Critical Analysis of Primary Literature in a Master’s-Level Class: Effects on Self-Efficacy and Science-Process Skills

The ability to think analytically and creatively is crucial for success in the modern workforce, particularly for graduate students, who often aim to become physicians or researchers. Analysis of the primary literature provides an excellent opportunity to practice these skills. We describe a course that includes a structured analysis of four research papers from diverse fields of biology and group exercises in proposing experiments that would follow up on these papers. To facilitate a critical approach to primary literature, we included a paper with questionable data interpretation and two papers investigating the same biological question yet reaching opposite conclusions. We report a significant increase in students’ self-efficacy in analyzing data from research papers, evaluating authors’ conclusions, and designing experiments. Using our science-process skills test, we observe a statistically significant increase in students’ ability to propose an experiment that matches the goal of investigation. We also detect gains in interpretation of controls and quantitative analysis of data. No statistically significant changes were observed in questions that tested the skills of interpretation, inference, and evaluation.     

Adjuvant effects of saponins on animal immune responses

Vaccines require optimal adjuvants including immunopotentiator and delivery systems to offer long term protection from infectious diseases in animals and man. Initially it was believed that adjuvants are responsible for promoting strong and sustainable antibody responses. Now it has been shown that adjuvants influence the isotype and avidity of antibody and also affect the properties of cell-mediated immunity. Mostly oil emulsions, lipopolysaccharides, polymers, saponins, liposomes, cytokines, ISCOMs (immunostimulating complexes), Freund’s complete adjuvant, Freund’s incomplete adjuvant, alums, bacterial toxins etc., are common adjuvants under investigation. Saponin based adjuvants have the ability to stimulate the cell mediated immune system as well as to enhance antibody production and have the advantage that only a low dose is needed for adjuvant activity. In the present study the importance of adjuvants, their role and the effect of saponin in immune system is reviewed.     

The impact of electronic communication technology on written language

Communication technology is changing things. Language is no exception. Some language researchers argue that language is deteriorating due to increased use in electronic communication. The present paper investigated 100 randomly selected electronic mails （e-mails） and 50 short messaging system （SMS） messages of a representative sample of international students in University Putra Malaysia （UPM） to find out the impact of these two specific modes of electronic communication on written language use. The e-mails from UPM International Students Association （UPM-ISA） yahoo group were content analyzed. A non-probability convenience sampling was used to select the 50 short message services sent to the researcher about different subject matters by Malaysian and international students at UPM. Then, they were also content analyzed. The results indicated that the language used in students＇ e-mails and SMS messaging was full of spoken-like spelling, unconventional use of punctuation and abbreviations, and ungrammatical sentences. However, the more in-depth content analysis of the data revealed that the written language is being creatively adapted, developed, and enhanced to suit the conditions of the electronic communication age. Syntactical and lexical reductions are just strategies used to reduce effort, time and space.     

Implications of distance education on children with disabilities

Once the COVID-19 was announced as a pandemic by the World Health Organization at the beginning of 2020, almost all countries around the world shifted from traditional face to face education to distance education to prevent the spread of the virus. Türkiye implemented distance education practices through a web-based platform named education information network (EBA) and EBA TV channels. However, the rapid shift from traditional face to face education to distance education was challenging especially for students with disabilities, their parents and teachers because these students needed individualised education and some services which were impossible to implement remotely. The purpose of this study was to explore (a) the challenges that teachers and students faced during distance education; (b) the implications of distance education on students with disabilities. Further, this study explored opinions of special education teachers regarding how to make distance education more effective for students with disabilities. A semi-structured interview was conducted with 12 special education teachers. Findings demonstrated that distance education through EBA was neither sufficient nor convenient for most students with disabilities. Limitations of this study and suggestions for future research were discussed.     

The ability of children to generalize selected science concepts

The study investigated the ability of primary and elementary school subjects to generalize two science concepts, Insect and Animal with and without instruction in the form of a mental set. It also examined the effects of age, IQ, and sex on the ability of the children to generalize these concepts. Two instruments measuring the ability to generalize the concepts Insect and Animal were developed. The results indicate that of the independent variables investigated, age and mental set significantly affected the ability to generalize the concepts Insect and Animal. It was found that the younger children's concepts were least developed and with age these concepts became more developed and more conceptual in nature. The ability to use information given in a mental set was found to be a function of age. The children in this study were more able to generalize the concept Insect than the concept Animal. The results suggest that children with age and instruction axe better able to master less general concepts than more geaeral ones. In addition, the study demonstrated that children are able to improve their learning of general concepts provided a great number and variety of instances and noninstances of the concept are used in the instruction. It was also found that the younger children were more perceptually bound than the older children. The younger children were unable to overcome the pull of perceptual attractiveness that the noninstances held for them despite instruction. The results suggest that teachers of such children should be aware of the conceptual level of the content being taught to such children to ensure appropriate and meaningful learning takes place.     

