What Makes the Foucault Pendulum Move among the Stars?

Foucault’s pendulum exhibition in 1851 occurred in an era now known by development of the theorems of Coriolis and the formulation of dynamical meteorology by Ferrel. Yet today the behavior of the pendulum is often misunderstood. The existence of a horizontal component of Newtonian gravitation is essential for understanding the behavior with respect to the stars. Two simple mechanical principles describe why the path of oscillation is fixed only at the poles; the principle of centripetal acceleration and the principle of conservation of angular momentum. A sky map is used to describe the elegant path among the stars produced by these principles.     

Mathematical models for academic webs: Linear relationship or non-linear power law?

Previous studies of academic web interlinking have tended to hypothesise that the relationship between the research of a university and links to or from its web site should follow a linear trend, yet the typical distribution of web data, in general, seems to be a non-linear power law. This paper assesses whether a linear trend or a power law is the most appropriate method with which to model the relationship between research and web site size or outlinks. Following linear regression, analysis of the confidence intervals for the logarithmic graphs, and analysis of the outliers, the results suggest that a linear trend is more appropriate than a non-linear power law.     

The experiences of pupils with SEN and their parents at the stage of pre-transition from primary to post-primary school

The experiences of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and their parents at pre-transition from primary to post-primary school have received little attention in the literature. The current study investigated these experiences using a mixed methods approach within the Irish educational system. Thirty-two pupils with SEN and 42 parents of pupils with SEN participated in focus groups, and also completed a questionnaire which qualitatively complemented the parental focus groups. Emergent themes for pupils included: things I will miss; fitting in and performing as well as others; laying the groundwork: getting to know new people; and experiencing and talking about ‘going to the new school’. Emergent themes for parents included: losing ground?; information is critical: ‘I’m not asking for the moon, but a bit more information’; I’d like help but I don’t want to make trouble for my child; and challenge and support. Critical issues emerging from the data concerning pre-transition experiences for both pupils and parents are discussed.     

Keiyo Cattle Raiding, Kechui Mathematics and Science Education: What do They Have in Common?

In the context of globalization, indigenous educational systems of endangered cultures are faced with extinction. Biologists recognize that biodiversity is dependent upon sustaining and promoting knowledge and values of indigenous cultures. Education researchers have a similar responsibility — to promulgate educational diversity before several thousand years of valuable educational knowledge is extirpated. This paper presents the Keiyo of Kenya who have a rich educational system. Its focus is on an indigenous game, Kechui (using calculations to sharpen your mind), based on cattle raiding, and the Keiyos' use of the game for learning mixed strategy-based probabilistic problem solving. Kechui may also have international potential for teaching probabilistic problem solving in contemporary mathematics and science, especially genetics.     

An implementation and outcome evaluation of a multicomponent sexuality education programme for high school students

Numerous classroom-based interventions have aimed to improve sexual health outcomes for young people, yet few have shown strong, lasting effects. Ecological approaches that address multiple levels of a young person’s environment offer largely untapped potential to positively change sexual behaviour. This paper presents results of a cluster-randomised trial of a multicomponent sexuality education intervention that integrated a classroom curriculum, parent education workshops and materials, peer advocate programme, and sexual health services at 10 urban high schools. An implementation evaluation, employing quantitative and qualitative instruments, was conducted to examine whether the individual components of the intervention were delivered as planned and how they were received by the target populations. Multilevel modelling was used to evaluate the effect of the multicomponent intervention on outcomes at one-year follow-up. Results showed that the intervention components were successfully implemented with and well received by target populations. Students receiving the multicomponent intervention reported greater increases in the use of sexual health services (odds ratio [OR] = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.09–2.75) and the likelihood of carrying a condom (OR = 2.71, 95% CI = 1.44–5.09) relative to those receiving a control condition. No effects were found for other behaviours, possibly due to low prevalence of sexual activity in the sample and the small number of schools randomised.     

GAP: a Graphics Authoring Package which produces BASIC from graphical input

The authors argue that there is a need for a microcomputer software authoring package which produces graphics. The novel feature of the Graphics Authoring Package (GAP) which they developed is that it produces Basic code from the user's graphical input. GAP is described together with the results of an evaluation study. The results indicate that the package is easy to use, effective in rapidly producing graphics code and that, in general, it fills a gap in the current range of educational software.     

The CS− effect in simple conditioning and stimulus selection during development

Changes in affect toward a particular stimulus can take place very rapidly through Pavlovian conditioning, if presentation of the conditioned stimulus (CS+) paired with the unconditioned stimulus (US) is accompanied by presentation of a “CS?,” another value of the same dimension as the CS+ but not paired with a US. This effect has considerable generality. It has been observed in terms of both olfactory and visual CSs, in terms of appetitive as well as aversive conditioning, and for adult as well as infant rats. The CS? effect has seemed especially important for infants, which may be related to the general tendency for infants to exhibit less stimulus selection than older animals. Finally, the CS? effect has enabled the development of a simple test of short-term retention that can quite effectively assess memory for either incidental or target events. These tests so far have indicated a clear ontogenetic decrease in rate of forgetting over short intervals, corresponding to the well-known development-related decrease in forgetting over long intervals (infantile amnesia). The tests also have shown that short-term forgetting of intentional and target events is surprisingly similar, with some indication of more rapid forgetting for the incidental events. Alternative interpretations of the CS? effect and some preliminary tests of these interpretations are discussed.     

Teaching nature of science within a controversial topic: Integrated versus nonintegrated

This study investigated the influence of two different explicit instructional approaches in promoting more informed understandings of nature of science (NOS) among students. Participants, a total of 42 students, comprised two groups in two intact sections of ninth grade. Participants in the two groups were taught environmental science by their regular classroom teacher, with the difference being the context in which NOS was explicitly taught. For the “integrated” group, NOS instruction was related to the science content about global warming. For the “nonintegrated” group, NOS was taught through a set of activities that specifically addressed NOS issues and were dispersed across the content about global warming. The treatment for both groups spanned 6 weeks and addressed a unit about global warming and NOS. An open‐ended questionnaire, in conjunction with semistructured interviews, was used to assess students' views before and after instruction. Results showed improvements in participants' views of NOS regardless of whether NOS was integrated within the regular content about global warming. Comparison of differences between the two groups showed “slightly” greater improvement in the informed views of the integrated group participants. On the other hand, there was greater improvement in the transitional views of the nonintegrated group participants. Therefore, the overall results did not provide any conclusive evidence in favor of one approach over the other. Implications on the teaching and learning of NOS are discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 395–418, 2006