Evaluation and use of the standards in of the technical drawings in the Final Year Project

In the Industrial Engineering and Chemical Engineering courses of Madrid Polytechnic University the core subjects of Technical Design are taught on the first course but under different names in the first and second four month periods of this degree. The Final Year Project (FYP) is usually the first work in which engineers do a complete engineering project that includes different parts, such as a memory, measuring, budgets and technical drawings. This work sets out to learn and assess the use students make of the knowledge acquired in Technical Drawing subjects when preparing their FYP technical drawings. By analyzing different aspects of 1996 technical drawings included in the FYP about different scopes, it is hoped to be able to see how this specific knowledge is applied to the different specialties (mechanical, electrical, chemistry, etc.) of the degree, as well as the project topics, the type of information contained, the correct use of standards, the tools used to prepare them, etc. The paper has been conducted taking the FYPs of the last 4 years as reference for all the specializations. The purpose of this work was to detect any deficiencies, errors in knowledge, malpractice in execution, etc, in order to have additional information that will enable course content, assessment, and the teaching methodology of the subjects to be adjusted in order to improve teaching. The results of this work are implemented in the contents and practices of the subjects of the technical drawing and a new subject was also purposed

Theory of mind abilities in children with Down syndrome and non-specific intellectual disabilities: An empirical study with some educational implications

AbstractSeveral researchers explored the impact of cognition, language and social understanding on theory of mind abilities in typically developing (TD) children and children with intellectual disabilities (ID) (either ID of genetic origin or non-specific ID). The aim of the present study was to determine the specificity of the theory of mind deficit to different groups of children with ID. The results are in accordance with the developmental approach of similar structure hypothesis (Zigler, 1969). The findings are discussed in terms of the specificity of the etiology-related theory of mind profiles of ID groups, considering the educational and social inclusion practices

The effect of ethnic relations course on the students perceptions towards ethnic relations among first year students of one public university in Malaysia

AbstractMalaysia is a multi-racial country and unity is an important agenda for the country's political, social and economic stability. The Malaysian prime minister enhanced this vital agenda with his “One Malaysia” concept that alert the Malaysian citizen to have a high sense of responsibility towards building a united nation. Every citizen should have high tolerance attitude among them. The Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education has taken stern action in realizing this concept of unity by introducing a course known as Ethnic Relations. The course should be taken by every students in private and public universities. A study was conducted on first year students perceptions towards ethnic relations in Malaysia mainly between the Malays and the non Malays which consists of Chinese, Indian and other ethnics. The sample of the study were 320 first year students of one of the public university in Malaysia who register for Ethnic Relations course in the first semester for the 2009/2010 session. Questionnaires were given to the students before the implementation of the ethnic relations module and after their completion of the course. The aspects of questionnaires are culture, identity, stereotype, interaction, prejudice and plurality. This is an action research and data was analyzed by using mean. Before the implementation of the module, from the mean it was found that there was a difference of perceptions between the different ethnic related to the aspects of culture, identity and stereotype. The findings will be discussed later in the paper

Promoting students’ note-taking skills through task-based learning

AbstractTaking notes during a lecture is a highly demanding skill and creates problems for students who are learning English as a second or foreign language for academic purposes. This experimental study was conducted with adult learners receiving an intensive English language teaching program. The study was designed to promote effective strategies of listening, familiarize the students with note-taking conventions, and make note-taking relevant to students for the world outside the classroom, such as their target faculties which offer English-medium instruction, through developing appropriate note taking tasks. Findings obtained from pre-and post-test results as well as authentic lectures revealed that the students were able to reach a stage where they could take notes selectively, confidently and independently

The effect of rehabilitation program on mechanical efficiency, heat rate and Vo2max in spastic children

