Creating A Love For Writing

The research question addressed in this project was, how can primary teachers intrinsically motivate their reluctant writers through narrative writing? It documents how teachers can encourage their struggling writers to write narrative stories. The literature found was focused on motivation strategies, how to identify and teach struggling writers, and effective writing strategies. During the research, there was the idea of interactive writing and how seeing the writing being done by the teacher, before the students try is effective. The research has shown that young writers need scaffolding and modeling to effectively learn how to write different genres. The project is a presentation focused on teaching primary teachers the effectiveness of motivating struggling writers. The project’s limitation is it is only presented once during a professional development session lasting 30-40 minutes long. The plans for the future of this project are for teachers to bring the strategies back to their classrooms

Würfelspiele

Trotz offensichtlich großer Beliebtheit, Verbreitung und Vielfalt von Würfelspielen finden sich in der Fachliteratur nur selten und eher am Rande Hinweise auf deren Eignung für die Diagnostik und Förderung mathematischer Kompetenzen. Nahezu alle Würfelspiele enthalten Anforderungen, die von den Spielern die Berücksichtigung fundamentaler Prinzipien mathematischen Vorgehens abverlangen und ihnen elementare Einsichten in die Strukturen mathematischen Denkens vermitteln. Zielsetzung dieses Beitrags soll es sein, ein Bewusstsein für diese besonderen Möglichkeiten der Würfelspiele zu wecken. Dies gilt insbesondere für die kompetenten Mitspieler (Spielleiter), denen bei den Spielen wichtige pädagogische Aufgaben zukommen

Recreant, patiënt en leerling; de stedeling aan het woord over het Land van Wijk en Wouden

In 1999 hebben enkele boeren en burgers uit het Land van Wijk en Wouden aandacht gevraagd voor de ontwikkelingen in het gebied. Dit heeft geresulteerd in het ontstaan van een gebiedscommissie. De gebiedscommissie heeft in april 2001 een integrale gebiedsvisie gepresenteerd. In het vervolg op de gebiedsvisie wordt gewerkt aan een uitvoeringsprogramma. In opdracht van de provincie Zuid-Holland is onderzoek gedaan in het Land van Wijk en Wouden bij bezoekers uit de stad en de inwoners van het gebied naar de wensen als het gaat om recreatie en ontspanning. Ook is aan zorg- en onderwijsinstellingen gevraagd in hoeverre zij geïnteresseerd zijn in producten en diensten afkomstig uit het Land van Wijk en Wouden

Interface-tuned epoxy/clay nanocomposites

Though interface has been known for a critical role in determining the properties of conventional composites, its role in polymer nanocomposites is still fragmented and in its infancy. This study synthesized a series of epoxy/clay nanocomposites with different interface strength by using three types of modifiers: ethanolamine (denoted ETH), Jeffamine� M2070 (M27) and Jeffamine� XTJ502 (XTJ). XTJ created a strong interface between clay layers and matrix because it bridged the layers with matrix by a chemical reaction as proved by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; M27 produced an interme-diate interface strength due to the molecular entanglement between grafted M27 chains and matrix molecules; the interface made by ETH was weak because neither chemical bridging nor molecular entanglement was involved. The studies of mechanical and thermal properties and morphology at a wide range of magnification show that the strong interface promoted the highest level of exfoliation and dispersion of clay layers, and achieved the most increment in Young’s modulus, fracture toughness and glass transition temperature (Tg) of matrix. With w1.3 wt% clay, the critical strain energy release rate G1c of neat epoxy improved from 179.0 to 384.7 J/m, 115% improvement and Tg enhanced from 93.7 to 99.

Upstream perfusion process: Back to the future

At an early stage of bioprocess science, continuous operations were the workhorse in the industry. Therefore, EMD-Serono has legacy with continuous upstream processes as many of its molecules such as Rebif are being produced in perfusion mode. These processes from the 90’s consume large volumes of commercial media and demonstrate low productivities. Cells are mainly attached because no performant cell retention device existed for cells in suspension at that time. Around 10-15 years ago, the industry decided to move on fed-batch operations. EMD-Serono also re-oriented towards fed-batch operations. Molecules such as Erbitux are now being produced in 15,000 L stainless steel bioreactors. Merck Serono scientists developed a strong fed-batch platform defining specific process parameters, feed strategies and last but not least a chemically defined proprietary media (and feeds). The production process development of most mAbs in the pipeline is now based on this fed-batch platform. Today, rapid technology evolution such as inexpensive culture media or robust cell retention system brings the interest of the industry in perfusion back to life. EMD-Serono combines its experience on legacy perfusion processed with the well-developed fed-batch platform knowledge. Exploring perfusion capabilities in a modern way (performant retention devices, chemically defined and proprietary media, single-use technology, link to continuous DSP), this presentation will describe the approach to reach a high cell density, high specific productivity process with a rational design. The impact of process parameter and some media component concentrations on metabolic stoichiometry and product quality will also be discussed. Results are promising but raise a huge amount of questions. How far can we push the limits of productivity in regards to the bioreactor volume? How can quality be impacted or modulated in such systems? If manufacturing of mAbs switches to perfusion, how will this impact the equipment scale, costs and flexibility? How can process development adapt to this new challenge? These are the questions that will be addressed during this talk

Von der Auslesediagnostik zur Förderdiagnostik: Entwicklungen, Konzepte, Probleme

Der Autor stellt dar, wie das Lehrgebiet Diagnostik in der Fachrichtung Lernbehindertenpädagogik an der Pädagogischen Hochschule Heidelberg im Augenblick betrieben wird. (DIPF/Orig.

