association between characteristics/contents of SIPs and student improvement in math achievement. Pre-post standardized tests and text analysis of…

  7. Students Working Online for Group Projects: A Test of an Extended Theory of Planned Behaviour Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Eddie W. L.

    2017-01-01

    This study examined an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model that specified factors affecting students' intentions to collaborate online for group work. Past behaviour, past experience and actual behavioural control were incorporated in the extended TPB model. The mediating roles of attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural…

  8. Exogenous spatial attention influences figure-ground assignment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vecera, Shaun P; Flevaris, Anastasia V; Filapek, Joseph C

    2004-01-01

    In a hierarchical stage account of vision, figure-ground assignment is thought to be completed before the operation of focal spatial attention. Results of previous studies have supported this account by showing that unpredictive, exogenous spatial precues do not influence figure-ground assignment, although voluntary attention can influence figure-ground assignment. However, in these studies, attention was not summoned directly to a region in a figure-ground display. In three experiments, we addressed the relationship between figure-ground assignment and visuospatial attention. In Experiment 1, we replicated the finding that exogenous precues do not influence figure-ground assignment when they direct attention outside of a figure-ground stimulus. In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that exogenous attention can influence figure-ground assignment if it is directed to one of the regions in a figure-ground stimulus. In Experiment 3, we demonstrated that exogenous attention can influence figure-ground assignment in displays that contain a Gestalt figure-ground cue; this result suggests that figure-ground processes are not entirely completed prior to the operation of focal spatial attention. Exogenous spatial attention acts as a cue for figure-ground assignment and can affect the outcome of figure-ground processes.

  9. Near-peer role modeling: Can fourth-year medical students, recognized for their humanism, enhance reflection among second-year students in a physical diagnosis course?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mimi McEvoy

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Humanism is cultivated through reflection and self-awareness. We aimed to employ fourth-year medical students, recognized for their humanism, to facilitate reflective sessions for second-year medical students with the intention of positively influencing reflective process toward humanistic development. Methods/Analysis: A total of 186 students were randomly assigned to one of three comparison arms: eight groups of eight students (64 students were facilitated by a fourth-year student who was a Gold Humanism Honor Society member (GHHS; eight groups (64 students by a volunteer non-GHHS student; and seven groups (58 students were non-facilitated. Before sessions, second-year students set learning goals concerning interactions with patients; fourth-year students received training materials on facilitation. Groups met twice during their 10 clinical site visits. At the last session, students completed a reflective assignment on their goal progress. Comparative mixed method analyses were conducted among the three comparison arms on reflection (reflective score on in-session assignment and session satisfaction (survey in addition to a thematic analysis of responses on the in-session assignment. Results: We found significant differences among all three comparison arms on students’ reflective scores (p=0.0003 and satisfaction (p=0.0001. T-tests comparing GHHS- and non-GHHS-facilitated groups showed significantly higher mean reflective scores for GHHS-facilitated groups (p=0.033; there were no differences on session satisfaction. Thematic analysis of students’ reflections showed attempts at self-examination, but lacked depth in addressing emotions. There was a common focus on achieving comfort and confidence in clinical skills performance. Discussion/Conclusions: Near peers, recognized for their humanism, demonstrated significant influence in deepening medical students’ reflections surrounding patient interactions or humanistic

  10. Voices that want to be heard: Using bereaved Danish students suggestions to update school bereavement response plans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lytje, Martin

    2018-04-01

    This study explored how Danish students experienced returning to school following parental bereavement. Eighteen focus group interviews were conducted with 39 participants aged 9 to 17. All participants had experienced the loss of a primary caregiver. Data collection was divided into two phases. In Phase I, 22 participants from four grief groups were interviewed 4 times over the course of a year. During Phase II, confirmatory focus groups were undertaken with the 17 participants. This article explores the findings related to ideas and suggestions made by the students about how the Danish school response could be improved to better meet their needs. The presentation of data is divided into seven themes, which are: Desired school response; Desired support from teachers; Desired boundaries between students and teachers; Desired collaboration; Desired support from peers; Desired rules and structure, and; Desires related to gifts and rituals. Study findings indicate that most students want to be included and have a say when the school plans how to respond to their loss. Students further highlight a need for teacher support when having to reconnect with the class; a need for set rules in relation to leaving the class when feeling sad, and; a need for schools to see the loss as a life-changing event, and grief as something that does not simply disappear after a few months. The article concludes by discussing the ways in which the recommendations provided by the participants can be incorporated into a modern revision of Danish school bereavement response plans.

  11. Impact of Patient Empathy Modeling on Pharmacy Students Caring for the Underserved

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Judy T.; LaLopa, Joseph

    2008-01-01

    Objective To determine the impact of the Patient Empathy Modeling pedagogy on students' empathy towards caring for the underserved during an advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE). Design Pharmacy students completing an APPE at 2 primary care clinics participated in a Patient Empathy Modeling assignment for 10 days. Each student “became the patient,” simulating the life of an actual patient with multiple chronic diseases who was coping with an economic, cultural, or communication barrier to optimal healthcare. Students completed the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) before and after completing the assignment, and wrote daily journal entries and a reflection paper. Assessment Twenty-six students completed the PEM exercises from 2005-2006. Scores on the JSPE improved. Students' comments in journals and reflection papers revealed 3 major themes: greater appreciation of the difficulty patients have with adherence to medication and treatment regimens, increased empathy for patients from different backgrounds and patients with medical and psychosocial challenges, and improved ability to apply the lessons learned in the course to their patient care roles. Conclusion A Patient Empathy Modeling assignment improved pharmacy students' empathy toward underserved populations. Integrating the assignment within an APPE allowed students to immediately begin applying the knowledge and insight gained from the exercise. PMID:18483606

  12. Factors Associated with Milk Consumption among College Students of Yazd University of Medical Sciences Based on Theory of Planned Behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Hossein Baghianimoghadam

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Daily milk consumption can be introduced as a healthy dietary pattern associated with a range of health benefits. This study aimed to determine factors associated with milk consumption among students of Yazd university of medical sciences based on the theory of planned behavior. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 385 students in 2014, who were selected via stratified random sampling. The study data was collected from a questionnaire based on the indirect construct of theory of planned behavior. Finally, the study data were analyzed using the T-test, Chi-square, and Fisher's exact tests. Results: In the present study, 64% of the students consumed milk daily. The behavioral intention, behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, control beliefs, and perceived power were significantly associated with the milk consumption (p<0.05. Conclusion: Educating the students in regard with the importance of receiving enough amount of milk, modifying their misconceptions as well as reinforcing positive beliefs can be effective in increasing milk consumption. In addition, increasing access to milk in university campuses should be taken into consideration.

  13. Applying Column Generation to the Discrete Fleet Planning Problem

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bosman, M.G.C.; Bakker, Vincent; Molderink, Albert; Hurink, Johann L.; Smit, Gerardus Johannes Maria

    2010-01-01

    The paper discusses an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) formulation that describes the problem of planning the use of domestic distributed generators, under individual as well as fleet constraints. The planning problem comprises the assignment of time intervals during which the local generator must

  14. Field-Identification IAT Predicts Students' Academic Persistence over and above Theory of Planned Behavior Constructs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roland, Nathalie; Mierop, Adrien; Frenay, Mariane; Corneille, Olivier

    2018-01-01

    Ajzen and Dasgupta (2015) recently invited complementing Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) measures with measures borrowed from implicit cognition research. In this study, we examined for the first time such combination, and we did so to predict academic persistence. Specifically, 169 first-year college students answered a TPB questionnaire and…

  15. Development of a Microbiology Course for Diverse Majors; Longitudinal Survey of the Use of Various Active, Problem-Based Learning Assignments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diana R. Cundell

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Educators are increasingly being encouraged to use more active- and problem-based-learning techniques and assignments in the classroom to improve critical and analytical thinking skills. Active learning-based courses have been purported to be more time consuming than traditional lecture methods and for many instructors have therefore proven difficult to include in many one-semester science courses. To address this problem, a series of assignments was developed for use in a basic microbiology course involving sophomore-, junior-, and senior-level students from five different biology majors (environmental science, biology, biochemistry, premedicine, and physician assistant. Writing assignments included global, historical, and social themes for which a standardized grading format was established. Students also participated in a class debate in which the merits of the living microbial kingdoms were discussed, with only one kingdom being saved from an imaginary global catastrophe. Traditional lectures were facilitated by the use of a dedicated note packet developed by the instructor and specific for course content. Laboratories involved group analysis of mini-case history studies involving pathogenic microbes. Students’ perceptions of the subject were assessed using an exit questionnaire sent to 100 of the 174 students who had taken the course during the 5-year time period. The majority of the 64 students who responded were sophomores (78%, in keeping with the target audience, and their perception of the course’s challenge level was significantly higher (p < 0.03, 8.7 than their junior and senior counterparts (7.9. Students rated the most useful learning tools as case history studies (9.4 and the class debate (9.1, with the introduction of a dedicated microbiology links web page to the University website representing the sole component resulting in a statistically significant increase in students’ perceptions of the importance of the course (p

