A robotic telescope for university-level distance teaching

We present aspects of the deployment of a remotely operable telescope for teaching practical science to distance learning undergraduate students. We briefly describe the technical realisation of the facility, PIRATE, in Mallorca and elaborate on how it is embedded in the Open University curriculum. The PIRATE teaching activities were studied as part of a wider research project into the importance of realism, sociability and metafunctionality for the effectiveness of virtual and remote laboratories in teaching practical science. We find that students accept virtual experiments (e.g. a telescope simulator) when they deliver genuine, "messy" data, clarify how they differ from a realistic portrayal, and are flagged as training tools. A robotic telescope is accepted in place of on-site practical work when realistic activities are included, the internet connection is stable, and when there is at least one live video feed. The robotic telescope activity should include group work and facilitate social modes of learning. Virtual experiments, though normally considered as asynchronous tools, should also include social interaction. To improve student engagement and learning outcomes a greater situational awareness for the robotic telescope setting should be devised. We conclude this report with a short account of the current status of PIRATE after its relocation from Mallorca to Tenerife and its integration into the OpenScience Observatories

Shareholders as Stakeholders: A Future Paradigm for Institutional Activism in Japan

Over the last quarter century, the landscape of Japanese corporate governance has been overhauled by a combination of domestic reform, financial collapse, and foreign influence. Amidst these changes, institutional investors have claimed a growing role within Japanese listed companies, not only as monitors of management but as crucial agents for corporate governance reform. In this new role, institutional investors have adopted a diverse array of strategies and tactics for their dealings with management. This paper explores the future contours of Japanese shareholder activism against the backdrop of Japan’s twenty-first century corporate evolution. In particular, it analyzes how Japan’s modern corporate governance regime alters the behavior of institutional investors, and in turn the nature of their engagements with management of Japanese companies. Due to recent changes in Japanese law, Japan’s current governance standards limit the effectiveness of “aggressive” institutional activists. Rather than encourage contentious, highly public battles between adversarial activists and target companies, Japan’s current regime limits the opportunities for investment available to aggressive institutional investors by encouraging constructive engagement between investors and management. Although the quest for profits will continue to influence the behavior of investors and managers, Japan’s current regime invites institutions to act not only as profit-seeking shareholders, but also as stakeholders invested in the long-term financial stability of listed companies

Reflections on the Practicality of Good Theory

Jennifer Kennison noticed something different about the way her high school chemistry students were working together during Complex Instruction rotation. Her attention to the change in her students’ learning caused me to think about how Elizabeth Cohen’s often referenced Kurt Lewin’s comment “There is nothing so practical as a good theory.” As a result, I decided to ask two students who were teaching CI rotations if they would be interested in working together on a conference presentation that looked at their work through the eyes of Lewin’s dictum. They would take on responsibility for documenting and writing about their CI units and I, their advisor, would take on Lewin. Both Jennifer, an experienced teacher and MEd. candidate, and Bethany Brodeur, a senior elementary education major, agreed to this task. The resulting papers formed the core of our presentation at the 2004 conference of the New England Educational Research Organization. Together, they form a short volume that integrates learning about CI with the practical implications of implementation of CI at the elementary and secondary levels. This paper reports my observations of their work confirming Lewin’s dictum and Cohen’s wisdom. C

Delivering authentic online practical science teaching – geoscience perspectives from the OpenScience Laboratory

Teaching practical science at a distance is challenging – how do you give students studying online a meaningful practical experience? In July 2013, the Open University (OU) launched the Wolfson OpenScience Laboratory (OSL) to deliver a wide a range of authentic practical science activities for their distance learning undergraduates. Prompted by the recognition that modern science is increasingly conducted via a computer screen (e.g. remote sensing, Martian fieldwork), the OSL presents a variety of opportunities for students to observe, investigate, gather and analyse data. The rationale is to foster problem-based, active learning, which has been proven effective by numerous studies. Simulation is kept to a minimum; most activities either generate or use real data, with authentic anomalies and ‘noise’ included – an aspect valued by the students. Geoscience is rooted in raw data collected during practical investigations, notably fieldwork. A key skill is observation, so the OSL includes digital collections of minerals, rocks and fossils, as zoomable, high resolution images and 360° videos for the 3D perspective. The Virtual Microscope enables petrographic examination of thin sections using high-quality zoomable images, in both plane- and cross polarised light, with rotation of the sample for certain points of interest. There is a virtual field trip based in a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE), as well as an exercise on maps and landforms. Developed primarily for OU undergraduates, many of the assets in the OSL are being made more openly accessible, with free registration. We are developing partnerships with other universities and schools, both as users and contributors to further assets (e.g. thin section collections). We have also gathered feedback from several surveys of OU undergraduates, as well as external users. Feedback on the pedagogical aspects of the OSL is broadly positive, with some assets (e.g. the virtual microscope) garnering particular praise; respondents value the potential for interaction with experts but also desire an explicit connection to the materials’ original field context. However, technological issues at times present a barrier to learning – perhaps reflecting the high diversity of OU cohorts, especially in terms of their individual hardware, software and IT skills. Some students resent the time investment required to master specialised scientific software, though it could be argued that acquiring such IT skills is an essential part of practising modern science

Food habits and dietary variability of pelagic nekton off Oregon and Washington, 1979-1984

The food habits of 20 species of pelagic nekton were investigated from collections made with small-mesh purse seines from 1979-84 off Washington and Oregon. Four species (spiny dogfish, Squalus acanthias; soupfin shark, Galeorhinus zyopterus; blue shark, Prionace glauca; and cutthroat trout, Salmo clarki) were mainly piscivorous. Six species (coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch; chinook salmon, O. tshawytscha; black rockfish, Sebastes melanops; yellowtail rockfish, S. f1avidus; sablefish, Anoplopoma fimbria; and jack mackerel, Trachurus symmetricus) consumed both nektonic and planktonic organisms. The remaining species (market squid, Loligo opalescens; American shad, Alosa sapidissima; Pacific herring, Clupea harengus pallasi; northern anchovy, Engraulis mordax; pink salmon, O. gorbuscha; surf smelt, Hypomesus pretiosus; Pacific hake, Merluccius productus; Pacific saury, Cololabis saira; Pacific mackerel, Scomber japonicus; and medusafish, Icichthys lockingtom) were primarily planktonic feeders. There were substantial interannual, seasonal, and geographic variations in the diets of several species due primarily to changes in prey availability. Juvenile salmonids were not commonly consumed by this assemblage of fishes (PDF file contains 36 pages.

Diel variation in vertical distribution of an offshore ichthyoplankton community off the Oregon coast

We examined the diel ver-tical distribution, concentration, and community structure of ichthyoplank-ton from a single station 69 km off the central Oregon coast in the northeast Pacific Ocean. The 74 depth-stratified samples yielded 1571 fish larvae from 20 taxa, representing 11 families, and 128 fish eggs from 11 taxa within nine families. Dominant larval taxa were Sebastes spp. (rockfishes), Stenobra-chius leucopsarus (northern lampfish), Tarletonbeania crenularis (blue lan-ternfish), and Lyopsetta exilis (slender sole), and the dominant egg taxa were Sardinops sagax (Pacific sardine), Icichthys lockingtoni (medusafish), and Chauliodus macouni (Pacific viperfish). Larval concentrations generally increased from the surface to 50 m, then decreased with depth. Larval concentrations were higher at night than during the day, and there was evidence of larval diel vertical migration. Depth stratum was the most important factor explaining variability in larval and egg concentrations