A longitudinal examination of students’ health behaviours during their first year at university

During the transition from school to higher education, young adults experience a substantial amount of change where they progress from the highly controlled setting of school to the autonomous and self-motivated environment of university. Time spent at university is considered a critical period during which young adults establish a clear sense of identity, which can include forming positive health behaviours such as regular physical activity. The transition from school to university also involves a number of changes that can impact on the mental well-being of students including financial concerns, academic pressures and a lack of social support. Our aim was to longitudinally examine the physical activity levels and mental well-being of Scottish students during their first year at university. Participants were 48 first-year students (males, n = 24; females, n = 24) aged 18–19 years enrolled at two Scottish universities in the UK. At entry to university (semester 1) participants completed a validated self-report measure of physical activity and measures of anxiety and depression. Participants’ physical activity levels were assessed for seven days via accelerometry. Participants completed the same measures six months later (semester 2). Daily moderate physical activity levels decreased across the semesters yet perceptions of mental well-being remained stable. There was a significant increase in hip and waist circumferences across the semesters. The first year of university is a critical period for establishing positive health behaviours and there is a need for universities to actively encourage physical activity as an integral part of university life.     

Policy Documents: On the Wall or in the Waste Bin?

It has always been quite fashionable to have a disparaging view about school policy documents and many teachers will have had experiences of being given such documents with great flourish and then never opening them again. Yet, as Iris Keating and her colleagues point out, policy documents could be extremely helpful to teachers as guides to appropriate classroom action and ensurers of a continuity of approach. They clearly need further study as objects in their own right.     

Variable processing of flavors in rat STM

Hooded Lister rats exhibited less neophobia towards (i.e., drank more of) a novel fluid (3% lemon or 5% sucrose) on a 10-min test if given a 6-min exposure to that fluid 6 h earlier. Presentation of a distractor (1.26% coffee) immediately after preexposure to the test solution enhanced neophobia habituation to lemon (Experiment 1), but disrupted habituation to sucrose (Experiment 3). This bidirectional distractor effect was not due to distractor-induced change in the hedonic value of the preexposed test flavor (Experiment 4). Evidence was obtained (Experiment 5) indicating that the rat perceives lemon to be more similar to coffee than is sucrose. It is suggested that when test flavor and distractor are dissimilar, processing of the distractor denies the preexposed test flavor sufficient processing in STM to allow encoding of information about that flavor in LTM. Consequently, the rat responds to a subsequent presentation of the test flavor as it would to a novel stimulus. When test flavor and distractor are similar, however, the distractor elicits less processing in STM (cf. Wagner, 1976) and is therefore less able to disrupt STM processing of the preexposed test flavor. The resultant loss of neophobia to the test flavor resulting from encoding of information about that flavor in LTM may then be augmented by generalization of attenuated neophobia to the distractor. Consistent with this analysis, coffee was shown to suffer more proactive interference when preceded by lemon than when preceded by sucrose (Experiment 6).     

Student perceptions of student perception of module questionnaires: questionnaire completion as problem solving

A sample of 202 students filling in a student evaluation of teaching (SET) questionnaire were asked to complete another questionnaire asking about the specific reasons for awarding a score to the specific SET questionnaire items. The aim was to find out what influenced students' judgements on those items. It was found that students' interpretation of some questions differed from the ‘expected’ interpretation. Several factors, such as the placing of questions and the salience of items retrieved from memory, could influence a score. It was also found that asking for an explanation improved scores overall. The conclusions were that questionnaire completion could be understood as a form of problem solving and judgement under uncertainty. The specific heuristics used led to variability in students' interpretation of the task.     

An Analysis of Anatomy Education Before and During Covid-19: May–August 2020

Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) created unparalleled challenges to anatomy education. Gross anatomy education has been particularly impacted given the traditional in-person format of didactic instruction and/or laboratory component(s). To assess the changes in gross anatomy lecture and laboratory instruction, assessment, and teaching resources utilized as a result of Covid-19, a survey was distributed to gross anatomy educators through professional associations and listservs. Of the 67 survey responses received for the May–August 2020 academic period, 84% were from United States (US) institutions, while 16% were internationally based. Respondents indicated that in-person lecture decreased during Covid-19 (before: 76%, during: 8%, P < 0.001) and use of cadaver materials declined (before: 76 ± 33%, during: 34 ± 43%, P < 0.001). The use of cadaver materials in laboratories decreased during Covid-19 across academic programs, stand-alone and integrated anatomy courses, and private and public institutions (P ≤ 0.004). Before Covid-19, cadaveric materials used in laboratories were greater among professional health programs relative to medical and undergraduate programs (P ≤ 0.03) and among stand-alone relative to integrated anatomy courses (P ≤ 0.03). Furthermore, computer-based assessment increased (P < 0.001) and assessment materials changed from cadaveric material to images (P < 0.03) during Covid-19, even though assessment structure was not different (P > 0.05). The use of digital teaching resources increased during Covid-19 (P < 0.001), with reports of increased use of in-house created content, BlueLink, and Complete Anatomy software (P < 0.05). While primarily representing US institutions, this study provided evidence of how anatomy educators adapted their courses, largely through virtual mediums, and modified laboratory protocols during the initial emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic.     

Parent–Child Joint Behaviors in Novel Object Play Create High-Quality Data for Word Learning

This research takes a dyadic approach to study early word learning and focuses on toddlers’ (N = 20, age: 17–23 months) information seeking and parents’ information providing behaviors and the ways the two are coupled in real-time parent–child interactions. Using head-mounted eye tracking, this study provides the first detailed comparison of children’s and their parents’ behavioral and attentional patterns in two free-play contexts: one with novel objects with to-be-learned names (Learning condition) and the other with familiar objects with known names (Play condition). Children and parents in the Learning condition modified their individual and joint behaviors when encountering novel objects with to-be-learned names, which created clearer signals that reduced referential ambiguity and potentially facilitated word learning.     

Career guidance and active labour market policies in the Republic of Armenia

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This article provides an account of current public policy for career guidance in the Republic of Armenia. Brief background...     

Supporting school teachers’ rapid engagement with online education

Educational technology research and development - In response to Philipsen et al.'s (Educ Technol Res Dev 67:1145–1174, 2019) article titled “Improving teacher professional...     

Reference to Stacks: Getting the Most out of Library Resources

Changing patron demands, coupled with significant repurposing of library space, led the library to experience a marked decline in the usage of the print reference collection. Such a significant decrease challenged librarians to find new methods for promoting this still viable collection. It was decided to integrate the print reference books into the general library collection. After a year, circulation data demonstrated that by integrating collections, reference titles were now used more frequently.