Extending the Role of Analogies in the Teaching of Physics

Research in physics teaching has supported the use of analogies as an effective instructional tool that can be used to facilitate students’ understanding of physics concepts. The effectiveness of analogies lies in that they allow students to form cognitive links between what they already know and what they are learning, harmoniously integrating, in this way, the new physics concepts into their existing knowledge. In this paper, it is suggested that analogies could be extended to provide physics teachers with a diagnostic form of assessment that can reveal both the misconceptions their students may hold, the prior knowledge upon which such misconceptions are based, as well as knowledge sources that can be productively used in the teaching process. This suggestion arises from the findings of a cross-age study in which students, from five different age groups, were asked to make predictions about a range of situations they had not previously encountered (novel situations) and explain the reasons that led them to make those predictions

Students’ analogical reasoning in novel situations: theory-like misconceptions or p-prims?

Over the past 50 years there has been much research in the area of students' misconceptions. Whilst this research has been useful in helping to inform the design of instructional approaches and curriculum development it has not provided much insight into how students reason when presented with a novel situation and, in particular, the knowledge they draw upon in an attempt to make predictions about that novel situation. This article reports on a study of Greek students, aged from 10 to 17 years old, who were asked to make predictions in novel situations and to then provide, without being told whether their predictions were correct or incorrect, explanations about their predictions. Indeed, their explanations in such novel situations have the potential to reveal how their ideas, as articulated as predictions, are formed as well as the sources they draw upon to make those predictions. We also consider in this article the extent to which student ideas can be seen either as theory-like misconceptions or, alternatively, as situated acts of construction involving the activation of fragmented pieces of knowledge referred to as phenomenological primitives (p-prims). Our findings suggest that in most cases students' reasoning in novel situations can be better understood in terms of their use of p-prims and that teaching might be made more effective if teachers were more aware of the p-prims that students were likely to be using when presented with new situations in physics

Building Field-Based Ecophysiological Genome-to-Phenome Prediction

Feeding the estimated global population of 9 billion persons by 2050 will require a doubling of the food supply. However, the annual yield rates of gain for major grain crops is only one-quarter to one half of that which is necessary to reach this target. Remedying this deficit necessitates drastic improvements in the ability to predict crop field behavior based on its genetics and the growth environment. This is critical both for breeding programs and for efficient management in farmers’ fields after new varieties are released. This project aims to increase the capacity of Kansas and Oklahoma to conduct research on quantitative prediction methodologies using wheat as a model crop plan

Hybrid materials for molecular sieves

Hybrid microporous organosilica membranes for molecular separations made by acid-catalyzed solgel synthesis from bridged silsesquioxane precursors have demonstrated good performance in terms of flux and selectivity and remarkable hydrothermal stability in various pervaporation and gas separation processes. The availability of wide range of α,ω-bis(trialkoxysilyl)alkane and 1,4-bis (triethoxysilyl)benzene precursors allows tuning of membrane properties such as pore size and chemistry. This chapter presents an overview of the synthesis and application of hybrid organosilica microporous membranes in liquid and gas separation processes. After a concise discussion of the history of solgel-derived microporous ceramic membranes for molecular separations, the solgel chemistry of bridged silsesquioxanes and all relevant processing steps needed to obtain a supported microporous films suitable for molecular separations are discussed. The performance of these membranes is correlated with the membrane compositional properties, such as nature, stiffness and length of the bridging group, and details of the solgel process

Reply to ‘Misconceptions indeed’

In a recent letter to the editor (2016 Phys. Educ. 51 066503), Schumayer and Scott raised concerns about one of the novel situations presented in our article titled 'Students' analogical reasoning in novel situations: theory-like misconceptions or p-prims?' (2016 Phys. Educ. 51 044003). We greatly appreciate their interest in our study and in this reply we address the concerns raised

Minimizing underestimation rate of microcalcifications excised via vacuum-assisted breast biopsy: A blind study

Purpose: The main disadvantage of Vacuum Assisted Breast Biopsy (VABB) is the probability of underestimating atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). This study evaluates a modified way of performing VABB. Methods: 266 women with microcalcifications graded BI-RADS 3&4 underwent VABB (11G) on the Fischer's table. 133 women were allocated to the "standard" protocol and 24 cores were obtained (1 offset-main target and one additional offset). 133 women were randomly allocated to the "extended" protocol and 96 cores were excised (one offset- main target and 7 peripheral offsets). A preoperative diagnosis was established, and the removed volume was calculated. When precursor or malignant lesions were diagnosed, open surgery was performed. A second pathologist, blind to the preoperative results and to the protocol made the postoperative diagnosis. The discrepancy between preoperative and postoperative diagnoses was evaluated. Results: When the standard protocol was applied, the underestimation rate for preoperative ADH, lobular neoplasia (LN), DCIS was 16.7%, 50% and 14.3% correspondingly. In the extended protocol, no underestimation was present in LN, ADH, but the underestimation rate for DCIS was 6.3%. In the extended protocol, no precursor/malignant tissue was left after VABB in all ADH cases, in 87.5% of LN cases, in 73.3% of DCIS, and in 50% of invasive carcinomas. The volume excised was 2.33 ± 0.60 cc and 6.14 ± 1.30 cc for the standard and the extended protocol, respectively. The rate of hematoma formation did not differ between the two protocols. Conclusions: This recently introduced, "extended" way of performing VABB in microcalcifications safely minimizes the underestimation rate, which may lead to a modified management of ADH lesions. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Imprint cytology on microcalcifications excised by Vacuum-Assisted Breast Biopsy: A rapid preliminary diagnosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To evaluate imprint cytology in the context of specimens with microcalcifications derived from Vacuum-Assisted Breast Biopsy (VABB).</p> <p>Patients and methods</p> <p>A total of 93 women with microcalcifications BI-RADS 3 and 4 underwent VABB and imprint samples were examined. VABB was performed on Fischer's table using 11-gauge Mammotome vacuum probes. A mammogram of the cores after the procedure confirmed the excision of microcalcifications. For the application of imprint cytology, the cores with microcalcifications confirmed by mammogram were gently rolled against glass microscope slides and thus imprint smears were made. For rapid preliminary diagnosis Diff-Quick stain, modified Papanicolaou stain and May Grunwald Giemsa were used. Afterwards, the core was dipped into a CytoRich Red Collection fluid for a few seconds in order to obtain samples with the use of the specimen wash. After the completion of cytological procedures, the core was prepared for routine histological study. The pathologist was blind to the preliminary cytological results. The cytological and pathological diagnoses were comparatively evaluated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>According to the pathological examination, 73 lesions were benign, 15 lesions were carcinomas (12 ductal carcinomas <it>in situ</it>, 3 invasive ductal carcinomas), and 5 lesions were precursor: 3 cases of atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) and 2 cases of lobular neoplasia (LN). The observed sensitivity and specificity of the cytological imprints for cancer were 100% (one-sided, 97.5% CI: 78.2%–100%). Only one case of ADH could be detected by imprint cytology. Neither of the two LN cases was detected by the imprints. The imprints were uninformative in 11 out of 93 cases (11.8%). There was no uninformative case among women with malignancy.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Imprint cytology provides a rapid, accurate preliminary diagnosis in a few minutes. This method might contribute to the diagnosis of early breast cancer and possibly attenuates patients' anxiety.</p