Sci‐Hub: The new and ultimate disruptor? View from the front

The Harbinger project was a 3‐year‐long international study of the changing attitudes and behaviours of early career researchers (ECRs). One of the aims of the project was to discover if ECRs were adopting disrupting platforms that, legitimately or illegitimately, promote openness and sharing. It has been alleged that such an adoption appeals to them as Millennials. More than 100 ECRs from seven countries were questioned annually, and questions about Sc‐Hub were raised as part of discussions about discovery and access. Interview data were supplemented by desk research and Google Trends statistics. It was found that Sci‐Hub use was increasing and that a quarter of the ECRs now use it, with French ECRs being the biggest users. However, Sci‐Hub is making little headway with ECRs from the UK, USA, Malaysia, and China, although in China's case, this can be explained by it being banned and the country having its own equivalent, www.91lib.com . Sci‐Hub is used as much for convenience as necessity; use is not connected to the strength of library provision and and it has been suggested that it represents a bigger threat to publishers than ResearchGate, whose star might be waning.     

Utilising a capability maturity model to optimise project based learning – case study

The application of Capability Maturity Models (CMM's) is recognised throughout diverse organisations in different domains as a route to achieve strategic schemes and continuously improve organisational competitiveness of the implementing entity. This paper shall look into the development and implementation of a specific Project Based Learning Capability Maturity Model (PBLCMM) for the systematic evaluation and improvement of the capability of an institutional Project Based Learning (PBL) model to enhance the learning of students. It shall also highlight the development phases of the model to improve the students’ experience and education in a Higher Education Institution, based on a literature review, expert interviews and two case studies to verify the model's ability to incrementally enhance the capability of the utilised PBL model. The case studies prove the validity and effectiveness of the PBLCMM in identifying the potential for improvement, and educators and educational institutions may want to consider using the presented approach to optimise the effectiveness of their PBL model.     

Technical college teachers sharing their knowledge: does leadership,institutional factors or barriers predict their practices?

This study determines the preferable leadership practised by colleges’ directors, institutional factors and challenges encountered in knowledge sharing in Malaysian technical higher learning institutions (HLIs). Using a pragmatic mixed-method strand, we obtained 212 teachers and instructors’ viewpoints on knowledge sharing factors and barriers. The study also interviewed four teachers in exploring college directors’ leadership practices and issues faced while sharing their knowledge and experiences with their colleagues. The findings revealed that technical college teachers favoured enabling others to act as a preferable leadership practice that empirically supports their knowledge sharing practices. Thus, reward system and culture were antecedents and significant predictors for teachers’ knowledge sharing practices in technical HLIs compared with their colleges directors’ transformational leadership practices. Teachers also highlighted that their directors provide affirmative responses concerning the knowledge sharing activities; thus, practising their roles as a knowledge sharing catalysts. However, lack of support from the management, micro-politics and teachers’ own negative perceptions were identified as challenges and constraints teachers encountered while sharing their knowledge with their peers. The findings put forward some suggestions for improvement on technical college’s knowledge sharing practices.     

The Effect of Including Pretest Items in an Operational Computerized Adaptive Test: Do Different Ability Examinees Spend Different Amounts of Time on Embedded Pretest Items?

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of pretest items on response time in an operational, fixed-length, time-limited computerized adaptive test (CAT). These pretest items are embedded within the CAT, but unlike the operational items, are not tailored to the examinee's ability level. If examinees with higher ability levels need less time to complete these items than do their counterparts with lower ability levels, they will have more time to devote to the operational test questions. Data were from a graduate admissions test that was administered worldwide. Data from both quantitative and verbal sections of the test were considered. For the verbal section, examinees in the lower ability groups spent systematically more time on their pretest items than did those in the higher ability groups, though for the quantitative section the differences were less clear.