  16. Student-Designed Service-Learning Projects in an Undergraduate Neurobiology Course

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katharine V. Northcutt

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available One of the challenges in teaching a service-learning course is obtaining student buy-in from all students in the course. To circumvent this problem, I have let students in my undergraduate Neurobiology course design their own service-learning projects at the beginning of the semester. Although this can be chaotic because it requires last-minute planning, I have made it successful through facilitating student communication in the classroom, requiring thorough project proposals, meeting with students regularly, and monitoring group progress through written reflection papers. Most of my students have strong opinions about the types of projects that they want to carry out, and many students have used connections that they have already made with local organizations. Almost all projects that students have designed to this point involve teaching basic concepts of neurobiology to children of various ages while simultaneously sparking their interest in science. Through taking ownership of the project and designing it such that it works well with their strengths, interests, and weekly schedule, students have become more engaged in service learning and view it as a valuable experience. Despite some class time being shifted away from more traditional assignments, students have performed equally well in the course, and they are more eager to talk with others about course concepts. Furthermore, the feedback that I have received from community partners has been excellent, and some students have maintained their work with the organizations.

  17. Students' Perceptions of a Twitter-Based Assignment in a Graduate-Level Instructional Technology Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nygard, Shanda; Day, Micah; Fricke, Gretchen; Knowlton, Dave S.

    2014-01-01

    This article examines Twitter as an innovation to enhance student learning within an online graduate-level course. Specifically, this article includes 3 narratives from students who were charged with using Twitter as a medium for sharing photographs and accompanying analysis. Within each narrative, students' experiences and opinions are…

  18. Investigating the relationship between quality, format and delivery of feedback for written assignments in higher education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sopina, Liza Elizaveta; McNeill, Rob

    2015-01-01

    Feedback can have a great impact on student learning. However, in order for it to be effective, feedback needs to be of high quality. Electronic marking has been one of the latest adaptations of technology in teaching and offers a new format of delivering feedback. There is little research...... improved speed and consistency of marking. There was no increase or decrease in satisfaction with the feedback received. Overall, electronic marking was found to be an acceptable method of delivery of feedback on written assignments by both students and markers. The findings of this study suggest...

  19. Causal Effects of Single-Sex Schools on College Entrance Exams and College Attendance: Random Assignment in Seoul High Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Hyunjoon; Behrman, Jere R.; Choi, Jaesung

    2012-01-01

    Despite the voluminous literature on the potentials of single-sex schools, there is no consensus on the effects of single-sex schools because of student selection of school types. We exploit a unique feature of schooling in Seoul—the random assignment of students into single-sex versus coeducational high schools—to assess causal effects of single-sex schools on college entrance exam scores and college attendance. Our validation of the random assignment shows comparable socioeconomic backgrounds and prior academic achievement of students attending single-sex schools and coeducational schools, which increases the credibility of our causal estimates of single-sex school effects. The three-level hierarchical model shows that attending all-boys schools or all-girls schools, rather than coeducational schools, is significantly associated with higher average scores on Korean and English test scores. Applying the school district fixed-effects models, we find that single-sex schools produce a higher percentage of graduates who attended four-year colleges and a lower percentage of graduates who attended two-year junior colleges than do coeducational schools. The positive effects of single-sex schools remain substantial, even after we take into account various school-level variables, such as teacher quality, the student-teacher ratio, the proportion of students receiving lunch support, and whether the schools are public or private. PMID:23073751

  20. Causal effects of single-sex schools on college entrance exams and college attendance: random assignment in Seoul high schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Hyunjoon; Behrman, Jere R; Choi, Jaesung

    2013-04-01

    Despite the voluminous literature on the potentials of single-sex schools, there is no consensus on the effects of single-sex schools because of student selection of school types. We exploit a unique feature of schooling in Seoul-the random assignment of students into single-sex versus coeducational high schools-to assess causal effects of single-sex schools on college entrance exam scores and college attendance. Our validation of the random assignment shows comparable socioeconomic backgrounds and prior academic achievement of students attending single-sex schools and coeducational schools, which increases the credibility of our causal estimates of single-sex school effects. The three-level hierarchical model shows that attending all-boys schools or all-girls schools, rather than coeducational schools, is significantly associated with higher average scores on Korean and English test scores. Applying the school district fixed-effects models, we find that single-sex schools produce a higher percentage of graduates who attended four-year colleges and a lower percentage of graduates who attended two-year junior colleges than do coeducational schools. The positive effects of single-sex schools remain substantial, even after we take into account various school-level variables, such as teacher quality, the student-teacher ratio, the proportion of students receiving lunch support, and whether the schools are public or private.

  1. Comparison of participatively set and assigned goals in the reduction of alcohol use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lozano, Brian E; Stephens, Robert S

    2010-12-01

    The effects of setting goals on goal commitment, self-efficacy for goal achievement, and goal achievement in the context of an alcohol use intervention were examined using an experimental design in which participants were randomized to participatively set goals, assigned goals, and no goal conditions. One hundred and twenty-six heavy-drinking college students received a single cognitive-behavioral assessment/intervention session and completed measures of goal commitment, self-efficacy for goal achievement, and alcohol use. Results were consistent with, and expanded upon, previous research by demonstrating that having a goal for limiting alcohol consumption was predictive of lower quantity and frequency of alcohol use relative to not having a goal. Participation in goal setting yielded greater goal commitment and self-efficacy for goal achievement than assigned goals, but did not result in significantly greater reductions in alcohol use relative to assigned goals. Goal commitment and self-efficacy explained unique variance in the prediction of alcohol use at follow-up. Findings support the importance of goal setting in alcohol interventions and suggest areas for further research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

  2. Data-Driven Planning: Using Assessment in Strategic Planning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bresciani, Marilee J.

    2010-01-01

    Data-driven planning or evidence-based decision making represents nothing new in its concept. For years, business leaders have claimed they have implemented planning informed by data that have been strategically and systematically gathered. Within higher education and student affairs, there may be less evidence of the actual practice of…

  3. My Student Body: Effects of an Internet-Based Prevention Program to Decrease Obesity among College Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    LaChausse, Robert G.

    2012-01-01

    Objective: To determine the impact of My Student Body (MSB)-Nutrition, an Internet-based obesity prevention program for college students. Participants: Three hundred and twenty ethnically diverse undergraduate students were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: MSB-Nutrition program, an on-campus weight management course, and a comparison group.…

  4. Effects of competitive learning tools on medical students: A case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corell, Alfredo; Regueras, Luisa M; Verdú, Elena; Verdú, María J; de Castro, Juan P

    2018-01-01

    Competitive learning techniques are being successfully used in courses of different disciplines. However, there is still a significant gap in analyzing their effects in medical students competing individually. The authors conducted this study to assess the effectiveness of the use of a competitive learning tool on the academic achievement and satisfaction of medical students. The authors collected data from a Human Immunology course in medical students (n = 285) and conducted a nonrandomized (quasi-experimental) control group pretest-posttest design. They used the Mann-Whitney U-test to measure the strength of the association between two variables and to compare the two student groups. The improvement and academic outcomes of the experimental group students were significantly higher than those of the control group students. The students using the competitive learning tool had better academic performance, and they were satisfied with this type of learning. The study, however, had some limitations. The authors did not make a random assignment to the control and experimental groups and the groups were not completely homogenous. The use of competitive learning techniques motivates medical students, improves their academic outcomes and may foster the cooperation among students and provide a pleasant classroom environment. The authors are planning further studies with a more complete evaluation of cognitive learning styles or incorporating chronometry as well as team-competition.

  5. Effects of Higher and Lower Level Writing-To-Learn Assignments on Higher and Lower Level Examination Questions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nevid, Jeffrey S.; Ambrose, Michael A.; Pyun, Yea Seul

    2017-01-01

    Our study examined whether brief writing-to-learn assignments linked to lower and higher levels in Bloom's taxonomy affected performance differentially on examination performance in assessing these skill levels. Using a quasi-random design, 91 undergraduate students in an introductory psychology class completed eight lower level and eight higher…

  6. Tertiary Students' Intention to e-Collaborate for Group Projects: Exploring the Missing Link from an Extended Theory of Planned Behaviour Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Eddie W. L.; Chu, Samuel K. W.; Ma, Carol S. M.

