385 research outputs found
Development and evaluation of an intervention to improve further education students' understanding of higher education assessment criteria: three studies
Three studies about helping Further Education students prepare for study at universityThis paper reports three studies about preparing Further Education (FE) students for the transition to Higher Education (HE) by improving their understanding of HE assessment criteria. In study 1, students and tutors in both FE and HE were interviewed for a qualitative analysis of their understandings and expectations about assessment criteria. In study 2, students in FE and HE completed questionnaires measuring self-rated understanding and ability about assessment criteria, and beliefs about essay writing. Studies 1 and 2 both showed that FE students were more confident than HE students about their understanding and ability in relation to assessment criteria, but FE studentsâ understandings suggested more surface approaches to learning and more naĂŻve epistemological beliefs. In study 3, a workshop intervention to improve FE studentsâ understandings of HE assessment criteria was evaluated in a comparative longitudinal trial. The intervention reduced FE studentsâ self-rated understanding and ability, and promoted more sophisticated beliefs about essay writing, by comparison with students who received standard tuition. We concluded that interventions to develop more realistic understandings of what is required in academic writing could be used to prepare FE students more effectively for the transition to HE
Holographic Technidilaton and LHC searches
We analyze in detail the phenomenology of a model of dynamical electroweak
symmetry breaking inspired by walking technicolor, by using the techniques of
the bottom-up approach to holography. The model admits a light composite scalar
state, the dilaton, in the spectrum. We focus on regions of parameter space for
which the mass of such dilaton is 125 GeV, and for which the bounds on the
precision electroweak parameter S are satisfied. This requires that the
next-to-lightest composite state is the techni-rho meson, with a mass larger
than 2.3 TeV. We compute the couplings controlling the decay rates of the
dilaton to two photons and to two (real or virtual) Z and W bosons. For generic
choices of the parameters, we find a suppression of the decay into heavy gauge
bosons, in respect to the analog decay of the standard-model Higgs. We find a
dramatic effect on the decay into photons, which can be both strongly
suppressed or strongly enhanced, the latter case corresponding to the large-N
regime of the dual theory. There is a correlation between this decay rate of
the dilaton into photons and the mass splitting between the techni-rho meson
and its axial-vector partner: if the decay is enhanced in respect to the
standard-model case, then the heavy spin-1 resonances are nearly degenerate in
mass, otherwise their separation in mass is comparable to the mass scale
itself.Comment: Very minor typos corrected. References adde
Practice implications of phenomenological research with substance-using parents whose children were subject to social care interventions
Purpose: This article reflects on ways that the experiences of vulnerable users of drug and alcohol services can inform social work practice and policy to improve treatment engagement and mitigate negative responses to interventions.
Methodology: The research used semi-structured interviews and photovoice in an interpretative phenomenological analysis of the experiences of people in treatment for drug or alcohol problems whose child was the subject of a Child Protection or Child in Need order. Findings: The research gave insights into participantsâ experiences of loss of control, unfairness, and stigma. Participants described how they felt powerless in the social services system and were afraid to be open and honest with practitioners for fear of having their children removed. Practice implications: The research highlighted the need for more training and professional development for social work practitioners to address power imbalance issues, and the need to promote non-threatening professional practice that removes penalties for disclosure of substance use, enabling substance users who are parents to be more honest about their drug use. Social implications: The research showed the value of phenomenological methods for investigating sensitive issues with vulnerable users of treatment services in a way that can inform policy and practice. Originality: This article explores ways that phenomenological research with vulnerable, hard-to-reach participants can produce insights about the potential benefits of social work practice that is non-threatening and encourages greater openness and honesty among substance users who are parents
Search for long-lived states in antiprotonic lithium
The spectrum of the (L_i^3 + p-bar + 2e) four-body system was calculated in
an adiabatic approach. The two-electron energies were approximated by a sum of
two single-electron effective charge two-center energies as suggested in [6].
While the structure of the spectrum does not exclude the existence of
long-lived states, their experimental observability is still to be clarified
Calmer, Kinder, Wiser: A Novel Threefold Categorization for Mindfulness-Based Interventions
Mindfulness is said to be a connecting thread between an ancient philosophy on the one hand and a contemporary psychological practice on the other. However, some contemporary mindfulness practices have arguably become so disconnected from their roots in Buddhist ethics and wisdom principles that the fundamental essence of the practice is no longer recognisable. It appears that when mindfulness is disconnected from its Buddhist ethical and wisdom-based foundations, being applied as a purely concentrative practice, it can yield adverse effects (such as decreased prosocial behaviour, increased self-centredness, and reduced psychological well-being) for individuals with low-trait empathy or narcissistic traits. Consequently, we propose a novel threefold categorization that aims to build bridges between contemporary Western and traditional Buddhist approaches to mindfulness. This categorization, rooted in the traditional âthree trainingsâ or âtriĆikáčŁÄâ Buddhist principle, distinguishes between the mindfulness practices incorporated within mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), according to whether they primarily employ concentration-, ethics-, or wisdom-based contemplative techniques. We explicate how this more nuanced categorization provides a greater understanding of how varied mindfulness practices could influence outcomes associated with an individualâs prosocial behaviour, social and emotional well-being, and mental health. Additionally, we highlight the potential of greater research into MBIs that are structured around the Mindfulness of Breathing or the ÄnÄpÄnasati Sutta progression of concentration-based to ethics-based and finally to wisdom-based practices, particularly in terms of their utility to facilitate self-transcendent experiences
Bringing the Inside Out and the Outside in: The Therapeutic Relationship in Compassion Focused Therapy Chairwork
Chairwork is a central component in Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT). Despite its importance, there has been no prior research on the relational factors underpinning the application of chairwork in CFT. There is also a general paucity of research on the role of the therapeutic relationship in chairwork across modalities. This paper analyses data from interviews with 21 clients following a CFT chairwork intervention to ascertain how relational factors influenced their experience of this method. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) found three main themes: 1) direction and coaching during enactment; 2) externalisation: bringing the inside out and outside in; 3) regulation and trust: the relational requirements to âlet goâ. The implications of these findings, both for the delivery and training of chairwork, are then discussed in the context of CFT
In search of critical thinking in psychology: an exploration of student and lecturer understandings in higher education
This qualitative study of understandings of critical thinking in higher education aimed to identify themes that could help to demystify critical thinking and inform its more explicit incorporation in the psychology curriculum. Data collected from focus groups with 26 undergraduate psychology students and individual semi-structured interviews with 4 psychology lecturers were examined using thematic analysis. The same key themes were identified from both student and lecturer data: âvague beginningsâ, âconceptualizationsâ, âdevelopment and transitionsâ, and âlearning strategiesâ. Both students and lecturers described critical thinking as implicit knowledge that develops through social interactions. The findings indicate the importance of explicit discussion about critical thinking, and could be used to inform the design and delivery of instructional methods to promote critical thinkin
Development and validation of the student attitudes and beliefs about authorship scale: a psychometrically robust measure of authorial identity
One approach to plagiarism prevention focuses on improving studentsâ authorial identity, but work in this area depends on robust measures. This paper presents the development of a psychometrically robust measure of authorial identity - the Student Attitudes and Beliefs about Authorship Scale. In the item generation phase, a pool of items was developed and assessed for content validity by subject matter experts. In the exploratory phase, data from 439 higher education students were used to identify a latent variable model with three factors: âauthorial confidenceâ, âvaluing writingâ and âidentification with authorâ. In the confirmatory phase, data from 306 higher education students were used to test the three-factor model's reliability and validity. The three-factor structure was confirmed, and the results showed the SABAS has a stronger psychometric basis than previously available measures. This measure of authorial identity can be used with confidence in research and pedagogy to help students improve their authorial identity
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