An Initiative to Broaden Diversity in Undergraduate Biomathematics Training

At North Carolina A&T State University (NCATSU), there was a critical need to better coordinate genuine research and classroom experiences for undergraduates early in their academic career. We describe the development and implementation of a faculty alliance across academic departments to increase biomathematics research opportunities for underrepresented minorities. Our faculty alliance is called the Integrative Biomathematical Learning and Empowerment Network for Diversity (iBLEND). The fundamental purpose of the iBLEND alliance was to inspire underrepresented minorities to pursue research careers by increasing the visibility of research conducted at the interface of mathematics and biology at NCATSU. Because of the many positive impacts, iBLEND gained significant buy-in from administration, faculty, and students by 1) working from the ground up with administration to promote campus-wide biomathematics research and training, 2) fostering associations between research and regular undergraduate academic courses, 3) creating and disseminating biomathematics teaching and learning modules, and 4) enhancing learning community support at the interface of mathematics and biology. Currently, iBLEND is viewed as a productive site for graduate schools to recruit underrepresented minority students having specific competencies related to mathematical biology.     

Teaching and Learning Metaphor

In this study I look at recent work done by psychologists in the field of metaphor comprehension as well as longer‐established philosophical theories. I suggest that there is a great deal that English teachers can gain by having a broader understanding of metaphor. I look at how Year 7 pupils, in particular, can benefit a great deal from such notions.     

Teaching physics: Students’ attitudes towards different learning activities

The decline in the popularity of physics over the period of secondary schooling and its consequent low uptake at A‐level and beyond continues to cause concern on educational and economic grounds. The aim of this study is to explore whether physics might be made more attractive to students by employing an extended range of classroom and laboratory activities to teach it. Specifically, the study scores the popularity of a range of activities, students’ perceptions about how often these activities are used to teach physics, and whether students consider them educationally useful. Students appear to think in terms of written activities, passive activities, social activities and constructive activities. Written activities are relatively unpopular and seen as educationally less effective, but students perceived them as used frequently. Social activities such as group work are more popular. The most popular activities are constructive activities, such as doing experiments; these are seen as educationally useful, but are perceived as being used less often than other activities. While there are legitimate limitations on the types of activities that can be used, these findings add to our appreciation of which teaching activities students like and value.     

A biomechanical comparison of dominant and non-dominant limbs during a side-step cutting task

Abstract

Numerous studies have investigated anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury risk by examining gender differences in knee and hip biomechanics during a side-step cutting manoeuvre since it is known that ACL injury often occurs during such a task. Recent investigations have also examined lower extremity (LE) biomechanics during side-step cutting in individuals following ACL reconstruction (ACLR). Common research practice is to compare knee and hip biomechanics of the dominant limb between groups but this can add considerable complexity for clinicians and researchers. At this time, it is not known if there is a difference in LE biomechanics between the dominant and non-dominant limb during side-step cutting. Three-dimensional kinematics and kinetics were collected while 31 healthy participants performed five, side-step cutting manoeuvres with the dominant and non-dominant limbs. Knee and hip variables examined are those commonly investigated in ACL injury literature. There were no differences between limbs in all but one variable (knee internal rotation). These results demonstrate that healthy individuals exhibit little side-to-side differences in certain LE biomechanics when performing a side-step cutting manoeuvre. These findings can be utilised by clinicians when conducting dynamic evaluations of their ACLR patients and when developing injury prevention and rehabilitation programmes.     

Children's Group Nous: Understanding and Applying Peer Exclusion Within and Between Groups

In Study 1, 167 English children aged 6–8 or 9–11 evaluated peer English or French soccer fans that were loyal or partially disloyal. In Study 2, 149 children aged 5–11 made judgments about generic inclusion norms between and within competitive groups. In both studies, children's understanding of intergroup inclusion/exclusion norms (group nous) was predicted by theory of social mind (a social perspective taking measure) but not multiple classification skill. In Study 2, the number of groups children belonged to (an index of peer group experience) also predicted group nous. Supporting the developmental subjective group dynamics model ( D. Abrams, A. Rutland, & L. Cameron, 2003 ), children's experience and perspective taking help them make sense of inter- and intragroup inclusion and exclusion.