    2016-01-01

    With the emergence of web technologies, students can conduct their group projects via virtual platforms, which enable online collaboration. However, students' lack of intention to use web technologies for conducting group work has recently been highlighted. Based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this paper developed and examined an…

  7. Teaching in Unfamiliar Terrain: Empowering Student and Teacher Learning through a Photography Assignment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mount, Liz

    2018-01-01

    This article addresses a challenge for sociologists who teach at institutions located in unfamiliar cultural contexts through a photo elicitation project to develop students' sociological imaginations while teaching the instructor about students' social contexts. In introductory courses, we must present sociology as a field of study that is…

  8. Debt management and financial planning support for primary care students and residents at Boston University School of Medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terrell, C; Hindle, D

    1999-01-01

    Boston University Medical Center created the Office of Residency Planning and Practice Management as part of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Generalist Physician Initiative. Since 1995, the office has improved the medical center's ability to promote and support the generalist career decisions of its students and residents by removing indebtedness as a disincentive. After a brief review of the relationship between indebtedness and specialty selection, the authors delineate the nature and volume of debt-management assistance provided by the office to students and residents through individual counseling sessions, workshops, and other means between April 1995 and March 1998. A case study shows the progression of these services throughout residency training. The medical center also coordinates its debt-management assistance with counseling from physician-oriented financial planning groups. In conclusion, the authors discuss several characteristics of a successful debt-management program for residents.

  9. Sixth General Radioactive Waste Plan. Planning to the future of ENRESA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Espejo Hernandez, J. M.

    2006-01-01

    The Government approved last June 23''rd the Sixth General Radioactive Waste Plan that presents the activities to be carried out by ENRESA in all its field of responsibility to the year 2070. The document considers as one of the principal changes that ENRESA will be restructured to corporate public entity assigned to the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade as well as the need of a Centralised Temporary Storage for the spent fuel and the high level radioactive wastes generated in Spain. Nevertheless, information is provided on the plans for the full decommissioning of the nuclear power plants to complete their operational life and also the economic and financial aspects related to the activities contemplated in the Plan. (Author) 13 refs

  10. System i Disaster Recovery Planning

    CERN Document Server

    Dolewski, Richard

    2008-01-01

    Mapping out all the preparations necessary for an effective disaster recovery plan and its safeguard-a continuous maintenance program-this guide is aimed at IT managers of small and medium businesses. The opening section covers the initial steps of auditing vulnerability, ranking essential IT functions, and reviewing the storage of tape backups, with the following discussion focused on the elements of the plan itself. The plan includes a mission statement, a definition of disaster, the assignment of staff to teams, methods of compensating for human error, and standards for documenting the step

  11. The 1951 Harvard student uprising against the intern match.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakayama, Don K; Hendren, W Hardy

    2017-06-01

    In the fall of 1951, a group of Harvard medical students led by W. Hardy Hendren, III organized a national movement against the newly instituted match that would assign graduating seniors to hospital internship programs. Before then, hospitals with intern positions to fill rushed to secure commitments from students, who in turn accepted the first decent offer that came their way. Knowing that students could not risk waiting for a better offer, hospitals pushed them into making early commitments. When some students began getting offers in their junior and sophomore years, medical schools, professional groups, and hospitals organized the National Inter-association Committee on Internships to deal with the issue. The intern match was thus organized and scheduled to take place in 1952. When the plan was announced in mid-October 1951, Hendren recognized that the proposed algorithm placed students at a disadvantage if they did not get their first choice of hospitals. Facing resistance at every step from the National Inter-association Committee on Internships and putting his standing at Harvard Medical School at risk, Hendren led a nationwide movement of medical students to change the procedure to one that favored students' choices. Their success <1 month later established in the inaugural match the fundamental ethic of today's National Resident Matching Program to favor students' preferences at every step of the process. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Systemic Planning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Leleur, Steen

    This book presents principles and methodology for planning in a complex world. It sets out a so-called systemic approach to planning, among other things, by applying “hard” and “soft” methodologies and methods in combination. The book is written for Ph.D and graduate students in engineering...

  13. Bead Game Simulation. Lesson Plan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ripp, Ken

    This lesson plan offers students the opportunity to participate in the three basic economic systems (market, command, and tradition). By working in each of the systems, students will internalize the fundamental values present in each system and will gain insights into the basic advantages and disadvantages of each system. The lesson plan provides…

  14. Improving Student Performance Using Nudge Analytics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feild, Jacqueline

    2015-01-01

    Providing students with continuous and personalized feedback on their performance is an important part of encouraging self regulated learning. As part of our higher education platform, we built a set of data visualizations to provide feedback to students on their assignment performance. These visualizations give students information about how they…

  15. Solving the rectangular assignment problem and applications

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bijsterbosch, J.; Volgenant, A.

    2010-01-01

    The rectangular assignment problem is a generalization of the linear assignment problem (LAP): one wants to assign a number of persons to a smaller number of jobs, minimizing the total corresponding costs. Applications are, e.g., in the fields of object recognition and scheduling. Further, we show

  16. 7 CFR 900.106 - Assignment of mediator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 8 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Assignment of mediator. 900.106 Section 900.106 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Marketing... Assignment of mediator. The Director of the Division shall assign a mediator, from the group designated by...

  17. Career Planning without a Regular Diploma: A Study of High School Students Who Received "Special" Diplomas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Price-Wright, Demetress LaGale

    2013-01-01

    There is a growing demand by our society and legislature to educate all students equitably in an inclusive general education setting. Societal trends vary as time progresses, but this does not eliminate the growing debate regarding diploma options, exit requirements and future career planning for high school graduates. What does a future look like…

  18. SOLUTION OF MICROECONOMICS ASSIGNMENTS BY THE MEANS OF PROGRAM MODULES ISPEZ ON THE DISTANCE PLATFORM MOODLE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. М. Kobets

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available In article basic aspects introduction integrated environment verification knowledge students from microeconomic are expounded. It is considered structure of Decision Environmental with the built-in program modules (mathematical and graphical editors for the decision of typical assignments from microeconomics during the current and final control of students’ knowledges of different forms of teaching.

  19. 1990-1991 Marketing Plan. Year II: Planning To Meet the Future.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turcott, Frances; And Others

    In Maryland, Catonsville Community College's (CCC) 1990-91 marketing plan deals with the community's perceptions of the institution and strategies to improve CCC's image. Both the 1989-90 and 1990-91 plans targeted the same markets for special recruitment strategies; i.e., high school graduates with transfer plans, part-time adult students,…

  20. This Old Thing? Using Old Laboratory Equipment to Enhance Student Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elcoro, Mirari; McCarley, Nancy

    2015-01-01

    Using a surplus of older laboratory instruments, 48 students in a learning and behavior course completed an assignment designed to provide an introduction to the history and use of some instruments in psychology. Students worked in pairs, were assigned one instrument, and created labels in which they identified several keys characteristics of an…

  1. Studying Student Benefits of Assigning a Service-Learning Project Compared to a Traditional Final Project in a Business Statistics Class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phelps, Amy L.; Dostilio, Lina

    2008-01-01

    The present study addresses the efficacy of using service-learning methods to meet the GAISE guidelines (http://www.amstat.org/education/gaise/GAISECollege.htm) in a second business statistics course and further explores potential advantages of assigning a service-learning (SL) project as compared to the traditional statistics project assignment.…

  2. Comparison of executive functions in students with and without specific learning disability with the characteristic reading and writing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saba Hasanvandi

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: The aim of present study was to investigate executive functions included of working memory, organization-planning and reasoning in the children with and without specific learning disability with the characteristic reading and writing. Materials and methods: The design of this research was Ex-Post Facto design. Statistical population was all male students of third grade primary schools in Tehran which were referred to education institution with diagnosis special learning disorders in educational centers. The sample included of 90 students chosen and assigned into 3 groups of 30 students, included of: children who had specific learning disability with characteristic reading, children who had specific learning disability with characteristic writing, normal children were selected by systematic randomized sampling and 3 groups were compared. The data instruments were: Wechsler’ subtests of similarities and digit differences, Andre Ray test, in formal (unofficial reading and dictation test. The obtained data were analyzed with ANOVA. Results: The results showed that there was difference between the group of normal children and other group in executive functions including working memory, organization-planning and reasoning (P<0.05. Also there was difference between two children groups with specific learning disability with  characteristic reading and writing in working memory and reasoning, whereas for organization-planning parameter there were not seen any differences between these two groups (P<0.05. Conclusion: Regarding to obtained results, it is recommended to adoption some ways for improvements of working memory, organization-planning and reasoning

  3. Analysis of an Air Conditioning Coolant Solution for Metal Contamination Using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy: An Undergraduate Instrumental Analysis Exercise Simulating an Industrial Assignment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baird, Michael J.

    2004-01-01

    A real-life analytical assignment is presented to students, who had to examine an air conditioning coolant solution for metal contamination using an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). This hands-on access to a real problem exposed the undergraduate students to the mechanism of AAS, and promoted participation in a simulated industrial activity.

