Regular Lecture Quizzes Scores as Predictors of Final Examination Performance: A Test of Hypothesis Using Logistic Regression Analysis

Student academic success in school demands acquisition of specific skill sets that emphasize self-assessment, monitoring, adjustment, self-control, and motivation; the courage and ability to adopt efficient learning strategies; and resiliency in case of academic difficulties. As hypothesized, data from the present study demonstrates that student performance in routine lecture quizzes can predict performance in the final examination and successfully completing a course. Course data accumulated from several courses taught by the same instructor in the last five years (n=1294) were used in this analysis. The results generally indicate that: 1) performance in the quizzes is positively correlated with performance in the final examination; 2) students who attain a score of 70% or more in the quizzes are nine times as likely to pass the final examination with the same or higher score compared to those who do not. However, achieving better grades of a high “B” and above requires lecture quiz scores 80% and above; and 3) students attaining passing grades of 90% and over in the quizzes are three times as likely to pass the final examination with a similar or higher score; while students who attain a failing grade of 59% or less in the quizzes are twenty five times as likely to fail the final examination compared to those who passed. These results emphasize the critical role played by educators in the adoption of frequent course assessments as an integral part of instruction; the importance of educator engagement in providing routine formative feedback to students; the importance of students’ self-evaluation and staying on track with course material as the course progresses; and the need for students to be proactive in seeking help early in the semester to understand course content and improve their test taking skills

Big issues, bigger solutions: are bottom lines enough?

The life-supporting capacity of New Zealand’s environments has been much reduced and the pace of degradation shows little sign of abating (Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand, 2015). Few countries are experiencing greater biodiversity loss, more rapid freshwater deterioration or greater per capita increases in greenhouse gas emissions (Myers et al., 2013; Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, 2016; Gluckman, 2017). The climate is changing fast and it is already clear that a number of communities cannot be sustained for more than another decade or two in their current locations

Enhancing the tax system to halt the decline of nature in New Zealand

New Zealand is world-renowned for its nature – its lush forests, spectacular mountain landscapes, wild and scenic rivers, beautiful coastlines and extraordinary biodiversity.  This natural heritage is the foundation of New Zealand’s identity and its branding, and the premier attraction for the tourism industry. It provides habitable environments, contributes to economic production and assimilates wastes, and is an important source of great enjoyment, health and well-being (Roberts et al., 2015). Nature contributes to the success of the nation’s fishing, farming, forestry and tourism industries, which provide about 52% of national export income (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, 2013). But these values and the well-being and prosperity they enable are being diminished and degraded  at an alarming rate.&nbsp

Compensating for ecological harm - the state of play in New Zealand

Ecological compensation involves measures to create positive conservation outcomes intended to offset the residual impacts of development (e.g. restoration planting, pest control). Rarely, however, have the exchanges arranged been subject to objective assessment. Here we assess 110 cases of ecological compensation involving diverse New Zealand ecosystems on the basis of how they addressed the six key implementation issues identified by McKenney and Kiesecker (2010: Environmental Management 45: 165–176): equivalence, location (i.e. spatial proximity), additionality, timing, duration and compliance, and currencies. Our research showed that habitat enhancement and protection is the most common form of ecological compensation, and that 72 of 110 case studies undertook compensation on the same site or immediately adjacent. The great majority (94.5%) of compensation was required by condition of resource consent to be demonstrated after the development had proceeded, with an average of 11.3 years of continuing management or monitoring required. The most common form of security other than a consent condition was a covenant (29 of 110 cases) followed by a resource management bond (25). We also found that in 97 cases there was no objective quantification of the compensation needed to make up for impact losses, with the requirements being devised by negotiation between parties with the assistance of expert input. We recognise the potential of ecological compensation as a policy tool, but recommend that significant improvements are made to its implementation to enhance ecological outcomes

Size is relative : use of relational concepts by wild hummingbirds

This work was supported by the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (S.D.H.), the University of Lethbridge and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (RGPIN 121496–2003; T.A.H.).Rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) will readily learn the location and the colour of rewarded flowers within their territory. But if these birds could apply a relational concept such as ‘the larger flowers have more nectar’, they could forego learning the locations of hundreds of individual flowers. Here, we investigated whether wild male territorial rufous hummingbirds might use ‘larger than’ and ‘smaller than’ relational rules and apply them to flowers of different sizes. Subjects were trained to feed consistently from one of two flowers. Although the flowers differed only in size, the reward was always contained in the same-size flower. The birds were then tested on a choice of two empty flowers: one of the familiar size and the other a novel size. Hummingbirds applied relational rules by choosing the flower that was of the correct relational size rather than visiting the flower of the size rewarded during training. The choices made by the hummingbirds were not consistent with alternative mechanisms such as peak shift or associative learning. We suggest that while hummingbirds are very good at remembering the spatial locations of rewarding flowers, they would be able to use relative rules when foraging in new and changing environments.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Estimating on the fly : the approximate number system in rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus)

Funding: Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.When presented with resources that differ in quantity, many animals use a numerosity system to discriminate between them. One taxonomically widespread system is the approximate number system. This is a numerosity system that allows the rapid evaluation of the number of objects in a group and which is regulated by Weber’s Law. Here we investigated whether wild, free-living rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) possess an approximate number system. The hummingbirds were presented with two experiments. In the first we investigated whether hummingbirds spontaneously chose an array containing more flowers than an alternate array. In the second we asked whether the hummingbirds could learn to use numerosity as a cue to which of two arrays contained the better reward. The birds did not spontaneously prefer an array containing more flowers. After minimal training, however, they learned to choose the more numerous array and could differentiate between arrays of five and seven flowers. These data support the presence of an approximate number system in the rufous hummingbird. It seems plausible that having such a system would enable much more efficient foraging in this species.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Direct Measurement of the Radius and Density of the Transiting Exoplanet HD 189733B with the CHARA Array

We have measured the angular diameter of the transiting extrasolar planet host star HD 189733 using the CHARA O/IR interferometric array. Combining our new angular diameter of 0.377+/-0.024 mas with the Hipparcos parallax leads to a linear radius for the host star of 0.779+/-0.052 Rsol and a radius for the planet of 1.19+/-0.08 RJup. Adopting the mass of the planet as derived by its discoverers, we derive a mean density of the planet of 0.91+/-0.18 g cm-3. This is the first determination of the diameter of an extrasolar planet through purely direct means.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Astrophysical Journal Letter

Ruling Out Possible Secondary Stars to Exoplanet Host Stars Using the CHARA Array

Of the over 450 exoplanets known to date, more than 420 of them have been discovered using radial velocity studies, a method that tells nothing about the inclination of the planet's orbit. Because it is more likely that the companion is a planetary-mass object in a moderate- to high-inclination orbit than a low-mass stellar object in a nearly face-on orbit, the secondary bodies are presumed to be planets. Interferometric observations allow us to inspect the angular diameter fit residuals to calibrated visibilities in order to rule out the possibility of a low-mass stellar companion in a very low-inclination orbit. We used the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) Array interferometer to observe 20 exoplanet host stars and considered five potential secondary spectral types: G5 V, K0 V, K5 V, M0 V, and M5 V. If a secondary star is present and is sufficiently bright, the effects of the added light will appear in interferometric observations where the planet will not. All secondary types could be eliminated from consideration for 7 host stars and no secondary stars of any spectral type could be ruled out for 7 more. The remaining 6 host stars showed a range of possible secondary types.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa