Collaboration Between the University of Michigan Taubman Health Sciences Library and the University of Michigan Medical School Office of Research

Librarians have traditionally facilitated research development resulting in grants through performing biomedical literature searches for researchers. The librarians at the Taubman Health Sciences Library of the University of Michigan have taken additional steps forward by instituting a proactive approach to assisting investigators. To accomplish this, the librarians have taken part in a collaborative effort with the University of Michigan Medical School Office of Research. Through this partnership, both units have created and adopted various techniques intended to facilitate the submission of grants, thus allowing researchers more time to conduct their primary activities.     

What is political incivility?

Using 23 novel indicators and a 1,000+ sample representative of a full undergraduate population we examined: how much consensus there was about perceptions of the incivility/civility of various categories of speech/behavior; and whether political incivility is a unidimensional or multidimensional latent construct. Confirmatory factor analyses suggest perceived political incivility is a multidimensional construct. Insulting utterances, deception, and behaviors tending to shut down inclusive ongoing discussion can be treated as distinct, underlying aspects of incivility. More than 75% of respondents viewed all 23 indicators, except issue-oriented attacks, as very, mostly, or somewhat uncivil. If replicated on a representative national sample, standardized indicators of political incivility should be constructed and routinely employed in national surveys of political attitudes and behavior.     

Mentoring: A Convenience or Convergence?

The 27th Delphine Hanna Lecture presented at the 2018 NAKHE Annual Conference.     

Characterization of human genetics courses for nonbiology majors in U.S. colleges and universities

We characterized college human genetics courses for nonscience majors (NSM) by 1) determining the number of U.S. institutions offering courses and the number of students taking them; and 2) surveying course instructors on course demographics, content, materials, and pedagogies. Between 2002 and 2004, an estimated 480 institutions of higher education (15.2%) offered a course: 8.4% of 1667 associate colleges, 16.1% of baccalaureate institutions, 25.3% of master's institutions, and 32.9% of doctoral institutions. This indicates a need to increase access to genetics education in 2-yr colleges. Based on instructor responses, approximately 32,000–37,000 students annually complete an NSM human genetics course out of approximately 1.9 million students earning a college degree each year (2.0%). Regarding course content, instructors consistently rated many concepts significantly higher in importance than the emphasis placed on those concepts in their courses. Although time could be a factor, instructors need guidance in the integration of the various concepts into their courses. Considering only 30.2% of the instructors were reportedly trained in genetics (another 25.4% in molecular and cellular biology) and the small fraction of students completing NSM human genetics courses, these results demonstrate the need for increasing the availability of these courses in undergraduate institutions of higher education, and particularly at 2-yr colleges.     

Promoting transfer: effects of self-explanation and direct instruction

Explaining new ideas to oneself can promote transfer, but how and when such self-explanation is effective is unclear. This study evaluated whether self-explanation leads to lasting improvements in transfer success and whether it is more effective in combination with direct instruction or invention. Third- through fifth-grade children (ages 8-11; n=85) learned about mathematical equivalence under one of four conditions varying in (a) instruction on versus invention of a procedure and (b) self-explanation versus no explanation. Both self-explanation and instruction helped children learn and remember a correct procedure, and self-explanation promoted transfer regardless of instructional condition. Neither manipulation promoted greater improvements on an independent measure of conceptual knowledge. Microgenetic analyses provided insights into potential mechanisms underlying these effects.     

Self-reported impacts of volunteering in UK zoos and aquariums

ABSTRACT

Zoos and aquariums are popular visitor destinations, with around 30 million visits made to them annually throughout the UK and Ireland. The role and mission of modern zoos have evolved, with the conservation of world’s remaining biodiversity now being their major purpose. They seek to aid biodiversity through a combination of public education, in situ and ex situ conservation programmes, and applied scientific research. Directly relevant to this paper, they are also institutions that actively recruit, attract and utilise volunteers. However, the impacts of volunteering in zoos and aquariums, on the volunteers themselves, are under-researched. Here we show that, in a survey of more than 500 volunteers at 19 different zoological collections in the UK, zoo volunteers report positive impacts, specifically in relation to increases in their human and social capital. We also found that these benefits were more pronounced in younger volunteers, and with those volunteers who received more initial training. We conclude that while volunteering in UK zoos correlates with significant personal benefits to individuals, zoos could aim higher and should seek to do more to maximise the positive effects of connecting volunteers with the wildlife and nature found in zoo settings, as well as tailoring their volunteer training programmes for different age groups.     

Adolescent racial prejudice development: The role of friendship quality and interracial contact

There is a limited theoretical and empirical literature on the role of friendship quality and interracial contact on adolescent racial prejudice development. To address this gap, the present study examined the relationship between these factors amongst an Australian sample of 89 school-aged adolescent friendship dyads and 80 university-aged adolescent friendship dyads. All participants were administered questionnaires measuring prejudice towards Asian and Arab Australians, friendship quality and interracial contact. Overall, the results revealed that all adolescents reported significantly higher levels of subtle prejudice than blatant prejudice. As predicted, university-aged adolescents reported significantly lower levels of both subtle and blatant prejudice towards Asian and Arab Australians than school-aged adolescents. Importantly, adolescents who had contact with Asian (outgroup) friends reported significantly lower levels of subtle and blatant prejudice towards Asian Australians than adolescents with no Asian friends. Interestingly, friendship quality was not found to moderate the similarity of prejudice levels within friendship dyads. Together, these findings indicate that in developing subtle prejudice-reduction programs research should focus on increasing interracial cooperative contact, particularly amongst school-aged adolescents.