Numerical Investigation and Optimization of a Flat Plate Solar Collector Operating with Cu/CuO/Al2O3 –Water Nanofluids

Nanofluids are a potential alternative to significantly improving the performance of heat transfer applications. In this work, a numerical analysis to examine t...     

The Efficacy of the LearningRx Cognitive Training Program: Modality and Transfer Effects

This article describes two studies testing the efficacy of a commercial one-on-one cognitive training program (LearningRx) and its computer-based version (Brainskills) in laboratory and school settings. Study 1 tested Brainskills in a laboratory setting with 322 middle school students. Paired t-tests revealed significant gains on all cognitive measures and math performance after 3 weeks of training. Study 2, a randomized control study, included 225 high school students randomly assigned to one of three conditions: LearningRx, Brainskills, or study hall (control) in a school setting for a 15-week training period. Univariate ANCOVAs revealed significantly higher scores for the treatment groups compared with controls on working memory, logic and reasoning, and three of four math attitude measures but not for math performance. Implications for school-based interventions are discussed.     

Postgraduate conception of research methodology: implications for learning and teaching

This qualitative inquiry investigates postgraduate students’ conceptions of research methodology and how it contributes to their learning. It explores factors likely to motivate student choice of research methodology and challenges in understanding research methods. The research was carried out at research-intensive universities in New Zealand and in Malaysia with similar postgraduate programmes. Participants were enrolled in Masters and Ph.D. programmes. Findings revealed that participants share a recognition that research methodology is a significant body of knowledge in postgraduate education. However, there were noticeable differences in perspectives regarding what constitutes research methodology and whether or not it should be conceived as a discipline. To some participants, learning research methodology is less of a discipline but rather an acquisition of a set of isolated facts and skills without necessarily acquiring a deeper understanding of research. Furthermore, postgraduate students choose research methodology based on a number of factors such as familiarity with a method, methodological orientation of the primary supervisor, the domain of study, and the nature of research problems pursued. Participants reported that the key challenges they face in understanding research methodology include framing research questions, understanding the theory or literature and its role in shaping research outcomes, and difficulties in performing data analysis.     

Towards the decolonisation of religion education in a pre-service education classroom

ABSTRACT

In this article, I reflect on my attempts to decolonise religious education at a historically white university in a post-apartheid South Africa. This pre-service education project conducted in 2017 happened against the backdrop of two events, namely, a renewed curriculum policy, Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) and the #RhodesMustFall (RMF) and #FeesMustFall (FMF) protests. These events encouraged me to reflect on my academic role as a teacher-educator preparing pre-service teachers to teach religion in schools. This led to me asking many questions such as, what is the effect of my teaching religious education?, How do teacher-educators prepare religious education pre-service teachers for a multicultural and multireligious society?, How does my teaching align itself with the decolonisation of education? and How do I redress the colonial past in my religious education classroom? The data which included reflective reports, student experiences and self-reflexivity acknowledged the findings that religion education served as a unifying factor in building social cohesion. The significance of this paper lies in the argument that decolonisation becomes an imperative if one is striving for social justice and intends to commit oneself to a more equitable society where crossing borders must be a seamless act.     

Using crowdsourcing for TREC relevance assessment

Crowdsourcing has recently gained a lot of attention as a tool for conducting different kinds of relevance evaluations. At a very high level, crowdsourcing describes outsourcing of tasks to a large group of people instead of assigning such tasks to an in-house employee. This crowdsourcing approach makes possible to conduct information retrieval experiments extremely fast, with good results at a low cost.     

Implementing crowdsourcing-based relevance experimentation: an industrial perspective

Crowdsourcing has emerged as a viable platform for conducting different types of relevance evaluation. The main reason behind this trend is that it makes possible to conduct experiments extremely fast, with good results at a low cost. However, like in any experiment, there are several implementation details that would make an experiment work or fail. To gather useful results, clear instructions, user interface guidelines, content quality, inter-rater agreement metrics, work quality, and worker feedback are important characteristics of a successful crowdsourcing experiment. Furthermore, designing and implementing experiments that require thousands or millions of labels is different than conducting small scale research investigations. In this paper we outline a framework for conducting continuous crowdsourcing experiments, emphasizing aspects that should be of importance for all sorts of tasks. We illustrate the value of characteristics that can impact the overall outcome using examples based on TREC, INEX, and Wikipedia data sets.     

Students’ assessment of interactive distance experimentation in nuclear reactor physics laboratory education

Laboratory experiments develop students’ skills in dealing with laboratory instruments and physical processes with the objective of reinforcing the understanding of the investigated subject. In nuclear engineering, where research reactors play a vital role in the practical education of students, the high cost and long construction time of research reactors limit their accessibility to few educational programmes around the world. The concept of the Internet Reactor Laboratory (IRL) was introduced earlier as a new approach that utilises distance education in nuclear reactor physics laboratory education. This paper presents an initial assessment of the implementation of the IRL between the PULSTAR research reactor at North Carolina State University in the USA and the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) in Jordan. The IRL was implemented in teaching the Nuclear Reactor laboratory course for two semesters. Feedback from surveyed students verifies that the outcomes attained from using IRL in experimentation are comparable to that attainable from other on-campus laboratories performed by the students.     

Examining the value of mentoring and men of color staff members of a community college

As higher education continues to experience a shift in demographics commiserate with the United States population, colleges and universities are making more concerted efforts to recruit men of color as staff, administrators, and faculty to reflect their diversified student bodies. One way to retain men of color staff members is to provide mentoring programs. While there are authors who are examining the benefits of mentoring, there has been little research into how men of color staff members of community college experience mentoring as a mentee and as a mentor. In this study we sought to understand how do men of color experience mentoring, both as mentor to undergraduate men of color and as staff mentees at a community college. The findings of our study include three common themes: investments made by mentors, investing in mentees, and support from administration.