Learning to Question: The Roles of Multiple Hypotheses, Successive Approximations, Balloons and Toilet Paper in University Science Programs of Southwestern Amazonia

Learning to question is essential for determining pathways of conservation and development in southwestern Amazonia during a time of rapid global environmental change. Teaching such an approach in graduate science programs in regional universities can be done using play-acting and simulation exercises. Multiple working hypotheses help students learn to question their own research results and expert witnesses. The method of successive approximations enables students to question the results of complex calculations, such as estimates of forest biomass. Balloons and rolls of toilet paper provide means of questioning two-dimensional representations of a three-dimensional Earth and the value of pi. Generation of systematic errors can illustrate the pitfalls of blind acceptance of data. While learning to question is essential, it is insufficient by itself; students must also learn how to be solutionologists in order to satisfy societal demands for solutions to environmental problems. A little irreverence can be an excellent didactic tool for helping students develop the skills necessary to lead conservation and development efforts in the region.     

Letting Go

下文为澳大利亚广播公司ABC Radio Regional Production Fund Short Story Project 2007短篇故事获奖作品。     

Is the National Numeracy Strategy Research-based?

The British Government has recently agreed proposals for a National Numeracy Strategy which claims to be based on evidence concerning 'hat works'. This article reviews the literature in each key area in which recommendations are made, and makes a judgement of whether the claim is justified. In some areas (e.g. calculators) the recommendations run counter to the evidence.     

Learning to live together on a small planet

International understanding, once a humanitarian virtue, is now a dramatic, urgent necessity: the interdependence of the different regions and countries of the world and the strain on limited resources are such that without understanding leading to co-operation there will be disaster. The following article by Lester Brown, head of the Worldwatch Institute, should serve to remind our readers that unless we all become educated to the grave problems facing humanity, the technical skills and general knowledge imparted by our shool and university systems may well become superfluous. [Ed.] D. C.-based non-profit research organization created to analyse and to focus attention on global problems. Author of In the Human Interestand The Twenty Ninth Day: Accommodating Human Needs and Numbers to the Earth's Resources.     

Using the DYSA Programme to Reduce Stress and Anxiety in First-year University Students

With recent increases in the number of students attending universities without a proportional increase in resources, it is likely that there has been a decrease in the quality of life students experience and an increase in the stress they feel. This is of course added to by tuition fees and the need to take out student loans. The writers review research into student stress and highlight the fact that many researchers have noted the need for stress-reduction courses, though this has been a recommendation that has not generally been taken up. A specific stress-reduction programme for school pupils and university students is described. This programme was tested with first-year undergraduates. The students involved all felt that the programme had been valuable. Apart from its clear relevance to the support of university students, this paper raises issues which are of importance to those working with sixth-form students.