Molecular imaging of large arteries by ultrasound:Potentials and pitfalls

The cause of cardiovascular diseases is often atherosclerosis. A torn atherosclerotic plaque causes thrombi that can lead to a heart or brain infarct. With ultrasound (echography) an atherosclerotic plaque can be made visible. However, it is not yet possible to determine the risk of tearing with ultrasound. A new development uses molecular imaging involving a contrast agent to visualize the presence of atherosclerosis-specific molecules that can play a role in the tearing. This dissertation describes a method to visualize a plaque by means of white blood cells that were charged with an ultra sound contrast agent. It is shown that the cells that were charged with blood cells are detectable in the blood stream and that the contrast agent has no influence on the roll and attachment behaviour on the activated vascular wall. This new acquired knowledge is essential for the development of efficient diagnostics. This research was financially supported by the ‘Nederlandse Hartstichting

Adaptive Instruction for Elementary School Children: The Interplay of Giftedness, Working Memory, and Hypermedia Learning

Several studies have shown that promotion offers for gifted students have positive effects on the students’ educational achievement and development (e.g., Wai, Lubinski, Benbow, & Steiger, 2010). However, it is not entirely clear which promotion offers actually work best for gifted children. According to aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) research (Cronbach & Snow, 1977), promotion or learning offers that are matched to a learner’s specific prerequisites are assumed to be most beneficial. In line with this, promotion offers that take advantage of the specific aptitudes of gifted children should be most effective for this ability group. Unfortunately, however, studies that focus on the particular aptitudes of gifted children in order to develop appropriate learning offers are rare. Therefore, the present dissertation aimed at closing this research gap by not only exploring the specific learner characteristics of gifted children, but also by investigating whether learning offers that are designed based on the particular strengths of these children might be more beneficial than other, more common learning offers. More precisely, it was first investigated whether the construct of working memory (WM; Baddeley, 2002) represents a crucial cognitive characteristic in gifted children, even beyond intelligence. Second, it was explored whether learning offers that capitalize on the students’ high WM resources, such as hypermedia environments, would be more beneficial for these students than learning offers that require lower WM resources. To this end, the present dissertation focused on the students’ learning performance as well as on their navigational processing during hypermedia exploration. In total, three empirical studies were conducted within the present dissertation.Die Wirksamkeit von Angeboten für hochbegabte Kinder zur Förderung ihrer schulischen Leistung und kognitiven Entwicklung konnte bereits mehrfach gezeigt werden (z.B. Wai, Lubinski, Benbow, & Steiger, 2010). Allerdings ist bisher unklar, welche Förderangebote für diese Zielgruppe am effektivsten sind. Basierend auf dem Aptitude-Treatment Interaction Ansatz (Cronbach & Snow, 1977) sind generell solche Förder- oder Lernangebote am effektivsten, die auf die spezifischen Fähigkeiten einer Person abgestimmt sind; im vorliegenden Fall also auf die spezifischen Fähigkeiten von Hochbegabten. Leider gibt es bislang kaum Studien, die basierend auf den spezifischen Lernvoraussetzungen bzw. Fähigkeiten von hochbegabten Kindern adäquate Lernangebote entwickelt haben. Aus diesem Grund war das Ziel der vorliegenden Dissertation sich genau mit dieser For-schungslücke zu beschäftigen. Im Rahmen von drei Studien sollte neben der Untersuchung und Feststellung der spezifischen Lernvoraussetzungen von hochbegabten Kindern auch die Effektivität von entsprechenden Lernangeboten, die auf diese Voraussetzungen angepasst sind, überprüft werden. So wurde in Studie 1 konkret untersucht, ob das Arbeitsgedächtnis (Baddeley, 2002) neben der Intelligenz eine essentielle kognitive Charakteristik von hochbe-gabten Kindern darstellt. Weiterhin wurde in Studie 2 untersucht, ob Lernangebote, die das Arbeitsgedächtnis besonders beanspruchen, so wie zum Beispiel Hypermedia Lernumgebun-gen, zur kognitiven Förderung von Kindern mit entsprechend hohen Arbeitsgedächtnisres-sourcen geeigneter sind als Lernangebote mit geringerer Beanspruchung des Arbeitsgedächt-nisses. Zur Beurteilung der Effektivität wurden Lern- und Leistungsmaße der Kinder beim Explorieren der Hypermedia Lernumgebung herangezogen. In Studie 3 stand das Navigationsverhalten der Kinder beim Explorieren der Hypermedia Lernumgebung im Fokus. So sollte überprüft werden, ob bestimmte Navigationsstrategien für den höheren Lernerfolg von Kindern mit hohen Arbeitsgedächtnisressourcen verantwortlich sind. Die Ergebnisse und Implikationen der drei Studien werden dargestellt und zusammenfassend diskutiert