Towards a better understanding of the potential of interactive whiteboards in stimulating mathematics learning

This research explored the stimulation of mathematics understanding and learning in an Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) environment. IWB affordances appear to be best used when mathematical tasks engage students in mathematical reasoning and when all students are involved in the discussion. The intent of this project was to design and implement, together with a small group of teachers, a series of lessons for the purpose of developing a useful framework for effective IWB use. In a first phase, the potential of the IWB in pursuing high-level mathematical tasks and promoting classroom interactivity was discussed in depth by the teachers and the researchers. Lessons were also planned in detail. In a second phase, the planned lessons were taught in the presence of the researchers, audiotaped and subsequently analysed by the researchers and teachers. The analyses highlighted the usefulness of the IWB in (a) improving high-level mathematical tasks and (b) creating a dialogic interactive discourse for better mathematical understanding and learning. Two main patterns in productive IWB use emerged from the study. The first pattern was that the IWB promoted problem-solving activities through intensive use of geometrical or other mathematical software. The second pattern was using the IWB as a notepad with links to external sources, geometrical and other mathematical constructions, problems and activities, which the teacher, in collaboration with the students, ‘tailors’ following a thread. For both patterns, developing a strong synergy between the IWB affordances and students’ interaction with it seemed critical. The IWB appears to be a powerful tool that allows students and teachers to alternate between different points of view and different visualisations of the same topic.     

Creatine supplementation does not decrease oxidative stress and inflammation in skeletal muscle after eccentric exercise

Abstract

Thirty-six male rats were used; divided into 6 groups (n = 6): saline; creatine (Cr); eccentric exercise (EE) plus saline 24 h (saline + 24 h); eccentric exercise plus Cr 24 h (Cr + 24 h); eccentric exercise plus saline 48 h (saline + 48 h); and eccentric exercise plus Cr 48 h (Cr + 48h). Cr supplementation was administered as a solution of 300 mg · kg body weight^?1 · day^?1 in 1 mL water, for two weeks, before the eccentric exercise. The animals were submitted to one downhill run session at 1.0 km · h^?1 until exhaustion. Twenty-four and forty-eight hours after the exercise, the animals were killed, and the quadriceps were removed. Creatine kinase levels, superoxide production, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) level, carbonyl content, total thiol content, superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, interleukin-1b (IL-1β), nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kb), and tumour necrosis factor (TNF) were analysed. Cr supplementation neither decreases Cr kinase, superoxide production, lipoperoxidation, carbonylation, total thiol, IL-1β, NF-kb, or TNF nor alters the enzyme activity of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxides in relation to the saline group, respectively (P < 0.05). There are positive correlations between Cr kinase and TBARS and TNF-α 48 hours after eccentric exercise. The present study suggests that Cr supplementation does not decrease oxidative stress and inflammation after eccentric contraction.     

Training Planning and Working Memory in Third Graders

Working memory and planning are fundamental cognitive skills supporting fluid reasoning. We show that 2 games that train working memory and planning skills in school‐aged children promote transfer to 2 different tasks: an attentional test and a fluid reasoning test. We also show long‐term improvement of planning and memory capacities in 8‐year‐old children after playing adaptive computer games specifically tailored to entrain these cognitive functions. Working memory capacity expanded from 5 to 7 items by using our games. Furthermore, steady progression in the task indicates that this capacity can be trained rapidly. Planning abilities persisted in a nonmarkovian form of play, where a move is highly influenced by previous moves, avoiding back‐ups. Here, we introduce a public and growing platform ( http://www.matemarote.com.ar/ ) developed for this research which has the potential for wide use in educational research.     

Frame Diversity and Citizen Competence: Towards a Critical Approach to News Quality

This article identifies two basic models of citizen competence (the ignorant citizen and the rational citizen) in which normative theories of journalism and standards of news quality are grounded. I propose the interpreting citizen as an alternative view of citizen competence. According to this model, the availability of diverse interpretive frames in the public realm, particularly in the news media, is an important precondition for enhancing citizen competence. Given flaws in existing standards for evaluating journalism quality, the news media should be judged in terms of their performance in presenting diverse interpretive frames, rather than in terms of informational goals.     

Topological metrics in academic genealogy graphs

Academic genealogy aims to structure and analyze the mentoring relationships between advisor and advisee. The representation of this structure results in academic genealogy graphs. For the analysis and characterization of these graphs, we present a set of metrics and their corresponding mirror metrics that capture the characteristics of its topological structure and represent them as quantitative attributes. The metrics of fecundity, fertility, descendants, cousins, generations, and relationships consider the descendants of the academics represented in the graph. The mirror metric of these topological metrics considers the ascendancy of academics. Individually, the metrics have strong semantic intuition and define characteristics regarding the performance in the mentoring of an academic. Together, the metrics are useful for the identification, characterization, and classification of communities and their members. The genealogical data available through the platforms of the Mathematics Genealogy Project and the Academic Family Tree were used as case studies. Two hundred thirteen thousand and 675,000 academic records were obtained for each project. We analyze the capacity of characterization of the metrics using the structuring of a similarity graph and through the distribution of the nodes in principal components. We observed that the set of metrics is capable of capturing the configuration pattern existing in genealogy graphs independently of its scale.     

Independent Olympic Athletes and the Legitimacy of the International Olympic Committee in Resolving International Conflicts

Abstract

Over the last three centuries (nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first) humanity has been facing huge political and ideological conflicts, especially wars. For these reasons, it was seen how necessary it was to create global institutions that aimed to promote peace and reduce or stop conflicts of this magnitude. Therefore, an international institution had already brought on its premises the principles of international peace and reconciliation through sport: the International Olympic Committee (IOC). However, despite bringing together nations around peaceful ties in an international competition, the IOC and the Olympic Games event have always been affected by constant conflicts along their path in the twentieth century, emphasizing issues involving nationalities. Thereby, in a mediator posture of international conflicts and in an effort to reduce the subversions that surrounded it, the IOC, in the 1990s, created the delegation of Independent Olympic Athletes. Such a delegation consists of athletes who cannot represent their respective nationalities at the Olympics due to political factors and/or armament conflicts. This proposal of the IOC demonstrates its posture to avoid, minimize, and even cease ideological and political events that might interfere with the Olympics Games or the athletes participating in them.