A Model of How Different Biology Experts Explain Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms

Constructing explanations is an essential skill for all science learners. The goal of this project was to model the key components of expert explanation of molecular and cellular mechanisms. As such, we asked: What is an appropriate model of the components of explanation used by biology experts to explain molecular and cellular mechanisms? Do explanations made by experts from different biology subdisciplines at a university support the validity of this model? Guided by the modeling framework of R. S. Justi and J. K. Gilbert, the validity of an initial model was tested by asking seven biologists to explain a molecular mechanism of their choice. Data were collected from interviews, artifacts, and drawings, and then subjected to thematic analysis. We found that biologists explained the specific activities and organization of entities of the mechanism. In addition, they contextualized explanations according to their biological and social significance; integrated explanations with methods, instruments, and measurements; and used analogies and narrated stories. The derived methods, analogies, context, and how themes informed the development of our final MACH model of mechanistic explanations. Future research will test the potential of the MACH model as a guiding framework for instruction to enhance the quality of student explanations.     

Worldview in religious education: autobiographical reflections on The Commission on Religious Education in England final report

ABSTRACT

The notion of worldview figures prominently in the recent discourse surrounding Religious Education (RE) in English schools following the publication of the final report of the Commission on Religious Education (CoRE) in 2018. This article reflects on the veracity of this initiative. It begins with an autobiographical reflection on the impact of worldview on the author’s development as a scholar. Then, the work of several critics of CoRE is discussed and a more nuanced understanding of worldview is developed as a result. Finally, the pedagogical implications of the shift to worldview are explored by drawing on the personal development approach of Michael Grimmitt and the responsible hermeneutics approach of Anthony Thiselton.     

Dietary supplements

For the athlete training hard, nutritional supplements are often seen as promoting adaptations to training, allowing more consistent and intensive training by promoting recovery between training sessions, reducing interruptions to training because of illness or injury, and enhancing competitive performance. Surveys show that the prevalence of supplement use is widespread among sportsmen and women, but the use of few of these products is supported by a sound research base and some may even be harmful to the athlete. Special sports foods, including energy bars and sports drinks, have a real role to play, and some protein supplements and meal replacements may also be useful in some circumstances. Where there is a demonstrated deficiency of an essential nutrient, an increased intake from food or from supplementation may help, but many athletes ignore the need for caution in supplement use and take supplements in doses that are not necessary or may even be harmful. Some supplements do offer the prospect of improved performance; these include creatine, caffeine, bicarbonate and, perhaps, a very few others. There is no evidence that prohormones such as androstenedione are effective in enhancing muscle mass or strength, and these prohormones may result in negative health consequences, as well as positive drug tests. Contamination of supplements that may cause an athlete to fail a doping test is widespread.     

State Anxiety as a Function of Skill Level and Proximity to Competition

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate differences between the oversized racquet and the standard-sized racquet in (1) a tennis shot accuracy test on four basic strokes (ground strokes, volley, return of serve, and serve), and (2) a measure of players' subjective evaluation of playability (control, accuracy, power, and feel). Research participants (n = 57) were undergraduate students separated into two skill levels, intermediate (n = 29) and beginners (n = 28). Data were analyzed using a two-factor ANOVA with repeated measures on one factor. Result from the skills tests indicated that both beginning and intermediate groups scores significantly higher when using the oversized racquet. The scores received when using the oversized racquet tended to reflect a general increase in all four components of the skill test, particularly the return of serve. Data indicated that the subjective evaluation of the playing characteristic of each racquet was influenced by the player's skill level. Beginning players favored the oversized racquet, yet intermediate players rated the two racquet types about equal. The investigation suggests that beginning and intermediate tennis players, educators, and tennis teaching professionals should consider using and encouraging the use of oversized racquets.     

Applying White Dialectics: Exploring Whiteness and Racial Identity among White College Athletes

This article seeks to synthesize and apply White racial identity theory and concomitant research to the interaction between athletic and racial identity, specifically as it relates to the experiential variations of how race impacts White athletes within the college sport environment. White dialectics, or the tensions that White Americans experience as dominant social group members, serve as the guiding theoretical framework and provide a theoretical lens through which the experience of White college athletes is examined at each distinct dialectic. Through this article, the application of White dialectics offers a theoretical foundation for developing a better understanding of how White college athletes not only make sense of their racial identity, but also understand their racialized experiences within intercollegiate athletics.     

What History Can Teach Us About Science: Theory and Experiment, Data and Evidence

Scientists often use more than the results of experiment to arrive at a result; they use anticipation and analogy to arrive at the results that fit their theories, and sometimes they correct results in the light of analogy. They also need to be clear about the difference between accuracy and precision. They do all this using not only theories, but also apparatus, and the interplay between apparatus and the development of concepts and theories is often crucial. Historians of chemistry (notably including the recent work of Usselman, Rocke, and Holmes) furnish us with plenty of examples of such interplay, and of the selection of data in the light of theory. Lavoisier, Dalton, and Liebig can each teach us a good deal about the way that good scientists arrive at reproducible results.     

Problematizing the construct of ‘the Chinese learner’: insights from ethnographic research

Large numbers of students from the Chinese‐speaking world are nowadays enrolled in Western universities, prompting the need for awareness of their educational beliefs and practices. Although an established literature seeks to characterize ‘the Chinese learner’, much of this research results in stereotypical representations of a ‘reduced Other’: passive, uncritical and over‐reliant on the instructor. This paper, which is based on ethnographic research conducted in universities in the People’s Republic of China, aims to illuminate some of the common misperceptions of Chinese educational cultures.     

Teaching intelligent design or sparking interest in science? What players do with Will Wright’s Spore

The 2008 commercial video game Spore allowed more than a million players to design their own life forms. Starting from single-celled organisms players played through a caricature of natural history. Press coverage of the game??s release offer two frames for thinking about the implications of the game. Some scientists and educators saw the game as a troubling teacher of intelligent design, while others suggested it might excite public interest in science. This paper explores the extent to which these two ways of thinking about the game are consistent with what players have done with the game in its online community. This analysis suggests that, at least for the players participating in this community, the game has not seduced them into believing in intelligent design. Instead the activities of these players suggest that the game has played a catalytic role in engaging the public with science. These findings indicate that designers of educational games may wish to consider more deeply tensions between prioritizing accuracy of content in educational games over player engagement.