THE EFFECT OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES ON ELEMENTARY STUDENTS’ SCIENCE ACHIEVEMENT AND SOCIAL SKILLS IN KUWAIT

This study compares the effects of two methods of teaching—teacher-centered and cooperative learning—on students’ science achievement and use of social skills. The sample consists of 163 female elementary science students in 8 intact grade 5 classes who were assigned to 2 instructional methods and were taught an identical science unit by 4 classroom teachers. The students’ science achievement was measured by a researcher-designed achievement test given to students as a pretest and a posttest. Students’ social skills were determined by a researcher-designed survey administered as a pretest and posttest. Analysis of the achievement test scores and the social skills survey responses revealed that cooperative learning strategies have significantly (p > 0.05) more positive effects on both students’ achievement and social skills than teacher-centered strategies. These results provide an evidential base to inform policy decisions and encourage and persuade teachers to implement cooperative learning methods in Kuwaiti classrooms.     

Reliability and validity of rubrics for assessment through writing

This experimental project investigated the reliability and validity of rubrics in assessment of students’ written responses to a social science “writing prompt”. The participants were asked to grade one of the two samples of writing assuming it was written by a graduate student. In fact both samples were prepared by the authors. The first sample was well written in terms of sentence structure, spelling, grammar, and punctuation; however, the author did not fully answer the question. The second sample fully answered each part of the question, but included multiple errors in structure, spelling, grammar and punctuation. In the first experiment, the first sample was assessed by participants once without a rubric and once with a rubric. In the second experiment, the second sample was assessed by participants once without a rubric and once with a rubric. The results showed that raters were significantly influenced by mechanical characteristics of students’ writing rather than the content even when they used a rubric. Study results also indicated that using rubrics may not improve the reliability or validity of assessment if raters are not well trained on how to design and employ them effectively.     

Effect of 5E Teaching Model on Student Teachers’ Understanding of Weightlessness

Weight is one of the basic concepts of physics. Its gravitational definition accommodates difficulties for students to understand the state of weightlessness. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of materials based on 5E teaching model and related to weightlessness on science student teachers’ learning. The sample of the study was 9 volunteer student teachers who were in their first grade in Science Teaching Program in Fatih Faculty of Education, Karadeniz Technical University. Both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered to find answers to the research questions. Findings revealed that all physics textbooks reviewed gave gravitational definition of weight. Also the concept of weightlessness hasn’t been covered in high school and some university textbooks. It was determined that before the implementation student teachers had non-scientific explanations about weightlessness. The implementation of the 5E teaching model and materials developed are effective on learning the weightlessness. It is suggested that similar applications can also be used in other physics subjects or in other fields of science.     

Questions About Physics: The Case of a Turkish ‘Ask a Scientist’ Website

The physics questions submitted to an ‘ask a scientist’ website were classified with respect to field of interest in physics, type of requested information in the question (factual, explanatory, etc.), and motivation for asking the question (applicative or non--applicative). In addition, differences in the number of females’ and males’ questions in these classifications were determined. Analysis of 995 physics questions submitted to the website indicated that modern physics questions (30.7%) were the most frequent while vibrations and wave motion questions (3.3%) were the least frequent. More than half of the questions (57.8%) were submitted to request factual information. Motivation to ask a question was inferred from the question, and was generally not related to direct and/or personal application. There were obvious differences in the number of questions asked by females and males: 84.7% of questions were asked by males while 15.3% were asked by females. However, significant gender differences were not observed in field of interest in physics, type of information requested in the question, and motivation for asking the question.     

Low-cost fault tolerance in evolvable multiprocessor systems: a graceful degradation approach

The evolvable multiprocessor （EvoMP）, as a novel multiprocessor system-on-chip （MPSoC） machine with evolvable task decomposition and scheduling, claims a major feature of low-cost and efficient fault tolerance. Non-centralized control and adaptive distribution of the program among the available processors are two major capabilities of this platform, which remarkably help to achieve an efficient fault tolerance scheme. This letter presents the operational as well as architectural details of this fault tolerance scheme. In this method, when a processor becomes faulty, it will be eliminated of contribution in program execution in remaining run-time. This method also utilizes dynamic rescheduling capability of the system to achieve the maximum possible efficiency after processor reduction. The results confirm the efficiency and remarkable advantages of the proposed approach over common redundancy based techniques in similar systems.     

