Missed Opportunities for Science Learning: Unacknowledged Unscientific Arguments in Asynchronous Online and Face-to-Face Discussions

We explored the scientific argumentation that occurs among university biology students during an argumentation task implemented in two environments: face-to-face in a classroom and online in an asynchronous discussion. We observed 10 student groups, each composed of three students. Our analysis focused on how students respond to their peers’ unscientific arguments, which we define as assertions, hypotheses, propositions, or explanations that are inaccurate or incomplete from a scientific perspective. Unscientific arguments provide opportunities for productive dissent, scientific argumentation, and conceptual development of scientifically desirable conceptions. We found that students did not respond to the majority of unscientific arguments in both environments. Challenges to unscientific arguments were expressed as a question or through explanation, although the latter was more common online than face-to-face. Students demonstrated significantly more epistemic distancing in the face-to-face environment than the online environment. We discuss the differences in discourse observed in both environments and teaching implications. We also provide direction for future research seeking to address the challenges of engaging students in productive scientific argumentation in both face-to-face and online environments.     

Velocity observer design for the consensus in delayed robot networks

The consensus problem for networks of multiple agents consists in reaching an agreement between certain coordinates of interest using a distributed controller. It may be desirable that all the agents find a consensus at a given desired leader coordinate (Leader Follower Consensus Problem LFCP), or it may be only necessary that they agree at a certain coordinates value (Leaderless Consensus Problem LCP). Consensus has many practical applications in robot networks systems, where the interconnection of the agents may present variable time delays, hence rendering the stability analysis and control design more complex. Another problem that may arise is the possible lack of velocity measurements. In this work, a Proportional plus damping injection (P + d) controller together with a linear velocity observer is introduced. Our approach is able to solve both the LFCP and the LCP in networks of robots modeled as undirected weighted graphs with unknown asymmetric (bounded) variable time delays. Local (semi global) asymptotic stability is proven and simulation results are provided to test the performance of the proposed scheme.     

Are intensified physical education sessions able to elicit heart rate at a sufficient level to promote aerobic fitness in adolescents?

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of intensified physical education sessions on adolescents ages 11-16 years. They were divided into two experimental groups--high-intensity running group (HIRG) and high-intensity jumping group (HlJG)--and a control group (C). During the sessions, heart rate (HR) was monitored. There was no significant difference between mean HR for HIRG and HIJG, while the mean HR was significantly lower for C (p < .001). For both HIRG and HIJG, the mean HR was significantly higher for girls than for boys (p < .001). Our results suggested that these intensified physical education lessons require a high percentage of maximal HR in adolescents and can be used to improve aerobic fitness.     

Conceptualisation of learning to learn competence and the challenges of implementation: The Estonian experience

The importance of students' learning to learn competence for academic achievement, as well as their well-being at school and in life, is increasingly emphasised by educators and policy makers in national curricula and educational strategies. In an uncertain and complex world, learners need to become autonomous, be able to analyse challenges and apply knowledge in different contexts, address complex tasks, and create new knowledge. This article explores concepts and approaches to the development of students' learning to learn competence in the context of education in Estonia. First, the conceptualisation, model and dimensions of learning to learn competence are described and related challenges for teachers are analysed. Second, an overview of Estonian teachers' current practices, beliefs, knowledge, skills and occupational standards relevant to students' learning to learn competence is provided. We discuss how Estonian teacher education policy may enhance or inhibit the work of teachers when supporting students to develop learning to learn competence. Future directions for teacher educators and how to prepare teachers to support the development of students' learning to learn competence are suggested.     

Gender Bias in Student Evaluations of Teaching: ‘Punish[ing] Those Who Fail To Do Their Gender Right’

Higher Education - A significant body of work problematises the assumption that student evaluations of teaching (SET) actually measure teaching quality. This is concerning, given that SET are...     

Beyond contact-tracing: The public value of eHealth application in a pandemic

This study adopts a public value perspective to examine the eHealth services deployed by national and regional governments to contain the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, including symptoms checkers, information portals and contact-tracing applications. We analyse 50 cases of eHealth applications adopted in 25 European Economic Area (EEA) and outline how these systems and technologies map against four dimensions of public value: user orientation, participation, legality and equity. Our findings reveal that the public value of the eHealth applications adopted in the context of the current pandemic is affected by both endogenous and exogenous factors that undermine their ability to improve the quality of healthcare services and social wellbeing. We conclude by suggesting areas for further research to address such factors and the trade-offs emerging between different dimensions of public value.     

Implementation and outcomes of online self and peer assessment on group based honours research projects

Honours research projects in the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering at the University of Adelaide are run with small groups of students working with an academic supervisor in a chosen area for one year. The research project is mainly self-directed study, which makes it very difficult to fairly assess the contribution of individual students to a group-based research project. Until recently, a paper-based method of self and peer assessment (SPA) for the honours research projects was used to assess the projects. This was unsatisfactory for both students and academic staff, who found that the same mark was often awarded by the peers to each student without feedback. In 2010, therefore, an online SPA tool, SPARK, together with a set of newly developed assessment criteria, were used for SPA by the honours students. The new SPA criteria are based on teamwork and research skills, and the new rating scales reflect standard academic grades. Surveys of the students confirmed that they found the criteria and scales much more suitable for the assessment of group work and design projects.     

An adaptive controller for nonlinear teleoperators with variable time-delays

In most real-life bilateral teleoperators the available physical parameters are uncertain and the communications exhibit variable time-delays. In order to confront these situations and only assuming that a bound of the time-delays is known, the present work reports an adaptive controller which ensures asymptotic convergence of both position errors and velocities to zero, provided that a sufficient condition on the control gains is met. Compared to previous related works that only treated constant time-delays, the stability analysis does not rely on the cascade interconnection structure of the local and remote nonlinear dynamics and the linear interconnection map. Instead, the paper employs a different Lyapunov candidate function that incorporates a strictly positive term, the local and remote position error. Some simulations, in free space and interacting with a rigid wall, and experiments, using two nonlinear manipulators, illustrate the performance of the proposed control scheme in the presence of uncertain parameters and variable time-delays.     

A sit-ski design aimed at controlling centre of mass and inertia

Abstract

This article introduces a sit-ski developed for the Canadian Alpine Ski Team in view of the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic games. The design is predominantly based on controlling the mass distribution of the sit-ski, a critical factor in skiing performance and control. Both the antero-posterior location of the centre of mass and the sit-ski moment of inertia were addressed in our design.

Our design provides means to adjust the antero-posterior centre of mass location of a sit-ski to compensate for masses that would tend to move the antero-posterior centre of mass location away from the midline of the binding area along the ski axis. The adjustment range provided is as large as 140 mm, thereby providing sufficient adaptability for most situations. The suspension mechanism selected is a four-bar linkage optimised to limit antero-posterior seat movement, due to suspension compression, to 7 mm maximum. This is about 5% of the maximum antero-posterior centre of mass control capacity (151 mm) of a human participant. Foot rest inclination was included in the design to modify the sit-ski inertia by as much as 11%. Together, these mass adjustment features were shown to drastically help athletes’ skiing performance.