The development and implementation of a teaching unit on the immune system for secondary schools in Israel

In an attempt to widen the scope of school chemistry teaching, the authors have developed an interdisciplinary unit on the immune system. The main features of this unit are described, covering both its content and the pedagogical strategies employed in it. A brief summary of the results of the trial implementation of the unit is also presented.     

Apprenticeships,Collaboration and Scientific Discovery in Academic Field Studies

Teachers may use apprenticeships and collaboration as instructional strategies that help students to make authentic scientific discoveries as they work as amateur researchers in academic field studies. This concept was examined with 643 students, ages 14–72, who became proficient at field research through cognitive apprenticeships with the Smithsonian Institute, School for Field Studies and Earthwatch. Control student teams worked from single research goals and sets of methods, while experimental teams varied goals, methods, and collaborative activities in Kenya, Costa Rica, Panama, and Ecuador. Results from studies indicate that students who conducted local pilot studies, collaborative symposia, and ongoing, long-term fieldwork generated significantly more data than did control groups. Research reports of the experimental groups were ranked highest by experts, and contributed the most data to international science journals. Data and anecdotal information in this report indicate that structured collaboration in local long-term studies using apprenticeships may increase the potential for students' academic field studies contribution of new information to science.     

Tutor-student interaction in undergraduate chemistry: a case of learning to make relevant distinctions of molecular structures for determining oxidation states of atoms

ABSTRACT

In this study, we explore the issues and challenges involved in supporting students’ learning to discern relevant and critical aspects of determining oxidation states of atoms in complex molecules. We present a detailed case of an interaction between three students and a tutor during a problem-solving class, using the analytical tool of practical epistemology analysis (PEA). The results show that the ability to make relevant distinctions between the different parts of a molecule for solving the problem, even with the guidance of the tutor, seemed to be challenging for students. These shifts were connected to both purposes that were specific for solving the problem at hand, and additional purposes for general learning of the subject matter, in this case how to assign oxidation states in molecules. The students sometimes could not follow the additional purposes introduced by the tutor, which made the related distinctions more confusing. Our results indicate that in order to provide adequate support and guidance for students the tutor needs to consider how to sequence, move between, and productively connect the different purposes introduced in a tutor-student interaction. One way of doing that is by first pursuing the purposes for solving the problem and then successively introduce additional, more general purposes for developing students’ learning of the subject matter studied. Further recommendations drawn from this study are discussed as well.     

Neurodevelopmental Effects of a Mindfulness and Kindness Curriculum on Executive Functions in Preschool Children—A Randomized,Active-Controlled Study

This study aimed to explore the effect of a mindfulness-based curriculum designed especially for preschoolers on facets of executive functions. Fifty-one preschoolers were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness and kindness curriculum (MC) or an active control dialogic reading program (DR). A battery of behavioral and neurophysiological tests was used to tap into facets of executive control (inhibition, shifting). Electroencephalography data were acquired during the attentional network task (ANT). Relative to DR, children in the MC group exhibited a reduced difference in the N200 Event related potentials (ERP) amplitudes for the congruent versus incongruent conditions during the ANT paradigm representing inhibition and shifting abilities. On the behavioral tasks, both groups improved on executive functions (EF) but on different facets; MC group showed increased inhibition and the DR group demonstrated significantly greater shifting abilities. The results highlight the sensitivity of electrophysiological data to detect subtle cognitive changes. The understanding of how mindfulness-based interventions in preschoolers affect facets of executive functions can enable further refinement and maximization of the benefits of these interventions for this age group.     

Preliminary evidence for color stimuli discrimination in the Asian small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinerea)

Color discrimination ability can be determined through anatomy or perceptual ability. In this study we tested perceptual ability. Three Asian small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinerea), one male and two females, were trained via operant conditioning to discriminate stimuli within a training task. If they passed criteria for this task, they were tested on as many as six delayed matching-to-sample experimental tasks. These experimental tasks involved comparing varying saturations of the colors blue, green, and red against varying shades of gray, as well as against each other. The male reached criterion on five of the experimental tasks, indicating an ability to discriminate the stimuli. One female participated in only two tasks and did not achieve the criteria as set. The second female did not pass the training task, and thus was not experimentally tested. This study overall showed some early evidence that Asian small-clawed otters may have the ability to learn to discriminate different stimuli on the basis of color cues. Sensory studies conducted on two other otter species and the results of this study indicate that color vision may be a common trait across Lutrinae species.     

数独世界冠军专栏

正三届数独世界冠军托马斯·辛德(Thomas Snyder)为《大学生》读者们专门设计数独题。辛德曾三次获得数独世界冠军,五次夺得美国数独冠军,他的专业是化学,本科毕业于加州理工学院,在哈佛大学取得博士学位,现是斯坦福大学生物工程学助理研究员。     

The Network University? Technology,Culture and Organisational Complexity in Contemporary Higher Education

This paper discusses the concept of the network organisation in relation to the technologised university. Drawing upon the early findings of a study that examines the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on both organisational and teaching and learning issues in five Australian universities, the authors discuss the way in which discourses of network technology have become articulated to a range of at times paradoxical agendas within higher education. The introduction of new technologies into organisations tends to be portrayed in either transformative or oppressive terms. The complexity of the university experience foregrounds the important role played by pre‐existing organisational practices and narratives in determining the uses and meanings of ICTs in the organisational setting. These observations place into question the notion that the network organisation is a single coherent entity driven by a particular technological logic. Instead, it suggests that network technologies are socially embedded and therefore highly variable in their expression.     

Performance of good and poor readers at two grade levels on an Auditory Cognitive Style Task

Sixty-four good and poor readers at first and third grades were administered a task measuring cognitive style in the auditory modality. They were also administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) to obtain a measure of IQ. Poor readers committed significantly more errors and exhibited shorter response latencies on the Auditory Cognitive Style Task than did good readers. More importantly, poor readers demonstrated inefficient strategies for successful performance. It was suggested that good reading skills, as well as successful performance on the auditory task, require a certain degree of planfulness and self-monitoring activity on the part of the child which was apparently absent in the poor reader. Furthermore, it was proposed that the cognitive style variable, conceptual tempo, may be better viewed within the framework of the concept of metacognition.