  4. Assessment of blood donation intention among medical students in Pakistan--An application of theory of planned behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faqah, Anadil; Moiz, Bushra; Shahid, Fatima; Ibrahim, Mariam; Raheem, Ahmed

    2015-12-01

    Theory of Planned Behavior proposes a model which can measure how human actions are guided. It has been successfully utilized in the context of blood donation. We employed a decision-making framework to determine the intention of blood donation among medical students who have never donated blood before the study. Survey responses were collected from 391 medical students from four various universities on a defined questionnaire. The tool composed of 20 questions that were formulated to explain donation intention based on theory of planned behavior. The construct included questions related to attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavior control, descriptive norm, moral norm, anticipated regret, donation anxiety and religious norm. Pearson's correlational relationships were measured between independent and dependent variables of intention to donate blood. ANOVA was applied to observe the model fit; a value of 0.000 was considered statistically significant. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to explore the relative importance of the main independent variables in the prediction of intention. Multi-collinearity was also evaluated to determine that various independent variables determine the intention. The reliability of measures composed of two items was assessed using inter-item correlations. Three hundred and ninety-one medical students (M:F; 1:2.2) with mean age of 21.96 years ± 1.95 participated in this study. Mean item score was 3.8 ± 0.83. Multiple regression analysis suggested that perceived behavioral control, anticipated regret and attitude were the most influential factors in determining intention of blood donation. Donation anxiety was least correlated and in fact bore a negative correlation with intention. ANOVA computed an F value of 199.082 with a p-value of 0.000 indicating fitness of model. The value of R square and adjusted R square was 0.811 and 0.807 respectively indicating strong correlation between various independent and dependent

  5. Online Mathematics Homework Increases Student Achievement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeremy Roschelle

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available In a randomized field trial with 2,850 seventh-grade mathematics students, we evaluated whether an educational technology intervention increased mathematics learning. Assigning homework is common yet sometimes controversial. Building on prior research on formative assessment and adaptive teaching, we predicted that combining an online homework tool with teacher training could increase learning. The online tool ASSISTments (a provides timely feedback and hints to students as they do homework and (b gives teachers timely, organized information about students’ work. To test this prediction, we analyzed data from 43 schools that participated in a random assignment experiment in Maine, a state that provides every seventh-grade student with a laptop to take home. Results showed that the intervention significantly increased student scores on an end-of-the-year standardized mathematics assessment as compared with a control group that continued with existing homework practices. Students with low prior mathematics achievement benefited most. The intervention has potential for wider adoption.

  6. Strategic Planning for Interdisciplinary Science: a Geoscience Success Story

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harshvardhan, D.; Harbor, J. M.

    2003-12-01

    The Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Purdue University has engaged in a continuous strategic planning exercise for several years, including annual retreats since 1997 as an integral part of the process. The daylong Saturday retreat at the beginning of the fall semester has been used to flesh out the faculty hiring plan for the coming year based on the prior years' plans. The finalized strategic plan is built around the choice of three signature areas, two in disciplinary fields, (i) geodynamics and active tectonics, (ii) multi-scale atmospheric interactions and one interdisciplinary area, (iii) atmosphere/surface interactions. Our experience with strategic planning and the inherently interdisciplinary nature of geoscience helped us recently when our School of Science, which consists of seven departments, announced a competition for 60 new faculty positions that would be assigned based on the following criteria, listed in order of priority - (i) scientific merit and potential for societal impact, (ii) multidisciplinary nature of topic - level of participation and leveraging potential, (iii) alignment with Purdue's strategic plan - discovery, learning, engagement, (iv) existence of critical mass at Purdue and availability of faculty and student candidate pools, (v) corporate and federal sponsor interest. Some fifty white papers promoting diverse fields were submitted to the school and seven were chosen after a school-wide retreat. The department fared exceedingly well and we now have significant representation on three of the seven school areas of coalescence - (i) climate change, (ii) computational science and (iii) science education research. We are now in the process of drawing up hiring plans and developing strategies for allocation and reallocation of resources such as laboratory space and faculty startup to accommodate the 20% growth in faculty strength that is expected over the next five years.

  7. Knowledge and Attitudes About Oral Cancer Among Dental Students After Bologna Plan Implementation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frola, María Inés; Barrios, Rocío

    2017-09-01

    Oral cancer is the most common of head and neck tumours. Dentists have an important role in the most effective prevention measures: controlling aetiological factors and early detection. Dental curriculum has suffered changes in their structures and contents during Bologna process. The aim of this study is to explore oral cancer knowledge and attitudes among dental students of Granada after the implementation of the Bologna plan. A cross-sectional study was carried out in the School of Dentistry of the University of Granada. A questionnaire was delivered to dental students in the fourth and fifth years (of study) to assess knowledge and attitudes about oral cancer area. 79.3 % related that they examined the oral mucosa from their patients regularly. Almost the whole sample (95.9 %) said that they would advise their patients about risk factors for oral cancer when they graduated. Tobacco followed by alcohol was the main oral cancer risk factor identified (94.2 and 72.7 %, respectively). 96.7 % of the sample would like to receive more information about this subject. Fourth year students had taught self-examination for early detection of oral cancer more frequently than fifth year students (42.5 versus 22.9 %, respectively). The results of this study revealed that dental students had good attitudes in the area of oral cancer. On the other hand, it highlights the need for an improvement of the teaching program regarding risk factors for oral cancer and performing routine oral examination.

  8. Person-Centered Transition Planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miner, Craig A.; Bates, Paul E.

    1997-01-01

    Describes a person-centered planning approach for involving students with disabilities and their families in the transition planning process. Components of person-centered planning are discussed, including development of a personal profile, identification of future lifestyle preferences, action steps and responsible parties, and necessary changes…

  9. On Maximizing the Lifetime of Wireless Sensor Networks by Optimally Assigning Energy Supplies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asorey-Cacheda, Rafael; García-Sánchez, Antonio Javier; García-Sánchez, Felipe; García-Haro, Joan; Gonzalez-Castaño, Francisco Javier

    2013-01-01

    The extension of the network lifetime of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) is an important issue that has not been appropriately solved yet. This paper addresses this concern and proposes some techniques to plan an arbitrary WSN. To this end, we suggest a hierarchical network architecture, similar to realistic scenarios, where nodes with renewable energy sources (denoted as primary nodes) carry out most message delivery tasks, and nodes equipped with conventional chemical batteries (denoted as secondary nodes) are those with less communication demands. The key design issue of this network architecture is the development of a new optimization framework to calculate the optimal assignment of renewable energy supplies (primary node assignment) to maximize network lifetime, obtaining the minimum number of energy supplies and their node assignment. We also conduct a second optimization step to additionally minimize the number of packet hops between the source and the sink. In this work, we present an algorithm that approaches the results of the optimization framework, but with much faster execution speed, which is a good alternative for large-scale WSN networks. Finally, the network model, the optimization process and the designed algorithm are further evaluated and validated by means of computer simulation under realistic conditions. The results obtained are discussed comparatively. PMID:23939582

  10. On Maximizing the Lifetime of Wireless Sensor Networks by Optimally Assigning Energy Supplies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco Javier González-Castano

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available The extension of the network lifetime of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN is an important issue that has not been appropriately solved yet. This paper addresses this concern and proposes some techniques to plan an arbitrary WSN. To this end, we suggest a hierarchical network architecture, similar to realistic scenarios, where nodes with renewable energy sources (denoted as primary nodes carry out most message delivery tasks, and nodes equipped with conventional chemical batteries (denoted as secondary nodes are those with less communication demands. The key design issue of this network architecture is the development of a new optimization framework to calculate the optimal assignment of renewable energy supplies (primary node assignment to maximize network lifetime, obtaining the minimum number of energy supplies and their node assignment. We also conduct a second optimization step to additionally minimize the number of packet hops between the source and the sink. In this work, we present an algorithm that approaches the results of the optimization framework, but with much faster execution speed, which is a good alternative for large-scale WSN networks. Finally, the network model, the optimization process and the designed algorithm are further evaluated and validated by means of computer simulation under realistic conditions. The results obtained are discussed comparatively.

  11. INTEGRATION OF ECONOMIC AND COMPUTER SKILLS AT IMPLEMENTATION OF STUDENTS PROJECT «BUSINESS PLAN PRODUCING IN MICROSOFT WORD»

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y.B. Samchinska

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available In the article expedience at implementation of economic specialities by complex students project on Informatics and Computer Sciences is grounded on creation of business plan by modern information technologies, and also methodical recommendations are presented on implementation of this project.

  12. Managing voluntary turnover through challenging assignments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Preenen, P.T.Y.; de Pater, I.E.; van Vianen, A.E.M.; Keijzer, L.

