The Role of Informal Support Networks in Teaching the Nature of Science

This study reports the participation of 13 secondary science teachers in informal support networks and how that participation was associated with their nature of science (NOS) teaching practices 2 to 5 years after having graduated from the same science teacher education program. The nine teachers who participated in informal support networks taught the NOS at high/medium levels, while the four non-participating teachers taught the NOS at low levels. The nine high/medium NOS implementation teachers credited the informal support networks for maintaining/heightening their sense of responsibility for teaching NOS and for helping them navigate institutional constraints that impede effective NOS instruction. Several high/medium NOS instruction implementers initially struggled to autonomously frame and resolve the complexities experienced in schools and thus drew from the support networks to engage in more sophisticated forms of teacher decision-making. In contrast, the NOS pedagogical decisions of the four teachers not participating in support networks were governed primarily by the expectations and constraints experienced in their schools. Implications of this study include the need for reconsidering the structure of teacher mentorship programs to ensure they do not promote archaic science teaching practices that are at odds with reform efforts in science education.

     

The Learning Intention of Low-Qualified Employees: A Key for Participation in Lifelong Learning and Continuous Training

In our continuously changing society, a need for updating one’s skills and knowledge puts pressure on safeguarding the labour market position of low-qualified employees. However, prior research and official statistics show that employees with a lower level of education tend to participate less in training than highly-educated individuals. This limited participation is associated with employers offering fewer opportunities to low-qualified employees, but also with the fact that low-qualified employees themselves might be less willing to participate. In other words, their learning intentions are assumed to be weaker and more restricted than the learning intentions of highly-educated employees. The article reports on a quantitative survey research on the learning intentions of 406 low-qualified employees. The results showed that employees who participated in formal job-related learning activities during the last 5 years had a stronger learning intention than those who did not. Next, the results of the stepwise regression showed that self-directedness, financial benefits, self-efficacy, and autonomy were significant positive predictors of the learning intentions of low-qualified employees. Also, the limited number of possibilities or opportunities to learn was not significant. The results indicated that a learning intention can lead towards the participation in learning activities, but participation is not merely initiated by offering opportunities for learning. Organisational aspects such as job autonomy and financial benefits can stimulate the learning intention of an employee. Finally, regarding the socio-demographic variables, only limited differences were found. In short, employees with no educational qualifications and a full-time contract had the lowest intention to learn.     

A comparative study on the effects of diet and exercise,metformin and metformin+pioglitazone treatment on NIDDM patients

A comparative study on two groups of newly diagnosed nonobese and obese NIDDM patients who were 15 in each group and treated by diet cum exercise and metfromin monotherapy respectively and a third group of 15 obese NIDDM patients whose hyperglycemia was not first controlled by a combination therapy of metformin and sulfonylurea and therefore changed over to a different combination therapy of metformin and ploglitazone, was carried out before and after a period of three months treatment. The mild hyperglycemia in the 1^st group and the moderate or severe hyperglycemia with accompanied disorders of serum enzymes such as AST, ALT, GGT and the level of HBA₁₀ observed with 2^nd and 3^rd groups of obese NIDDM patients were significantly ameliorated by the respective mode of treatments. Here the efficacies of the three types of treatment are substantiated and further it specifically depicts the success with the choice of combination therapy with metformin and pioglitazone in the third group of obese diabetics.     

Genomic Research and Data-Mining Technology: Implications for Personal Privacy and Informed Consent

This essay examines issues involving personal privacy and informed consent that arise at the intersection of information and communication technology (ICT) and population genomics research. I begin by briefly examining the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) program requirements that were established to guide researchers working on the Human Genome Project (HGP). Next I consider a case illustration involving deCODE Genetics, a privately owned genetic company in Iceland, which raises some ethical concerns that are not clearly addressed in the current ELSI guidelines. The deCODE case also illustrates some ways in which an ICT technique known as data mining has both aided and posed special challenges for researchers working in the field of population genomics. On the one hand, data-mining tools have greatly assisted researchers in mapping the human genome and in identifying certain "disease genes" common in specific populations (which, in turn, has accelerated the process of finding cures for diseases tha affect those populations). On the other hand, this technology has significantly threatened the privacy of research subjects participating in population genomics studies, who may, unwittingly, contribute to the construction of new groups (based on arbitrary and non-obvious patterns and statistical correlations) that put those subjects at risk for discrimination and stigmatization. In the final section of this paper I examine some ways in which the use of data mining in the context of population genomics research poses a critical challenge for the principle of informed consent, which traditionally has played a central role in protecting the privacy interests of research subjects participating in epidemiological studies.     

