The CoVis Project: Building a Large-Scale Science Education Testbed*

This paper describes the construction and research program of the Learning Through Collaborative Visualization (CoVis) Project, a testbed for exploring science education reform with telecommunications technology. The CoVis testbed is contrasted with other forms of educational research in an “ecology of paradigms,” which argues that testbeds are in fact a new setting for research with different requirements and challenges for the researcher. Two extended examples of telecommunications research are provided as examples of the kind of research that testbeds are well suited to explore. The first example is the evolution of videoconferencing in the CoVis testbed. The second example is the design and development of a networked groupware application called the Collaboratory Notebook.     

Impact of social media use on student satisfaction in Higher Education

Social media has transformed the communication landscape for institutions of Higher Education by providing improved teaching and learning experience. However, very little is known as to whether the use of social media by Higher Education students improves their satisfaction. Grounded in social media, risk and technology acceptance literature, this paper examines Higher Education students' perceptions of social media use (SMU) and the impact of SMU on their satisfaction. Data collected from the students were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling. The study finds that: (1) perceived usefulness of social media has positive effect on the use of social media in student learning; (2) perceived risk of using social media discourages the use of the tool, and (3) SMU has positive effect on student satisfaction. The study further discusses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

Public health practitioners' information access and use patterns in the Maryland (USA) public health departments of Anne Arundel and Wicomico Counties

PURPOSE: To increase understanding of the information needs and use of public health practitioners. SETTING: From June 2005 to May 2006, the library offered a course in public health information resources to eighteen practitioners in two counties, access to the library's licensed electronic resources through a tailored web portal, and consulting services. EVALUATION METHOD: We combined usage statistics from the web portal, self-report and observational data collected during training and shadowing of participants. CONCLUSIONS: The data from this project indicate that usage of licensed information resources and services is infrequent but broad ranging. A few users register at the high end of the usage range, but one use of one high quality article can have a significant impact on policy decisions. Time and competing responsibilities often constrain the retrieval and use of resources for evidence-based decision making and an informationist or power-user model may be more appropriate than training all practitioners to integrate searching into their workflow. This study indicates (i) that evidence-based public health practice requires seamless and broadly based information access; and (ii) that the currently existing patchwork does not support the level of use or take into account the time constraints of information needs for public health practice.     

Access's Unsung Hero: The [Impending] Rise of Embedded Metadata

The “Advances in Library Data and Access” column examines technological advances internal and external to libraries. The focus is on how library data is created and used. The strength of the column is its broad, international focus and contributors are encouraged to explore issues and recent advances in information technology relevant to their geographical region, as well as the larger, global audience. Interested authors are invited to submit proposals and articles to the column editor at moulaisonhe@missouri.edu. Please include “IILR Submission” in the subject line of the e-mail.     

Sequences of reward magnitude and runway performance

Three groups of rats underwent 24 days of training and 12 days of extinction (three trials per day) in a runway under conditions of increasing (I), decreasing (D), and random (R) sequences of reward magnitudes (0, 45, and 500 mg). The I Ss ran faster over the daily trials, the D Ss slowed down, and the R Ss ran at approximately equal speeds on each trial. The patterned running observed in training persisted in extinction, with the R Ss running fastest and the I Ss next. The results were discussed in terms of Capaldi’s sequential theory and Amsel’s frustration theory.     

The Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness: Its Importance for Critical and Creative Inquiry

In Science and the Modern World, Alfred North Whitehead (1925/1953) critically discusses the historical development of science and its larger impact on our civilization and culture today. The fallacy of misplaced concreteness (FMC) is a notion central to his analysis, both of the process of inquiry and to the general sustainability of quality of life. This paper is part of a panel of four presentations relevant to the theory, practice, and teaching of science. In this paper I identify the FMC as a set of variations on the central theme of misplacing concreteness, by mistaking the abstract for the concrete, and I define the component notions involved. More than half of the paper involves a representative range of concrete examples of the FMC. The realm of the aesthetic, of patient and sensitive attention, the full range of immediate bodily feeling, and the variety of real values revealed therein, turns out to be both the victim of and the remedy for the FMC. As Whitehead says: "Sensitiveness without impulse spells decadence, and impulse without sensitiveness spells brutality" (1925/1953, p. 200).     

Sex-role stereotyping by high school females in science

Although the participation by females in upper-level occupations and positions has expanded considerably in recent years, science is still considered a masculine career field. The results of this study show that only the physical sciences in particular (not science in general) are clearly viewed as masculine academic areas. Furthermore, the results suggest that the perception by girls of the physical sciences as masculine is much more likely to occur in coed classes than in all-female classes. The results can best be explained by two factors: (1) the attitudes conveyed by teachers and by society may predispose students toward a greater acceptance of women in biology than in the physical sciences; and (2) when girls perceive themselves as a deviant minority in physical science classes, their performance and preference for the physical sciences is reduced, perhaps because of competition and comparison with males. In all-female classes, however, girls are not a deviant minority, and therefore they are able to perform and develop preferences without inhibition.     

Working Together: Integrating Computational Modeling Approaches to Investigate Complex Phenomena

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Complex systems are made up of many entities, whose interactions emerge into distinct collective patterns. Computational modeling platforms can provide...