The Impact of a National Science Foundation Collaborative for Excellence in Teacher Preparation on an Undergraduate Chemistry Course for Non-Chemistry Science Majors

In 1999 and 2000 Chemistry 312: Analytical Chemistry for non-chemistry science majors (taken in the junior or senior year), was revised as a result of the instructor’s involvements in the Center for Excellence in Teacher Preparation project and an NSF equipment grant. Changes included the introduction of a K-12 teaching requirement, more emphasis on co-operative learning and on inquiry-based exercises. These latter two pedagogical practices had more impact on the laboratory activities than on the classroom activities. Students in the laboratory were assigned defined roles in the groups and all groups undertook a three-week research project. Students’ responses to the teaching requirement were (with a few exceptions in a class of over forty) positive, and several students identified themselves as future teachers. Responses to the group work associated with the laboratory and several homework exercises were less uniformly positive, with a significant number of students articulating a concern that their grades were compromised by the presence of weaker students in the groups. The grades awarded, the overall percentages and the exam scores of the students were compared for the years 1998, 1999, and 2000. There was a significant improvement in the overall percentages (and the exam scores) between 1998 and 1999, and between 1998 and 2000. Had the thresholds for the awarding of letter grades not been increased for 2000, there would have been 31 A’s awarded to the 44 students who completed the course

Estudi i millora energètica en edificis existents

Over the last hundred years, society has undergone the greatest changes in its history in a relatively short time. Improvements in people's quality of life have been evolving and improving and, consequently, have led to population growth. Among the different factors that have led to this population growth is technology, which, in the same way, has been progressing as people have acquired new knowledge. This growth in technology has always been closely linked to the energy needs required to realise it, and as energy needs increased, so did energy sources. Population growth, the emergence of new technologies and the resulting energy needs, which are generated by energy sources, have increased consumption. And as the years have gone by, these energy sources, which require a series of resources, most of which were natural and finite, have meant that we now find ourselves in a situation in which the lack of resources is a reality

Health Science Curriculum for Early Childhood: Teacher Implementation and Impact on Child Health Knowledge

This dissertation contains two secondary quantitative data analyses studies. In the first, implementation of the WannaBee Healthy? Be Smart! Be Active! Be a Leader! health science curriculum was examined to expand understanding about teacher usage of an integrated health curriculum. Specifically, researchers assessed the amount of activities within each curriculum domain (i.e., books, creative expressions, language/literacy, math, science) and the number of activities within each theme of the lessons (i.e., nutrition, physical activity, sleep) utilized by participating teachers. Prior to implementation, teachers (N = 68; M age = 35.5 years old) attended a one-hour training where use of the curriculum and supplemental material toolkit were exhibited. Participants were instructed to implement the curriculum over the course of a month and directed to record lessons implemented on a teacher usage checklist, indicating a “Y+” if they taught the lesson and would likely teach it again, a “Y-” if they taught the lesson, but would not likely teach it again, and an “N” if the lesson was not implemented. An overall total number of activities and a total number of activities within each curriculum domain (e.g., language/literacy) and within each theme (e.g., nutrition) was calculated using a frequency analysis. Results show that more than 20% of reporting teachers (n = 10; 21.8%) implemented all or almost all (i.e., 49 or 50 lessons) of the curriculum’s 50 activities. Children had more exposure to the book domain and the theme of nutrition, with less engagement in the domain of math and sleep-themed lessons. Based on the results of the first study, the second study examined the association between the dosage of the WannaBee Healthy? curriculum implementation within each classroom (i.e., frequency use of curriculum domains; frequency use of lesson themes) and child health knowledge outcomes (e.g., USDA MyPlate accuracy). Explicitly, is the dosage and type of content implementation directly associated with student’s gain in knowledge and the ability to successfully identify the following: (1) food from each of the five food groups, (2) healthy plate that includes all recommended food groups, (3) food origins, (4) four activities that increase heart rate, and (5) sleep, healthy plate, and physical activity as behaviors needed to keep our body healthy. Researchers utilized the information from the teacher usage checklist to determine dosage and content implementation of lessons. Pre- and post-assessments were randomly conducted on 252 pre-kindergarten (17.9%) and kindergarten (82.1%) students (M age = 5.02) whose parents had provided consent. Pearson correlations identified strong, positive correlations regarding implementation across the curriculum and within the domains and themes. A series of One-way ANOVAs were conducted, identifying a significance in outcomes of at least one child assessment and in both health themes (i.e., nutrition, physical activity). However, overall findings indicate that curriculum dosage alone was not related to changes in child health knowledge. Further testing did not show a significant difference in association between changes in child knowledge when controlling for time between pre- and post-assessments. Results suggest the effectiveness of the WannaBee Healthy? curriculum is not based on curriculum alone