    2011-01-01

    This study examines employees’ challenging assignments as manageable means to reduce turnover intentions, job search behaviors, and voluntary turnover. Results indicate that challenging assignments are negatively related to turnover intentions and job search behaviors and that these relationships

  13. Managing voluntary turnover through challenging assignments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Preenen, P.T.Y.; Pater, I.E. de; Vianen, A.E.M. van; Keijzer, L.

    2011-01-01

    This study examines employees' challenging assignments as manageable means to reduce turnover intentions, job search behaviors, and voluntary turnover. Results indicate that challenging assignments are negatively related to turnover intentions and job search behaviors and that these relationships

  14. Impact of the "Planning to be Active" leisure time physical exercise program on rural high school students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hortz, Brian; Petosa, Rick

    2006-10-01

    The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of a Social Cognitive Theory-based intervention designed to increase the frequency of leisure time planned moderate and vigorous physical exercise among rural high school students attending physical education class. Students in treatment and comparison groups were exposed to an activity-based physical education curricula. The treatment group received eight behavioral skill-building lessons integrated into the existing curriculum. The Social Cognitive Theory-based educational treatment increased levels of moderate physical exercise occurring outside the classroom. This study demonstrated an impact on adolescent leisure time moderate physical exercise using classroom instruction. The intervention was most effective with students who were previously sedentary. The curricular approaches used to promote regular moderate exercise may be useful for sedentary adolescents.

  15. Factors influencing fast food consumption behaviors of middle-school students in Seoul: an application of theory of planned behaviors

    OpenAIRE

    Seo, Hyun-sun; Lee, Soo-Kyung; Nam, Soyoung

    2011-01-01

    Fast food is popular among children and adolescents; however, its consumption has often been associated with negative impacts on nutrition and health. This study examined current fast food consumption status among middle school students and explored factors influencing fast food consumption by applying Theory of Planned Behavior. A total of 354 (52.5% boys) students were recruited from a middle school. The subjects completed a pre-tested questionnaire. The average monthly frequency of fast fo...

  16. Basic Visual Merchandising. Second Edition. [Student's Manual and] Answer Book/Teacher's Guide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luter, Robert R.

    This student's manual that features content needed to do tasks related to visual merchandising is intended for students in co-op training stations and entry-level, master employee, and supervisory-level employees. It contains 13 assignments. Each assignment has questions covering specific information and also features activities in which students…

  17. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour to examine health professional students' behavioural intentions in relation to medication safety and collaborative practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lapkin, Samuel; Levett-Jones, Tracy; Gilligan, Conor

    2015-08-01

    Safe medication practices depend upon, not only on individual responsibilities, but also effective communication and collaboration between members of the medication team. However, measurement of these skills is fraught with conceptual and practical difficulties. The aims of this study were to explore the utility of a Theory of Planned Behaviour-based questionnaire to predict health professional students' behavioural intentions in relation to medication safety and collaborative practice; and to determine the contribution of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control to behavioural intentions. A descriptive cross-sectional survey based upon the Theory of Planned Behaviour was designed and tested. A convenience sample of 65 undergraduate pharmacy, nursing and medicine students from one semi-metropolitan Australian university were recruited for the study. Participants' behavioural intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control to behavioural intentions in relation to medication safety were measured using an online version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour Medication Safety Questionnaire. The Questionnaire had good internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.844. The three predictor variables of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control accounted for between 30 and 46% of the variance in behavioural intention; this is a strong prediction in comparison to previous studies using the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Data analysis also indicated that attitude was the most significant predictor of participants' intention to collaborate with other team members to improve medication safety. The results from this study provide preliminary support for the Theory of Planned Behaviour-Medication Safety Questionnaire as a valid instrument for examining health professional students' behavioural intentions in relation to medication safety and collaborative practice. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Theory of Planned Behavior Predicts Graduation Intentions of Canadian and Israeli Postsecondary Students with and without Learning Disabilities/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fichten, Catherine S.; Heiman, Tali; Jorgensen, Mary; Nguyen, Mai Nhu; Havel, Alice; King, Laura; Budd, Jillian; Amsel, Rhonda

    2016-01-01

    We tested the ability of Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model to predict intention to graduate among Canadian and Israeli students with and without a learning disability/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (LD/ADHD). Results based on 1486 postsecondary students show that the model's predictors (i.e., attitude, subjective norms,…

  19. Using expanded individualized health care plans to assist teachers of students with complex health care needs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heller, Kathryn Wolff; Tumlin, Jennifer

    2004-06-01

    As special education teachers have increasing numbers of students requiring health care procedures in their classrooms, school nurses need to help these teachers maintain a safe, healthy environment for their students. Part of this consists of having teachers know the steps to take should certain problems arise. This article examines the receptivity of using an expanded version of an individualized health care plan (IHP) to provide critical information to address health care problems, as well as having individualized education program (IEP) objectives for instructional targets identified in the IHP. The findings of this study indicate that a high percentage of school nurses and special education teachers were in favor of an expanded version of the IHP. There was also support for teaching students to independently or partially participate in performing their own health care procedures and having this instruction formalized as IEP objectives.

  20. The Land of Confusion? High School Students and Their Use of the World Wide Web for Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lorenzen, Michael

    2002-01-01

    Examines high school students' use of the World Wide Web to complete assignments. Findings showed the students used a good variety of resources, including libraries and the World Wide Web, to find information for assignments. However, students were weak at determining the quality of the information found on web sites. Students did poorly at…

  1. Mars - robust automatic backbone assignment of proteins

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jung, Young-Sang; Zweckstetter, Markus

    2004-01-01

    MARS a program for robust automatic backbone assignment of 13 C/ 15 N labeled proteins is presented. MARS does not require tight thresholds for establishing sequential connectivity or detailed adjustment of these thresholds and it can work with a wide variety of NMR experiments. Using only 13 C α / 13 C β connectivity information, MARS allows automatic, error-free assignment of 96% of the 370-residue maltose-binding protein. MARS can successfully be used when data are missing for a substantial portion of residues or for proteins with very high chemical shift degeneracy such as partially or fully unfolded proteins. Other sources of information, such as residue specific information or known assignments from a homologues protein, can be included into the assignment process. MARS exports its result in SPARKY format. This allows visual validation and integration of automated and manual assignment

  2. The Relationship between Counselors' and Students' Self-Esteem as Related to Counseling Outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiggins, James D.; Giles, Therese A.

    1984-01-01

    Assigned high or low self-esteem counselors (N=8) to high or low self-esteem sixth-grade students (N=16), who completed the Self-Esteem Inventory after four counseling sessions. Results showed students assigned to high self-esteem counselors showed greater gains in self-esteem. (JAC)

  3. The role of a creative "joint assignment" project in biomedical engineering bachelor degree education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiehui Jiang; Yuting Zhang; Mi Zhou; Xiaosong Zheng; Zhuangzhi Yan

    2017-07-01

    Biomedical Engineering (BME) bachelor education aims to train qualified engineers who devote themselves to addressing biological and medical problems by integrating the technological, medical and biological knowledge. Design thinking and teamwork with other disciplines are necessary for biomedical engineers. In the current biomedical engineering education system of Shanghai University (SHU), however, such design thinking and teamwork through a practical project is lacking. This paper describes a creative "joint assignment" project in Shanghai University, China, which has provided BME bachelor students a two-year practical experience to work with students from multidisciplinary departments including sociology, mechanics, computer sciences, business and art, etc. To test the feasibility of this project, a twenty-month pilot project has been carried out from May 2015 to December 2016. The results showed that this pilot project obviously enhanced competitive power of BME students in Shanghai University, both in the capabilities of design thinking and teamwork.

