Upper primary school students’ scientific and socio-scientific thinking: A case study investigating epistemic challenges in year-six inquiry science lessons

Science education in schools has moved from the learning of scientific facts to investigating the impact that science has on students’ lives; providing students with an understanding of how they relate to, and affect, their environment. This shift is evident in many countries’ curricula (e.g. Australian National Curriculum). One example of this is the requirement for students to consider issues related to ‘sustainability’; to consider scientific facts and to consider themselves as both part of the problem and part of the solution. Socio-scientific issues are ill-structured; that is, they may have many viable alternative solutions and it can be difficult to know when a satisfactory solution has been reached. Solving socio-scientific problems involves the use of knowledge learnt in different contexts, including scientific knowledge and experiential knowledge. This study seeks to gain a better understanding of how and when year 6 primary school students (aged 10 to 12 years) activate prior knowledge while considering sustainability issues. The study sought to vary the context in which students were set sustainability problems. Using a ‘knowledge in pieces’ theoretical framework, which attunes to changes in context, the study investigates conditions that may promote appropriate knowledge activations. Based on a case study methodology, the research employs epistemic interviewing techniques coupled with close participant observations to gain a better, more nuanced understanding of the processes involved when year-six primary school students consider issues about sustainability. The thesis reports on three empirical episodes during which different aspects of context were varied; the problem context, the knowledge context and the physical context. Data was analysed using inductive thematic analysis and the results were considered alongside existing pedagogical approaches. The results showed that the variation of all three contextual elements led to variations in the manner in which the students solved the sustainability problems. It was observed that epistemic prompts helped the participants to make progress towards viable solutions. These epistemic prompts came from the facilitator of learning, from other students, and from the activities in which the students were engaged. When embarking on a learning program that involves socio-scientific issues, facilitators of learning can benefit from recognising that the nature of these issues will require students to integrate both taught knowledge and everyday experiences. Students may activate conflicting knowledge resources that lead to confusing results. It is at these points that epistemic challenges (challenging the students to consider their knowledge and to justify that knowledge) can prove beneficial in helping the students sort out their own solutions to these complex issues

A coarse representation of frames oriented video coding by leveraging cuboidal partitioning of image data

Video coding algorithms attempt to minimize the significant commonality that exists within a video sequence. Each new video coding standard contains tools that can perform this task more efficiently compared to its predecessors. In this work, we form a coarse representation of the current frame by minimizing commonality within that frame while preserving important structural properties of the frame. The building blocks of this coarse representation are rectangular regions called cuboids, which are computationally simple and has a compact description. Then we propose to employ the coarse frame as an additional source for predictive coding of the current frame. Experimental results show an improvement in bit rate savings over a reference codec for HEVC, with minor increase in the codec computational complexity. © 2020 IEEE

Could the Last Interglacial Constrain Projections of Future Antarctic Ice Mass Loss and Sea‐Level Rise?

Previous studies have interpreted Last Interglacial (LIG; ∼129–116 ka) sea-level estimates in multiple different ways to calibrate projections of future Antarctic ice-sheet (AIS) mass loss and associated sea-level rise. This study systematically explores the extent to which LIG constraints could inform future Antarctic contributions to sea-level rise. We develop a Gaussian process emulator of an ice-sheet model to produce continuous probabilistic projections of Antarctic sea-level contributions over the LIG and a future high-emissions scenario. We use a Bayesian approach conditioning emulator projections on a set of LIG constraints to find associated likelihoods of model parameterizations. LIG estimates inform both the probability of past and future ice-sheet instabilities and projections of future sea-level rise through 2150. Although best-available LIG estimates do not meaningfully constrain Antarctic mass loss projections or physical processes until 2060, they become increasingly informative over the next 130 years. Uncertainties of up to 50 cm remain in future projections even if LIG Antarctic mass loss is precisely known (±5 cm), indicating that there is a limit to how informative the LIG could be for ice-sheet model future projections. The efficacy of LIG constraints on Antarctic mass loss also depends on assumptions about the Greenland ice sheet and LIG sea-level chronology. However, improved field measurements and understanding of LIG sea levels still have potential to improve future sea-level projections, highlighting the importance of continued observational efforts

Could the Last Interglacial Constrain Projections of Future Antartic Ice Mass Loss and Sea-Level Rise?

