The Effect of an Instructional Program Based on Independent Investigation Skills on Practical Work Performance in Biology among 1st Scientific Secondary Students in Jordan أثر برنامج تدريسي قائم على مهارات البحث المستقل في الأداء العملي في مادة العلوم الحياتية لدى طلاب الصف الأول الثانوي العلمي في الأردن

Abstract: This study aimed to investigate the effect of an instructional program based on independent investigation skills on practical performance in biology among first scientific secondary students in Jordan. The study sample consisted of (51) students, from first scientific secondary students, selected from a public school in Irbid directorate of education. The study sample assigned randomly into two groups: experimental group of (26) students who studied through an instructional program based on independent investigation skills, and the control group of (25) students, who studied through using conventional method. In order to provide answers to the study question, the researchers used practical performance scale; the validity and reliability of the instrument were verified. The findings of the study shows statistical significant differences in the practical performance in biology experimental group. ملخص: هدفت هذه الدراسة إلى استقصاء أثر برنامج تدريسي قائم على مهارات البحث المستقل في الأداء العملي في مادة العلوم الحياتية لدى طلاب الصف الأول الثانوي العلمي في الأردن, تكونت عينة الدراسة من (51) طالباً من طلاب الصف الأول الثانوي العلمي تم اختيارهم بطريقة قصدية من مدرسة حكومية في مديرية التربية والتعليم للواء قصبة إربد, وزعت عشوائياً إلى مجموعتين: إحداهما تجريبية (26) طالباً, درست من خلال البرنامج التدريسي القائم على مهارات البحث المستقل, والأخرى ضابطة (25) طالباً, درست بالطريقة الاعتيادية. ولتحقيق أهداف الدراسة قام الباحثان ببناء مقياس الأداء العملي, تم التحقق من صدقه وثباته. وأظهرت نتائج الدراسة وجود فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية في الأداء العملي في مادة العلوم الحياتية تعزى للبرنامج التدريسي, ولصالح المجموعة التجريبية

Perceiving dynamic emotions expressed simultaneously in the face and body minimizes perceptual differences between young and older adults

It is commonly argued that older adults show difficulties in standardized tasks of emotional expression perception, yet most previous works relied on classic sets of static, decontextualized, and stereotypical facial expressions. In real-life, facial expressions are dynamic and embedded in a rich context, two key factors that may aid emotion perception. Specifically, body language provides important affective cues that may disambiguate facial movements

Overwintering of Ampelomyces mycoparasites on apple trees and other plants infected with powdery mildews

Apple shoots and aerial parts of 13 other plant species infected with powdery mildews during the previous season were collected in late winter and early spring between 1998 and 2003 at a total of 34 sample sites in Hungary. Samples were examined for the presence of overwintering structures of Ampelomyces, common mycoparasites of powdery mildews. Pycnidia and resting hyphae resembling those of Ampelomyces were found on six plant species, including apple. Their viability and subsequent mycoparasitic activity of the hyphae emerging from the overwintered fungal structures were studied in vitro to determine whether they can serve as sources of primary inocula of Ampelomyces in the spring. Overwintered pycnidia of Ampelomyces collected in the spring, and produced in both the ascomata and the conidiophores of powdery mildews during the previous season, initiated the life cycle of these mycoparasites when placed close to fresh powdery mildew colonies in vitro. Similarly, thick-walled resting hyphae, found in the dried powdery mildew mycelia which covered the overwintered aerial parts of the host plants, also germinated and gave rise to new intracellular pycnidia of Ampelomyces when powdery mildew colonies were inoculated with them in vitro. On apple trees, Ampelomyces mycoparasites overwintered as resting hyphae in the dried powdery mildew mycelia covering the shoots and in the parasitized ascomata of Podosphaera leucotricha on the bark and the scales of the buds. Approximately 31% of the field samples collected from apple trees in spring between 1998 and 2003 contained overwintered structures of Ampelomyces. Artificial bursting of apple buds in the laboratory showed that both P. leucotricha and Ampelomyces start their life cycle during or soon after bud burst, but Ampelomyces can only slowly follow the spread of its mycohost on infected leaves. Most probably, the mycoparasites did not overwinter in the dormant hyphae of P. leucotricha in the buds, but only on the bark and the bud scales, as their hyphae were not found in the young hyphae of apple powdery mildew that appeared on the leaf tissues during bud burst. This study demonstrated that Ampelomyces mycoparasites can survive the winter in the field as pycnidia and as resting hyphae in the dried mycelia of their mycohosts