The role of stimulus salience in young children's ability to discriminate two-dimensional rotations: Reflections on a paradigm

Children's ability to discriminate reflections and rotations of visual stimuli was examined within the confines of a mental rotation task. It was hypothesized that success would be affected by both characteristics of the stimulus and by the subtlety of the discrimination required. Forty 3- to 4-year-old children were directed to mentally rotate a stimulus a given number of degrees and to discriminate the appearance of the rotated stimulus from among a set of alternatives. Four stimuli differing in the number of visual orientation cues were utilized across 24 trials. A significant effect was found for number of orientation cues, and data indicated the difficulty children experienced detecting reflections, a task which bears close resemblance to the yes/no option in prototypic rotation studies. Children were only successful with a limited range of stimuli when discrimination of a reflected foil was not required. Results are discussed in light of discrepant findings about children's kinetic imagery ability and the advisability of using this particular paradigm with young Children.     

Isolation and enrichment of low abundant particles with insulator-based dielectrophoresis

Isolation and enrichment of low-abundant particles are essential steps in many bio-analytical and clinical applications. In this work, the capability of an insulator-based dielectrophoresis (iDEP) device for the detection and stable capture of low abundant polystyrene particles and yeast cells was evaluated. Binary and tertiary mixtures of particles and cells were tested, where the low-abundant particles had concentration ratios on the order of 1:10 000 000 compared to the other particles present in the mixture. The results demonstrated successful and stable capture and enrichment of rare particles and cells (trapping efficiencies over 99%), where particles remained trapped in a stable manner for up to 4 min. A device with four reservoirs was employed for the separation and enrichment of rare particles, where the particles of interest were first selectively concentrated and then effectively directed to a side port for future collection and analysis. The present study demonstrates that simple iDEP devices have appropriate screening capacity and can be used for handling samples containing rare particles; achieving both enrichment and isolation of low-abundant particles and cells.     

Constructing the academic category of teacher educator in universities’ recruitment processes in Aotearoa,New Zealand

An examination of recruitment materials and interviews with personnel involved in the employment of teacher educators to positions in university-based New Zealand initial teacher education (ITE) courses reveals three constructions of teacher educator as academic worker: the professional expert, the dually qualified, and the traditional academic. However, this study’s analysis shows how these constructions allow universities to pursue a bifurcated approach for the employment of teacher educators, an approach that maintains binaries within teacher education and hinders development in the field. Furthermore, as the spectre of a major cultural shift in the provision of New Zealand ITE arises, the extent to which the professional expert and traditional academic constructions of teacher educator might serve the scope of work required of postgraduate ITE going forth is questioned.     

Design-Based Research Within the Constraints of Practice: AlgebraByExample

Superintendents from districts in the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) challenged the Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP) to identify an approach to narrowing the minority student achievement gap in Algebra 1 without isolating minority students for intervention. SERP partnered with 8 MSAN districts and researchers from 3 universities to design and rigorously test AlgebraByExample, a set of 42 Algebra 1 assignments with interleaved worked examples that target common misconceptions and errors. In a year-long random-assignment study, students who received AlgebraByExample assignments had an average 7 percentage point boost on a posttest containing released items from state assessments, and students in the bottom half of the performance distribution where minority students are disproportionately concentrated had an average 10 percentage point boost on a researcher-designed assessment of conceptual understanding. AlgebraByExample is easily incorporated into any existing curriculum, and naturally serves as a launch point for mathematically rich discussion.     

科妮莉亚的最后一次情报检索

<正> 真正重要的是,得阐明社会在过去的200年里,已在处理情报方面取得了多么大的成就,科妮莉亚·亨利达样想.她作为大众图书馆情报科学协会(ULA)的现任主席,根据安排将要作就职演说,眼下正在进行构思.演说将在协会的200周年纪念大会     

Labour market intermediaries: a corrective to the human capital paradigm (mis)matching skills and jobs?

