Mathematical Learning Approach for Special Education Pupils: The Effectiveness of Mauselis Board in Improving Adding Skills

Mathematic learning difficulties are common, significant, and worthy of serious attention. Many issues that have had an impact on bilingual education have also had an impact on Special Education.  One of the issues is, adding skill. Adding skill is one of the most crucial skills that every pupil needs to acquire with learning disabilities. The use of ‘MauSeLis Board’ (Maujud-Sebut-Tulis) which means ‘Concrete-Pronounce-Write’ in the classroom has been an effective tool for helping Special Education pupils in building up their skills in adding and reading the numbers aloud. This study investigates the improvement of the pupils with learning disabilities’ adding skill in Mathematic subject at school. The study's sole objective was (i) to identify the Mauselis board's effectiveness in Mathematical subjects among Special Education pupils. The MauSeLis board was invented for teaching and learning purposes based on the Bruner Theory and CRA Model (Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract). The data collection was conducted through pre-test and post-test conducted on 20 pupils with learning disabilities as respondents in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. The study found significant differences in terms of their adding-questions scores before and after using MauSelis Board in teaching and learning sessions. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage to describe the Pre and Post Test results. The research study's finding showed a positive result as the Special Education pupils who involved in the study showed consistent improvement throughout the sessions. This study also found that MauSeLis Board in teaching and learning sessions is a highly effective approach that develops a deep and better understanding of mathematic skill among the Special Education pupils as well as contributing to active, fun, and meaningful learning session. In conclusion, this study summarises that the teaching and learning approach among special needs pupils should emphasize effective hands-on activities rather than rote learning

First Meeting of the joint IOC-ICES Study Group on Nutrient Standards (SGONS)

A meeting of the joint IOC-ICES Study Group on Nutrient Standards (SGONS) was held in Paris, France on 23-24 March 2010. It focused on the ongoing activities of the SGONS and plans for extended international collaborations to establish global comparability of the nutrient data from the world’s ocean. Thirty two scientists and experts from 11 countries and 2 delegates from IOC attended the meeting. The discussions followed the Terms of References of SGONS established in July 2009. Development of the reference materials for nutrients in seawater (RMNS) were also discussed in collaboration with the producers. The background and history of SGONS and an international nutrients scale system INSS and the progress with the production of RMNS materials and their current availability were reported. The production of RMNS and the latest status of the RMNS production facility, current status on the certification of RMNS for nitrate, nitrite, phosphate and silicate at the National Metrology Institute of Japan were also reported. The revised nutrients analysis manual which is being undertaken by the SGONS hopefully would be completed by 1 August 2010, and it will be published on line at the Go-Ship website. Results obtained with RMNS solutions used on the P6 reoccupation cruise in 2009-2010 by SIO (Scripps Institute of Oceanography, USA) showed that considerable improvement could be made in the internal comparability of the data by referencing it to the RMNS results and related good comparability with the previous P6 cruise in 2003 by JAMSTEC when RMNS were also used. The meeting strongly endorsed the idea of a ship board workshop in 2013/14 during which major groups would carry out a full inter-comparison of all procedures including analytical methods on board a research ship. The global stability test of RMNS by ten core laboratories of SGONS which started in 2009 will continue for more two years. It also was agreed to set up an international steering committee to plan the next inter-laboratory comparison study which will extend the study to about 70 laboratories working globally on deep sea hydrography. This will happen in early 2011. Future arrangements were considered for the collection of more batches of seawater for the preparation of RMNS waters suitable for use in all major water masses, and a list of candidate cruises in 2010/2011 was prepared. The related point of the extension of the use of RMNS for work in shelf sea water was also discussed, this followed on from discussions at the ICES Marine Chemistry Working Group (MCWG) meeting in 2010. The ICES MCWG considered that the use of suitable RMNS solutions would be valuable for improving the inter comparability of shelf sea data and be a valuable complement to work with the existing QUASIMEME proficiency testing scheme

Board games as a teaching tool for technology classes in Compulsory Secondary Education

Aquest treball estudia la tècnica coneguda com game-based learning, és a dir, l’ús dels jocs com a eina didàctica. Primer que res, es fa recerca sobre els treballs ja existents i es veu que, tot i haver-hi articles sobre game-based learning, és difícil trobar-ne de relacionats amb la tecnologia, més enllà d’ensenyar a programar. A continuació, es revisen els continguts curriculars i les competències de secundària i es relacionen amb alguns jocs de taula ja existents, dels quals es detallen breument les regles de joc. Es veu que hi ha continguts curriculars, pels quals es difícil trobar un joc que hi encaixi. A més a més, es desenvolupa la idea d’un nou joc de taula, basat en el ja existent Party & Co., per treballar alguns dels continguts curriculars pels quals no s’ha trobat cap joc existent que s’hi escaigui. Finalment, s’explica una experiència duta a terme durant el període de pràctiques en el centre escolar al curs de 3r d’ESO. Es disposava de tres grups i en tots tres es va seguir la mateixa programació: classe introductòria expositiva, una sessió de muntatge de robots LEGO, 4 sessions de programació i un petit test. En un dels tres grups, però, es va fer una classe prèvia extra on es va jugar a un joc de taula anomenat RoboRally. Els objectius eren dobles: que aprenguessin la importància de l’algorísmica i que s’ho passessin bé. Els resultats mostren que aquest grup va treballar més i millor. En el treball s’analitzen els resultats obtinguts

