Cognitive apprenticeship and its application to the teaching of Smalltalk in a multimedia interactive learning environment

With the rise of the situated cognition paradigm in cognitive science, cognitive apprenticeship has become increasingly prominent as a model of instruction. This paper critically reviews traditional approaches to learning and education to motivate the need for fresh ways of thinking about these topics. Cognitive apprenticeship as an approach to improving learning and education is described. We present an overview ofSmallTALKER, a learning environment for Smalltalk programming, and illustrate how the instructional methods of cognitive apprenticeship have been applied in developing that system. The paper concludes with a discussion of issues related to system development effort, evaluation, perceived limitations, and plans for related work.     

Hierarchical Mentoring: A Transformative Strategy for Improving Diversity and Retention in Undergraduate STEM Disciplines

In the United States, less than half of the students who enter into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate curricula as freshmen will actually graduate with a STEM degree. There is even greater disparity in the national STEM graduation rates of students from underrepresented groups with approximately three-fourths of minority students leaving STEM disciplines at the undergraduate level. A host of programs have been designed and implemented to model best practices in retaining students in STEM disciplines. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Professors Program at Louisiana State University, under leadership of HHMI Professor Isiah M. Warner, represents one of these programs and reports on a mentoring model that addresses the key factors that impact STEM student attrition at the undergraduate level. By integrating mentoring and strategic academic interventions into a structured research program, an innovative model has been developed to guide STEM undergraduate majors in adopting the metacognitive strategies that allow them to excel in their programs of study, as they learn to appreciate and understand science more completely. Comparisons of the persistence of participants and nonparticipants in STEM curricular, at the host university and with other national universities and colleges, show the impact of the model’s salient features on improving STEM retention through graduation for all students, particularly those from underrepresented groups.     

Using a Dialogical Approach to Examine Peer Feedback During Chemistry Investigative Task Discussion

Peer feedback is an inherent feature of classroom collaborative learning. Students invariably turn to their peers for feedback when carrying out an investigative task, and this feedback is usually implicit, unstructured and may positively or negatively influence students’ learning when they work on a task. This study explored the characteristics of verbal peer feedback during a collaborative investigative chemistry task involving New Zealand Year 13 students. During the planning stage of the students’ investigation, the discussions of five pairs of students were recorded and then transcribed. Analysis of transcribed verbal data focused on interactions that involved peer feedback along two dimensions, interactive/non-interactive and dialogic/authoritative (Mortimer and Scott, 2003). The findings indicated that although students adopted a predominantly interactive/authoritative communicative approach, with peer feedback as confirmation or evaluation, they are also capable of a more interactive/dialogic exchange, characterised by elaborative peer feedback. We discuss how this dialogic perspective on peer feedback provides an alternative approach to the analysis and study of student–student interactions during science investigations. The findings should be interpreted in light of the limitations in terms of sample size, grouping and specificity of the coding scheme. Implications for teacher practice are discussed in relation to facilitating peer feedback discourse in the science classroom.     

ATR-FTIR as a tool for assessing potential for chemical ageing in Spandex/Lycra®/elastane-based fabric collections

The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia houses the world's most significant and comprehensive collection of Speedo swimwear and accessories. The museum has identified a problem with the long-term storage of certain Spandex/Lycra^® items where the elastane fibre has degraded leading to oil formation. Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) determined that most of these garments were manufactured using nylon-elastane fibres, and the elastane component comprises polyetherurethane or polyesterurethane polymers. Certain polyesterurethanes are known to be vulnerable to hydrolysis, and this was confirmed for a subset of the collection using two chemical testing protocols, and a thermal testing protocol that reproduced the oil formation. A polyetherurethane garment in the collection was unchanged by these tests. The oil from the thermal testing was confirmed as a breakdown product of the polyester component of the elastane fibre, using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. The study demonstrates the value of ATR-FTIR for minimally invasive identification of elastane fabrics that may require specialized storage in a humidity-controlled environment.     