  4. [Self-evaluation of core competencies and related factors among baccalaureate nursing students].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Chen-Ting; Hsieh, Suh-Ing; Hsu, Li-Ling

    2013-02-01

    Evaluations of higher education programs are increasingly centered on the learner and designed to assess learning effectiveness and core competencies. Although the Taiwan Nursing Accreditation Council (TNAC) has established eight core competencies for college nursing departments, little research has been done to identify the most salient contributors to undergraduate nursing students' perceived competency levels. This paper investigates the influence of student demographic factors and learning experience on students' development in terms of a selected sample of core nursing competencies and then identifies factors that significantly predicts such development. This is a cross-sectional descriptive correlational study. We collected data from a sample of freshmen students currently enrolled in a two-year nursing bachelor degree program at a private vocational university in Taipei, Taiwan. Participants self-assessed abilities in designated core nursing competencies using the Competency Inventory of Nursing Students (CINS). A total of 279 of 290 distributed questionnaires were returned and used in data collection, giving this study a valid return rate of 96.2%. Participants earned a mean CINS score of 5.23 (SD = 0.49). Scale dimensions from highest to lowest mean score rank were: ethics, accountability, caring spirit, communication and cooperation, lifelong learning, general clinical nursing skills, critical thinking, and basic biomedical science. Differentiated analysis revealed that nursing students who expressed a strong interest in nursing, had a clear career plan, held aspirations to pursue higher nursing education, designated "major hospital" as their first workplace of choice, designated a post-college department / workplace preference, had participated in campus activities, were outspoken in classroom discussions and debates, made consistent effort to complete homework assignments and prepare for examinations, and performed relatively strong academically earned

  5. Examination of breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) levels, alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT-C) classification, and intended plans for getting home among bar-attending college students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Ryan J; Chaney, Beth H; Cremeens-Matthews, Jennifer

    2015-06-01

    The college student population is one of the heaviest drinking demographic groups in the US and impaired driving is a serious alcohol-related problem. The objective of this study is to better understand the relationship between alcohol-related behaviors and "plans to get home" among a sample of college students. We conducted four anonymous field studies to examine associations between breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) levels, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-C) classification, and plans for getting home among a sample of bar-attending college students (N = 713). The vast majority of participants in our sample (approximately 95%) were not intending to drive and the average BrAC% of those intending to drive was .041. Our one-way ANOVAs indicated that (1) participants classified by the AUDIT-C as not having an alcohol problem had a significantly lower BrAC% than those classified as having a potential problem and (2) participants planning to drive had a significantly lower BrAC% than those with a plan that did not involve them driving and those without a plan to get home. Although it is encouraging that most of our sample was not intending to drive, it is important to continue to attempt to reduce impaired driving in this population. This study helps college health professionals and administrators to better understand the relationship between alcohol-related behaviors and plans to get home among college students. © American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.

  6. Assignment of element and isotope factors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schneider, R.A.

    1984-01-01

    Element and isotope factors are assigned in the NICS internal accounting system at the Exxon Fuel Fabrication Facility on the basis of coded information included on the material transfer documents. This paper explains more fully the manner in which NICS assigns these factors

  7. Inferential backbone assignment for sparse data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vitek, Olga; Bailey-Kellogg, Chris; Craig, Bruce; Vitek, Jan

    2006-01-01

    This paper develops an approach to protein backbone NMR assignment that effectively assigns large proteins while using limited sets of triple-resonance experiments. Our approach handles proteins with large fractions of missing data and many ambiguous pairs of pseudoresidues, and provides a statistical assessment of confidence in global and position-specific assignments. The approach is tested on an extensive set of experimental and synthetic data of up to 723 residues, with match tolerances of up to 0.5 ppm for C α and C β resonance types. The tests show that the approach is particularly helpful when data contain experimental noise and require large match tolerances. The keys to the approach are an empirical Bayesian probability model that rigorously accounts for uncertainty in the data at all stages in the analysis, and a hybrid stochastic tree-based search algorithm that effectively explores the large space of possible assignments

  8. Develop a Professional Learning Plan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Journal of Staff Development, 2013

    2013-01-01

    A professional learning plan establishes short-and long-term plans for professional learning and implementation of the learning. Such plans guide individuals, schools, districts, and states in coordinating learning experiences designed to achieve outcomes for educators and students. Professional learning plans focus on the program of educator…

  9. Elective course planning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristiansen, Simon; Sørensen, Matias; Stidsen, Thomas Riis

    2011-01-01

    Efficient planning increasingly becomes an indispensable tool for management of both companies and public organizations. This is also the case for high school management in Denmark, because the growing individual freedom of the students to choose courses makes planning much more complex. Due...... to reforms, elective courses are today an important part of the curriculum, and elective courses are a good way to make high school education more attractive for the students. In this article, the problem of planning the elective courses is modeled using integer programming and three different solution...... for the Elective Course Planning Problem has been described in the literature before. The proposed algorithms are tested on data sets from 98 of the 150 high schools in Denmark. The tests show that for the majority of the problems, the optimal solution can be obtained within the one hour time bound. Furthermore...

  10. A comparison of forward planning and optimised inverse planning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oldham, Mark; Neal, Anthony; Webb, Steve

    1995-01-01

    A radiotherapy treatment plan optimisation algorithm has been applied to 48 prostate plans and the results compared with those of an experienced human planner. Twelve patients were used in the study, and a 3, 4, 6 and 8 field plan (with standard coplanar beam angles for each plan type) were optimised by both the human planner and the optimisation algorithm. The human planner 'optimised' the plan by conventional forward planning techniques. The optimisation algorithm was based on fast-simulated-annealing. 'Importance factors' assigned to different regions of the patient provide a method for controlling the algorithm, and it was found that the same values gave good results for almost all plans. The plans were compared on the basis of dose statistics and normal-tissue-complication-probability (NTCP) and tumour-control-probability (TCP). The results show that the optimisation algorithm yielded results that were at least as good as the human planner for all plan types, and on the whole slightly better. A study of the beam-weights chosen by the optimisation algorithm and the planner will be presented. The optimisation algorithm showed greater variation, in response to individual patient geometry. For simple (e.g. 3 field) plans it was found to consistently achieve slightly higher TCP and lower NTCP values. For more complicated (e.g. 8 fields) plans the optimisation also achieved slightly better results with generally less numbers of beams. The optimisation time was always ≤5 minutes; a factor of up to 20 times faster than the human planner

  11. Why Do College Students Cheat? A Structural Equation Modeling Validation of the Theory of Planned Behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    AL-Dossary, Saeed Abdullah

    2017-01-01

    Cheating on tests is a serious problem in education. The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of a modified form of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to predict cheating behavior among a sample of Saudi university students. This study also sought to test the influence of cheating in high school on cheating in college within the…

  12. Method of radiation therapy treatment planning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hodes, L.

    1976-01-01

    A technique of radiation therapy treatment planning designed to allow the assignment of dosage limits directly to chosen points in the computer-displayed cross-section of the patient. These dosage limits are used as constraints in a linear programming attempt to solve for beam strengths, minimizing integral dosage. If a feasible plan exists, the optimized plan will be displayed for approval as an isodose pattern. If there is no feasible plan, the operator/therapist can designate some of the point dosage constraints as ''relaxed.'' Linear programming will then optimize for minimum deviation at the relaxed points. This process can be iterated and new points selected until an acceptable plan is realized. In this manner the plan is optimized for uniformity as well as overall low dosage. 6 claims, 6 drawing figures

  13. Enhancing Student’s Understanding in Entrepreneurship Through Business Plan Simulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guzairy M.

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Business Plan is an important document for entrepreneurs to guide them managing their business. Business Plan also assist the entrepreneur to strategies their business and manage future growth. That is why Malaysian government has foster all Higher Education Provider to set entrepreneurship education as compulsory course. One of the entrepreneurship education learning outcome is the student can write effective business plan. This study focused on enhancing student’s understanding in entrepreneurship through business plan simulation. This study also considers which of the factor that most facilitate the business simulation that help the student to prepare effective business plan. The methodology of this study using quantitative approach with pre-and post-research design. 114 students take part as respondent in the business simulation and answer quantitative survey pre-question and post question. The crucial findings of this study are student characteristic factor after playing the simulation contribute much on facilitate business plan learning. The result has shown that the business plan simulation can enhance undergraduate student in understanding entrepreneurship by preparing effective business plan before opening new startup.

  14. Do Students Using Electronic Books Display Different Reading Comprehension and Motivation Levels than Students Using Traditional Print Books?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wells, Casey L.

    2012-01-01

    The effect of electronic books on the reading comprehension of middle and high school students was examined using an experimental posttest-only control-group design. A convenience sample of 140 randomly assigned middle and high school English students at an independent school in eastern North Carolina participated. Half of the students used…

  15. Improving Student Engagement in Veterinary Business Studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armitage-Chan, Elizabeth; Jackson, Elizabeth

    2018-01-01

    Improving Student Engagement in Veterinary Business StudiesIn a densely packed veterinary curriculum, students may find it particularly challenging to engage in the less overtly clinical subjects, yet pressure from industry and an increasingly competitive employment market necessitate improved veterinary student education in business and management skills. We describe a curriculum intervention (formative reflective assignment) that optimizes workplace learning opportunities and aims to provide better student scaffolding for their in-context business learning. Students were asked to analyze a business practice they experienced during a period of extra-mural studies (external work placement). Following return to the college, they were then instructed to discuss their findings in their study group, and produce a group reflection on their learning. To better understand student engagement in this area, we analyzed individual and group components of the assignment. Thematic analysis revealed evidence of various depths of student engagement, and provided indications of the behaviors they used when engaging at different levels. Interactive and social practices (discussing business strategies with veterinary employees and student peers) appeared to facilitate student engagement, assist the perception of relevance of these skills, and encourage integration with other curriculum elements such as communication skills and clinical problem solving.

