The Role of Humor in Learning Physics: a Study of Undergraduate Students

We all know that they do it, but what do students laugh about when learning science together? Although research has shown that students do use humor when they learn science, the role of humor in science education has received little attention. In this study, undergraduate students’ laughter during collaborative work in physics has been investigated. In order to do this, a framework inspired by conversation analysis has been used. Empirical data was drawn from two video-recorded sessions in which first-year engineering students solved physics problems together. The analysis revealed that the students’ use of humor was almost exclusively related to physics. Five themes identified summarize the role of humor in the group discussions: Something is obvious, Something is difficult, Something said might be wrong, Something is absurd, and Something said is not within informal norms.This study shows that humor may contribute not only to a good working atmosphere and thereby to the students’ learning but also how humor interrelates with both disciplinary culture of physics and its epistemology. The students do not only create and re-create humor that facilitates their social interactions, but through humor they constitute local norms of science and engage with the disciplinary discourse.     

What Does it Mean to Assess Gifted Students’ Perceptions of Giftedness Labels?

Measuring gifted and talented (GT) students’ perceptions of their GT label might seem to be a relatively straightforward affair. Most of this research uses survey methods that ask GT students to complete Likert scale or open-ended response questionnaires about their perceptions of the label and then presents results in clear and quantifiable terms, such as “X % of students hold positive perceptions of the GT label.” However, our qualitative study of GT students in two middle school social studies classrooms presents findings that not only trouble, but prompt questions about simple proclamations regarding GT students’ perceptions of the GT label. What we found was that given the opportunity to share their thoughts at length, this group of GT students expressed a range of often contradictory perceptions about their GT label. Students expressed multiple interpretations and perceptions of the GT label, as well as both embraced the label and rejected the label.     

Investigating the predictive power of TAM: A case study of CEGEP students’ intentions to use online learning technologies

The purpose of this research is to investigate pre-university science Collège d’enseignement général et professionnel (CEGEP) students’ behavioral intentions towards using online learning technologies. Heretofore, CEGEP students’ use of technology has received scant attention, yet online learning technologies are found to play an increasingly important role in CEGEP classrooms today. The present study seeks to address this by examining CEGEP students’ use of online learning technologies. Our main research question was: What factors affect CEGEP students’ intentions to use online learning technologies? A total of 213 CEGEP students were surveyed, the resulting data was analyzed using the technology acceptance model (TAM; Davis MIS Quarterly, 13(3), 319, 1989). The findings of this research provide guidance for future implementations of online learning technologies in the CEGEP education system.     

“I experienced freedom within the frame of my own narrative”: The contribution of psychodrama techniques to experiential learning in teacher training

To prepare Dutch students in education for critical situations in their professional life as a teacher, part of their training is to ask them to reflect upon their own experiences in their life as a child, a pupil and a student – experiences of crucial moments or with significant others which are still of the utmost importance to them. This article underlines the significance of so-called “experiential learning” in student career counselling. In this context, experiential learning is understood as an extension of in-depth reflection on critical incidents and critical persons in the biography of pre-service teachers. This reflection – customary and effective in Dutch teacher training – is a verbal process. However, this technique does not seem to be adequate for many students from other cultural backgrounds (e.g. second-generation descendants of migrant workers). By consequence, some of these students are not able to take newly offered information on board, but remain imprisoned in their own culture-related narrative, their own ethnic society of mind. Research has shown that for these students, psychodrama techniques, focusing on non-verbal and playful aspects of reflection, seem to be more suitable. The author of this article presents a sample case from a pilot study which used one of the psychodrama techniques called the empty chair. The findings of the pilot study are promising in the sense that experiencing different I-positions does seem to help students from other cultural backgrounds to develop agency in responding to hitherto unfamiliar and confusing situations.     

What matters for students’ learning in the laboratory? Do not neglect the role of experimental equipment!

According to variation theory, it is essential to enable students to focus on the object of learning and discern its critical features, but the features that it is possible to discern often depend on the equipment used. Thus, in labs, the experimental technologies used may shape students’ experience of focal phenomena, in a human–mediating tools–world manner, by placing some aspects of reality in the foreground, others in the background, and visualizing certain aspects that would otherwise be invisible. However, this mediating role is often neglected, and instruments and devices are often seen as having little cognitive value. Hence, the role of experimental technologies in labs as tools for learning is examined here through a case study, in which three sets of students investigated the same physical relationships (Newtonian motion in an inclined plane), but using different measurement technologies. The results demonstrate that what it is possible for students to experience in a laboratory is heavily influenced by the chosen technology. Some technologies do not afford the discernment of features regarded as crucial for students to learn. Furthermore, analysis of video recordings shows that the three sets of students’ discourses differed, although they studied the “same physics”. Hence, the role of experimental technologies in students’ learning in labs should not be neglected, and their courses of action should be seen as material-discursive practice. Moreover, general conclusions about learning in labs should be drawn cautiously, specifying the conditions and technology used, and discussions about learning technologies should not be limited to the use of computers.     

