Electronic information resource use: Implications for teaching and library staff

Traditionally, guidance from teaching staff to students on the use of information sources has taken the form of reading lists containing a mix of books and journal articles, and the assumption is that information specialists within the library will provide whatever additional help is needed to access these resources. Given the rapidly increasing availability of electronic sources of information, and changes in the learning and teaching environment, such an approach can no longer be regarded as appropriate. This paper addresses the issue of the best way of helping students make effective use of electronic information resources, thereby developing their information‐gathering skills. Reference is made to the lessons learned from undertaking a small action research project in this field. Consideration is also given to a number of broader, more contextual issues, such as the ongoing shift towards more independent learning by students and changing relationships between teaching staff and information specialists. We conclude that more research is urgently needed if ways are to be found of ensuring that students maximize the potential of electronic information resources, and argue that there should be greater collaboration between teaching staff and information specialists, and that their roles and responsibilities in providing appropriate support and in assessing the information‐gathering skills of students need to be redefined

The personal created through dialogue: enhancing possibilities through the use of new media

This paper explores the relationships between a number of different developments in higher education pedagogy, which are subsumed under the broad heading of progress files. The overall concern of the paper is to explore the ways in which personal reflection and learning is enhanced through dialogue. The paper explores the ways learners engage in dialogue in two environments that use different aspects of digital technologies to support the development of portfolios. The findings from the case studies point to the ways in which different technologies facilitated personal reflection mediated through sharing and dialogue. We develop the idea of affordances as a relationship whereby the learner is involved in a purposeful engagement with the possibilities created by their environment. The affordance of digitised technologies in supporting dialogue is, therefore, conceptualised in relation to the characteristics of the learner, not as a simple technology relation

Effects of weight loss interventions for adults who are obese on mortality, cardiovascular disease and cancer : a systematic review and meta-analysis

We thank Associate Professor Andrew Grey for helping to resolve discrepancies in data extraction and interpretation for cardiovascular events and cancer events. We thank trialists from 16 studies for clarifying or providing additional information for this review [Andrews 2011, Aveyard 2016, Bennett 2012, de Vos 2014, Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study 2009, Goodwin 2014, Green 2015, Horie 2016, Hunt (FFIT) 2014, Katula 2013, Li (Da Qing) 2014, Logue 2005, Ma 2013, O’Neil 2016, Rejeski (CLIP) 2011, Uusitupa 1993] and also others who provided information, but their trials were later found not to fulfil our inclusion criteria. Funding: The Health Services Research Unit is funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorate.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Issues affecting the introduction and implementation of educational multimedia.

The aim of this study has been to identify the issues which affect the introduction and effective implementation of interactive video and to relate the results to the introduction and implementation of educational multimedia. The research methodology adopted has involved a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods. Data has been collected by questionnaire, case studies, and semi-structured interviews. The case studies report on five secondary schools involved in the Employment Department Managing Flexible Learning Programme (MFL), providing a record of the activities relating to the introduction of interactive video in the schools over a six month period. The questionnaire was designed to obtain feedback from a sample of schools involved in a range of interactive video projects. In-depth semi-structured interviews with educational consultants involved in working with schools to introduce interactive video were also used.The literature review investigates research on teaching and learning, managing educational innovation, parent (earlier) technologies and interactive video.The issues identified from this study are classified against appropriate headings and associated with areas of responsibility.The issues are categorized under the following three headings: educational issues which are not exclusive to the use of technology; general issues which relate to educational technology; issues which relate specifically to multimedia programmes; and the following four areas of responsibility: management in developing an institutional strategy; management of the introduction and implementation process; teachers in terms of their role in the learning process; educationalists and designers in the development of appropriate material. This study has identified that the management of the implementation process is the most significant area for consideration and that institutional strategy will not be realised if the process is not managed effectively.Educational multimedia presents issues at a strategic level in terms of immediate and long term resourcing. However, provided that the technical infrastructure is adequate it was found that the major issues were associated with managing educational innovation in general

Antarctic sea-ice extent, Southern hemisphere circulation and South African rainfall

