8,830 research outputs found
Social Media for Informal Science Learning in China: A Case Study
This article reports a case study on a popular informal science learning community via social media in China, named GuoKr (meaning “nutshell” in English). Data were collected through a variety of Chinese social media and social networking sites, web-based community portals, and discussion boards. Content analyses and data mining were conducted to investigate how GuoKr successfully attracted and engaged public in informal learning on scientific topics in particular. The study found three key characteristics that contributed to the success of such learning communities: (a) utilizing a variety of social media to empower participants with just-in-time, accidental learning opportunities; (b) daily tweets related to emerging or ongoing social events or hot topics to provide brief but intriguing knowledge “bites”, which often leads to extended readings and related resources; and (c) the integration of social media and traditional face-to-face local events to engage the public in science-related learning and knowledge sharing. Practical and research implications are discussed with suggestions for future research as related to ubiquitous learning communities for informal science learning
Tweeting for Learning: A Critical Analysis of Research on Microblogging in Education Published in 2008-2011
This study critically analyzed the current body of published research on microblogging in education (MIE) to build a deep and comprehensive understanding of this increasingly popular phenomenon. Twenty-one studies on MIE in 2008-2011 were selected based on the selection criteria and analyzed to answer the following questions: (a) What types of research have been published on MIE? (b) How was microblogging used for teaching and learning in these studies? (c) What educational benefits did microblogging have on teaching and learning? and (d) What suggestions and implications did the current research have for future MIE research and practices? The analysis suggested that microblogging has a potential to encourage participation, engagement, reflective thinking as well as collaborative learning under different learning settings. The quality of research, however, varies greatly, suggesting a need for rigorous research on MIE. The analysis has implications for MIE practices as well as research and development efforts
Self-protected nanoscale thermometry based on spin defects in silicon carbide
Quantum sensors with solid state electron spins have attracted considerable
interest due to their nanoscale spatial resolution.A critical requirement is to
suppress the environment noise of the solid state spin sensor.Here we
demonstrate a nanoscale thermometer based on silicon carbide (SiC) electron
spins.We experimentally demonstrate that the performance of the spin sensor is
robust against dephasing due to a self protected machenism. The SiC thermometry
may provide a promising platform for sensing in a noisy environment ,e.g.
biological system sensing
Cautious explorers generate more future academic impact
Some scientists are more likely to explore unfamiliar research topics while
others tend to exploit existing ones. In previous work, correlations have been
found between scientists' topic choices and their career performances. However,
literature has yet to untangle the intricate interplay between scientific
impact and research topic choices, where scientific exploration and
exploitation intertwine. Here we study two metrics that gauge how frequently
scientists switch topic areas and how large those jumps are, and discover that
'cautious explorers' who switch topics frequently but do so to 'close' domains
have notably better future performance and can be identified at a remarkably
early career stage. Cautious explorers who balance exploration and exploitation
in their first four career years have up to 19% more citations per future
paper. Our results suggest that the proposed metrics depict the scholarly
traits of scientists throughout their careers and provide fresh insight,
especially for nurturing junior scientists.Comment: 16 pages of main text and 94 pages of supplementary informatio
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