When and Why Are the Values of Physical Quantities Expressed with Uncertainties? A Case Study of a Physics Undergraduate Laboratory Course

The understanding of measurement is related to the understanding of the nature of science—one of the main goals of current international science teaching at all levels of education. This case study explores how a first-year university physics course deals with measurement uncertainties in the light of an epistemological analysis of measurement. The data consist of the course documents, interviews with senior instructors, and laboratory instructors’ responses to an online questionnaire. During laboratory work, uncertainties are expressed in the large majority of the measurements made by the students but only in less than half of their calculation results. The instructors’ expectations are that students systematically estimate uncertainties so that they become aware that measurements and calculations are never exact. However, since uncertainties are not specified for the values given in the laboratory guides, uncertainties are often missing from the results of students’ calculations. The potential side effects of students’ measurement understanding are discussed and suggestions for improvements are proposed.     

Cultivating critical game makers in digital game-based learning: learning from the arts

Digital games have the potential of being a transformative tool for applying constructionist principles to learning within formal and informal learning settings. Unfortunately, most recent attention has focused on instructionist games. Connected gaming provides a tantalizing alternative approach by calling for the development of games that are both instructive and modifiable by learners. If game design is to be used as a pedagogical tool in this manner, emphasis should be placed on the concurrent development of critical makers. In this paper, we advance the notion of connected gaming through positing a conception of a critical maker. To accomplish this, we look to the arts as a domain where pedagogical approaches are in place from which the game-based learning community can draw insights from, along with an overview of the potential challenges and opportunities that may accompany any attempt to develop critical makers.     

Family of origin environments in two clinical samples of survivors of intra-familial, extra-familial, and both types of sexual abuse

OBJECTIVE: It has been suggested that survivors of ongoing childhood sexual abuse (CSA) tend to have been reared in ineffective family environments that render them particularly vulnerable to maltreatment and which foster psychological difficulties beyond those accounted for solely by their abuse. If this conjecture is valid, one would expect that the family of origin environments of CSA survivors would be disturbed whether their abuser was intra-familial or extra-familial. To assess this hypothesis, two studies compared the childhood family of origin environments and supportive parenting characteristics of a clinical sample of women sexually abused by family members only (the intra-familial group), by non-family members only (the extra-familial group), and by both family and non-family members (the "both" group). METHOD: Study 1 compared the three groups (total N = 213) using the Family Environment Scale (FES). Study 2 compared groups (total N = 86) on the positive parenting scales of the Exposure to Abusive and Supportive Environments Parenting Inventory (EASE-PI). RESULTS: In Study 1, multivariate analyses indicated significant differences on the independence, cohesion, and conflict subscales of the FES. Pairwise comparisons revealed that the extra-familial group reported significantly higher levels of family independence and lower levels of conflict than the other two groups. In addition, the extra-familial group reported higher levels of cohesion than the intra-familial group. However, the effect sizes of these comparisons were extremely small. In Study 2, multivariate analyses revealed no group differences on the EASE-PI scales. CONCLUSIONS: Low effect sizes on the three significant FES scales, non-significance on the remaining seven FES scales, and non-significance on the EASE-PI scales suggest that there is considerable similarity in the family of origin environments of adult female CSA survivors seeking therapy regardless of whether their perpetrators were family members, non-family members, or both family and non-family members.     

Acute modification in plasma lipid levels in ultramarathon runners

We aimed to evaluate the effects of a 24-h ultramarathon, an aerobic test of high physical load, on lipid profile and apolipoproteins B (ApoB) and A1 (ApoA1) levels, minimally modified low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and oxidised LDL. Prospective evaluation of 16 male athletes who participated in an ultramarathon run, where the objective was to run the greatest distance possible in 24 h. Fourteen participants completed the run. The mean distance achieved was 133.1 km (maximum of 169.6 km). There was a trend in reduction of triglycerides and total cholesterol (P = 0.06 and 0.05, respectively), without significant modifications in high-density lipoprotein, LDL and ApoA1 levels (P = 0.16; 0.55 and 0.67). There was a marked reduction in ApoB levels (P < 0.001), correlated directly to the distance covered (Pearson R = 0.68). Accordingly, an increase in the LDL/ApoB ratio was observed. The stress of this physical activity was not associated to an increase in minimally modified LDL or oxidised LDL. Lipid profile levels were not acutely altered by prolonged physical activity. Similarly, there was no evidence of greater oxidation of LDL over a 24-h period of physical activity. The reduction in ApoB was directly proportional to the distance covered, suggesting an acute positive change in phenotype of LDL molecules.     

Understanding neurophobia: Reasons behind impaired understanding and learning of neuroanatomy in cross‐disciplinary healthcare students

Recent studies have highlighted a fear or difficulty with the study and understanding of neuroanatomy among medical and healthcare students. This has been linked with a diminished confidence of clinical practitioners and students to manage patients with neurological conditions. The underlying reasons for this difficulty have been queried among a broad cohort of medical, dental, occupational therapy, and speech and language sciences students. Direct evidence of the students’ perception regarding specific difficulties associated with learning neuroanatomy has been provided and some of the measures required to address these issues have been identified. Neuroanatomy is perceived as a more difficult subject compared to other anatomy topics (e.g., reproductive/pelvic anatomy) and not all components of the neuroanatomy curriculum are viewed as equally challenging. The difficulty in understanding neuroanatomical concepts is linked to intrinsic factors such as the inherent complex nature of the topic rather than outside influences (e.g., lecture duration). Participants reporting high levels of interest in the subject reported higher levels of knowledge, suggesting that teaching tools aimed at increasing interest, such as case‐based scenarios, could facilitate acquisition of knowledge. Newer pedagogies, including web‐resources and computer assisted learning (CAL) are considered important tools to improve neuroanatomy learning, whereas traditional tools such as lecture slides and notes were considered less important. In conclusion, it is suggested that understanding of neuroanatomy could be enhanced and neurophobia be decreased by purposefully designed CAL resources. This data could help curricular designers to refocus attention and guide educators to develop improved neuroanatomy web‐resources in future. Anat Sci Educ 11: 81–93. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

Item position effects in listening but not in reading in the European Survey of Language Competences

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - In contrast with the assumptions made in standard measurement models used in large-scale assessments, students’ performance may change...     

Educational Expansion and the Mediation of Discontent: The cultural politics of schooling in the Arab states

This paper probes the socioeconomic and political processes underlying the expansion of schooling in the Arab states. The paper, which does not report new data but rather critically reviews studies published so far, argues that both development and modernisation approaches, as well as class reproduction theories remain largely unable to account for the complex web of factors affecting educational expansion in the Arab states. These theories fail to point to the articulation of multi-level processes ultimately shaping the social and cultural underpinnings of educational expansion. Moreover, these theoretical approaches, beyond their paradigmatic differences, have confined Arab civil societies essentially to the structural outcome of state policies. Consequently, processes of civil dissent and resistance and their effects on educational expansion are naively conceptualised in terms of 'forces of tradition' versus 'forces of change'. The community-based, and conflict-laden power conjunctures shaping educational expansion in the Arab states have been largely left outside the analysis and the voices they represent often discarded. To probe the argument, first, the paper outlines the major macro-structural and historical factors affecting levels of literacy and access to educational resources in different Arab states. Secondly, published fieldwork research undertaken by others into community-based settings is examined in order to explore points of articulation between state policies, civil society processes and their sociopolitical and cultural effects on patterns of educational expansion. Thirdly, within the frame of a concluding discussion, the major implications are discussed and possible research paths are pointed to.