  16. Peer Influence on Aggressive Behavior, Smoking, and Sexual Behavior: A Study of Randomly-assigned College Roommates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yi; Guo, Guang

    2016-09-01

    Identifying casual peer influence is a long-standing challenge to social scientists. Using data from a natural experiment of randomly-assigned college roommates (N = 2,059), which removes the threat of friend selection, we investigate peer effects on aggressive behavior, smoking, and concurrent sexual partnering. The findings suggest that the magnitude and direction of peer influence depend on predisposition, gender, and the nature of the behavior. Peer effects on individuals predisposed toward a given behavior tend to be larger than peer effects on individuals without such a predisposition. We find that the influence of roommates on aggressive behavior is more pronounced among male students than among female students; roommate effects on smoking are negative among female students and male students who did not smoke before college. For concurrent sexual partnering, a highly private behavior, we find no evidence of peer effects. © American Sociological Association 2016.

  17. PROJECT WORK BY STUDENTS FOR FIRST DEGREE: AN ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Mofasony

    It is expected that after University education, student of law should write well as ... student's capability, topics should not be assigned to students collectively. .... This enables the student hone-in the theoretical course work in the university. There is no .... Benson O.A. Oluikpe, Thesis Writing, Africana Publishers Ltd, 1982, iv. 7.

  18. The Public Poster Session

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levine-Rasky, Cynthia

    2009-01-01

    This note describes the use of a student poster session as an innovative approach to student learning. The local context for the assignment is provided, followed by a description of the course for which the poster was prepared, details about the assignment including its evaluation, and practical considerations for planning a poster session. The…

  19. Learning Environment and Student Effort

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hopland, Arnt O.; Nyhus, Ole Henning

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between satisfaction with learning environment and student effort, both in class and with homework assignments. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use data from a nationwide and compulsory survey to analyze the relationship between learning environment and student effort. The…

  20. Comparison of the number of supervisors on medical student satisfaction during a child and adolescent psychiatry rotation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mascioli, Kelly J; Robertson, Catharine J; Douglass, Alan B

    2016-01-01

    Traditionally, third-year medical students are assigned to one supervisor during their 1-week rotation in child and adolescent psychiatry. However, the majority of supervisory staff in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry opted to switch the supervision schedule to one in which some medical students are assigned to two primary supervisors. The aim of the study was to determine if students assigned to two primary supervisors had greater rotation satisfaction compared with students assigned to one primary supervisor during a 1-week clerkship rotation in child and adolescent psychiatry. A satisfaction questionnaire was sent to 110 third-year medical students who completed their child and adolescent clerkship rotation. Based on the responses, students were divided into groups depending on their number of supervisors. Questionnaire responses were compared between the groups using independent t-tests. When students who had one primary supervisor were compared to students who had two primary supervisors, the lone item showing a statistically significant difference was regarding improvement of assessment reports/progress notes. The number of supervisors does not significantly affect the satisfaction of students during a 1-week clerkship rotation in child and adolescent psychiatry. Other factors are important in rotation satisfaction.

  1. Threshold-driven optimization for reference-based auto-planning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Long, Troy; Chen, Mingli; Jiang, Steve; Lu, Weiguo

    2018-02-01

    We study threshold-driven optimization methodology for automatically generating a treatment plan that is motivated by a reference DVH for IMRT treatment planning. We present a framework for threshold-driven optimization for reference-based auto-planning (TORA). Commonly used voxel-based quadratic penalties have two components for penalizing under- and over-dosing of voxels: a reference dose threshold and associated penalty weight. Conventional manual- and auto-planning using such a function involves iteratively updating the preference weights while keeping the thresholds constant, an unintuitive and often inconsistent method for planning toward some reference DVH. However, driving a dose distribution by threshold values instead of preference weights can achieve similar plans with less computational effort. The proposed methodology spatially assigns reference DVH information to threshold values, and iteratively improves the quality of that assignment. The methodology effectively handles both sub-optimal and infeasible DVHs. TORA was applied to a prostate case and a liver case as a proof-of-concept. Reference DVHs were generated using a conventional voxel-based objective, then altered to be either infeasible or easy-to-achieve. TORA was able to closely recreate reference DVHs in 5-15 iterations of solving a simple convex sub-problem. TORA has the potential to be effective for auto-planning based on reference DVHs. As dose prediction and knowledge-based planning becomes more prevalent in the clinical setting, incorporating such data into the treatment planning model in a clear, efficient way will be crucial for automated planning. A threshold-focused objective tuning should be explored over conventional methods of updating preference weights for DVH-guided treatment planning.

  2. Agreement between veterinary students and anesthesiologists regarding postoperative pain assessment in dogs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barletta, Michele; Young, Courtni N; Quandt, Jane E; Hofmeister, Erik H

    2016-01-01

    To determine the levels of agreement among first- and second-year veterinary students and experienced anesthesiologists in assessing postoperative pain in dogs from video-recordings. Cross-sectional study. Twenty-seven veterinary students, five anesthesiologists and 13 canine clinical patients. Prior to their enrolment in a core anesthesia course, veterinary students volunteered to watch 13 90 second videos of dogs. Dogs were hospitalized in an intensive care unit after a variety of surgical procedures. Students were asked to score the level of the dogs' pain using the Dynamic Interactive Visual Analog Scale and the Short Form of the Glasgow Composite-Measure Pain Scale. The same videotapes were scored by five board-certified anesthesiologists. The differences and agreement between the ratings of anesthesiologists and students, and first- and second-year students were determined with Mann-Whitney U-tests and Fleiss' or Cohen's kappa, respectively. Pain scores assigned by students and anesthesiologists differed significantly (p Veterinary students early in their training assigned pain scores to dogs that differed from scores assigned by experienced anesthesiologists. © 2015 Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists and the American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia.

  3. Student Buy-In Toward Formative Assessments: The Influence of Student Factors and Importance for Course Success ?

    OpenAIRE

    Brazeal, Kathleen R.; Couch, Brian A.

    2017-01-01

    Formative assessment (FA) techniques, such as pre-class assignments, in-class activities, and post-class homework, have been shown to improve student learning. While many students find these techniques beneficial, some students may not understand how they support learning or may resist their implementation. Improving our understanding of FA buy-in has important implications, since buy-in can potentially affect whether students fully engage with and learn from FAs. We investigated FAs in 12 un...

  4. Postgraduate Diploma Collaborative Assignment: Implications for ESL Students and Curriculum Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grant, T.

    2008-01-01

    The commerce faculty at the University of Cape Town (UCT) offers a 1-year, postgraduate management diploma that is regarded as a mini-MBA. It appeals to a wide variety of mainly English-as-second language (ESL) students. In the past, core course diploma lecturers in marketing, tourism and leisure, enterprise management and sport management…

  5. Eliciting, Identifying, Interpreting, and Responding to Students' Ideas: Teacher Candidates' Growth in Formative Assessment Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gotwals, Amelia Wenk; Birmingham, Daniel

    2016-06-01

    With the goal of helping teacher candidates become well-started beginners, it is important that methods courses in teacher education programs focus on high-leverage practices. Using responsive teaching practices, specifically eliciting, identifying, interpreting, and responding to students' science ideas (i.e., formative assessment), can be used to support all students in learning science successfully. This study follows seven secondary science teacher candidates in a yearlong practice-based methods course. Course assignments (i.e., plans for and reflections on teaching) as well as teaching videos were analyzed using a recursive qualitative approach. In this paper, we present themes and patterns in teacher candidates' abilities to elicit, identify, interpret, and respond to students' ideas. Specifically, we found that those teacher candidates who grew in the ways in which they elicited students' ideas from fall to spring were also those who were able to adopt a more balanced reflection approach (considering both teacher and student moves). However, we found that even the teacher candidates who grew in these practices did not move toward seeing students' ideas as nuanced; rather, they saw students' ideas in a dichotomous fashion: right or wrong. We discuss implications for teacher preparation, specifically for how to promote productive reflection and tools for better understanding students' ideas.

