Quizzing and Restudy Dynamics in a TST Paradigm: The (Null) Effect of Feedback and the (Significant) Effects of Metacognition

In authentic educational settings, using formative quizzes or tests can improve students’ memory by direct strengthening of the memory trace. There are other indirect effects of testing, however, such as improved understanding of what one does and does not know. That is, quizzes can benefit students’ metacognitive awareness, which may in turn affect their restudy behaviors. We tested whether different types of feedback (correct/incorrect, correct answer, or minimal) differentially affected students’ metacognition, changed their restudy behaviors, and influenced final test performance. We found no effect of feedback type, but were able to better understand quizzing and restudy dynamics in an authentic educational scenario. For example, we show that even with minimal feedback, participants had insight into which concepts they answered incorrectly, because they later chose to restudy those concepts. Additionally, they were especially likely to restudy high-confidence errors, which were the most discrepant from expected performance. Finally, these behaviors appear to be adaptive, in that the items they chose to restudy were more likely to be answered correctly on the final test

A Comparison of Continuously Controlled and Controlled K-theory

We define an unreduced version of the e-controlled lower $K$-theoretic groups of Ranicki and Yamasaki, and Quinn. We show that the reduced versions of our groups coincide (in the inverse limit and its first derived, $\lim^1$) with those of Ranicki and Yamasaki. We also relate the controlled groups to the continuously controlled groups of Anderson and Munkholm, and to the Quinn homology groups of Quinn

A study of the agricultural education majors who graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Agraculture from the fall quarter, 1949, through the spring quarter, 1955

A major objective of the Agricultural Education Department at The University of Tennessee is to train teachers of vocational agriculture. This study will provide pertinent data for the evaluation and improvement of the Agricultural Education Curriculum and serve as a historical document of the Department. It will be of value to teachers and administrators in counseling students who are interested in becoming teachers of vocational agriculture. It will serve as a guide for similar studies in other departments of the College of Agriculture. The study will be of value to the writer as preparation for better work in the field of vocational agriculture

Grand narratives then and now: can we still conceptualise history?

Reading the Communist Manifesto today, it is impossible not to be struck by the confidence with which it conceptualises history. The positive energy of this bold grand narrative stands in such stark contrast to the negative and jaded mentality of our times, which conceives of grand narratives only to tell us that there can be none. Such talk as there is of history today is more likely to be of "the end of history". There are three senses in which references to the end of history feature in contemporary debates: apocalyptic prediction, postmodernist pronouncement and capitalist triumphalism. This paper addresses the crisis of historicity in our time in relation to these positions and asks what is it about our age that produces them. It explores the widespread rejection of grand narratives, as well as grand narratives, which nevertheless persist, implicit and explicit, right and left. It looks at the position of marxism in the 1990s, counterposing it to postmarxism and postmodernism in particular on the question of grand narratives. It calls for resistance to the detotalising pressures of the age and revival of a totalising (as opposed to totalised) philosophy of history

Inorganic nitrogen availability alters Eucalyptus grandis receptivity to the ectomycorrhizal fungus Pisolithus albus but not symbiotic nitrogen transfer.

Forest trees are able to thrive in nutrient-poor soils in part because they obtain growth-limiting nutrients, especially nitrogen (N), through mutualistic symbiosis with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi. Addition of inorganic N into these soils is known to disrupt this mutualism and reduce the diversity of ECM fungi. Despite its ecological impact, the mechanisms governing the observed effects of elevated inorganic N on mycorrhizal communities remain unknown. We address this by using a compartmentalized in vitro system to independently alter nutrients to each symbiont. Using stable isotopes, we traced the nutrient flux under different nutrient regimes between Eucalyptus grandis and its ectomycorrhizal symbiont, Pisolithus albus. We demonstrate that giving E. grandis independent access to N causes a significant reduction in root colonization by P. albus. Transcriptional analysis suggests that the observed reduction in colonization may be caused, in part, by altered transcription of microbe perception genes and defence genes. We show that delivery of N to host leaves is not increased by host nutrient deficiency but by fungal nutrient availability instead. Overall, this advances our understanding of the effects of N fertilization on ECM fungi and the factors governing nutrient transfer in the E. grandis-P. microcarpus interaction

Using a community of practice to evaluate falls prevention activity in a residential aged care organisation: a clinical audit

Objective This study evaluates whether a community of practice (CoP) could conduct a falls prevention clinical audit and identify gaps in falls prevention practice requiring action. Methods Cross-sectional falls prevention clinical audits were conducted in 13 residential aged care (RAC) sites of a not-for-profit organisation providing care to a total of 779 residents. The audits were led by an operationalised CoP assisted by site clinical staff. A CoP is a group of people with a shared interest who get together to innovate for change. The CoP was made up of self-nominated staff representing all RAC sites and comprised of staff from various disciplines with a shared interest in falls prevention. Results All 13 (100%) sites completed the audit. CoP conduct of the audit met identified criteria for an effective clinical audit. The priorities for improvement were identified as increasing the proportion of residents receiving vitamin D supplementation (mean 41.5%, s.d. 23.7) and development of mandatory falls prevention education for staff and a falls prevention policy, as neither was in place at any site. CoP actions undertaken included a letter to visiting GPs requesting support for vitamin D prescription, surveys of care staff and residents to inform falls education development, defining falls and writing a falls prevention policy. Conclusion A CoP was able to effectively conduct an evidence-based falls prevention activity audit and identify gaps in practice. CoP members were well positioned, as site staff, to overcome barriers and facilitate action in falls prevention practice