Evolution and Creationism: Views of Students in a Colombian University—Findings from 7 Years of Data Using a Three-Question Survey

Research in Science Education - The theory of evolution is the backbone of the biological sciences. Arguably, this is the reason why evolution education is an extensively investigated issue in...     

Towards Covid-19 Literacy

Covid-19 literacy, induced by the coronavirus disease (2019), is characterized as the understanding of Covid-19 as well as informed decisions based upon this understanding. This type of literacy is closely related to health literacy, scientific literacy, and scientific media literacy. It may be obvious to say that Covid-19 literacy is a key factor for governments to effectively manage the Covid-19 transition. However, lack of literature exists about Covid-19 literacy among university students. Therefore, the current study aimed to determine the Covid-19 literacy level among 4168 students from a Colombian university. The data were derived from students’ responses to a 25–item anonymous online self-reporting questionnaire. We found that 21–25-year age group, graduate students,?students enrolled prior to 2015, and medical students had a significantly higher mean score. Moreover, the Internet (86.8%) was the most popular source of information from which participants gained most information regarding Covid-19. Furthermore, 58.5% of the participants considered health workers as a source that can provide accurate information. Most importantly, the findings reveal the students’ knowledge about (1) the role of an eventual process of vaccination, (2) the test currently used as diagnostic for Covid-19, and (3) the fatality rate, three aspects of Covid-19 literacy that deserve more attention. The findings provide a useful basis for the formulation of policies and concrete actions in improving Covid-19 literacy.

     

Developing a tobacco survey for deaf youth

Formidable barriers hinder use of standard data collection methods among deaf youth. Culturally and linguistically sensitive data collection strategies are needed to identify the unmet health and programming needs of this population. Unfortunately, researchers often fail to describe the issues involved in developing such targeted methods. The authors describe development of a culturally appropriate data collection instrument for a study of tobacco-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices among deaf youth. The instrument uses interactive multimedia technology to administer a questionnaire translated into the primary languages used by the Deaf. The procedures taken to accommodate this technology to these languages and to Deaf culture are described. This process yielded useful insights with respect to data collection not only among the Deaf, but among other frequently overlooked and underserved populations as well.     

The process of internationalisation of higher education in Brazil: the impact of colonisation on south-south relations

ABSTRACT

This article presents a study that analyses interviews of African students participating in the PEC academic mobility programme, so to gain an understanding of the individual and corporate experience of living and studying in Brazil. However, our analysis also demonstrates a highly significant finding that the historical process of colonisation, experienced for centuries by the Great South, has impinged on the outlook held by individuals from the Great South, who tend to understand that the Great North is the desirable option. Consequently, this attitude has directly affected South-South relations and the cooperation between developing and emerging countries. The work of Franz Fanon, who is a pivotal figure in the process of decolonisation, serves as a framework for our analysis because it both conceptualises and demonstrates the symptoms of psychological violence in a colonised context. As it will become clear, this has ramifications for the process of internationalisation and globalisation of Higher Education.     

Are we promoting critical autonomous thinking? A discussion on conversational genres and whether they can help us answer this question

This work is based on the assumption that if the classroom is a space in which manifestations of critical autonomous thinking appear systematically, then it promotes that same kind of thinking by the students, in other contexts. But what count as manifestations of critical autonomous thinking, and how can we observe them? As Robert Young's Habermasian work on indoctrination and conversational genres seemed a promising conceptual framework for understanding classroom situations in this respect, we took it as a starting point for exploring answers to these questions. Our exploration, both through fieldwork and theoretical reflection, led us to some findings, among which are (1) the existence of new genres which refine the conceptual categories originally formulated by Young; (2) that analysis of function is not enough, requiring also a contents dimension with which one can study what critical autonomous thinking is promoted about, in particular classroom situations; and (3) that classroom situations can be more contradictory and fragmented than presupposed by the very idea of genre.     

Secondary School Students’ Errors in the Translation of Algebraic Statements

In this article, we present the results of a research study that explores secondary students’ capacity to perform translations of algebraic statements between the verbal and symbolic representation systems through the lens of errors. We classify and compare the errors made by 2 groups of students: 1 at the beginning of their studies in school algebra and another 1 completing their studies on algebra in compulsory education. This comparison allows us to detect errors which require specific attention in instruction due to its persistence and to identify errors that disappear as students advance in their study of algebra. The results and conclusions have a pedagogic value to inform instruction and also lead to backed conjectures and research questions to push forward research on student’s translation capacity and students’ knowledge of algebraic symbolism.     

Researchers' attitudes and perceptions towards data sharing and data reuse in the field of food science and technology

This work analyses the perception and practice of sharing, reusing, and facilitating access to research data in the field of food science and technology. The study involved the coordination of a focus group discussion and an online survey, to understand and evince the behaviour of researchers regarding data management in that field. Both the discussion group and the survey were performed with researchers from several institutes of the Spanish National Research Council. The lack of a data sharing culture, the fear of being scooped, and confusion between the concepts of the working plan and the data management plan were some of the issues that emerged in the focus group. Respondents' previous experience with sharing their research data has been mainly in the form of appendices to peer‐reviewed publications. From the survey (101 responses), the most important motivations for publishing research data were found to be facilitating the reproducibility of the research, increasing the likelihood of citations of the article, and compliance with funding body mandates. Legal constraints, intellectual property, data ownership, data rights, potential commercial exploitation, and misuse of data were the main barriers to publishing data as open data. Citation in publications, certification, compliance with standards, and the reputation of the data providers were the most relevant factors affecting the use of other researchers' data. Being recent or recently updated, well documented, with quality metadata and ease of access were the most valued attributes of open research data.     

Total Protein of Whole Saliva as a Biomarker of Anaerobic Threshold

Saliva provides a convenient and noninvasive matrix for assessing specific physiological parameters, including some biomarkers of exercise. We investigated whether the total protein concentration of whole saliva (TPWS) would reflect the anaerobic threshold during an incremental exercise test. After a warm-up period, 13 nonsmoking men performed a maximum incremental exercise on a cycle ergometer. Blood and stimulated saliva were collected during the test. The TPWS anaerobic threshold (PAT) was determined using the Dmax method. The PAT was correlated with the blood lactate anaerobic threshold (AT; r = .93, p < .05). No significant difference (p = .16) was observed between PAT and AT. Thus, TPWS provides a convenient and noninvasive matrix for determining the anaerobic threshold during incremental exercise tests.