  6. Technology Planning Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Decker, Kathy

    2004-01-01

    Effective planning strategies drive achievement of an overall technology goal to increase access to electronic information in real time in order to increase efficiency, productivity, and communication across campus. Planning relies on providing access, 'Anytime Anywhere' to student information, calendar, email, course management tools, and the…

  7. Setting Them up for Success: Assessing a Pre-Research Assignment for First-Year International Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avery, Susan

    2017-01-01

    As the international student population continues to grow, librarians must adjust their instruction to meet the needs of students who are adapting to a new country, culture, and language. This study assesses first-year international students as they engage in the research process through the completion of concept maps that precede database…

  8. Engaging Students' Learning Through Active Learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margaret Fitzsimons

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses a project carried out with thirty six final year undergraduate students, studying the Bachelor of Science in Business and Management and taking the module Small Business Management during the academic year 2012 and 2013 in Dublin Institute of Technology. The research had two separate objectives, 1 to engage in active learning by having students work on a consulting project in groups for a real life business and 2 to improve student learning. The Small Business Management previously had a group assignment that was to choose an article related to entrepreneurship and critic it and present it to the class. Anecdotally, from student feedback, it was felt that this process did not engage students and also did not contribute to the key competencies necessary in order to be an entrepreneur. The desire was for students on successful completion of this module to have better understood how business is conducted and equip them with core skills such as innovation, critical thinking, problem solving and decision making .Student buy in was achieved by getting the students to select their own groups and also work out between each group from a one page brief provided by the businesses which business they would like to work with. It was important for the businesses to also feel their time spent with students was worthwhile so they were presented with a report from the students at the end of the twelve weeks and invited into the College to hear the presentations from students. Students were asked to provide a reflection on their three key learning points from the assignment and to answer specific questions designed to understand what they learnt and how and their strengths and weaknesses. A survey was sent to the businesses that took part to understand their experiences. The results were positive with student engagement and learning rating very highly and feedback from the businesses demonstrated an appreciation of having a different

  9. Engaging medical students in the feedback process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogers, David A; Boehler, Margaret L; Schwind, Cathy J; Meier, Andreas H; Wall, Jarrod C H; Brenner, Michael J

    2012-01-01

    There are potential advantages to engaging medical students in the feedback process, but efforts to do so have yielded mixed results. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a student-focused feedback instructional session in an experimental setting. Medical students were assigned randomly to either the intervention or control groups and then assigned randomly to receive either feedback or compliments. Tests of knowledge, skills, and attitudes were given before and after the intervention. There was a significant gain of knowledge and skill in the group that received instruction. Satisfaction was higher after compliments in the control group but higher after feedback in the instructional group. There was no change in the subject's willingness to seek feedback. A student-focused component should be carefully included as part of an overall effort to improve feedback in surgical education. The role of medical student attitudes about feedback requires further investigation. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. 32 CFR 884.2 - Assigned responsibilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... OF PERSONNEL TO UNITED STATES CIVILIAN AUTHORITIES FOR TRIAL § 884.2 Assigned responsibilities. (a... 32 National Defense 6 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Assigned responsibilities. 884.2 Section 884.2... requests for return of members to the United States for delivery to civilian authorities when the request...

  11. Path Planning Algorithms for the Adaptive Sensor Fleet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stoneking, Eric; Hosler, Jeff

    2005-01-01

    The Adaptive Sensor Fleet (ASF) is a general purpose fleet management and planning system being developed by NASA in coordination with NOAA. The current mission of ASF is to provide the capability for autonomous cooperative survey and sampling of dynamic oceanographic phenomena such as current systems and algae blooms. Each ASF vessel is a software model that represents a real world platform that carries a variety of sensors. The OASIS platform will provide the first physical vessel, outfitted with the systems and payloads necessary to execute the oceanographic observations described in this paper. The ASF architecture is being designed for extensibility to accommodate heterogenous fleet elements, and is not limited to using the OASIS platform to acquire data. This paper describes the path planning algorithms developed for the acquisition phase of a typical ASF task. Given a polygonal target region to be surveyed, the region is subdivided according to the number of vessels in the fleet. The subdivision algorithm seeks a solution in which all subregions have equal area and minimum mean radius. Once the subregions are defined, a dynamic programming method is used to find a minimum-time path for each vessel from its initial position to its assigned region. This path plan includes the effects of water currents as well as avoidance of known obstacles. A fleet-level planning algorithm then shuffles the individual vessel assignments to find the overall solution which puts all vessels in their assigned regions in the minimum time. This shuffle algorithm may be described as a process of elimination on the sorted list of permutations of a cost matrix. All these path planning algorithms are facilitated by discretizing the region of interest onto a hexagonal tiling.

  12. The New Orleans OneApp: Centralized Enrollment Matches Students and Schools of Choice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Douglas N.; Valant, Jon; Gross, Betheny

    2015-01-01

    In most of the U.S., the process for assigning children to public schools is straightforward: take a student's home address, determine which school serves that address, and assign the student accordingly. However, states and cities are increasingly providing families with school choices. A key question facing policymakers is exactly how to place…

  13. Personnel dose assignment practices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fix, J.J.

    1993-04-01

    Implementation of DOE N 5480.6 Radiological Control Manual Article 511(3) requirements, to minimize the assignment of personnel dosimeters, should be done only under a broader context ensuring that capabilities are in place to monitor and record personnel exposure both for compliance and for potential litigation. As noted in NCRP Report No. 114, personnel dosimetry programs are conducted to meet four major objectives: radiation safety program control and evaluation; regulatory compliance; epidemiological research; and litigation. A change to Article 511(3) is proposed that would require that minimizing the assignment of personnel dosimeters take place only following full evaluation of overall capabilities (e.g., access control, area dosimetry, etc.) to meet the NCRP objectives

  14. The Five-Year Resume: A Career Planning Exercise

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laker, Dennis R.; Laker, Ruth

    2007-01-01

    For most college students, lack of career planning wastes time and resources and may result in years of "career drift." Lack of planning can also lead to deception once students begin seeking career-related employment. Faced with a competitive job market, some students inflate and exaggerate their resumes. The five-year resume exercise helps…

  15. Computational Aspects of Assigning Agents to a Line

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aziz, Haris; Hougaard, Jens Leth; Moreno-Ternero, Juan D.

    2017-01-01

    -egalitarian assignments. The approach relies on an algorithm which is shown to be faster than general purpose algorithms for the assignment problem. We also extend the approach to probabilistic assignments and explore the computational features of existing, as well as new, methods for this setting....

  16. Computational aspects of assigning agents to a line

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aziz, Haris; Hougaard, Jens Leth; Moreno-Ternero, Juan D.

    2017-01-01

    -egalitarian assignments. The approach relies on an algorithm which is shown to be faster than general purpose algorithms for the assignment problem. We also extend the approach to probabilistic assignments and explore the computational features of existing, as well as new, methods for this setting....

  17. Student research activities in the Technology Assessments Section of the Health and Safety Research Division, Summer 1980

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chester, R.O.; Roberts, D.A.

    1981-08-01

    Reports summarizing activities of students assigned to the Technology Assessments Section of the Health and Safety Research Division for the summer 1980 are presented. Unless indicated otherwise, each report was written by the student whose work is being described. For each student, the student's supervisor, the name of the program under which the student was brought to ORNL, the academic level of the student, and the name of the ORNL project to which the student was assigned are tabulated. The reports are presented in alphabetical order of the students' last names.

  18. Student research activities in the Technology Assessments Section of the Health and Safety Research Division, Summer 1980

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chester, R.O.; Roberts, D.A.

    1981-08-01

    Reports summarizing activities of students assigned to the Technology Assessments Section of the Health and Safety Research Division for the summer 1980 are presented. Unless indicated otherwise, each report was written by the student whose work is being described. For each student, the student's supervisor, the name of the program under which the student was brought to ORNL, the academic level of the student, and the name of the ORNL project to which the student was assigned are tabulated. The reports are presented in alphabetical order of the students' last names

  19. A Computerized Approach to Trickle-Process, Random Assignment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braucht, G. Nicholas; Reichardt, Charles S.

    1993-01-01

    Procedures for implementing random assignment with trickle processing and ways they can be corrupted are described. A computerized method for implementing random assignment with trickle processing is presented as a desirable alternative in many situations and a way of protecting against threats to assignment validity. (SLD)

  20. Attitudes among students and teachers on vertical integration between clinical medicine and basic science within a problem-based undergraduate medical curriculum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brynhildsen, J; Dahle, L O; Behrbohm Fallsberg, M; Rundquist, I; Hammar, M

    2002-05-01

    Important elements in the curriculum at the Faculty of Health Sciences in Linköping are vertical integration, i.e. integration between the clinical and basic science sections of the curriculum, and horizontal integration between different subject areas. Integration throughout the whole curriculum is time-consuming for both teachers and students and hard work is required for planning, organization and execution. The aim was to assess the importance of vertical and horizontal integration in an undergraduate medical curriculum, according to opinions among students and teachers. In a questionnaire 102 faculty teachers and 106 students were asked about the importance of 14 different components of the undergraduate medical curriculum including vertical and horizontal integration. They were asked to assign between one and six points to each component (6 points = extremely important for the quality of the curriculum; 1 point = unimportant). Students as well as teachers appreciated highly both forms of integration. Students scored horizontal integration slightly but significantly higher than the teachers (median 6 vs 5 points; p=0.009, Mann-Whitney U-test), whereas teachers scored vertical integration higher than students (6 vs 5; p=0.019, Mann-Whitney U-test). Both students and teachers considered horizontal and vertical integration to be highly important components of the undergraduate medical programme. We believe both kinds of integration support problem-based learning and stimulate deep and lifelong learning and suggest that integration should always be considered deeply when a new curriculum is planned for undergraduate medical education.