Bibliography: p. 293-304.The study examines the response of an atmospheric general circulation model (OCM) to a reduction in Antarctic sea-ice extent during summer and winter, with emphasis on non-polar and southern African climates. Following an evaluation of the OCM, the control and perturbation simulations are analysed. The controls are forced by prescribed, observed sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and sea-ice extents, while in the perturbation simulations sea-ice is reduced and replaced with SSTs. The introduced anomalies are derived from an algorithm based on observed ice variability. The simulations are restarts of an AMIP (Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project) configured simulation, and two summers (1979/80 and 1984185) and two winters (1980 and 1985) have been selected for the study. Three replicates have been performed for each time period for both the control and perturbation conditions

Metal Toxicity During Short‐Term Sediment Resuspension and Redeposition in a Tropical Reservoir

Billings Complex is the largest water‐storage reservoir in São Paulo, Brazil, and has been contaminated since the 1960s. Periodically, Billings sediments are subjected to currents causing resuspension and subsequent release of metals. A short‐term (4‐h) resuspension was simulated using sediment flux exposure chambers (SeFECs) to better understand the fate, bioavailability, and transport of iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn) during these events, as well as possible organism toxicity. Daphnia magna and Hyalella azteca were exposed during the 4‐h resuspension, and were monitored after exposure for survival, growth, and reproduction. Resuspension rapidly deoxygenated the overlying water, decreased the pH, and resulted in elevated dissolved Zn above the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (2002) criteria for acute toxicity (120 µg L–1). However, Zn was scavenged (after 20 h) from solution as new sorption sites formed. Dissolved Mn increased during and after resuspension, with maximum values at 20 h post exposure. An initial release of Fe occurred, likely associated with oxidation of acid‐volatile sulfides, but decreased after 1 h of resuspension. The Fe decrease is likely due to precipitation as oxyhydroxides. No acute toxicity was observed during resuspension; however, mortality of D. magna and H. azteca occurred during the postexposure period. Daphnia magna also exhibited chronic toxicity, with decreased neonate production after exposure. This sublethal effect could lead to decreased zooplankton populations over a longer period in the reservoir. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38:1476–1485. © 2019 SETACConceptual model of metal (Me) speciation under different sediment redox states. During bedded conditions (A) metals are mainly bounded as insoluble sulfides or associated with organic carbon (OC). When resuspended (B), sulfide species are oxidized, mobilizing metals (such as Zn) into the overlying water (OW). However, the mobilized metal is scavenged by OC and freshly‐precipitated FexOx. As particles redeposit (C), and are returned to the benthic environment, further oxidation can occur in the aerobic sediment layer releasing Fe. High dissolved Fe concentrations in OW caused acute and chronic toxicity to D. magna. Ingestion of Zn caused growth inhibition and mortality to H. azteca.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149673/1/etc4434_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149673/2/etc4434.pd

Developing mathematical thinking in the primary classroom: liberating students and teachers as learners of mathematics

This paper reports on a research study conducted with a group of practising primary school teachers (n = 24) in North East Scotland during 2011–2012. The teachers were all participants in a newly developed Masters course that had been designed with the aim of promoting the development of mathematical thinking in the primary classroom as part of project supported by the Scottish Government. The paper presents the background for this initiative within the context of the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence reform. Particular attention is given to the epistemological positioning of the researchers as this influenced both the curriculum design process and also the theoretical framing of the research study which are both described. The project was set up within a design research framework, which aimed to promote classroom-based action research on the part of participants through the course and also research by the university researchers into the process of curriculum development. The research questions focused on the teachers’ confidence, competence, attitudes and beliefs in relation to mathematics and their expectations and experiences of the impact on pupil learning arising from this course. Empirical data were drawn from pre- and post-course surveys, interviews and observations of the discussion forums in the online environment. Findings from this study highlight the way the course had a transformational and emancipatory impact on these teachers. They also highlight ways in which the ‘framing’ of particular aspects of the curriculum had an oppressive impact on learners in the ways that suppressed creativity and limited the exercise of learner autonomy. Furthermore, they highlight the ways in which a number of these teachers had experienced mathematics as a school subject in very negative ways, involving high levels of ‘symbolic violence’ and of being ‘labelled’