Are hyoliths Palaeozoic lophophorates?

The phylogenetic position of hyoliths has long been unsettled, with recent discoveries of a tentaculate feeding apparatus (‘lophophore’) and fleshy apical extensions from the shell (‘pedicle’) suggesting a lophophorate affinity. Here, we describe the first soft parts associated with the feeding apparatus of an orthothecid hyolith, Triplicatella opimus from the Chengjiang biota of South China. The tuft-like arrangement of the tentacles of T. opimus differs from that of hyolithids, suggesting they collected food directly from the substrate. A reassessment of the feeding organ in hyolithids indicates that it does not represent a lophophore and our analysis of the apical structures associated with some orthothecids show that these represent crushed portions of the shell and are not comparable to the brachiopod pedicle. The new information suggests that hyoliths are more likely to be basal members of the lophotrochozoans rather than lophophorates closely linked with the Phylum Brachiopoda.     

Professional Competence and Intuitive Decision Making: A Simulation Study in the Domain of Emergency Medicine

Intuition presents as a crucial component of professional competence for many occupations, including emergency physicians because many of their decisions have to be made quickly. When arriving at the scene of an accident, they promptly have to assess the circumstances and initiate immediate life-saving measures without opportunities for deep analyses of patients’ conditions. Therefore, spontaneous and intuitive decisions are required to solve the problem appropriately, rather than more intentional and time-consuming forms of decision-making. Yet, the efficacy of and processes underpinning these intuitive activities remain far from fully understood or clearly conceptualised. The study reported here aims at revealing the efficacy of such intuition by analysing decision-making behaviour of emergency physicians. Based on patient simulation mannequins, which can be programmed to present specified clinical situations, three groups of participants with different levels of emergency medicine expertise (n ₁  = 10 novices, n ₂  = 10 semi-experts, n ₃  = 10 experts) each addressed two different authentic problem cases. In the first simulation, time pressure was utilised to press participants to decide intuitively. In the second simulation, the participants had to legitimise their decisions without any time pressure in order to generate rational decisions. Whereas no clear difference in the participants’ performances between both cases could be identified, experts and semi-experts performed better than novices in their intuitive decision-making, thereby supporting beliefs about the efficacy of intuition. It is proposed that medical education, as well as other forms of occupational preparation, should consider theories of mental simulations in order to improve surgeons’ professional education.     

“This School Helps A Lot”: Personal Agency Among Black Youth Within a Supportive School Environment

The Urban Review - We collected field observation notes, accessed student demographic data, and interviewed sixteen Black high school youth (50% male; Mage?=?16.1) to explore...     

Promoting intercultural competence in study abroad students

Universities have been promoting study abroad programmes for a long time to improve intercultural competence. However, the mere exposure to cultural differences while studying abroad does not ensure intercultural competence, unless study abroad students’ reflective processes are explicitly targeted. The article presents the results of a short intervention grounded in the problem-based approach aimed at improving intercultural competence in study abroad students. Students were assigned to three conditions: a video-log condition (in which they have to narrate a critical incident occurred to them), a reflection-induced video-logs (in which they were prompted to reflect on the video-logs produced), and an active control condition. The reflection-induced video-log intervention improved students’ perceived proficiency in Italian and perceived opportunities for cultural reflection, but it did not contribute to improve students’ applicable and conceptual knowledge of intercultural competence.

     

Direct and indirect effects of textual and individual factors on source-content integration when reading about a socio-scientific issue

Reading and Writing - The purpose of this study was to test a hypothesized model that specified direct and indirect effects of textual and individual factors on readers’ ability to integrate...     

The effect of blended instruction on accelerated learning

While online instructional technologies are becoming more popular in higher education, educators’ opinions about online learning tend to be generally negative. Furthermore, many studies have failed to systematically examine the features that distinguish one instructional mode from another, which weakens possible explanations for why online instructional technology can be beneficial. The current study isolates three benefits of the authors’ particular online instructional technology: (1) providing flexibility in how students learn, (2) offering immediate and targeted feedback and (3) increasing student participation and engagement with instructional material. Maximum benefits were observed when students used the online instructional technology to prepare for their face-to-face class – that is, students with this blended instruction learned twice as much content in the same amount of time in comparison to students with face-to-face instruction alone, without creating an atypically high workload.     

Do German-speaking children have a chance to overcome reading and spelling difficulties? A longitudinal survey from the second until the eighth grade

In a longitudinal study the development of reading and spelling abilities of 458 Viennese school children from the second until the eighth grade was analysed. Although the students’ level of performance displayed a great consistency with poor readers and spellers retaining their weaknesses, groups of students whose performance either improved or deteriorated with time were also identified. Not only cognitive prerequisites, but also the classroom behavior of the students and social factors proved to be significant for the long-term prognosis.     

Reconsidering meaning making and its analytical implications for cultural studies of science education

The discussion in this forum aims to push some of the ideas further and thus clarify some of the concepts used in the feature article. This includes a debate of the concepts of meaning making, procedural and conceptual learning experiences, the distinction between realism and constructivism in our research practice, and finally how to foster productive disciplinary engagement.