Problematising problematisation: insights from critical pedagogy in a writing lesson in Bangladesh

Problematisation is the means by which critical pedagogy attempts to destabilise power relations related to gender, race, class, identity etc. Studies in critical pedagogy in language teaching explore different ways of problematisation treating problematisation as classroom practice. However, they do not specifically address the teacher’s struggle in employing problematisation and the learners’ experience with it in classroom settings. Hence the complexity of problematisation remains neglected in research in critical pedagogy in classroom contexts. This article explores the notion of problematisation through an analysis of a writing lesson involving undergraduate students in Bangladesh. It analyses both the teacher’s and a student’s encounters with and reflections on problematisation throughout the lesson, and reveals that problematisation embodies complexities, and is empowering when it is self-reflexive.     

Perspectives on interdisciplinary undergraduate research

Undergraduate Research (UR) provides deeper experiential learning opportunities for students while increasing their self-efficacy, academic success and motivation to pursue graduate studies. Many real-world problems require an integrated solution and collaboration across different disciplines; therefore, it is important that students develop skills to work across disciplines on challenging research problems. As types and complexity of UR increase, Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research (IDUR) has become more prevalent, but little is known about it. We define IDUR as “student-faculty collaboration to examine, increase, and share new knowledge or works relevant to research questions the investigation of which necessitates an interdisciplinary approach”. From the faculty perspective, and based on the results of a national sample of higher learning institutions in the U.S., we outline the enablers of and barriers to IDUR and provide quantitative and qualitative insights. Survey results show that, irrespective of the size of the institution at which they work, faculty members value mentoring students conducting IDUR although it brings with it some challenges. Our findings may help institutions better facilitate IDUR projects and inform faculty development opportunities that deepen student learning and retention via enhanced curricula in which IDUR is embedded.     

Relationship Between Fetal Loss and Serum Gonadal Hormones Level in Experimental Antiphospholipid Syndrome Mouse

To investigate the effects of antiphospholipid antibodies on establishment of pregnancy and changes in hormones such as estradiol-17ß (E₂) and progesterone (P) levels in circulation. Hence, mice were immunized with human β2-Glycoprotein I (β2GPI) and the effect of these antibodies on fetuses weight, placental obsrvation, Serum levels of P and E₂ in pregnant mice, hematological were observed. Immunization of mice with human β₂-GPI resulted in elevated levels of antiphospholipid antibodies. The experimentally induced antiphospholipid syndrome mouse showed higher rate of fetal resorption, low number of viable fetuses, and “placental abnormalities”. In these animals, serum E₂ and P levels were reduced significantly. In addition, the blood cell variation among APS induced and control mice were determined. No significant variations were observed in number of Red Blood Cell count, White Blood Cell count and Hemoglobin content, while platelet number was significantly reduced as compared to control. These results clearly demonstrate that human β₂-GPI might be involved in causing gestational failure in APS by exerting their effect on serum hormones.     

Comparative Study of Two ELISA Kits for Estimation of Antibodies to Hepatitis B Virus in Human Normal Immunoglobulin and Specific Immunoglobulin Intended for Intravenous or Intramuscular Use

Current study is conducted to evaluate method verification of two locally available kits manufactured by DSI & BIORAD for quantitative estimation of Hepatitis B virus antibodies in human normal immunoglobulin by using International standard of National Institute of Biological Standards and Control. Four analyst perform five sets of test in duplicate analysing accuracy, precision, and limit of detection, sensitivity and specificity. Our results suggest that both DSI and BIORAD kits fulfil the validation criteria and are sensitive to detect up to 10 mIU concentration precisely and accurately. DSI kit is more precise at concentration 100 mIU and economically 4–5 times cheaper in local market; on the other hand, BIORAD kits provide larger detection range up to 1000 mIU.     

我国单板滑雪U型项目运动员人格、赛前情绪的类型及关系研究

探讨我国单板U型滑雪运动员人格和赛前情绪类型的基本特点及其关系,采用卡特尔16种人格因素量表和赛前情绪量表–T,对我国43名运动员进行调查,结果显示:(1)运动员的人格类型主要有普通型、兴奋敢为型和敏感紧张型。运动员的赛前情绪类型主要有混合型、自信型和淡漠型。地方队的混合型和淡漠型运动员显著多于国家队。赛前情绪为混合型的运动员没有取得过国际名次,自信型运动员取得的国际名次最多。(2)普通型和敏感紧张型运动员的个体失败焦虑显著高于兴奋敢为型运动员;敏感紧张型运动员的社会期待焦虑显著高于兴奋敢为型运动员。(3)从个案看:该项目优秀运动员大多属于兴奋敢为型和自信型运动员。结论:兴奋敢为型和自信型的单板滑雪U型项目运动员焦虑更少、成绩更好、更易成功。