Antibiotic resistance mechanisms of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Myroides</Emphasis> sp.

Bacteria of the genus Myroides (Myroides spp.) are rare opportunistic pathogens. Myroides sp. infections have been reported mainly in China. Myroides sp. is highly resistant to most available antibiotics, but the resistance mechanisms are not fully elucidated. Current strain identification methods based on biochemical traits are unable to identify strains accurately at the species level. While 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing can accurately achieve this, it fails to give information on the status and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance, because the 16S rRNA sequence contains no information on resistance genes, resistance islands or enzymes. We hypothesized that obtaining the whole genome sequence of Myroides sp., using next generation sequencing methods, would help to clarify the mechanisms of pathogenesis and antibiotic resistance, and guide antibiotic selection to treat Myroides sp. infections. As Myroides sp. can survive in hospitals and the environment, there is a risk of nosocomial infections and pandemics. For better management of Myroides sp. infections, it is imperative to apply next generation sequencing technologies to clarify the antibiotic resistance mechanisms in these bacteria.     

Points at Which Continuous Functions Have the Same Height

As an easy application of the intermediate value theorem, one can show that for any continuous function f: [0, 1] → ? with f (0) = f (1), there are points a, a + 1/2 both in [0, 1] such that f (a) = f (a + 1/2). In this note, we show that this property holds with 1/2 replaced by any number of the form 1/n for a positive integer n. More interestingly, we show that this is false for every number not of the form 1/n.     

Surviving the “School of Slavery”: Acculturation in Sharon Draper’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Copper Sun</Emphasis> and Joyce Hansen’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">The Captive</Emphasis>

Although children’s literature has long alluded to cultural connections between Africans and African Americans, very few texts establish clear lines of influence between particular African ethnic groups and African American characters and communities. Joyce Hansen’s The Captive (1994) and Sharon Draper’s Copper Sun (2006) stand out in portraying protagonists Kofi’s and Amari’s reliance on their past upbringing as Ashanti and Ewe, respectively. As Kofi and Amari endure the traumas of the Middle Passage and slavery in eighteenth-century America, they adapt by relying on their past socialization in traditional West African societies. The two novels challenge the idea of cultural erasure promoted in Elizabeth Yates’ Amos Fortune, Free Man (1950), which is still a fixture on multicultural reading lists for middle school students. The Captive and Copper Sun do provide sharply contrasting visions of their protagonist’s relationships to American society. Copper Sun indicates that a black girl’s concerns, including her need for subsistence and protection, and her desire for creative expression and personal autonomy, can complement the economic and military interests of the state. By contrast, The Captive insists on the necessity for its emancipated protagonist to maintain an adversarial role within a stratified, white-dominated U.S. culture. The novels thus highlight the very different messages about social identity and participation that recent multicultural children’s literature can convey.     

Use of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Moodle</Emphasis> Platform to Promote an Ongoing Learning When Lecturing General Physics in the Physics,Mathematics and Electronic Engineering Programmes at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU

The Moodle platform has been used to put into practice an ongoing evaluation of the students’ Physics learning process. The evaluation has been done on the frame of the course General Physics, which is lectured during the first year of the Physics, Mathematics and Electronic Engineering Programmes at the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). A test bank with more than 1000 multiple-choice questions, including conceptual and numerical problems, has been prepared. Throughout the course, the students have to answer a 10-question multiple-choice test for every one of the blocks the course is divided in and which were previously treated and worked in the theoretical lectures and problem-solving sessions. The tests are automatically corrected by Moodle, and under certain criteria, the corresponding mark is taken into account for the final mark of the course. According to the results obtained from a statistical study of the data on the student performances during the last four academic years, it has been observed that there exists an actual correlation between the marks obtained in the Moodle tests and the final mark of the course. In addition, it could be deduced that students who have passed the Moodle tests increase their possibilities of passing the course by an odds ratio close to 3.     