AbstractAim and scope: Cerebral palsy (CP) Children are generally characterised by some movement limitations physiological abnormalities that compromised with able- bodied people. Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the mechanical efficiency and certain cardiovascular indexes before and after exercise-rehabilitation program in children with dipelegic spastic cerebral palsy (experimental group) in comparison with able- bodied children (control group). Material and Methods: In this study fifteen spastic cerebral palsy (dipelegic) children participated in exercise-rehabilitation program (three days a week for three month) with 144bpm of average of heart rate. The mechanical efficiency (net, gross), rest and submaximal heart rate and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) were measured before (pre-test) and after (post-test) of exercise program on cycle ergometer according to Macmaster ergometer protocol. Then control group performed this protocol and were compared via statical spss (P<0.05). Results: Mechanical efficiency (net, gross) increased significantly in cp patients after exercise-rehabilitation program, but yet it was lower than control group (P<0.05). Rest and submaximal heart rate in cp patients decreased significantly after exercise program (P<0.05). Maximal oxygen consumption was similar in patients and normal groups and not changed in patients after exercise-rehabilitation program (P>0.05). Conclusion: cerebral palsy patients have higher energy cost and lower physical fitness than able bodied people that is because of high muscle tone, severe degree of spasticity and involuntarily movements. The rehabilitation and aerobic exercise can be effective in improving cardiovascular fitness and muscle function in cerebral palsy patients and increases their mechanical efficiency

The headteachers' perception of practicing of effective transformational leadership, Malaysia

The study discusses the headteachers’ perceptions of practicing of effective transformational leadership in primary schools Malaysia. This study focuses on four dimensions of transformational leadership namely a developing widely shared vision, providing intellectual stimulations, offering individualized support, and, creating a productive school culture. The study used questionnaire to collect data from a conveniently and randomly selected sample of one hundred and seventy six headteachers pursuing the special Bachelor of Educational Management program at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), University Malaysia Sabah (UMS); University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM). The result of the analysis showed that practice and effectiveness of transformational leadership were correlated positively according to respondents’ perception. For practice and effectiveness, r=.725, p<.000. This means, there was a strong association or relationship between practice and effectiveness according to respondents’ perception. In general, as it was perceived by headteachers the effectiveness of transformational leadership depends on practicing it. It means the headteachers who practiced transformational leadership frequently or moderately often perceived it as effective

A study on learning environments of elementary school students taking social studies course: Bursa sample

Bu çalışma, 04-08 Şubat 2010 tarihleri arasında İstanbul[Türkiye]’da düzenlenen 2. World Conference on Educational Sciences (WCES-2010)’da bildiri olarak sunulmuştur.Schools as educational and instructional institutions are expected to be renowable ones where motivation is increased through establishing relationships between students' interests and needs and subject matters of social studies lessons are derived from daily life and events. Finalizing any learning activity at school by realizing it as aimed and hence having students succeed can be achieved only through establishing an effective and positive learning environment. The aim of the present study is to examine the opinions of the elementary school students taking the Social Studies course on learning environments

The effect of student opinions about course content on student engagement and achievement in computer literacy courses

Bu çalışma, 04-08 Şubat 2010 tarihleri arasında İstanbul[Türkiye]’da düzenlenen 2. World Conference on Educational Sciences (WCES-2010)’da bildiri olarak sunulmuştur.The study investigates whether student opinions about course content relate to achievement and how their opinions characterize them about engagement with coursework in computer literacy classes. 212 undergraduate students' achievement, opinions about course content, and engagement with coursework were identified in fall 2007. Students were asked to list the topics they found beneficial and unbeneficial. According to the results, students who found the least favorite topic unbeneficial were less successful. Students with different opinions about the content had different engagement characteristics, too. Findings are a call for more careful consideration of student opinions for improved overall success in school

The effect of pre-service science teachers' prior experiences on their interests about chemistry experiments

Bu çalışma, 04-08 Şubat 2010 tarihleri arasında İstanbul[Türkiye]’da düzenlenen 2. World Conference on Educational Sciences (WCES-2010)’da bildiri olarak sunulmuştur.The aim of the study was to examine the learners' interests about chemistry experiments based on their previous science experiences. Sample of the study consisted of 52 first year pre-service science teachers. The data gathered through chemistry experiments which preferred by the learners and an open ended survey. Results showed that participants prepared a chemistry experiment which they found easy to implement and understandable. It was also concluded that the experiments that have been chosen by most of the students have not been tried before for reasons such as lack of equipment or teachers not demonstrating experiments at the school