The Genetic Drift Inventory: A Tool for Measuring What Advanced Undergraduates Have Mastered about Genetic Drift

Understanding genetic drift is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of biology, yet it is difficult to learn because it combines the conceptual challenges of both evolution and randomness. To help assess strategies for teaching genetic drift, we have developed and evaluated the Genetic Drift Inventory (GeDI), a concept inventory that measures upper-division students’ understanding of this concept. We used an iterative approach that included extensive interviews and field tests involving 1723 students across five different undergraduate campuses. The GeDI consists of 22 agree–disagree statements that assess four key concepts and six misconceptions. Student scores ranged from 4/22 to 22/22. Statements ranged in mean difficulty from 0.29 to 0.80 and in discrimination from 0.09 to 0.46. The internal consistency, as measured with Cronbach''s alpha, ranged from 0.58 to 0.88 across five iterations. Test–retest analysis resulted in a coefficient of stability of 0.82. The true–false format means that the GeDI can test how well students grasp key concepts central to understanding genetic drift, while simultaneously testing for the presence of misconceptions that indicate an incomplete understanding of genetic drift. The insights gained from this testing will, over time, allow us to improve instruction about this key component of evolution.     

Changing television in Greece the commercialization of creek TV and the historical,legal, economic and social environment

It was just seven years ago when a commercial television station broadcast on the Greek airwaves for the first time. Today, 1997, the number of these stations has risen to 160. The formation of hundreds of commercial TV and radio stations resulted in Greece being one of the most dense media environments on the planet.

Commercial television in Greece was born on 20 November 1989, when Mega Channel began broadcasting in the greater Athens area. By 1996 commercial television channels in Greece had captured approximately 90 per cent of the total viewing audience and 95 per cent of TV advertising revenue.

This paper investigates the historical, legal, economic, political, and international phenomena which led to the birth of commercial television in Greece, the changes that television itself went through, the effects of these changes on Greek society, and the future prospects for Greek TV.     

Visualising the future: surfacing student perspectives on post-graduation prospects using rich pictures

The gradual commodification of higher education in the context of an increased focus on graduate employability attributes together with evolving labour markets is creating challenges for universities and students alike. For universities, there has been significant investment in careers services and, through institution-wide initiatives, employability or graduate attribute development established to support graduate transitions into work. Meanwhile, for students, experience of part-time work together with pessimistic post-recession employment discourses are challenging the notion that a good degree guarantees their future career prospects. Simultaneously, decreasing financial support from the state has resulted in worrying levels of debt for new graduates. This pilot study was designed to gain a fresh perspective of how students imagine themselves following graduation. The study used rich pictures (RP) as a methodology to explore student views of life beyond university in the UK and Canada. Content analysis of the RPs provided insights into their thoughts and anxieties about potential challenges for the future. Students presented both positive and negative visions of their future, with success in achieving a respectable performance in their final degree as the key differentiator. The insights gained are discussed in the context of related research into students’ concerns and university initiatives to support students throughout higher education and then into graduate employment. The findings revealed student motivations, hopes and fears which can inform the development of impactful university interventions.     

Men and women academics: An Anglo-American comparison of subject choices and research activity

In both the U.S. and the U.K. women academics are concentrated in certain subject fields. There is considerable similarity between the two countries in this respect: women are found in relatively large numbers in the humanities and are virtually absent from the applied sciences, but in both countries they are a small minority in all five major subject areas. In the U.S.A. the degree of polarisation between the men and women is greater than in the U.K. This is also true with respect to the teaching and research activities of men and women: in both countries women tend to publish fewer articles than men, but in the U.S. the difference is greater. The degree to which this is true varies according to subject fields; it is most marked in the humanities and least marked in the social sciences and applied sciences. There is one unexpected difference between the two countries: whereas in America women teach more than men, in Britain they teach less except in the social sciences. The causes of the different behaviour and interests of men and women academics are likely to be a function both of cultural definitions of male and female roles in the wider society, and institutional factors associated with educational systems both prior to the university stage and at that stage.

     

Inquiry learning for gifted children

The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of support on knowledge acquisition of gifted learners and their flow and mood during inquiry learning. Sixty-four gifted primary school children were randomly assigned to one of three conditions differing in support given in an inquiry task. Results showed that learners who were allowed to experiment themselves learned more, experienced more flow, and felt more positive toward the task than those who were not given this opportunity, but only when they were guided through the inquiry cycle by prompts to generate hypotheses, perform experiments, and draw conclusions. The overall conclusion is that gifted children benefit more from open, complex tasks when their learning process is externally regulated.     

Educational attainments and household characteristics in Tanzania

This paper uses multivariate regression techniques to analyse household survey data collected in rural Tanzania in 1992 in a joint research project by TADREG (Tanzania Development Research Group) and the University of Dar es Salaam. It focuses on how household and individual characteristics affect whether or not a child goes to primary school, completes primary and attends secondary. The regression analysis clearly shows substantial intra-household differences between the way in which household characteristics affect outcomes for boys and girls, and how mothers' and fathers' influence over resource decisions differentially affect outcomes. For example, when looking at the decision as to whether to enrol in primary school, fathers' education has a greater influence on boys whereas mothers' primary education has a greater influence on girls. Furthermore, married mothers' education can increase the probability of girls enrolling in secondary school by 9.7 per cent for primary education and a further 17.6 per cent for secondary, while having no significant effect on the enrolment of boys. These results imply that mothers have a relatively stronger preference for their daughters' education and that their education affords them either increased household decision-making power or increased economic status.