Spartan Daily, September 24, 1984

Volume 83, Issue 17https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/7203/thumbnail.jp

Англійська мова. Підручник для 5 класу спеціалізованих шкіл з поглибленим вивченням англійської мови

Англійська мова. Підручник для 5 класу спеціалізованих шкіл з поглибленим вивченням англійської мов

Internet of things (IoT) as sustainable development goals (SDG) enabling technology towards smart readiness indicators (SRI) for university buildings

Non-residential buildings contribute to around 20% of the total energy consumed in Europe. This consumption continues to increase globally. Smart building proposals (focused on Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB), air quality monitoring, energy saving with thermal comfort, etc.) were already necessary before 2020, and the pandemic has made this research and development area more essential. Furthermore, the need to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and obtain technological solutions based on the Internet of Things (IoT) requires holistic contributions through real installations that serve as spaces for measuring, testing, study and research. This article proposes a “measure–analyse–decide and act” methodology to quantify the Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) for university buildings as a reference environment for energy efficiency and COVID-19 prevention models. Two conceptual spaces (physical and digital) within two dimensions (users and infrastructures) are designated over an IoT three-level model (information acquisition, interoperable communication, and data-driven decision). An IoT ecosystem (sensoriZAR) was implemented as a proof-of-concept of a smart campus at the University of Zaragoza, Spain. Focused on CO2 and energy consumption monitoring, the results showed effectiveness through real installations, demonstrating the IoT potential as SDG-enabling technologies. These contributions allow not only experimental lab tests (from the authors’ expertise in several specialties of Industrial, Mechanical, Design, Thermal, Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Telecommunication Engineering) but also a reference model for direct application in academic works, research projects and institutional initiatives, extendable to professional environments, buildings and cities. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Shelter Sense Volume 07, Number 10

IRS rules three Michigan clinics tax-exempt (Roger Kindler) Advice on ways to inform and influence local officials Shelters sought for heartworm study Postal service puts the bite on loose dogs (Debbie Reed) Animal returns may signal problems (Paul Miller) An introduction to computer terminology -- Part III: Putting it all together! (Kay Smart) Reproducible -- Is love the tie that binds? Just Wright: HSUS Animal Control Academy increases know-how (Phyllis Wright

SMART Spaces: Spaced Learning Revision Programme - Evaluation Report

SMART Spaces: Spaced Learning Revision Programme (SMART Spaces Revision) aims to raise attainment in GCSE chemistry by improving revision using ‘spaced learning’. Spaced learning involves teachers repeatedly delivering the same content, across multiple sessions, with breaks in between. The programme, developed and delivered by Hallam Teaching School Alliance (HTSA) and Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), trains teachers to deliver six highly structured and manualised chemistry revision lessons for the AQA Combined Science GCSE. Lessons are provided to Year 11 pupils (age 15 to 16) in the three-week period prior to GCSE examinations. Each lesson consists of three 12-minute episodes delivering content separated by two ten-minute spacing activities such as juggling. Lessons are delivered on three separate days, which allows additional spaces of around 24 hours between content repetition. The first three lessons repeatedly cover one half of the curriculum and the second three lessons repeatedly cover the other half. SMART Spaces Revision training involves a lead teacher who supports implementation and chemistry teachers who receive a day of instruction (in twilight sessions). In-school follow-up support and teaching resources are also provided. Resources include PowerPoint slides covering the entire chemistry curriculum content for the AQA Combined Science award together with a manual, an activity pack, and spacing materials. This project was a two-armed, cluster-randomised controlled efficacy trial (c-RCT) with 125 schools from across England: 54 schools were randomly allocated to receive the intervention and 71 acted at the ‘business as usual’ control group; 14,098 pupils from Year 11 taking the AQA Combined Science GCSE took part in the trial. The evaluation tested the impact of the intervention on GCSE chemistry attainment with surveys and interviews with teachers and pupils and observations of training informing the process evaluation. The evaluation was conducted by the IOE at UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society and delivery occurred between April and May 2019