Previous studies have interpreted Last Interglacial (LIG; ∼129–116 ka) sea‐level estimates in multiple different ways to calibrate projections of future Antarctic ice‐sheet (AIS) mass loss and associated sea‐level rise. This study systematically explores the extent to which LIG constraints could inform future Antarctic contributions to sea‐level rise. We develop a Gaussian process emulator of an ice‐sheet model to produce continuous probabilistic projections of Antarctic sea‐level contributions over the LIG and a future high‐emissions scenario. We use a Bayesian approach conditioning emulator projections on a set of LIG constraints to find associated likelihoods of model parameterizations. LIG estimates inform both the probability of past and future ice‐sheet instabilities and projections of future sea‐level rise through 2150. Although best‐available LIG estimates do not meaningfully constrain Antarctic mass loss projections or physical processes until 2060, they become increasingly informative over the next 130 years. Uncertainties of up to 50 cm remain in future projections even if LIG Antarctic mass loss is precisely known (±5 cm), indicating that there is a limit to how informative the LIG could be for ice‐sheet model future projections. The efficacy of LIG constraints on Antarctic mass loss also depends on assumptions about the Greenland ice sheet and LIG sea‐level chronology. However, improved field measurements and understanding of LIG sea levels still have potential to improve future sea‐level projections, highlighting the importance of continued observational efforts

A systematic review of practitioner enquiry into adverse childhood experiences in primary care

This article presents the findings of a systematic review undertaken to assess adverse childhood experiences (ACE) enquiry among practitioners of primary care for children’s services. Literature was eligible for inclusion if it included the primary care practitioner experience of ACE enquiry, was published from 1998–2021 and was in English. The most frequently cited themes across all included studies were time and training, with time the most commonly cited barrier. The findings indicate that aspects of the health visitor service model include facilitators to integrate ACE enquiry into routine health visitor practice, although the research highlights barriers of time and resources. Further research is required to expand the limited evidence base for incorporating ACE enquiry into health visitor practice in the UK and to similar models of care internationally

Competing Conservation Objectives for Predators and Prey: Estimating Killer Whale Prey Requirements for Chinook Salmon

Ecosystem-based management (EBM) of marine resources attempts to conserve interacting species. In contrast to single-species fisheries management, EBM aims to identify and resolve conflicting objectives for different species. Such a conflict may be emerging in the northeastern Pacific for southern resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) and their primary prey, Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). Both species have at-risk conservation status and transboundary (Canada–US) ranges. We modeled individual killer whale prey requirements from feeding and growth records of captive killer whales and morphometric data from historic live-capture fishery and whaling records worldwide. The models, combined with caloric value of salmon, and demographic and diet data for wild killer whales, allow us to predict salmon quantities needed to maintain and recover this killer whale population, which numbered 87 individuals in 2009. Our analyses provide new information on cost of lactation and new parameter estimates for other killer whale populations globally. Prey requirements of southern resident killer whales are difficult to reconcile with fisheries and conservation objectives for Chinook salmon, because the number of fish required is large relative to annual returns and fishery catches. For instance, a U.S. recovery goal (2.3% annual population growth of killer whales over 28 years) implies a 75% increase in energetic requirements. Reducing salmon fisheries may serve as a temporary mitigation measure to allow time for management actions to improve salmon productivity to take effect. As ecosystem-based fishery management becomes more prevalent, trade-offs between conservation objectives for predators and prey will become increasingly necessary. Our approach offers scenarios to compare relative influence of various sources of uncertainty on the resulting consumption estimates to prioritise future research efforts, and a general approach for assessing the extent of conflict between conservation objectives for threatened or protected wildlife where the interaction between affected species can be quantified

EIT of the Human Body with Optimal Current Patterns and Skin-Electrode Impedance Compensation

Following the lead of the EIT research group at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, we have designed and implemented a system comprising 32 independent current sources, in which it is possible to apply current patterns optimizing distinguishability. One potential technical problem is that we are measuring voltages on current-carrying electrodes, giving some sensitivity to time varying skinelectrode impedances. We demonstrate here an algorithm to estimate simultaneously changes in the medium and timevarying skin-electrode impedances

A High Precision Parallel Current Drive Experimental EIT System

Our parallel current drive EIT architecture can simultaneously drive 32 independent high impedance current sources and measure 32 independent precision voltage channels. Coherent modulation and demodulation is digitally implemented using field programmable gate arrays. High accuracy and precision is achieved using custom analog circuits containing modified Howland current sources coupled to negative impedance converters