Missing friendships: understanding the absent relationships of local and international students at an Australian university

In recent years, research on higher education has increasingly examined the realities of internationalisation, with a particular focus on international students’ experiences and internationalisation at home programs. These studies have explored the friendships of international students, including their relationships with both locals and internationals from other countries. However, local students’ perspectives and experiences of friendship are largely absent from this literature. The few accounts examining local students’ lives explicitly focus on improving their cross-cultural knowledge and engagement, or on rare cases of local–international student friendships. The overriding assumption in this literature is that the understandings and social practises of local students are major barriers to their relationships with internationals. This paper addresses this gap by exploring local students’ perspectives on the absence of friendships with their international peers. We utilise findings from a research project on internationalisation at home, involving interviews and focus groups with local and international students and staff at an Australian university. Focusing on locals’ discussions of potential friendships with internationals, we propose that these missing friendships are an important area of study. We find that these friendships are missing for several interrelated reasons: local–international friendships are considered unnecessary and are therefore unimagined by locals, who tend to assume that similarity and affinity naturally lead to friendships, and the structures and spaces that might facilitate friendships are absent. Ultimately, uncovering why these friendships are missing sheds fuller light on how relationships might be facilitated, potentially informing and improving universities’ internationalisation initiatives.     

Bringing CASE in from the Cold: the Teaching and Learning of Thinking

Thinking Science is a 2-year program of professional development for teachers and thinking lessons for students in junior high school science classes. This paper presents research on the effects of Thinking Science on students’ levels of cognition in Australia. The research is timely, with a general capability focused on critical thinking in the newly implemented F-10 curriculum in Australia. The design of the research was a quasi-experiment with pre- and post-intervention cognitive tests conducted with participating students (n?=?655) from nine cohorts in seven high schools. Findings showed significant cognitive gains compared with an age-matched control group over the length of the program. Noteworthy is a correlation between baseline cognitive score and school Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA). We argue that the teaching of thinking be brought into the mainstream arena of educational discourse and that the principles from evidence-based programs such as Thinking Science be universally adopted.     

Team-taught versus individually taught undergraduate education: a qualitative study of student experiences and preferences

Team teaching is becoming more common in undergraduate programmes of study although the relative merits to the more traditional individually taught courses have not been determined for best practice. For this study, 15 final-year undergraduate computer science students were interviewed to gain insight into their learning experiences. A thematic analysis of the interview data identified the perceived advantages and disadvantages of each mode of teaching. The advantages of individually taught courses included: consistency of content delivery and advice, familiarity with the lecturer’s teaching style and better continuity of the subject content. The disadvantage of individually taught modules included missing knowledge, compared to a team approach. Advantages of team-taught modules included: greater insight into a topic delivered by multiple team members. Disadvantages included: content overlap, conflicting messages relating to assessment, team members not taking ownership of their roles and responsibilities and a belief that overall team failure is worse than individual failure to deliver a module well. The results revealed that individually taught modules were generally preferred to team-taught modules. A set of best practice recommendations are proposed to address the challenges when delivering team-taught teaching and become more student focused.     

A Narrative Inquiry into Chinese Teacher Induction in West China through Cross-Cultural Teacher Development

This article is part of a narrative study of Chinese beginning teacher induction through cross-cultural teacher development, which has been developed and contextualized in the Teacher Education Reciprocal Learning Program between the University of Windsor (UW), Canada and Southwest University (SWU), China. This program is part of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Partnership Grant Project, Reciprocal Learning in Teacher Education and School Education between Canada and China. The partnership builds on the Teacher Education Reciprocal Learning Program, and the Shanghai-Toronto-Beijing Sister School Network. In this article, the authors conducted narrative inquiry with two of the SWU participants in the Teacher Education Reciprocal Learning Program to explore their experience from their cross-cultural learning in Canada to beginning teachers in West China. The findings of the research suggest the need to develop a global and cross-cultural dimension in teacher education and development in West China. It is evident that the cross-cultural experiences in Canada have influenced beginning teachers’ curriculum views, relationship to students, and beliefs about teaching. Their “lived stories” (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990, p. 6) also indicate that the personal, pedagogical, and social influences of cross-cultural experiences play important roles in beginning teachers’ teaching careers.     

An oriental melon 9-lipoxygenase gene <Emphasis Type="Italic">CmLOX09</Emphasis> response to stresses,hormones, and signal substances