On the analysis of discontinuous systems

An effective procedure, employing an operational approach, is demonstrated for the analysis of constant parameter continuous systems with multiple lumped parameter attachments and concentrated forces. Convenience of the method and of the form in which the results are obtained are evaluated in comparison with other applicable methods. Systems with piecewise constant parameters are also investigated. The desirability of obtaining a complete closed-form steady-state solution and various methods of obtaining it are examined. Finally, an example is treated which illustrates the application of the operational method to system with jump discontinuities in deflection and slope.     

A Domain-Referenced Approach to Diagnostic Testing Using Generalizability Theory

This paper describes a four-step approach to constructing diagnostic test profiles that provide precise but practical information on students' instructional needs. The approach is based on the specification and analysis of a domain and uses generalizability theory to determine which skills within the domain need to be assessed to diagnose gaps in students' skills and to estimate score profiles. A 64-item test of pronoun use was constructed to represent 32 categories of usage defined by different combinations of five factors in the domain. Generalizability analyses were conducted to determine the optimal number of categories to be included in students' profiles and the number of items needed for each category, and to produce univariate and multivariate estimates of students' universe scores. Multivariate profiles of universe scores were the most accurate and differed substantially from observed score and univariate universe score profiles.     

Delayed matching of visual materials by a bottlenosed dolphin aided by auditory symbols

A bottlenosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) with good underwater and aerial visual acuity was tested in visual matching-to-sample (MTS) paradigms. Attempts to train visual identity MTS directly, using two simple two-dimensional patterns as sample stimuli and as alternatives (comparison stimuli), met with little success, in keeping with previously observed difficulties of this auditory-specialized species for learning complex tasks utilizing simple visual materials. Pairing of each visual sample with a unique sound, to produce a compound auditory-visual sample, while retaining the two visual alternatives, resulted in the dolphin’s learning both auditory-visual symbolic matching and visual-visual identity matching. At 0-sec delay, performance with the auditory element of the sample alone was equivalent (76%) to performance with the visual element alone; performance with the compound was distinctly better (95%–98% correct). Testing with longer delays using the visual element alone resulted in successful matching through to a maximum delay of 34 sec. These results provided the first demonstration of delayed MTS in a dolphin using visual materials, and complemented other data showing the ready capability of this species for delayedauditory MTS. It appeared that the dolphin solved the visual MTS task by forming auditory codes to represent the visual materials, and that these auditory codes were eventually replaced with purely visual codes.     

Students' environmental NOS views,compassion, intent,and action: Impact of place‐based socioscientific issues instruction

Preparing students to achieve the lofty goal of functional scientific literacy entails addressing the normative and non‐normative facets of socioscientific issues (SSI) such as scientific processes, the nature of science (NOS) and diverse sociocultural perspectives. SSI instructional approaches have demonstrated some efficacy for promoting students' NOS views, compassion for others, and decision making. However, extant investigations appear to neglect fully engaging students through authentic SSI in several ways. These include: (i) providing SSI instruction through classroom approaches that are divorced from students' lived experiences; (ii) demonstrating a contextual misalignment between SSI and NOS (particularly evident in NOS assessments); and (iii) framing decision making and position taking analogously—with the latter being an unreliable indicator of how people truly act. The significance of the convergent parallel mixed‐methods investigation reported here is how it responds to these shortcomings through exploring how place‐based SSI instruction focused on the contentious environmental issue of wolf reintroduction in the Greater Yellowstone Area impacted sixty secondary students' NOS views, compassion toward those impacted by contentious environmental issues, and pro‐environmental intent. Moreover, this investigation explores how those perspectives associate with the students' pro‐environmental action of donating to a Yellowstone environmental organization. Results demonstrate that the students' NOS views became significantly more accurate and contextualized, with moderate to large effect, through the place‐based SSI instruction. Through that instruction, the students also exhibited significant gains in their compassion for nature and people impacted by contentious environmental issues and pro‐environmental intent. Further analyses showed that donating students developed and demonstrated significantly more robust and contextualized NOS views, compassion for people and nature impacted by contentious environmental issues, and pro‐environmental intent than their nondonating counterparts. Pedagogical implications include how place‐based learning in authentic settings could better prepare students to understand NOS, become socioculturally aware, and engage SSI across a variety of contexts.