Perceptual Influence of Ugandan Biology Students’ Understanding of HIV/AIDS

In Uganda, curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS has largely depended on public and private media messages about the disease. Media campaigns based on Uganda’s cultural norms of communication are metaphorical, analogical and simile-like. The topic of HIV/AIDS has been introduced into the Senior Three (Grade 11) biology curriculum in Uganda. To what extent do students’ pre-conceptions of the disease, based on these media messages influence students’ development of conceptual understanding of the disease, its transmission and prevention? Of significant importance is the impact the conceptions students have developed from the indirect media messages on classroom instruction on HIV/AIDS. The study is based in a theoretical framework of conceptual change in science learning. An interpretive case study to determine the impact of Ugandan students’ conceptions or perceptions on classroom instruction about HIV/AIDS, involving 160 students aged 15–17, was conducted in four different Ugandan high schools: girls boarding, boys boarding, mixed boarding, and mixed day. Using questionnaires, focus group discussions, recorded biology lessons and informal interviews, students’ preconceptions of HIV/AIDS and how these impact lessons on HIV/AIDS were discerned. These preconceptions fall into four main categories: religious, political, conspiracy and traditional African worldviews. Results of data analysis suggest that students’ prior knowledge is persistent even after biology instructions. This has implications for current teaching approaches, which are mostly teacher-centred in Ugandan schools. A rethinking of the curriculum with the intent of offering science education programs that promote understanding of the science of HIV/AIDS as opposed to what is happening now—insensitivity to misconceptions about the disease—is needed.     

Die 1960er Jahre als Formationsphase von modernem Doping und Anti-Doping

Many contemporary forms of doping and anti-doping developed in the 1960s regarding substances, social perception, doping and anti-doping strategies and actors. The first significant steps towards regulation were made during this period. Anti-doping in West Germany was based on the principle of partnership between sport and state. However, it was not a specifically German solution but in line with the common anti-doping strategies of most other European countries. At the same time limits and obstacles of anti-doping became apparent.     

Can international elite sport success trickle down to mass sport participation? Evidence from Danish team handball

Many scholars do not find evidence of a trickle-down effect from elite sport success to mass sport participation. Contrary to what is assumed by the trickle-down effect “theorem”, successful elite sportspeople do not seem to inspire amateurs to take up sport themselves. However, recent studies present evidence that elite sport can have an influence. In this article, we apply regression models on time series data from one of the most successful Danish sports, team handball. Our findings are mixed, but lean towards supporting scholars who argue that trickle-down effects are not necessarily an inherent part of international sporting success. Further studies should examine more sports to identify where trickle-down effects occur and why.     

The benefit of assessment-based language and reading instruction: perspectives from a case study

We present a case study of the language and literacy development of a deaf child, Marcy, from preschool through sixth grade. The purpose of the project was to examine the connection between language and reading and to provide insight into the relationships between them. To compile the case study, we analyzed data from nine years of follow-up, including listening, speech articulation, semantic, syntactic, reading, and writing information drawn from a number of informal and formal assessments. Annual evaluation of language and literacy skills was used to select educational placements, as well as instructional methods, strategies, and materials. Given that Marcy began school at 4 years of age, mute and without expressive language of any form (oral or sign), it may at first appear remarkable that she read narrative and expository text as did her hearing peers by sixth grade, because a substantial body of research shows that most deaf students read at the fourth-grade level by high school graduation (review by Paul, 1998). However, those responsible for Marcy's education prevented reading failure by carefully planning, instituting, and monitoring elements of language and literacy instruction. We present Marcy's progress and instruction by grade level and discuss it within the framework of phases/stages of reading development. We hope that the resulting case study may serve as an example of the language-reading connection, an awareness important not only for the literacy instruction of deaf and language-challenged children but for hearing students as well.     

Assessing a Promotional Strategy for Marketing Electronic Resources in the Library Environment

In the fall of 2015, two librarians at San Diego State University initiated a project to enhance the visibility of some of the library’s numerous electronic resources. Promotional materials were created to highlight some of the main features and functionality of seven specific databases to which the library subscribes. Although there are many factors of this project that warrant further research, the authors can definitively state that usage for six of the seven electronic resources featured in their promotional project did increase when they were advertised to a wider campus population via the library’s website.     

Teacher in a problem-based learning environment – Jack of all trades?

Problem-based learning (PBL) is one among several approaches to active learning. Being a teacher in a PBL environment can, however, be a challenge because of the need to support students’ learning within a broad ‘landscape of learning’. In this article we will analyse the landscape of learning by use of the study activity model (SAM) developed by the Danish University Colleges, with the aim of investigating to which extent this may lead to explication and clarification concerning the challenges faced by teachers in a PBL environment. In the case study, the SAM is applied to the first semester of an engineering programme at Aalborg University, a university setting where the PBL approach to teaching and learning is dominant. The results of the analysis are presented and discussed, and the conclusion is that the model, in spite of some shortcomings, is useful in clarifying the role of the teacher in a PBL environment.     

Predictors of early versus later spelling development in Danish

The present study examined phoneme awareness, phonological short term memory, letter knowledge, rapid automatized naming (RAN), and visual–verbal paired associate learning (PAL) as longitudinal predictors of spelling skills in an early phase (Grade 2) and a later phase (Grade 5) of development in a sample of 140 children learning to spell in the opaque Danish orthography. Important features of the study were the inclusion of PAL measures and the fact that the children were followed up to Grade 5. Findings from other orthographies were replicated, in that phonological processing (awareness and memory) and RAN accounted for unique variance in early spelling skills. For later spelling skills, Grade 2 spelling was by far the most powerful predictor. PAL-nonwords was the only measure to explain additional unique variance. It is suggested that PAL-nonwords taps the ability to establish representations of new phonological forms and that this ability is important for the acquisition of orthographic spelling knowledge.     

Survivors guide to graduate research

Conclusion As you conduct your research, you will undoubtedly suffer from the perennial condition of all graduate students—constant, paralyzing guilt. When you are not working on your research, you are agonizing because you should be. Unfortunately, guilt also keeps you from doing many other things, like cleaning house or simply relaxing. The good news is that guilt usually disappears within a year after you take that final walk across the stage and shake the dean’s hand. The cure is painful, but worth it. We have presented some ideas that worked for us, in hopes that they will work for you. Perhaps these ideas will cause you to consider a factor that you may not have considered before. Perhaps some small suggestion will provide you with a solution to a nagging problem, or simply remind you that some of your frustrations are a natural part of the dissertation or thesis process. For additional information on this topic seeHow to Complete and Survive a Doctoral Dissertaion, by David Stemberg. The chapters on “The Unfolding Dissertation: Diplomatic Relations with your Committee” and “Down in the Dissertation Dumps: How to Get Out” may be especially useful.