The orthodox supply-side human capital theory (HCT) paradigm is inadequate for understanding and adjusting to labour market volatility in UK regional economies like Wales. This article explores the role of regional labour market intermediaries (LMIs) in matching supply (skills) and demand (job opportunities) in regional labour markets. Some LMIs emerge because the HCT paradigm is failing. One Welsh LMI, Shaping the Future (StF), is explored empirically using qualitative methods. StF mainly adopted HCT tenets, but with some emergent demand-side focus. Despite helping workers adjust to labour market shocks, LMIs are not equipped to fix the structural demand-side problem of finite quality job opportunities in deindustrialized regions that accentuate skill use. A broader ‘skill eco-system’ paradigm is required, emphasising the foundational economy.     

The C.R.E.A.T.E. approach to primary literature shifts undergraduates' self-assessed ability to read and analyze journal articles, attitudes about science, and epistemological beliefs

The C.R.E.A.T.E. (Consider, Read, Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze and interpret data, Think of the next Experiment) method uses intensive analysis of primary literature in the undergraduate classroom to demystify and humanize science. We have reported previously that the method improves students' critical thinking and content integration abilities, while at the same time enhancing their self-reported understanding of "who does science, and why." We report here the results of an assessment that addressed C.R.E.A.T.E. students' attitudes about the nature of science, beliefs about learning, and confidence in their ability to read, analyze, and explain research articles. Using a Likert-style survey administered pre- and postcourse, we found significant changes in students' confidence in their ability to read and analyze primary literature, self-assessed understanding of the nature of science, and epistemological beliefs (e.g., their sense of whether knowledge is certain and scientific talent innate). Thus, within a single semester, the inexpensive C.R.E.A.T.E. method can shift not just students' analytical abilities and understanding of scientists as people, but can also positively affect students' confidence with analysis of primary literature, their insight into the processes of science, and their beliefs about learning.     

Personal learning environments: design and use / Los entornos personales de aprendizaje en la educación superior: del diseño al uso

Abstract

This study focuses on the uses that two groups of higher education students make of technological resources offered by an institution to build their own personal learning environments. The main thesis is that these uses depend on the techno-pedagogical design of the teaching and learning process in which the technological resources are framed. In order to explore and illustrate this thesis two instructional sequences have been analysed. Both use the same technological design, the Elgg platform, which allows users to select and organize a set of resources or widgets according to their interests and needs. The results show that in both cases the uses that students make of technology are related to the characteristics and requirements of the particular techno-pedagogical designs. We conclude that the key is not to offer technological resources to the students so they can build their own personal learning environments, but to design activities that attract and induce them to build these personal environments and to guide and support the process of construction.     

A prospective,randomized crossover study comparing direct inspection by light microscopy versus projected images for teaching of hematopathology to medical students

Instruction in hematopathology at Mayo Medical School has evolved from instructor‐guided direct inspection under the light microscope (laboratory method), to photomicrographs of glass slides with classroom projection (projection method). These methods have not been compared directly to date. Forty‐one second‐year medical students participated in this pilot study, a prospective, randomized, crossover study measuring educational performance during a hematology pathophysiology course. The students were randomized to one of two groups. All students received the same didactic lectures in the classroom and subsequent case‐based review of peripheral blood smears using either laboratory or projection methods, on day one with a crossover to the other method on day two. Pre‐ and post‐test examinations centered on morphology recognition measured educational performance on each day, followed by a questionnaire identifying the student's favored method. There was no significant difference in the pre‐test and post‐test scores between the two teaching methods (rank‐sum P = 0.43). Students overwhelmingly preferred the projection method and perceived it as superior (76%), although post‐test scores were not significantly different. Student's recommended method was split with 50% favoring the projection method, 43% favoring a combined approach, and 23% noting logistical challenges to the laboratory. In this study, the laboratory and projection method were equivalent in terms of educational performance for hematopathology among medicals students. A classroom‐based approach such as the projection method is favored, given the large class sizes in undergraduate medical education, as well as the ergonomic challenges and additional resources required for large group instruction in a laboratory setting. Anat Sci Educ 7: 130–134. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.