Designing and using open-ended software to promote conceptual change

We describe a recent project that explored the use of interactive computer software for teaching Einstein's special theory of relativity to secondary school studients. Our approach couples results from recent cognitive science research with modern techniques for using computers to help students visualize and experiment with otherwise inaccessible phenomena. One the products of this research is RelLab, a computer-based exploratory tool for constructing gedanken, or thought experiments involving physical systems in relative motion. We will describe our efforts in designing and testing this software for affecting change in students' concepts of space and time. Relativity is ideally suited for such a study because understanding it requires a radical reconceptualization of these quantities.Advanced Physics from an Elementary Viewpoint, NSF grant MDR-9016417.     

Teaching Teamwork: Electronics Instruction in a Collaborative Environment

ABSTRACT

The Teaching Teamwork Project is using an online simulated electronic circuit, running on multiple computers, to assess students’ abilities to work together as a team. We pose problems that must be tackled collaboratively, and log students’ actions as they attempt to solve them. Team members are isolated from one another and can communicate only through an online chat channel, but modifications to the circuit made by any team member, insofar as they alter the behavior of the circuit, can affect measurements made by the others. We log all relevant student actions, including calculations (using an online calculator), measurements (using an online multimeter), inter-student communications, and alterations made by the students to the circuit itself. Automated analysis of the resulting data sheds light on the problem-solving strategy of each team, sometimes with surprising results.     

The Cultural Politics of Progenic Auschwitz Tattoos: 157622, A-15510, 4559, …

Facing the loss of the last generation of Holocaust survivors, progeny of survivors have begun to tattoo their ancestors’ Auschwitz numbers on their own bodies. We investigate the rhetoricity of progenic tattooing through semiotic, affective, and pedagogical registers. We argue that shifting conditions of discourse across time alter decorum about public memory of the Holocaust. Further, the progenic practice, constituting a distinct form of trauma tattoo, enacts a mode of postmemory through a resignification of the original sign that makes visible the intergenerational trauma of the Holocaust.     

SAFE Homes: is it worth the cost? An evaluation of a group home permanency planning program for children who first enter out-of-home care

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the SAFE Homes (SH) program, a short-term group care program for children between 3 and 12 years of age who enter care for the first time. The program aims to improve case outcomes by consolidating resources to facilitate assessment and treatment planning. METHODS: The 1-year outcomes of 342 children who received SAFE Home services and 342 matched foster care (FC) control children were compared. The 684 subjects used in this report were selected from a larger pool of 909 subjects using propensity score matching to control for hidden bias in treatment group assignment. We hypothesized that SAFE Homes would result in greater continuity of care for children (e.g., fewer placements, more placements with siblings and in towns of origin), identification of more relatives for substitute care when needed, reduced use of high-cost restrictive care settings (e.g., residential, inpatient), and reduced rates of re-abuse through earlier detection and provision of services to meet child and family treatment needs. RESULTS: Prior to the initiation of the SAFE Homes program, 75% of the children who entered care in the State experienced three or more placements in the first year. The outcomes of both the SH and FC cases were significantly improved over pre-SAFE Home State statistics. The FC group, however, had comparable or better outcomes on most variables examined. In addition, the total cost for out-of-home care for the children in FC was significantly less, despite the fact that the two groups spent similar amounts of time in care (average time in care: 7 months). This finding held when the total placement cost was calculated using the State reimbursement rate of 206.00 US dollars per day for SAFE Home care (SH: 20,851 US dollars +/- 24,231 US dollars; FC: 8,441 US dollars +/- 21,126 US dollars, p < .001), and a conservative SAFE Home program fee of 85.00 US dollars per day that only considered the child care and custodial staffing costs uniquely associated with the program (SH: 13,314 US dollars +/- 21,718 US dollars; FC: 8,441 US dollars +/-21,126 US dollars, p < .001). CONCLUSION: Improvements in outcomes related to continuity of care can be attained through staff training. The SAFE Home model of care is not cost-effective for first-time placements.     

Customising Microsoft Office to develop a tutorial learning environment

Powerful applications such as Microsoft Office's Excel and Word are widely used to perform common tasks in the workplace and in education. Scripting within these applications allows unanticipated user requirements to be addressed. We show that such extensibility, intended to support office automation‐type applications, is well suited to the creation of learning activities and learning environments. We have developed a range of tutorial activities using Excel and Word in introductory mathematics, writing and economics courses. These tutorials have the dual purpose of teaching academic concepts and practical computer literacy skills. The software architecture of our learning environment includes a database‐supported back‐end to automatically record students’ responses, which allows for greater control over what students do. Additionally, this allows one to automate common procedures to improve usability and feedback automation to support learning. We have been applying our ideas for the last six years and currently 1,500 students are using the environment. We suggest that this pragmatic solution can provide a high degree of interactivity and flexibility in a range of learning contexts that represents a cost‐effective alternative for use alongside traditional approaches.     

Broadcast reform revisited: Reverend Everett C. Parker and the “standing” case (office of communication of the United church of Christ v. Federal Communications Commission)

Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ v. Federal Communications Commission (1966), sometimes known as the “WLBT” case, was an instance where local citizens successfully challenged the broadcast license of a racist Mississippi broadcaster. The challenge worked in large part because it was tied to a larger social movement, that of Civil Rights. The effort resulted in the expansion of the legal doctrine of standing (that is, who could bring an action before regulatory agencies and courts) to normal citizens, and thus sparked the growth of citizen activism and participatory politics in various spheres, including consumer rights, environmental protection, and, of course, broadcast reform. The article tells the story of the case and its chief protagonist, Reverend Everett C. Parker.     

Coverage and overlaps in bibliographic databases relevant to forensic medicine: a comparative analysis of MEDLINE

This study was designed to make a comparative evaluation of the performance of MEDLINE in covering serial literature. Forensic medicine was chosen because it is an interdisciplinary subject area that would test MEDLARS at the periphery of the system. The evaluation of database coverage was based upon articles included in the bibliographies of scholars in the field of forensic medicine. This method was considered appropriate for characterizing work used by researchers in this field. The results of comparing MEDLINE to other databases evoked some concerns about the selective indexing policy of MEDLINE in serving the interests of those working in forensic medicine.     

Energy conversion in biological systems—part II. heat production in brown adipose tissue

This study involves the application of bond graphs to the generation of heat by cells in brown adipose tissue. In the first portion of this paper, data are presented to show the types of signals that can be measured at several sites in the system controlling thermogenesis—signals travelling from the brain to the tissue as well as signals over a feedback pathway from spinal cord temperature receptors back to the brain. Bond graphs are developed for several components of the system with an emphasis being placed on graphs describing the alternative mechanisms proposed for cellular energy conversion. The power flow is calculated using ENPORT for one mechanism for different values of plasma membrane resistance.