Science, Art, and Experience: Constructing a Science Pedagogy From Dewey’s Aesthetics

Drawing on the work of Dewey, we present a view of science education from the perspective of art and aesthetics. This perspective places a transformative, aesthetic experience at the forefront of educational objectives. Such experience involves the application of learning in everyday contexts, expansion of perception, and development of an increased interest in science ideas and aspects of the world illuminated by those ideas. We present a pedagogical model focused on fostering transformative, aesthetic experiences. This model involves two general categories of instructional methods: (a) methods of crafting ideas out of concepts, and (b) methods of modeling and scaffolding transformative, aesthetic experiences. We discuss how the methods comprising this pedagogical model relate to established science education methods.     

Commerce Students’ Preferences in Teaching and Learning

The introduction of a large (950 students) new first year class was an opportunity to design and implement a programme on student‐centred learning, where lectures, tutorials, and other teaching activities emphasised student participation and were integrated to promote a good learning environment The programme is described here, together with the results of an evaluation by students at the end of the second trimester. Students responses indicate that a well structured course which integrates content and process results in high student participation and satisfaction. The findings also show that Socratic teaching methods are entirely feasible with very large classes, and result in high student participation.     

Comparison of computed tomography and chest radiography in the detection of rib fractures in abused infants

PURPOSE: Chest radiographs (CXR) are the standard method for evaluating rib fractures in abused infants. Computed tomography (CT) is a sensitive method to detect rib fractures. The purpose of this study was to compare CT and CXR in the evaluation of rib fractures in abused infants. METHODS: This retrospective study included all 12 abused infants identified from 1999 to 2004 who had rib fractures and both CXR and CT (8 abdomen CTs, 4 chest CTs). CT exams had been performed for clinical indications, and were obtained within one day of the CXR. Studies were reviewed by two pediatric radiologists to determine the number, locations, and approximate ages of the rib fractures. A total of 225 ribs were completely (192) or partially (33) seen by CT, and the matched ribs on CXR were used for the analysis. RESULTS: The mean patient age was 2.5 months (1.2-5.6), with seven females and five males. While 131 fractures were visualized by CT, only 79 were seen by CXR (p<.001). One patient had fractures only seen by CT. There were significantly (p<.05) more early subacute (24 vs. 4), subacute (47 vs. 26), and old fractures (4 vs. 0) seen by CT than by CXR. Anterior (42 vs. 11), anterolateral (21 vs. 12), posterolateral (9 vs. 3) and posterior (39 vs. 24) fractures were better seen by CT than by CXR (p<.01). Bilateral fractures were detected more often by CT (11) than by CXR (6). CONCLUSIONS: While this study group is small, these findings suggest that CT is better than CXR in visualizing rib fractures in abused infants.     

LONG-TERM INHIBITION OF Na~ /H~ EXCHANGE ATTENUATES CARDIAC REMODELING AFTER MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION IN RATS

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To be genuine in artificial circumstances: evaluating the theatre analogy for understanding teachers’ workplace and work

This paper provides teachers and teacher educators with food for thought by developing a broad, contemporary re-evaluation of the often-used analogy between teaching and the theatre. It does so by synthesizing insights from scholarly works in education with insights from writing about theatre, including both historical work and published interviews with practicing stage actors. This approach throws into relief particular ways in which teaching does and does not resemble acting as described by its present-day practitioners. A key parallel is observed between the central challenges faced by teachers and actors: acting requires being truthful in imaginary circumstances, while teaching requires being genuine in artificial circumstances. Using work on bildung, the nature of this challenge is examined, and a call is made to help teachers and students better appreciate the intimate, reciprocal and shared nature of good teaching – a challenge in a culture where corporate interests aggressively promote personalized and “anytime, anywhere” learning. The paper also addresses the phenomenon of massive online courses, which enthusiasts like to believe teach themselves. This idea, I suggest, is as absurd as the notion that a great theatre building could obviate the need for a strong cast. .     

A meta-analysis of the effects of various science teaching strategies on achievement

This study is a meta-analysis of the question “What are the effects on achievement of different teaching techniques?” Twelve categories of teaching techniques were specified. Among these are questioning, wait-time, testing, focusing, manipulative, presentation approach, inquiry or discovery, audio-visual, and teacher direction. A coding form was then developed to allow for the uniform examination and recording of 76 variables from each study. One or more effect sizes were calculated and coded for each study. Over 300 microfilmed dissertations covering the past 30 years were examined. Some 2000 ERIC science abstracts were reviewed and suitable studies obtained. Finally, journal articles were reviewed. A total of 400 effect sizes representing 160 studies were produced. The main effect size overall was 0.34. Thus, for all samples considered the experimental science teaching techniques on the average resulted in one-third of a standard deviation improvement over traditional techniques. Mean effect sizes also were calculated for each technique. More than 20 other variables such as class size, community type, and science subject area were cross-tabulated with effect size.     

Using failure cases to promote veterinary students’ problem-solving abilities: a qualitative study

Educational technology research and development - Failure is an inevitable human experience, which can offer great learning opportunities. Yet, in current educational contexts, failure has largely...