The effect of environmental conditions on the physiological response during a stand-up paddle surfing session

Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) surfing entails riding breaking waves and maneuvering the board on the wave face in a similar manner to traditional surfing. Despite some scientific investigations on SUP, little is known about SUP surfing. The aim of this study was to investigate the physiological response during SUP surfing sessions and to determine how various environmental conditions can influence this response. Heart rate (HR) of an experienced male SUP surfer aged 43 was recorded for 14.9 h during ten surfing sessions and synced with on board video footage to enable the examination of the effect of different surfing modes and weather conditions on exercise intensity. Results indicated that the SUP surfer’s HR was above 70% of HRmax during 85% of each session, with the greatest heart rates found during falls off the board (~85% HRmax) and while paddling back to the peak (~83% HRmax). Total time surfing a wave was less than 5%, with the majority of time spent paddling back into position. Wind speed positively correlated with HR (r = 0.75, p < 0.05) and wave height negatively correlated with wave caching frequency (r = 0.73, p < 0.05). The results highlight the aerobic fitness for SUP surfing, where wave riding, paddling back to the peak, and falls appear to be associated with the greatest cardiovascular demand and demonstrate that environmental conditions can have an effect on the physiological response during SUP surfing sessions

Compulsive Social Behavior Emerges after Selective Ablation of Striatal Cholinergic Interneurons

The mechanisms underlying social dysfunction in neuropsychiatric conditions like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Tourette syndrome (TS) remain uncertain. Dysfunctions in basal ganglia, including reduced number of striatal cholinergic interneurons (SCIN), have been involved in their pathophysiology. To explore the role of SCIN in relation to perseverative behaviors we characterized a new transgenic mouse model in which inducible ablation of SCIN is achieved with high efficiency in a cell-type and region specific manner. Mice were subjected to an extensive behavioral testing including assessment of social behaviors and corticostriatal functional connectivity was evaluated in vivo. Selective SCIN ablation leads to altered social interactions together with exacerbated spontaneously emitted repetitive behaviors. Lesioned mice showed normal motor coordination, balance, and general locomotion. Interestingly, only environmentally-driven, but not self-directed, repetitive behaviors are exacerbated in lesioned mice. Remarkably, in mice with SCIN ablation the normal pattern of social exploration is continuously replayed. The emerging pattern of social interactions is highly predictable and invariant across time. In vivo electrophysiological recordings indicate that SCIN ablation results in an increase of the functional connectivity between different cortical areas and the motor, but not associative, region of the striatum. Our results identify a role of SCIN in suppressing perseverative behaviors including social related ones. In sum, SCIN ablation in mice leads to exacerbated ritualistic-like behaviors that impact on social performance providing a link between SCIN dysfunction and social impairments present in psychiatric disorders.Fil: Martos Schott, Yanina Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Braz, Bárbara Yael. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Beccaria, Juan Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Murer, Mario Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Belforte, Juan Emilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay; Argentin

Preliminary study of discrimination of human vocal commands in walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens)

Walruses seem to use various acoustic signals in social context. So, the auditory faculty is seems to be important for walruses. Can walruses understand another animals' vocal information using auditory sense? This study tested whether a male walrus could discriminate human vocal words and perform different actions corresponding to each one under various conditions. The subject, a male walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) named Pou, was set on the ground, and the experimenter spoke one of the ten words to the subject under the following conditions; (1) The experimenter stood close to the subject and spoke each vocal stimulus wearing a black cloak and goggles so that the experimenter's eye and body movements would not influence the subject's behavior, (2) A wooden board was placed between the experimenter and the subject so that the subject could not see the experimenter, (3) A wooden board was placed between the experimenter and the subject so that the subject could not to see the experimenter, and the experimenter uttered each vocal stimulus through an audio speaker. Under each condition, when the subject performed the correct action corresponding to the vocal stimulus, he was rewarded with a piece of fish. As a result, the subject responded correctly to almost all the human vocal stimuli in every condition, including when the speaker was not visible. This means that he was indeed responding to the vocal words and not the experimenter's cues. This study demonstrated that walruses can hear and identify human vocal words using their auditory sense and can form correspondence between vocal words and their meanings