In plants, lipoxygenases (LOXs) play a crucial role in biotic and abiotic stresses. In our previous study, five 13-LOX genes of oriental melon were regulated by abiotic stress but it is unclear whether the 9-LOX is involved in biotic and abiotic stresses. The promoter analysis revealed that CmLOX09 (type of 9-LOX) has hormone elements, signal substances, and stress elements. We analyzed the expression of CmLOX09 and its downstream genes—CmHPL and CmAOS—in the leaves of four-leaf stage seedlings of the oriental melon cultivar “Yumeiren” under wound, hormone, and signal substances. CmLOX09, CmHPL, and CmAOS were all induced by wounding. CmLOX09 was induced by auxin (indole acetic acid, IAA) and gibberellins (GA₃); however, CmHPL and CmAOS showed differential responses to IAA and GA₃. CmLOX09, CmHPL, and CmAOS were all induced by hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA), while being inhibited by abscisic acid (ABA) and salicylic acid (SA). CmLOX09, CmHPL, and CmAOS were all induced by the powdery mildew pathogen Podosphaera xanthii. The content of 2-hexynol and 2-hexenal in leaves after MeJA treatment was significantly higher than that in the control. After infection with P. xanthii, the diseased leaves of the oriental melon were divided into four levels—levels 1, 2, 3, and 4. The content of jasmonic acid (JA) in the leaves of levels 1 and 3 was significantly higher than that in the level 0 leaves. In summary, the results suggested that CmLOX09 might play a positive role in the response to MeJA through the hydroperoxide lyase (HPL) pathway to produce C6 alcohols and aldehydes, and in the response to P. xanthii through the allene oxide synthase (AOS) pathway to form JA.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Bildung</Emphasis> in globalizing times

This key paper is intended to produce a comparison of Bildung and globalization, acknowledging that Bildung and globalization are both fuzzy concepts. Our comparison of globalization and Bildung therefore is to be seen as a construction. To reach this objective, we start with the identification of dimensions of the concept of globalization based predominantly on sociological research. This analysis is followed by explication of dimensions of the concept of Bildung as they can be identified before a frame of globalization. We want to find out whether it makes sense to see globalization as one part of a new model of Bildung. In the conclusion, we demonstrate the normativity of each and any theory of Bildung in globalizing times, and we explain why it is necessary to reflect on the normativity of the different concepts. We indicate where we see connections with the other papers of this special issue of “Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft”.     

Antagonistic interaction between <Emphasis Type="Italic">Trichoderma asperellum</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phytophthora capsici</Emphasis> in vitro

Phytophthora capsici is a phytopathogen that causes a destructive pepper blight that is extremely difficult to control. Using a fungicide application against the disease is costly and relatively ineffective and there is also a huge environmental concern about the use of such chemicals. The genus Trichoderma has been known to have a potential biocontrol issue. In this paper we investigate the mechanism for causing the infection of T. asperellum against P. capsici. Trichoderma sp. (isolate CGMCC 6422) was developed to have a strong antagonistic action against hyphae of P. capsici through screening tests. The strain was identified as T. asperellum through using a combination of morphological characteristics and molecular data. T. asperellum was able to collapse the mycelium of the colonies of the pathogen through dual culture tests by breaking down the pathogenic hyphae into fragments. The scanning electron microscope showed that the hyphae of T. asperellum surrounded and penetrated the pathogens hyphae, resulting in hyphal collapse. The results show that seven days after inoculation, the hyphae of the pathogen were completely degraded in a dual culture. T. asperellum was also able to enter the P. capsici oospores through using oogonia and then developed hyphae and produced conidia, leading to the disintegration of the oogonia and oospores. Seven days after inoculation, an average 10.8% of the oospores were infected, but at this stage, the structures of oospores were still intact. Subsequently, the number of infected oospores increased and the oospores started to collapse. Forty-two days after inoculation, almost all the oospores were infected, with 9.3% of the structures of the oospores being intact and 90.7% of the oospores having collapsed.     

The stifling silence around scholarly creativity in doctoral education: experiences of students and supervisors in four disciplines

The demand for developing creativity among doctoral students is found in a number of educational policies all over the world. Yet, earlier studies on Swedish doctoral education suggest that doctoral students’ creativity is not always encouraged. Based on a critical hermeneutic approach and cases in four different disciplines, the aim of this study was therefore (1) to explore different shapes of doctoral students’ creativity in Swedish doctoral education and (2) to reveal and find possible explanations to some of the conditions stifling doctoral students’ scholarly creativity. Interview data was collected from 28 participants, constituting 14 dyads of students and supervisors in four disciplines. Through hermeneutic interpretative analysis of the disciplinary cases, the results show that creativity kept on playing in musical performance, was an unexpected guest in pedagogical work, was captured in frames in philosophy and put on hold in psychiatry. Across the cases, students’ scholarly creativity was essentially encapsulated in silence. This silence seemed to emanate from controlling intellectual, political and economic agendas that enabled stifling conditions of the students’ scholarly creativity, where it was as follows: restricted by scholarly traditions, embodying supervisors’ power and unrequested in practice. Based on these findings, the article ends in suggestions for preventing such conditions, holding that it is important to establish a discourse on scholarly creativity in doctoral education, to view doctoral students as capable creative agents and to actually ask for their scholarly creativity.