Mouse (Mus) burrows: Effects of age,strain, and domestication

Burrows dug by house mice in laboratory burrow boxes were examined in two inbred strains (C57BL/6J and BALB/cJ) across five age groups and compared with burrows of wild trapped mice. Burrows of feral domestic mice were examined in an outdoor enclosure as well as in the laboratory. Results demonstrated that burrows differ between strains; highly active C57 mice tended to burrow more than did Balbs at all age ranges. Moreover, burrows became more complex with age in both strains. Differences among domestic, feral, and wild mice were minimal. Results are discussed in terms of possible genetic differences in activity and as evidence against the notions of degeneracy accompanying domestication.     

An analysis of global problem issues in sixth-and seventh-grade textbooks

The study examines the extent to which the global issues of population growth, world hunger, air quality and atmosphere, and water resources were treated in sixth- and seventh-grade science textbooks. Ten textbooks were examined by five raters to determine the amount of content presented by different textbooks on global issues, the number of pages of content devoted to each issue, and the degree of depth in which issues were treated. Differences between grade levels were also explored. Of the 4,393 pages of content analyzed, less than 2 percent was devoted to these issues identified as the most serious human problems. No significant differences were found between textbook series. Significant differences were found in the number of pages of content presented on each issue. Most of the content fell into the categories of water resources, population growth, air quality, and atmosphere. The issue of war technology had the least amount of content. Distribution of content did not vary by grade level. Both levels addressed the issues of population growth, air quality, and water resources with a greater degree of depth than the issue of world hunger or war technology. The study concludes that the most widely used textbooks at the sixth- and seventh-grade levels avoid serious discussion of major global problems. And like the career indecision of a recent Miss America contestant, purchasers don't seem to be able to decide whether they want science textbooks to be “a brain surgeon or a movie actress.” Implications stemming from this dichotomy and its relationship to future science education curricular are also explored.     

Modelling success: enhancing international postgraduate research students' self‐efficacy for research seminar presentations

Most postgraduate research students face the task of presenting an oral seminar on their proposed research early in their candidature. Those of us who work with international postgraduate research students know that they can find this task daunting, and the literature both in Australia and abroad confirms that these students often lack confidence in this task. This paper presents findings of a small case study which compared the influence of observing a seminar performance of a peer to that of a senior academic on the confidence, or self‐efficacy, for seminar presentations of participants in a bridging program for international postgraduate research students at an Australian university. Participants responded to a 19‐item questionnaire which measured self‐efficacy for four areas of seminar presentation: speech, display, content, and presenter presence. The results indicated that the use of a peer model performance was the more effective pedagogical method for enhancing student confidence in this context.     

Legitimising transgression: design and delivery of a science Work Integrated Learning program that draws on students’ extant work in diverse,non-science fields

ABSTRACT

Recent focus on graduate employability has exposed the inadequacies of work preparation for science students, who need an employability toolkit to navigate the modern work landscape. An established mechanism to develop students’ employment awareness is Work Integrated Learning (WIL), but Australian mathematics and science students participate in fewer WIL activities than students in other disciplines. In this article, we present a conceptual discussion around the design of a non-traditional Bachelor of Science WIL program that transcends commonly held perceptions of WIL as primarily discipline-orientated and placement-based. This design dramatically expands the possibilities for WIL in science programs, enabling WIL participation for students unable to engage in a traditional science work placement. The program draws on and legitimises students’ experiences in diverse non-science, part-time workplaces and extra-curricular activities; we term this ‘transgressional learning’. Students engage in reflective and active learning opportunities designed to help them explore and articulate their skill sets in a manner that speaks to multiple future work settings. By drawing on students’ extant work experiences, the program explicitly supports students to foreground and expand on broad skill sets acquired in extra-curricular settings. This article suggests a new conceptual approach and a path forward for large-scale WIL delivery in generalist science degrees. It draws on the reflections of the project team and student participants to outline the goals and design ethos of the program and reflect on the legitimacy of this transgressional program as a science WIL offering.