Productive resources in students’ ideas about energy: An alternative analysis of Watts’ original interview transcripts

For over 30 years, researchers have investigated students’ ideas about energy with the intent of reforming instructional practice. In this pursuit, Watts contributed an influential study with his 1983 paper “Some alternative views of energy” [Phys. Educ. 18, 213 (1983)]. Watts’ “alternative frameworks” continue to be used for categorizing students’ non-normative ideas about energy. Using a resources framework, we propose an alternate analysis of student responses from Watts’ interviews. In our analysis, we show how students’ activated resources about energy are disciplinarily productive. We suggest that fostering seeds of scientific understandings in students’ ideas about energy may play an important role in their development of scientific literacy

Students Talk about Energy in Project- Based Inquiry Science

We examine the types of emergent language eighth grade students in rural Maine middle schools use when they discuss energy in their first experiences with Project-Based Inquiry Science: Energy, a research-based curriculum that uses a specific language for talking about energy. By comparative analysis of the language used by the curriculum materials to students’ language, we find that students’ talk is at times more aligned with a Stores and Transfer model of energy than the Forms model supported by the curriculum

Elemental Analysis of Species Specific Wood Ash : A Pyrogenic Factor in Soil Formation and Forest Succession for a Mixed Hardwood Forest of Northern New Jersey

Fire is a significant environmental perturbation to forests where vegetation transforms from biomass to ash, potentially releasing stored chemical elements to soils. While much research acknowledges variation in ash composition among different vegetation types (grasses, trees, shrubs and vines), less has focused on interspecific variation among trees and the elemental influx soils receive. Therefore, this research sets out to: (1) identify major, trace, and rare earth element (REE) concentrations by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) in ash derived from fifteen tree species, (2) determine likely elemental enrichment to post-fire soils, and (3) assess variability in ash chemistry and color among different tree species. Traditional color assessments classify ash on a grey scale, but ash samples in this study had distinct color hues and coalesced in two groups. A significant negative correlation existed between SiO2 and CaO among all ash samples. Ash samples were more concentrated in MnO, MgO, CaO, K2O, P2O5, Ni, Cu, Zn, Sr and Ba than soil, as well as in all REE’s (La through Lu). Ash from Populus grandidentata, Betula lenta, and B. alleghaniensis had greatest enrichment in Zn and Ba while ash from Fraxinus americana had elevated Cu and Sr. This clearly shows significant chemical variability in ash, possibly derived from preferential element uptake by certain tree species to satisfy physiologic and metabolic nutrient requirements. All REE’s were 10-15 times greater in ash than soils. Little preferential uptake of any one REE exists as trees might passively sequester all these elements together, bound to essential nutrients. This research provides an important understanding of the complexities surrounding fire’s impact on biogeochemical cycling

Men and gender equality

Our world is a deeply unequal one. Systemic inequalities which disadvantage women and advantage men are visible around the globe. Whether on looks at political power and authority, economic resources and decision-making, sexual and family relations, or media and culture, one finds gender inequalities. These are sustained in part by constructions of masculinity-by the cultural meanings associated with being a man, the practices which men adopt, and the collective and institutional organisation of men\u27s lives and relations

Men Speak Up:A toolkit for action in men's daily lives

Men's violence against women can be reduced and prevented. Individuals can act to lessen violence in their own lives and the lives of those around them, organisations and communities can work to build gender‑equal relations between women and men, and governments can take action to shift the structural and cultural underpinnings of men's violence against women

Rethinking the significance of attitudes in preventing men\u27s violence3 against women

The concept of attitudes has been an important component of campaigns to address men&rsquo;s violence against women. Attitudes have been examined in relation to men&rsquo;s perpetration of violence, women&rsquo;s experience of violence and community and institutional responses. In this article we argue that there has not been sufficient interrogation of the limitations of attitudes in understanding and addressing men&rsquo;s violence. We propose a social constructionist approach to attitudes and emphasise the need to locate attitudes within the context of familial, organisational, community and social norms which support violence against women. Furthermore, we argue that to prevent violence against women, we must develop interventions beyond cultural and attitudinal change to encompass changes in structural relations and social practices.<br /

The factors influencing community attitudes in relation to violence against women : a critical review of the literature

This paper was prepared as part of the Violence Against Women Community Attitudes Project. The project is one of a program of mental health promotion activities being undertaken by the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation to address violence against women. Violence against women is a prevalent problem with serious consequences for women’s health. Intimate Partner Violence alone contributes 9% to the total disease burden in women aged 15-44 years and 60% of this is contributed by associated mental health problems. The Violence Against Women Community Attitudes Project is being undertaken to gain a better understanding of community attitudes as a factor contributing to this problem

Youth and Pornography in Australia: Evidence on the Extent of Exposure and Likely Effects

Children have always sought out sexually explicit material but doing so today is easier, quicker, cheaper and more anonymous. While the system of video classification is designed to exclude those under 18 from viewing pornography, there are virtually no age-related barriers to pornography on the Internet. Children can spend hours wandering online through a vast array of free images and movie clips much of which would be prohibited on video. They can been drawn or coerced into viewing material they have no desire to see through 'pop-ups', 'mousetrapping', spam emails and manipulation of search engines. Yet despite the scale and possible consequences of this social problem, it has received almost no public attention

A Low Cost Remote Sensing System Using PC and Stereo Equipment

A system using a personal computer, speaker, and a microphone is used to detect objects, and make crude measurements using a carrier modulated by a pseudorandom noise (PN) code. This system can be constructed using a personal computer and audio equipment commonly found in the laboratory or at home, or more sophisticated equipment that can be purchased at reasonable cost. We demonstrate its value as an instructional tool for teaching concepts of remote sensing and digital signal processing.Comment: Accepted for publication in American Journal of Physic

NASA advanced space photovoltaic technology-status, potential and future mission applications

The NASA program in space photovoltaic research and development encompasses a wide range of emerging options for future space power systems, and includes both cell and array technology development. The long range goals are to develop technology capable of achieving 300 W/kg for planar arrays, and 300 W/sq m for concentrator arrays. InP and GaAs planar and concentrator cell technologies are under investigation for their potential high efficiency and good radiation resistance. The Advanced Photovoltaic Solar Array (APSA) program is a near term effort aimed at demonstrating 130 W/kg beginning of life specific power using thin (62 micrometer) silicon cells. It is intended to be technology transparent to future high efficiency cells and provides the baseline for development of the 300 W/kg array