Teaching for genetics literacy in the post-genomic era

Research in genetics and genomics is advancing at a fast pace, and thus keeping up with the most recent findings and conclusions can be very challenging. At the same time these recent findings and conclusions have made necessary a reconceptualization of genes and heredity, both in science and in science education, beyond the mostly gene-centred view of the twentieth century. The teaching of genetics at schools should have a key role in helping students achieve genetics literacy. However, the literature on research in genetics education reports persistent difficulties and misunderstandings. We first consider the public understanding of and the attitudes towards genetics. Then, we review the most recent literature and present the most typical conceptions found among secondary students in various countries, ages and backgrounds. We argue that particular factors such as intuitive thinking, teachers, textbooks, and the media affect students’ development of erroneous or outdated ideas related to genetics. Finally, we suggest how these problems might be addressed in order for genetics teaching at the secondary level to fulfil the aim of contributing to students’ genetics literacy in the current post-genomic era.     

Challenges for teachers’ professional learning for inclusive education in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States

Efforts to prepare teachers and other professionals for inclusive education in the Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS/CEE) region are heavily influenced by the legacy of Soviet defectology (the study of children with disabilities) and Soviet traditions of teacher education. The authors identify some challenges facing those concerned with preparing teachers for inclusive education and provide examples of current projects in the region that address the complex problems associated with providing inclusive education for children identified as having disabilities. The changing role of defectologists in inclusion policy and practice is also discussed. Case examples from Armenia, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, and Serbia reflect current innovations in teacher education and professional development in the region.     

Should Regularization Replace Simple Structure Rotation in Exploratory Factor Analysis?

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is an important tool when the measurement structure of psychological constructs is uncertain. Typically, factor rotation is applied to obtain interpretable results resembling a simple structure. However, an overwhelming multitude of rotation techniques is available of which none is unequivocally superior. Recently, regularization has been suggested as an alternative to factor rotation. In two simulation studies, we addressed the question if regularized EFA is a suitable alternative for rotated EFA. We compared their performance in recovering predefined factor loading patterns with varying amounts of cross-loadings. Elastic net regularized EFA yielded estimates comparable to rotated EFA. For complex loading patterns, both rotated and regularized EFA tended to underestimate cross-loadings and inflate factor correlations, but regularized EFA was able to recover loading patterns as long as a subset of items followed a simple structure. We conclude that regularization is a suitable alternative to factor rotation for psychometric applications.     

Human handedness in interactive situations: Negative perceptual frequency effects can be reversed!

Left-handed performers seem to enjoy an advantage in interactive sports. Researchers suggest this is predominantly due to the relative scarcity of left-handers compared with right-handers. Such negative frequency-dependent advantages are likely to appear in inefficient game-play behaviour against left-handed opponents such as reduced ability to correctly anticipate left-handers' action intentions. We used a pre-post retention design to test whether such negative frequency-dependent perceptual effects can be reversed via effective training. In a video-based test, 30 handball novices anticipated the shot outcome of temporally occluded handball penalties thrown by right- and left-handed players. Between the pre- and post-tests, participants underwent a perceptual training programme to improve prediction accuracy, followed by an unfilled retention test one week later. Participants were divided into two hand-specific training groups (i.e. only right- or left-handed shots were presented during training) and a mixed group (i.e. both right- and left-handed shots were presented). Our results support the negative frequency-dependent advantage hypothesis, as hand-specific perceptual training led to side-specific improvement of anticipation skills. Similarly, findings provide experimental evidence to support the contention that negatively frequency-dependent selection mechanisms contributed to the maintenance of the handedness polymorphism.     

The Library–Information Technology Partnership: Challenges and Solutions

ABSTRACT

The Klarchek Information Commons is a collaboration between Loyola University Libraries and Information Technology Services (ITS). The Information Commons has been open almost 2 years and was in the planning stages for almost 2 years before its grand opening in January 2008. During that period the library and ITS have learned how to work together to successfully operate this new service hub on campus. In this article, the authors look at the challenges faced by the two groups and how they resolved problems and faced the challenges inherent in running a large, complex, service-oriented organization.     

An industrial application of symbolic model checking

Model checking techniques are recognized to provide reliable and copious results. Instead of examining a few cases only – as it is done in testing – model checking includes the whole state space in mathematical proofs of correctness. Yet, this completeness is seen as a drawback as the state explosion problem is hard to handle. In our industrial case study, we apply automated model checking techniques to an innovative elevator system, the TWIN by ThyssenKrupp. By means of abstraction and nondeterminism, we cope with runtime behaviour and achieve to efficiently prove our specification’s validity. The elevator’s safety requirements are exhaustively expressed in temporal logic along with real-world and algorithmic prerequisites, consistency properties, and fairness constraints. Beyond verifying system safety for an actual installation, our case study demonstrates the rewarding applicability of model checking at an industrial scale. CR subject classification  D.2.4; F.3.1; J.7 ; C.3     

Uses and Abuses of Achievement Test Scores

Are variations in test-preparation practices from school to school undermining the meaningfulness of achievement test results? Is there pressure to raise achievement test scores by the use of educationally unsound practices? What uses of achievement test scores are most common? Do teachers and administrators have reasonably accurate views of test score uses?