Using a self-reflective journal to enhance science communication

In new times the ability to self-evaluate and reflect on one's own actions in communicating with others will be a crucial workplace skill. An innovative peer tutoring course for academic credit, by university science students in high schools, will be presented, with a review on its ability to develop a link between school tutoring and workplace communication. Course content relates to broad issues of science literacy, science communication and group situations and peer interactions. Students complete on-campus lecture and workshop component, and do 20-30 hours of in-school tutoring; assessment includes an examination, assignments in the form of journals, and a personal learning log of experiences. Findings from the first two years of the course, based on data sources of students' journal entries and responses to the end of unit evaluations (1996, n = 21; 1997, n = 21) are presented. Analysis focuses on the development of reflective skills and students' awareness of their personal power in detecting and solving problems and developing strategies to promote two way communication. The use of self-evaluation through reflective journals was found to enhance the effectiveness of tutoring. Implications for developing the 'human side' of science will be discussed, and the appropriateness of the course to develop these often under-represented aspects of science

Hollywood and student learning

During second semester 1997 we undertook a project to ascertain how the use of Hollywood feature films with historical content affected students' learning of twentieth century American History. Questionnaires, reflective journals and interviews were used to gauge the impact of films on student learning. In this Research Vignette we will report on our findings

Search for positron annihilation line and continuum radiation from the Galactic Center

Our balloon-borne germain gamma-ray telescope was flown over Alice Springs, Australia, on 1984 November 20 to search for the 511 keV positron annihilation line from the Galactic Center. The measured line flux at Earth was (0.6 + or - 4.4) x 0.001 ph/sq cm/s indicating that the source was still in a low or off state

Participation in mentoring: Producing and reproducing identity

In the third paper, concepts from 18communities of practice 19 and cultural-historical activity theory are the starting point for MacCallum 19s exploration of how participating in mentoring mediates the production and reproduction of identity

Local freedom in the gravitational field revisited

Maartens {\it et al.}\@ gave a covariant characterization, in a 1+3 formalism based on a perfect fluid's velocity, of the parts of the first derivatives of the curvature tensor in general relativity which are ``locally free'', i.e. not pointwise determined by the fluid energy momentum and its derivative. The full decomposition of independent curvature derivative components given in earlier work on the spinor approach to the equivalence problem enables analogous general results to be stated for any order: the independent matter terms can also be characterized. Explicit relations between the two sets of results are obtained. The 24 Maartens {\it et al.} locally free data are shown to correspond to the $\nabla \Psi$ quantities in the spinor approach, and the fluid terms are similarly related to the remaining 16 independent quantities in the first derivatives of the curvature.Comment: LaTeX. 13 pp. To be submitted to Class. Quant. Gra

ONE for All: The Next Step for PLoS

PLoS ONE, will initiate a radical departure from existing scientific publishing platforms by being more inclusive and by taking advantage of the increasing functionality of internet-based communication

Invariant Imbedding and Wave Propagation in Inhomogeneous Media

We wish now to address ourselves to that problem which can be described in physical terms as the reflection and transmission of waves by and through some sort of transition region between two homogeneous media. At this stage we will work strictly within one dimension; later on this severe restriction will be somewhat eased. For simplicity of notation we will for the present give the transition region a finite thickness h; later on we will often allow h to become infinite when the disturbance due to the transition region dies away fast enough with distance

Riemann-Cartan Space-times of G\"odel Type

A class of Riemann-Cartan G\"odel-type space-times are examined in the light of the equivalence problem techniques. The conditions for local space-time homogeneity are derived, generalizing previous works on Riemannian G\"odel-type space-times. The equivalence of Riemann-Cartan G\"odel-type space-times of this class is studied. It is shown that they admit a five-dimensional group of affine-isometries and are characterized by three essential parameters $\ell, m^2, \omega$: identical triads ($\ell, m^2, \omega$) correspond to locally equivalent manifolds. The algebraic types of the irreducible parts of the curvature and torsion tensors are also presented.Comment: 24 pages, LaTeX fil

Adaptation and habitat preference in a hybrid zone between Bombina bombina and Bombina variegata in Croatia

This thesis describes a hybrid zone between two taxa of toads, Bombina bombina and Bombina variegata in north eastern Croatia. The two taxa can be distinguished at four diagnostic enzyme loci. Clines at these loci are highly concordant; there is strong disequilibrium and substantial heterozygote deficit. Both the linkage disequilibrium and heterozygote deficit are asymmetric, being greater on the bombina side than on the variegata side. Different habitats are identified across the zone and a strong association with the genotype of the populations sampled from them is found. This relationship is consistent across the hybrid zone. The dine is best described by a model which incorporates both a difference in gene frequency between habitats and a width which varies from place to place. Mark recapture studies show extensive movement, which implies that the association between habitat and genotype is due to a habitat preference. Translocation experiments suggest that there is adaptation to the habitats. A habitat preference combined with mixing between habitats will inflate linkage disequilibrium over and above that expected from dispersal alone. Non-random mating and selection in relation to the environment will also contribute to the disequilibrium. As a result, inferences made using traditional dine models, where disequilibrium is mainly generated by dispersal, no longer apply. These results are very different from those made from a previous analysis of the Bombina hybrid zone in Poland. There the dine showed a smoother transition of genotypes and a sharper step in gene frequency at the centre of the dine. The differences to the transect described here can be accounted for by a habitat preference. A habitat preference has important implications for the mechanism of sympatric speciation since it will restrict gene flow between populations in different habitat

The design co-ordination framework : key elements for effective product development

This paper proposes a Design Co-ordination Framework (DCF) i.e. a concept for an ideal DC system with the abilities to support co-ordination of various complex aspects of product development. A set of frames, modelling key elements of co-ordination, which reflect the states of design, plans, organisation, allocations, tasks etc. during the design process, has been identified. Each frame is explained and the co-ordination, i.e. the management of the links between these frames, is presented, based upon characteristic DC situations in industry. It is concluded that while the DCF provides a basis for our research efforts into enhancing the product development process there is still considerable work and development required before it can adequately reflect and support Design Co-ordination