The Interface of Opinion,Understanding and Evaluation While Learning About a Socioscientific Issue

Scientific literacy is an important goal for science education, especially within controversial socioscientific issues. In this study, we analysed 143 students' research reports about stem cell research (SCR) for how they addressed specific source evaluation criteria provided within the assignment. We investigated students' opinions about SCR, how they used the evaluation criteria to evaluate online sources and whether the evaluation criteria and/or the specific sources influenced their opinion and/or understanding of SCR. We found that most of the students supported some form of SCR and reported that their sources were credible and contained more factual information than opinions. Students critiqued the language of the authors, as well as status in their respective fields, along with the content within each source. Additionally, students reported that their sources influenced their content knowledge, but had little influence regarding their SCR opinions. Through this work, we present a new working model and suggest the need for additional research about the understudied interface of opinion, understanding and evaluation within the context of important socioscientific issues. Students' opinions and content knowledge, located at the model's centre, influence and are influenced by the research topic, the sources used, the evaluation criteria and the evaluation of the sources that students use to provide evidence for claims.     

A Detection Scheme for Dependent Noise Processes

In this paper the problem of memoryless discrete time detection of a constant signal in additive φ-mixing noise is considered. The fidelity criterion is taken to be the asymptotic relative efficiency. The optimal detector nonlinearity is approximated by a polynomial, and the statistical knowledge required for the design of the detector is the family of joint moments of the noise, resulting in a very simple design procedure for the detector. It is shown that the performance of this detector can be made arbitrarily close to that of the optimal memoryless detector for a large class of noises.     

Improving students' understanding of carbohydrate metabolism in first-year biochemistry at tertiary level

Many introductory biochemistry students have problems understanding metabolism and acquiring the skills necessary to study metabolic pathways. In this paper we suggest that this may be largely due to the use of a traditional teaching approach which emphasises memorisation rather than understanding. We present an alternative approach to teaching carbohydrate metabolism which is designed to promote understanding of pathways. The approach also enables regular monitoring of, and reflection on, student progress and the identification of student reasoning and conceptual difficulties through the use of specially designed problems. Preliminary results are presented giving examples of specific student difficulties and the extent to which they were addressed by the alternative instructional approach. A qualitative evaluation of the approach is also presented. Specializations: metal accumulating plants biochemical education. Specializations: physics education, conceptual development, instructional design, improvement of tertiary science education.     

Parental agreement on child-rearing orientations: relations to parental, marital, family, and child characteristics

Recent research on parental agreement on child-rearing values has found it to be positively related to effective parenting. The exact nature of the relation, however, is not clear. Are they different constructs, or is agreement simply one more variable that describes effective parenting? A sample of 136 families and their preschool children was studied by observation and an extensive self-report questionnaire package. Parental agreement was assessed using the Block Child-rearing Practices Report. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that the agreement score rarely added any information not already provided by the parental effectiveness scores. A Q-factor analysis revealed that the agreement score actually represented agreement to a standard of good parenting. The parents who were high agreers were good parents who agreed with other good parents, while the low agreers were ineffective parents who disagreed with other parents, good or bad. Implications of these results for future research on parental agreement are discussed.     

Medical Libraries in the State of Bahrain

The main objective of this research paper is to introduce the concept of medical libraries, and to survey the present status of medical libraries in the State of Bahrain in terms of their history, collections, staff, and services. The study gives a general background about the State of Bahrain and its libraries. It also discusses the main problems facing medical libraries in Bahrain. Finally, the study gives some recommendations for developing medical libraries in Bahrain. Personal interviews and documents were used for collecting the information.     

Getting Students Outside: Using Technology as a Way to Stimulate Engagement

Informal environments provide students with unique experiences that allow them to actively participate in activities while promoting a positive attitude toward and an increased interest in science. One way to enhance informal science experiences is through the integration of mobile technologies. This integration is particularly useful in engaging underrepresented students in learning science. Our informal environmental science program engages underrepresented, fifth-grade students in an informal learning environment supplemented with mobile tablet technology (iPads). The purpose of this study was to explore how fifth-grade students interacted with nature using mobile technology during a nature hike series. Participants included 55 fifth-grade students from two low-income schools. We found that students used the mobile technology to explore nature and stay engaged throughout the hike. The iPads were used as references, data collectors, and engagement tools. Students had an intense desire in returning to the site and responded positively toward interacting with nature. Prior research has indicated that students in this age group are likely to lose interest in science and the incorporation of field-friendly technology that engages students with nature, not technology alone, is a useful tool for keeping students interested in science.     

Urban school leadership for elementary science instruction: Identifying and activating resources in an undervalued school subject

This article explores school leadership for elementary school science teaching in an urban setting. We examine how school leaders bring resources together to enhance science instruction when there appear to be relatively few resources available for it. From our study of 13 Chicago elementary (K–8) schools' efforts to lead instructional change in mathematics, language arts, and science education, we show how resources for leading instruction are unequally distributed across subject areas. We also explore how over time leaders in one school successfully identified and activated resources for leading change in science education. The result has been a steady, although not always certain, development of science as an instructional area in the school. We argue that leading change in science education involves the identification and activation of material resources, the development of teachers' and school leaders' human capital, and the development and use of social capital. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 918–940, 2001