EXPLORING SCIENCE EDUCATION THROUGH PERFORMANCE-ARTS LENS

Literature points out that the continuing goal of science education research is the generation of pedagogical knowledge that can be used to improve meaningful understanding of science concepts by students. In view of this goal, the study adopted a performance-arts pedagogical lens being developed for mathematics education to explore the effectiveness of this lens for science education, particularly for middle grades. The study used the four categories: (1) Surprise/New/Wonderful; (2) Sensemaking; (3) Emotional moments; and (4) Visceral sensation of the performance-arts lens to analyze YouTube videos that used a performative approach to presenting scientific concepts. Study findings showed that, while most of the videos satisfy the criteria for the categories “Surprising/New/Wonderful,” and “Visceral experiences,” the same cannot be said of the categories “Sense-making,” and “Emotional moments.” Based on these findings, some implications for science education were identified, and recommendations for future research suggested

Farmers Perception and Adaptation to Climate Change: An Estimation of Willingness to Pay

This paper assesses farmers’ perception and adaptation to climate change to enhance policy towards tackling the challenges climate change poses to the farmers in Ghana. With regards to farmers’ perception and methods of adaptation, majority of the farmers perceived increase in temperature and decrease in rainfall pattern. Farmers’ level of adaptation was found to be relatively high with majority of the farmers using changing planting dates, different crop varieties, soil conservation and water harvesting as the major adaptation measures to climate change impacts. However, access to water, high cost of adaptation, lack of information, lack of knowledge on adaptation, insecure property rights, insufficient access to inputs and lack of credits were identified as the major barriers to adaptation. The probit regression estimation results indicated that the probability of willingness to pay for climate change mitigation policies increases with age, years of education and ownership of farm land.Perception, adaptation, climate change, willingnessto pay, probit regression, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, GA, IN,

The Role of Model Complexity and the Performance of the Selection Criteria in Asymmetric Price Transmission Models

The role of model complexity in asymmetric price transmission model selection is not well understood. In order to appreciate the role of model complexity in model selection performance, this study fits alternative asymmetric price transmission models that differ in complexity to simulated data and evaluates the ability of the model selection method to recover the true model. The results of Monte Carlo experimentation suggest that in general BIC, CAIC and DIC were superior to AIC when the true data generating process was the Manning Error Correction model (MECM). However, AIC was more successful when the true model was the Complex Error Correction Model (CECM). The tendency of the complex model (CECM) to over fit the relatively simpler true asymmetric data generating process (MECM) is minimized in larger samples. The research findings demonstrate the role of model complexity in asymmetric price transmission model comparison and selection

Threshold Effects and Asymmetric Price Adjustments in the Ghanaian Plantain Market

This study investigates if there is an asymmetric relationship between Ghanaian retail and wholesale plantain prices. Using the Consistent Threshold Autoregressive Model(C-TAR), this study finds that the retail and wholesale plantain prices are threshold co integrated. The study also finds that the retail and wholesale plantain prices adjust asymmetrically for deviation from the long run equilibrium. The findings of this study further indicate that 63.2% of the positive deviations and 24.9% of the negative deviations persist to the next period. These results suggest that any price movement that squeezes the margins is transmitted more rapidly than an equivalent that stretches the margin

Accra: a city’s life and health

Africa is among the fastest urbanising areas in the world. In this post, LSE’s Ama de-Graft Aikins explores the challenges facing the multicultural global city that is Accra and ideas of how to overcome them. This is part of a recent public lecture series exploring healthy cities in collaboration with LSE Cities and LSE Health

Diabetes and depression comorbidity and socio-economic status in low and middle income countries (LMICs): a mapping of the evidence

Non-communicable diseases account for more than 50% of deaths in adults aged 15–59 years in most low income countries. Depression and diabetes carry an enormous public health burden, making the identification of risk factors for these disorders an important strategy. While socio-economic inequalities in chronic diseases and their risk factors have been studied extensively in high-income countries, very few studies have investigated social inequalities in chronic disease risk factors in low or middle-income countries. Documenting chronic disease risk factors is important for understanding disease burdens in poorer countries and for targeting specific populations for the most effective interventions. The aim of this review is to systematically map the evidence for the association of socio-economic status with diabetes and depression comorbidity in low and middle income countries. The objective is to identify whether there is any evidence on the direction of the relationship: do co-morbidities have an impact on socio-economic status or vice versa and whether the prevalence of diabetes combined with depression is associated with socio-economic status factors within the general population. To date no other study has reviewed the evidence for the extent and nature of this relationship. By systematically mapping the evidence in the broader sense we can identify the policy and interventions implications of existing research, highlight the gaps in knowledge and suggest future research. Only 14 studies were found to analyse the associations between depression and diabetes comorbidity and socio-economic status. Studies show some evidence that the occurrence of depression among people with diabetes is associated with lower socio-economic status. The small evidence base that considers diabetes and depression in low and middle income countries is out of step with the scale of the burden of disease

A THRESHOLD COINTEGRATION ANALYSIS OF ASYMMETRIC ADJUSTMENTS IN THE GHANAIAN MAIZE MARKETS

This paper analyzes the long-run equilibrium relationship between retail and wholesale Ghanaian maize prices with cointegration test assuming asymmetric adjustment. Using the Enders-Siklos asymmetric cointegration tests, it is found that the retail and wholesale prices are cointegrated with threshold adjustment. Furthermore, the adjustment process is asymmetric when the retail and wholesale prices adjust to achieve the long-term equilibrium. Finally, there is faster convergence for negative deviations from long-term equilibrium than for positive deviations. These results imply that price increases tend to persist whereas decreases tend to revert quickly towards equilibrium

The Effect of Price and Climatic Variables on Maize Supply in Ghana

This study examines the effect of previous price and climatic variables on maize supply in Ghana. For this purpose, two separate approaches are used: (i) a lag model using the OLS technique and (ii) a quantile regression approach. Results from the lag model indicates that an increase in previous year maize price and previous growing season temperature positively affect current year maize supply. However, an increase in previous growing season rainfall negatively affects current year maize supply. The quantile regression results show that maize supply responds differently to previous maize price and climatic variables across the different quantiles of crop area distribution

A BOOTSTRAP APPROACH TO TESTING FOR SYMMETRY IN THE GRANGER AND LEE ASYMMETRIC ERROR CORRECTION MODEL

The power of the Granger and Lee (1989) model of asymmetry is examined via bootstrap simulation. The results of the bootstrap simulation indicate that the Granger and Lee model has low power in rejecting the null hypothesis of symmetric adjustments. The power of the test depends on the bootstrap sample size, difference in adjustment speeds and the amount of noise in the data generating process used in the application. With a small bootstrap sample and large noise level the Granger and Lee model display low power in rejecting the null hypothesis of symmetry