Spatial variation in accessibility of libraries in Hong Kong

Libraries play a significant role in supplying educational and cultural services. They are important public spaces that can contribute to creating social equality by providing unlimited access to information and public spaces for the community. In this research both the traditional measures (supply-to-demand ratio and straight distance) and advanced measures (population-weighted average nearest network distance and population-weighted average two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) score) are used to assess spatial inequity in the distribution of libraries throughout Hong Kong. How accessibility has been changed after the introduction of two strategies for improvement (community and mobile libraries) is also examined, as are spatial demographic and socioeconomic characteristics associated with library provision. The results indicate that there is a substantial heterogeneity of library provision in Hong Kong. Community and mobile libraries have significantly improved the library provision in several areas, although spatial inequality remains. Areas with demographic and socioeconomic groups with lower accessibility to library services were further identified. Data at multiple geographical scales were used, and consistent findings were obtained, confirming the robustness of the results.     

E家之言:热爱平凡、享受快乐、诚实研究

图书馆员是一份非常平凡的工作，平凡到可以被人忽略。前些日子，一个网名叫“土匪”的图书馆学系在校生写了一篇向新生介绍图书馆学的帖子，我高度评价这个学生对图书馆事业的热爱。但是在这个帖子里，他努力想证明研究图书馆学和从事图书馆工作也能出人头地，我不赞成他的看法。毕竟能够成为国家主席、总统夫人的图书馆员只有那么几个。大部分的图书馆员是默默无闻的。作为一个图书馆员，热爱平凡是其最重要的人格品质。一个人什么叫出人头地？有些地方人口众多，资源有限，大家都想出人头地，所以竞争就激烈，争来争去，当老年静下来的时候，回头一想，发现一生只有勾心斗角了，发现其实一生没有快乐过，没有轻松过，那时才后悔莫及。其实，人生最大的乐趣不是出人头地，而是享受人生的快乐。     

Physical environment as a 3-D textbook: design and development of a prototype

The use of the physical environment as a three-dimensional (3-D) textbook is not a common practice in educational facilities design. Previous researches documented that little progress has been made to incorporate environmental education (EE) into architecture, especially among the conventional designers who are often constrained by the budget and building area requirements. This article presents an exploratory project to develop a prototype for the 3-D textbook. The author does not formulate ideas and concept based on the pre-determined specs in a design brief. Instead, the design solution evolved through a qualitative case study conducted at the Green School in Bali, Indonesia. Data were collected through a series of interviews and on-site observations. The qualitative findings uncovered four design features for the 3-D textbook. A prototype was subsequently developed using the design features as a blueprint. The prototype serves as a testing ground for new ideas as well as a platform to promote awareness and acceptance of the 3-D textbook among the practitioners. Consequently, this article attempted a significant proposition to bring together architecture and EE, thus potentially contributing to a field of knowledge that embraces design and education.     

Anti-adipogenic effects of extracts of Ficus deltoidea var. deltoidea and var. angustifolia on 3T3-L1 adipocytes简

Objective

This study examined the anti-adipogenic effects of extracts of Ficus deltoidea var. deltoidia and var. angustifolia, a natural slimming aid, on 3T3-L1 adipocytes.

Methods

Methanol and water extracts of leaves of the F. deltoidea varieties were analyzed to determine their total flavonoid content (TFC) and total phenolic content (TPC), respectively. The study was initiated by determining the maximum non-toxic dose (MNTD) of the methanol and water extracts for 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. Possible anti-adipogenic effects were then examined by treating 2-d post confluent 3T3-L1 preadipocytes with either methanol extract or water extract at MNTD and half MNTD (1/2MNTD), after which the preadipocytces were induced to form mature adipocytes. Visualisation and quantification of lipid content in mature adipocytes were carried out through oil red O staining and measurement of optical density (OD) at 520 nm, respectively.

Results

The TFCs of the methanol extracts were 1.36 and 1.97 g quercetin equivalents (QE)/100 g dry weight (DW), while the TPCs of the water extracts were 5.61 and 2.73 g gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/100 g DW for var. deltoidea and var. angustilofia, respectively. The MNTDs determined for methanol and water extracts were (300.0±28.3) and (225.0±21.2) μg/ml, respectively, for var. deltoidea, while much lower MNTDs [(60.0±2.0) μg/ml for methanol extracts and (8.0±1.0) μg/ml for water extracts] were recorded for var. angustifolia. Studies revealed that the methanol extracts of both varieties and the water extracts of var. angustifolia at either MNTD or 1/2MNTD significantly inhibited the maturation of preadipocytes. Conclusions: The inhibition of the formation of mature adipocytes indicated that leaf extracts of F. deltoidea could have potential anti-obesity effects.