The development of elementary pre-service teachers’ professional noticing of students’ thinking through adapted Lesson Study

The purpose of the study was to investigate how Lesson Study influences pre-service teachers’ learning to professionally notice students’ mathematical thinking. The initial and last video-recorded discussions were analysed using a qualitative method. Findings suggest that Lesson Study can be useful means to improve pre-service teachers’ noticing expertise in reviewing and planning lessons. However, to maximise the effect of Lesson Study on developing pre-service teachers’ noticing expertise, several modifications need to be made to the Lesson Study protocol, which are discussed.     

The effect of design education using virtual reality-based coding on student competence and educational satisfaction

Education and Information Technologies - Virtual reality (VR) technology is playing a crucial role in the changing paradigm of education. In many cases, however, VR technology is not being taught...     

Can typical game features have unintended consequences? A study of players’ learning and reactions to challenge and failure in an educational programming game

It is difficult to motivate learners to seek out and persist at challenging learning tasks where failure is likely. However, in game environments, people seem highly motivated to engage with challenges and respond productively to failure. Many typical game features purportedly enhance intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy, which should improve students’ reactions to challenge and failure, which should in turn enhance learning. An experimental study with early middle school students tested these assumptions by comparing a “Full” version of a typical, commercial programming game to a “Minimal” version of the same game where common game features such as narrative, performance metrics, high-quality graphics, and sound were removed. In contrast to our hypotheses, players of the Full Game were less likely to choose coding challenges, were less tolerant of coding failures and gained less coding knowledge. Intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy did not differ between conditions. Correlational analyses showed that failure tolerance and challenge seeking may critically affect learning from educational games. The current study offers an existence proof that some common game features can hinder players' failure tolerance, challenge-seeking and learning, in certain game contexts. Future research should isolate the effects of individual game features, test generalizability and explore which contextual variables influence the findings.     

Meaning in life and school guidance programs: Adolescents’ voices from Hong Kong

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This study provides insights into how Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong interpret the concept of “meaning in life.” Data...     

Resistive pulse sensing of magnetic beads and supraparticle structures using tunable pores

Tunable pores (TPs) have been used for resistive pulse sensing of 1 μm superparamagnetic beads, both dispersed and within a magnetic field. Upon application of this field, magnetic supraparticle structures (SPSs) were observed. Onset of aggregation was most effectively indicated by an increase in the mean event magnitude, with data collected using an automated thresholding method. Simulations enabled discrimination between resistive pulses caused by dimers and individual particles. Distinct but time-correlated peaks were often observed, suggesting that SPSs became separated in pressure-driven flow focused at the pore constriction. The distinct properties of magnetophoretic and pressure-driven transport mechanisms can explain variations in the event rate when particles move through an asymmetric pore in either direction, with or without a magnetic field applied. Use of TPs for resistive pulse sensing holds potential for efficient, versatile analysis and measurement of nano- and microparticles, while magnetic beads and particle aggregation play important roles in many prospective biosensing applications.     

Gravity-oriented microfluidic device for uniform and massive cell spheroid formation

We propose a simple method for forming massive and uniform three-dimensional (3-D) cell spheroids in a multi-level structured microfluidic device by gravitational force. The concept of orienting the device vertically has allowed spheroid formation, long-term perfusion, and retrieval of the cultured spheroids by user-friendly standard pipetting. We have successfully formed, perfused, and retrieved uniform, size-controllable, well-conditioned spheroids of human embryonic kidney 293 cells (HEK 293) in the gravity-oriented microfluidic device. We expect the proposed method will be a useful tool to study in-vitro 3-D cell models for the proliferation, differentiation, and metabolism of embryoid bodies or tumours.     

国产十种乌头的染色体研究

本文描述了我国产毛茛科乌头属的10个种的染色体数目和形态。  根据该属染色体基 数为8(x＝8)，可将这些种归为二倍体、四倍体、六倍体和八倍体种。  10种乌头的染色体在数目、大小、结构上表现出相关性。其中具根状茎而多年生的种多为二倍体，染色体形态较大，第3-7号多为近端着丝点(st)染色体, 具块茎而二年生的种多为多倍体，染色体形态较小，第3-7号多为近中着丝点(sm)染色体。染色体演化方向可能是二倍体→多倍体、大→ 小、st→sm。这进一步证明根状茎种较块茎种原始。根据染色体数目和形态，又可将这些种的染色体分为两类。这进一步支持了目前分类学上的牛扁亚属和乌头亚属的划分。本文还讨论了这些种的有关分类问题。