Improving Lifelong Learning by Fostering Students' Learning Strategies at University

The foundation of how students usually learn is laid early in their academic lives. However, many or even most students do not primarily rely on those learning strategies that are most favorable from a scientific point of view. To change students' learning behavior when they start their university education, we developed a computer-based adaptive learning environment to train favorable learning strategies and change students' habits using them. This learning environment pursues three main goals: acquiring declarative and conditional knowledge about learning strategies, consolidating that knowledge, and applying these learning strategies in practice. In this report, we describe four experimental studies conducted to optimize this learning environment (n = 336). With those studies, we improved the learning environment with respect to how motivating it is, investigated an efficient way to consolidate knowledge, and explored how to facilitate the formation of effective implementation intentions for applying learning strategies and changing learning habits. Our strategy-training module is implemented in the curriculum for freshman students at the Department of Psychology, University of Freiburg (Germany). Around 120 students take part in our program every year. An open version of this training intervention is freely available to everyone

Previous attentional set can induce an attentional blink with task-irrelevant initial targets

Identification of a second target is often impaired by the requirement to process a prior target in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). This is termed the attentional blink. Even when the first target is task-irrelevant an attentional blink may occur providing this first target shares similar features with the second target (contingent capture). An RSVP experiment was undertaken to assess whether this first target can still cause an attentional blink when it did not require a response and did not share any features with the following target. The results revealed that such task-irrelevant targets can induce an attentional blink providing that they were task-relevant on a previous block of trials. This suggests that irrelevant focal stimuli can distract attention on the basis of a previous attentional set

Cartilage adhesive and mechanical properties of enzymatically crosslinked polysaccharide tyramine conjugate hydrogels

Using a home-built tensile tester, adhesion and mechanical properties of injectable enzymatically crosslinkable hydrogels were determined by placing the hydrogels in between cartilage surfaces. Dextran–tyramine (Dex-TA) and hyaluronic acid–tyramine (HA-TA) conjugates as well as a 50/50 composite material of these polysaccharide conjugates were tested. To integrate the injectable hydrogels with the cartilage tissue, pretreatment of the tissue with a Dex-TA conjugate solution strongly improved the adhesion. Only failure of the crosslinked hydrogel was observed and not at the hydrogel–tissue interface. Moduli of a Dex-TA hydrogel are higher than those of a HA-TA hydrogel, whereas the ultimate strain of the HA-TA hydrogel was at least three times higher. The Dex-TA/HA-TA hydrogel has similar storage and elastic moduli as the Dex-TA gel and also an ultimate strain of ~30%, similarly as found for the HA-TA gel. The controlled biodegradability and gelation time of the Dex-TA/HA-TA hydrogel, the developed method for strong tissue adhesion of the gel particularly in comparison with fibrin glue, makes this material applicable as an injectable hydrogel for tissue regeneration application

Patient Preferences for Diagnostic Testing in the Emergency Department: A Crossâ sectional Study

BackgroundDiagnostic testing is common during emergency department (ED) visits. Little is understood about patient preferences for such testing. We hypothesized that a patient’s willingness to undergo diagnostic testing is influenced by the potential benefit, risk, and personal cost.MethodsWe conducted a cross sectional survey among ED patients for diagnostic testing in two hypothetical scenarios: chest pain (CP) and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Each scenario defined specific risks, benefits, and costs of testing. The odds of a participant desiring diagnostic testing were calculated using a series of nested multivariable logistic regression models.ResultsParticipants opted for diagnostic testing 68.2% of the time, including 69.7% of CP and 66.7% of all mTBI scenarios. In the CP scenario, 81% of participants desired free testing versus 59% when it was associated with a $100 copay (difference = 22$100 copayment (difference = 17%, 95% CI = 11% to 24%). Benefit and risk had mixed effects across the scenarios. In fully adjusted models, the association between cost and desire for testing persisted in the CP (odds ratio [OR] = 0.33, 95% CI = 0.23 to 0.47) and adult mTBI (OR = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.33 to 0.67) scenarios.ConclusionsIn this EDâ based study, patient preferences for diagnostic testing differed significantly across levels of risk, benefit, and cost of diagnostic testing. Cost was the strongest and most consistent factor associated with decreased desire for testing.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144652/1/acem13404.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144652/2/acem13404_am.pd