Implementing the Gaia Astrometric Global Iterative Solution (AGIS) in Java

This paper provides a description of the Java software framework which has been constructed to run the Astrometric Global Iterative Solution for the Gaia mission. This is the mathematical framework to provide the rigid reference frame for Gaia observations from the Gaia data itself. This process makes Gaia a self calibrated, and input catalogue independent, mission. The framework is highly distributed typically running on a cluster of machines with a database back end. All code is written in the Java language. We describe the overall architecture and some of the details of the implementation.Comment: Accepted for Experimental Astronom

Assessing formatively in the English language classroom

The area of ‘assessment’ – and particularly that of ‘formative assessment’ – has attracted the increasing attention of educational researchers within the last decade. This article presents the findings of a qualitative research study that was conducted in a primary school in Oxford, UK. Data were gathered through classroom observations that were videotaped. The assessment strategies used by the teacher were the foci of observations. It was found that questioning and feedback were two key elements characteristics of a teacher’s formative assessment practice in the English Language primary classroom. Extensive questioning for assessment purposes invited pupils to contribute ideas, checked for understanding of concepts, clarified learners’ responses and extended pupils’ thinking. At other times, the teacher’s questioning acted as prompts that cued pupils for a viable response. Teacher feedback praised students’ efforts and correct answers; pointed out incorrect responses; and, more importantly, explained why specific responses were incorrect. Additionally, feedback extended pupils’ learning on a number of occasions through verbal prompts, visual clues and supplementary information provided by the teacher. The implication is that teachers need professional training and on-going support so that they can use questioning and feedback in a formative way to foster pupils’ learning in the classroom

Know Thy Toucher

Most of current academic and commercial surface computing systems are capable of multitouch detection and hence allow simultaneous input from multiple users. Although there are so far only few applications in this area which rely on identifying the user, we believe that the association of touches to users will become an essential feature of surface computing as applications mature, new application areas emerge, and the enabling technology is readily available. As the capacitive technology used in present user identification enabled tabletops is limited with respect to the supported number of users and screen size, we outline a user identification enabled tabletop concept based on computer vision and biometric hand shape information, and introduce the prototype system we built to further investigate this concept. In a preliminary consideration, we derive concepts for identifying users by examining what new possibilities are enabled and by introducing different scopes of identification

A Curriculum for Teaching Collaborative Worship Songwriting Inspired by Village Hymns

The scriptural injunction to “sing to the Lord a new song” motivates the church to create new worship songs that are Biblically based, musically excellent, and reflective of God’s unique gifting and purpose for the church in its time. Village Hymns, a collective of worship leaders and songwriters serving in South Florida churches, has developed a platform for building skill in collaborative worship songwriting through their CREATE events. Through the experience of hosting over 50 CREATE events and recording three EP CDs, Village Hymns has developed best practices for collaborative worship songwriting. The aim of the case study research was to identify these best practices and incorporate them into a twelve-week curriculum for teaching collaborative worship songwriting. The curriculum is informed by perspectives from Biblical and theological scholarship and church history. Additionally, social learning constructs including communities of practice and structural folding inform the curriculum

The Sunflower Forest: An Educator’s Resource Guide

Loren Eiseley (1907-1977) was an acclaimed writer who grew up in and around Lincoln, Nebraska. An anthropologist by training and vocation, he wrote more than a dozen books of essays and poetry, most focused on the mysteries of nature and humankind\u27s relationship to the natural world. The Sunflower Forest is a theme that appears in Eiseley\u27s book The Invisible Pyramid (1970). As a child, Eiseley enjoyed playing in the large stands of sunflowers that sprang up every year on a floodplain near his home in Lincoln. He would later think of the sunflower forest as a place for connecting with a universal but often forgotten love of the earth. Recognizing this theme as an exciting and fun way to encourage connection with nature, Lauritzen Gardens partnered with the Loren Eiseley Society to launch the Sunflower Forest Project in 2010. Supported by funding from the Peter Kiewit Foundation of Omaha, the aim is to raise awareness of Eiseley as an important Nebraska author, and use his boyhood experience with sunflowers as a vehicle for exploring themes related to literature and scientific inquiry. One component of the Sunflower Forest Project was the development of an educator\u27s guide. The guide contains a wealth of sunflower-related language arts curriculum materials for Pre-K through Grade 5 developed by Dr. Kathy Everts Danielson, a professor in the Teacher Education Department of the University of Nebraska-Omaha with expertise in literacy, the writing process, and children\u27s literature

Providing the Opportunity to Access Playfulness in Music Therapy with Adults in a Partial Hospital Program: The Implementation of a Method

This thesis explores playfulness in the therapeutic relationship and in music therapy with adults in a partial hospital program. Playfulness is shown to be an effective tool in mental health treatment, aiding in the development of coping skills (Magnuson & Barnett, 2013). A method was applied in order to establish to what extent that playfulness is present and able to be accessed. Five music therapy groups took place with adults age eighteen and older in a partial hospital program that was being conducted in a hybrid (both virtual and in-person) format. Clinical observations concluded that playfulness can be accessed in music therapy for adults in acute mental health treatment, and may have an impact on the therapeutic relationship. Further research into how accessible playfulness is in this population, specifically in the context of music therapy, is suggested