A love towards a thing eternal: Spinoza and the classroom

There is a growing concern about the struggles of early career teachers and an understandable questioning of the preparation being offered by teacher education courses. Are our preservice teachers being given workable strategies and techniques to allow them to survive the early years? Is it strategies and techniques that are primarily at issue here? Could it be that there is something more fundamental, to do with an underlying philosophical understanding about human nature, the desire to learn and the need to relate? I want to suggest that instruction about strategies and techniques is too often built on an insecure and incompatible foundation of assumptions about the nature of the world of sentient beings and their relationships. Ontology matters. Philosopher Spinoza divided the world of thought into ideas that were adequate – contributing to our well-being, potency and happiness – and those that were inadequate – leading us to feel weak, at the mercy of outside forces, and sad. I want to argue, with Spinoza, that inadequate ontologies lead to a sense of impotence and frustration, and that adequate ideas – a stronger ontology – can underpin and sustain a more durable pedagogy. I explore this idea by looking at some classroom events through a Spinozean lens.     

The “Gift” of Time: Documenting Faculty Decisions to Stop the Tenure Clock During a Pandemic

Innovative Higher Education - Anticipating the deleterious effects of pandemic mitigation protocols on faculty’s research and creative work, many universities introduced mechanisms for...     

Effect of binocular disparity on learning anatomy with stereoscopic augmented reality visualization: A double center randomized controlled trial

Binocular disparity provides one of the important depth cues within stereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) visualization technology. However, there is limited research on its effect on learning within a 3D augmented reality (AR) environment. This study evaluated the effect of binocular disparity on the acquisition of anatomical knowledge and perceived cognitive load in relation to visual-spatial abilities. In a double-center randomized controlled trial, first-year (bio)medical undergraduates studied lower extremity anatomy in an interactive 3D AR environment either with a stereoscopic 3D view (n = 32) or monoscopic 3D view (n = 34). Visual-spatial abilities were tested with a mental rotation test. Anatomical knowledge was assessed by a validated 30-item written test and 30-item specimen test. Cognitive load was measured by the NASA-TLX questionnaire. Students in the stereoscopic 3D and monoscopic 3D groups performed equally well in terms of percentage correct answers (written test: 47.9 ± 15.8 vs. 49.1 ± 18.3; P = 0.635; specimen test: 43.0 ± 17.9 vs. 46.3 ± 15.1; P = 0.429), and perceived cognitive load scores (6.2 ± 1.0 vs. 6.2 ± 1.3; P = 0.992). Regardless of intervention, visual-spatial abilities were positively associated with the specimen test scores (η² = 0.13, P = 0.003), perceived representativeness of the anatomy test questions (P = 0.010) and subjective improvement in anatomy knowledge (P < 0.001). In conclusion, binocular disparity does not improve learning anatomy. Motion parallax should be considered as another important depth cue that contributes to depth perception during learning in a stereoscopic 3D AR environment.     

Evaluating the feasibility of remotely administered curriculum-based measurement for students with autism: A pilot study

Students with autism may struggle to develop the academic skills necessary for success in school and beyond. Understanding and improving academic skills performance requires appropriate measurement approaches. One such option that has been minimally studied with students with autism is curriculum-based measurement (CBM). Coinciding with the need to study different approaches to academic skills measurement for students with autism was the global pandemic which forced a shift to remote service delivery with little warning. While some autistic students struggled with this shift, others thrived, raising questions about how to further support students with autism in virtual formats. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of using remotely administered CBM for autistic students by studying both the practicality and acceptability of this approach. Five students with autism (Grades 2–5) participated in this pilot study, completing reading, math, and writing CBMs at three time points. Student behavior and assessor fidelity were collected to examine practicality; assessor ratings of usability provided insight regarding the acceptability of the approach. Results indicated that remotely administered CBM is feasible for some students with autism: all participants completed the study tasks with minimal behavioral difficulties, and assessor ratings of acceptability were high.     

Differences in the rates of return to R&D for European and US young leading R&D firms

This paper examines the sources of Europe's lagging business R&D performance relative to the US, particularly the role played by missing young leading innovators in high technology intensive sectors in Europe. It investigates through econometric analysis differences in the rates of return to R&D of European and US large R&D firms. It finds that, while in the US, young firms succeed in realizing significantly higher rates of return to R&D as compared to their older counterparts, including in high-tech sectors, European firms fail to generate significant rates of return, even if they are Yollies and even if they are in high-tech sectors. These findings can at least partly explain why Europe has less R&D intensive young leading innovators in high technology intensive sectors.     

“P53 Codon 72 Single Base Substitution in Viral Hepatitis C and Hepatocarcinoma Incidences”

Viral infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) has a high propensity in becoming chronic and it is the major cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) worldwide. This review was basically established to illustrate the putative role of the P53 gene Arg72Pro polymorphism on various cancer models and viral infections, focusing on HCV and HCC incidences. Authors studied the 72 G/C single base substitution of P53 gene at codon 72 using various polymorphic techniques. Intriguingly, authors investigated that the P53 codon 72 plays a crucial role as risk factor in several cancer models. Others found that there is no association between codon 72 genotypes and HCV disease severity or liver cancer. Moreover, the lack of a significant relationship between this polymorphism and risk of HCC shows that it does not predispose towards hepatocarcinogenesis and the frequent loss of the proline allele in HCV-associated carcinogenesis of the liver plays some critical role in hepatocarcinogenesis. Amazingly, there is a significant correlation between male homozygotes for P53 72Pro with HCV type 1b infection. However, there was no significant difference between the P53 polymorphism and HCV genotypes 2a and 2b. It was concluded that the P53 gene polymorphism at codon 72 has been investigated as potential risk factor in several cancer models and HCV infections.     

Key Educational Factors in the education of students with a medical condition

The education of children with a medical condition represents a unique educational context. The key educational factors that can help these children continue their education despite the burdens associated with their illness were discussed and analysed by a pool of experts for an EU funded project. In this context, relationships, making sense and constructing knowledge, assuming roles in front of others, metacognition, individualities and inter‐institutional communication emerged as the 6 Key Educational Factors (KEF) that are crucial for the education of this vulnerable population. The implications of the KEFs for home and hospital education are discussed, with a particular focus on practices that meet the relational and communicational needs of these children. Specific recommendations for the practice, policy, and research regarding these KEF within this unique educational context are presented.