Exploration of experimental design and statistical methods using the stick‐on‐the‐wall spaghetti rule

We present a versatile scenario to introduce students to statistics: the test that spaghetti sticks only if sufficiently done. The statistical analyses can be performed at different levels of complexity and formal correctness, adapting it to the students' age.     

Young Children’s Knowledge About the Moon: A Complex Dynamic System

The purpose of this research was to use a multidimensional theoretical framework to examine young children??s knowledge about the Moon. The research was conducted in the interpretive paradigm and the design was a multiple case study of ten children between the ages of three and eight from the USA and Australia. A detailed, semi-structured interview was conducted with each child. In addition, each child??s parents were interviewed to determine possible social and cultural influences on the child??s knowledge. We sought evidence about how the social and cultural experiences of the children might have influenced the development of their ideas. From a cognitive perspective we were interested in whether the children??s ideas were constructed in a theory like form or whether the knowledge was the result of gradual accumulation of fragments of isolated cultural information. Findings reflected the strong and complex relationship between individual children, their social and cultural milieu, and the way they construct ideas about the Moon and astronomy. Findings are presented around four themes including ontology, creatures and artefacts, animism, and permanence. The findings support a complex dynamic system view of students?? knowledge that integrates the framework theory perspective and the knowledge in fragments perspective. An initial model of a complex dynamic system of young children??s knowledge about the Moon is presented.     

Anerkennungsdefizite und Vorurteile

Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft - Anerkennungstheoretische Überlegungen und Vorurteile gewinnen zunehmend an Bedeutung bei der Analyse und Erklärung problembehafteter...     

Teaching cell and molecular biology for gender equity

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, including cell biology, are characterized by the leaky pipeline syndrome in which, over time, women leave the discipline. The pipeline itself and the pond into which it empties may not be neutral. Explicating invisible norms, attitudes, and practices by integrating social studies of science into science education may be the necessary first step in helping female students persist in STEM disciplines. In 2003 and 2004, a sophomore Cell and Molecular Biology course at Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA) was taught integrating social studies of science with standard material. The course was successfully implemented, teaching students factual content while increasing awareness of the cultures of science and their self-confidence in engaging with the subject. Course evaluation data indicated that females in particular perceived greater gains in logical thinking and problem-solving abilities than females in a traditional cell biology course. Consistent with K-12 studies, males in this class were likely to view scientists as male only, whereas females viewed scientists as male and female. This pilot project demonstrates that social studies can be integrated successfully in a cell biology course. Longitudinal studies of this cohort of students will indicate whether this approach contributes to the retention of women in the field.     

Agreements between authors and publishers

The degree to which agreements between authors and publishers are left to free negotiation varies from country to country. As the European nations move toward economic unity, a greater degree of conformity in literary common law is desirable. Any common rules on publishing contracts should balance the interests of publishers and authors so that authors receive a fair share of all exploitations of their work and publishers are free to exploit the works in all possible ways. Exploitation includes both traditional means and new mass media and merchandising rights. professor of Intellectual Property and Copyright Law at both Berlin state universities, and author of commentaries on the German Copyright Code (7th ed., 1988), the German Unfair Competition law (6th ed., 1990), and the International Copyright Conventions (German ed., 1977; French ed., 1982; English ed., 1990). This article was adapted from a presentation at the seminar “East Meets West: Copyright and the Publisher in a Market Economy”, Hamburg, March 1991.