4,333 research outputs found

    Harnessing Openness to Improve Research, Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

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    Colleges and universities should embrace the concept of increased openness in the use and sharing of information to improve higher education. That is the core recommendation of this report. The report was produced by CED's Digital Connections Council (DCC), a group of information technology experts that advises CED's business leaders on cutting-edge technologies

    Sorry to Eat and Run: A Lesson Plan for Testing Trade-off in Squirrel Behavior Using Giving Up Densities (GUDs)

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    All animals need to find and compete for food, shelter, and mates in order to survive and reproduce. They also need to avoid being eaten by predators. Optimal foraging theory provides a framework to examine the trade-offs individuals make while foraging for food, taking into account an animal’s body condition, predation pressure, quality of food resources, and food patch availability in the habitat. Here we describe an activity that uses Giving Up Densities (GUDs), which could be used as part of a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) or as a stand-alone activity. GUDs provide an experimental approach to quantify the costs and benefits of foraging in a particular patch and is simple to measure in that it is literally the density of food remaining in a patch. However, its interpretation allows students to compare foraging decisions under different environmental conditions, between species, or with different food sources. This activity was designed to study the foraging behavior of squirrels, which are active during the day, forage on seeds, and are found on and around many college campuses, but it can be adapted to nocturnal animals, birds, or other vertebrates. This module is hands-on. Students weigh seeds, sift sand, walk out into the field with bags of sand and trays, and analyze data. The module can be designed at various levels of inquiry to suit the needs of a particular class. Further, students can work individually, in pairs, or in teams. Finally, students and instructors are encouraged to upload their data to a national dataset, which is available to instructors for use in the classroom to broaden the possible hypotheses and analyses students can explore

    Women in Science 2013

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    “Women in Science” summarizes research done by Smith College’s Summer Research Fellowship (SURF) Program participants. Ever since its 1967 start, SURF has been a cornerstone of Smith’s science education. In 2013, 167 students participated in SURF, supervised by 57 faculty mentor-advisors drawn from the Clark Science Center’s fourteen science, mathematics, and engineering departments and programs, and associated centers and units. At summer’s end, SURF participants were asked to summarize their research experiences for this publication.https://scholarworks.smith.edu/clark_womeninscience/1000/thumbnail.jp

    Exploring students\u27 perceptions and performance on predict-observe-explain tasks in high school chemistry laboratory

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    This study sought to understand the impact of gender and reasoning level on students’ perceptions and performances of Predict-Observe-Explain (POE) laboratory tasks in a high school chemistry laboratory. Several literature reviews have reported that students at all levels have not developed the specific knowledge and skills that were expected from their laboratory work. Studies conducted over the last several decades have found that boys tend to be more successful than girls in science and mathematics courses. However, some recent studies have suggested that girls may be reducing this gender gap. This gender difference is the focal point of this research study, which was conducted at a mid-western, rural high school. The participants were 24 boys and 25 girls enrolled in two physical science classes taught by the same teacher. In this mixed methods study, qualitative and quantitative methods were implemented simultaneously over the entire period of the study. MANOVA statistics revealed significant effects due to gender and level of reasoning on the outcome variables, which were POE performances and perceptions of the chemistry laboratory environment. There were no significant interactions between these effects. For the qualitative method, IRB-approved information was collected, coded, grouped, and analyzed. This method was used to derive themes from students’ responses on questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Students with different levels of reasoning and gender were interviewed, and many of them expressed positive themes, which was a clear indication that they had enjoyed participating in the POE learning tasks and they had developed positive perceptions towards POE inquiry laboratory learning environment. When students are capable of formal reasoning, they can use an abstract scientific concept effectively and then relate it to the ideas they generate in their minds. Thus, instructors should factor the nature of students’ thinking abilities into their instructional strategies and strive to create a learning environment where students are engaged in thinking, learning, and acting in meaningful and beneficial ways. POE learning tasks enhance students’ laboratory experiences and can help deepen their understanding of the empirical nature of science

    2020 GREAT Day Program

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    SUNY Geneseo’s Fourteenth Annual GREAT Day.https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/program-2007/1014/thumbnail.jp

    Levels of naturalism in social neuroscience research

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    In order to understand ecologically meaningful social behaviors and their neural substrates in humans and other animals, researchers have been using a variety of social stimuli in the laboratory with a goal of extracting specific processes in real-life scenarios. However, certain stimuli may not be sufficiently effective at evoking typical social behaviors and neural responses. Here, we review empirical research employing different types of social stimuli by classifying them into five levels of naturalism. We describe the advantages and limitations while providing selected example studies for each level. We emphasize the important trade-off between experimental control and ecological validity across the five levels of naturalism. Taking advantage of newly emerging tools, such as real-time videos, virtual avatars, and wireless neural sampling techniques, researchers are now more than ever able to adopt social stimuli at a higher level of naturalism to better capture the dynamics and contingency of real-life social interaction

    2014 Abstract Booklet

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    Complete Schedule of Events for the 16th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium at Minnesota State University, Mankato

    A Comparison of the Effects of Cooperative and Competitive Methods as Reinforcement of the Skill of Answering Inferential Questions in a Fifth Grade Reading Class

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    This study investigated whether a practice session in the previously learned skill of reading a paragraph and answering inferential comprehension questions was more effective when conducted competitively or cooperatively. One fifth-grade homeroom class of 28 students was randomly divided into two groups: a cooperative group and a competitive group, each containing students from three different reading levels. A researcher-made pretest determined that there was no significant difference between the two groups before the treatment. A practice session was conducted in which the cooperative group worked in units of two or three. Each student in the unit was given an ‘A’ if his/her unit achieved the criterion of 8 out of 10 correct answers. The competitive group worked on its own and a prize was given for the highest score. A posttest was given the next week. A comparison of the posttest scores of the competitive and cooperative groups was made with a t-test for independent measures. It was found that there was no significant difference between the mean posttest score of the competitive group and the mean posttest score of the cooperative group

    Connecting Research, Teaching And The Student Experience In Innovative Ways Through Participation At Major Sports Events

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    This paper showcases on the contribution of Cesar Ritz Colleges (CR) at supporting the organization and running of support services at a major international sports event and the Swiss National Hospitality House in the Athens and Torino Olympics. Through the description of how CR managed to connect the knowledge developed by their students in the classroom with the catering of the House of Switzerland during the Olympic Games in Athens and Torino and then by elaborating on how the experience obtained through this exercise was reincorporated in their teachings. This article draws on the possibilities that academic institutions can optimize their curriculum in order to produce a more complete and comprehensive pedagogical experience, that is significantly in-line with the needs of the industry

    Connecting Research, Teaching And The Student Experience In Innovative Ways Through Participation At Major Sports Events

    Get PDF
    This paper showcases on the contribution of Cesar Ritz Colleges (CR) at supporting the organization and running of support services at a major international sports event and the Swiss National Hospitality House in the Athens and Torino Olympics.  Through the description of how CR managed to connect the knowledge developed by their students in the classroom with the catering of the House of Switzerland during the Olympic Games in Athens and Torino and then by elaborating on how the experience obtained through this exercise was reincorporated in their teachings. This article draws on the possibilities that academic institutions can optimize their curriculum in order to produce a more complete and comprehensive pedagogical experience, that is significantly in-line with the needs of the industry
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