Models as mindtools for environmental education: How do students use models to learn about a complex socio-environmental system?

Environmental issues are complex and understanding them involves integration of different areas of knowledge, feedback and time delays, however strategies to cope with complexity are not often used or taught in environmental education. The aim of this thesis is to examine the benefit of three such strategies for environmental education: multiple external representations, learning from models, and collaborative learning. The socio-environmental system modelled was visitor impact in a national park in Australia. Students in Year 9 and 10 from two schools were given a text description (Text group) and either a system dynamics model (SDM group), an agent-based model (ABM group), or both models (SDM & ABM group). This experimental design allowed learning outcomes (environmental and system dynamics knowledge, and understanding of the socio-environmental system) and use of the model(s) (in terms of the proportion of time spent on each screen, activities, and strategies) to be compared in each learning environment (individual and collaborative). Multiple external representations were the most successful strategy in the individual learning environment in terms of increases in environmental knowledge. However, students given only the system dynamics model had greater understanding of the system, and students given only the agent-based model increased environmental knowledge easily identified in the animated representation. Prior knowledge, patterns of use, strategies for changing variables and the representational affordances of the models explained some of these differences. In particular, prior knowledge was an important indicator of how students coordinated use of the models in the SDM & ABM group. Learning with a system dynamics model was the most successful strategy for students in the collaborative learning environment. Differences between the learning environments were detected in all groups with respect to both learning outcomes and use of the models due to prior knowledge, interrogation of the models, and the learning environments themselves. These experiments have provided evidence that strategies for understanding complex systems provide viable methods of communicating complex ideas to school-aged students with varying levels of prior knowledge. In particular, multiple external representations provided students with flexibility in how they learned; models allowed students to experiment with a system otherwise not allowed; and a collaborative learning environment facilitated students’ interpretation of a system dynamics model

Le besoin en compétences et en développement des senior revenue managers: le serious game est-il l’outil idéal pour leur formation?

Ce travail explore le besoin en compétences et en développement d’un senior revenue manager des temps modernes. La littérature actuelle atteste, d’une part, de l’évolution de la fonction et des responsabilités d’un revenue manager et, d’autre part, du manque de professionnels qualifiés dans la branche du revenue management. Les objectifs de la présente recherche sont donc de déterminer les compétences dont un senior revenue manager doit idéalement être doté, d’identifier les domaines dans lesquels un perfectionnement est nécessaire, ainsi que d’examiner les possibilités d’utilisation d’un serious game pour le développement des compétences des senior revenue managers

Could online sales be a direct marketing opportunity for rural farms?

"Local food has been the subject of federal, state, and local government policy in recent years as consumer interest in and demand for local foods has grown. In 2017, 130,056 U.S. farms (just over 6% of U.S. farms) were marketing food for human consumption locally through so-called direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing channels, according to Census of Agriculture data. In Missouri, 3,640 farms (3.7%) had DTC sales. Online marketplaces could help farms who sell food directly to customers compete with other retailers by reducing the costs (such as time and transportation) of transactions at in-person markets such as farmers markets or other traditional markets. In-person marketplaces advantage farms located near urban centers because more rural farms have to travel longer distances to access customers."--First page.Written by: Sarah A. Low (Associate Professor and Exceed Director), Kate Thompson (Student Assistant)New 2/20Includes bibliographical reference

Modelling Structures for Situated Discourse

This paper describes a corpus of situated multiparty chats developed for the STAC project (Strategic Conversation, ERC grant n. 269427). and annotated for discourse structure in the style of Segmented Discourse Representation Theory (SDRT; Asher & Lascarides,2003).  The STAC corpus is not only a rich source of data on strategic conversation, but also the first corpus that we are aware of that provides discourse structures for multiparty dialogues situated within a virtual environment.  The corpus was annotated in two stages: we initially annotated the chat moves only, but later decided to annotate interactions between the chat moves and non-linguistic events from the virtual environment. This two-step procedure  has allowed us quantify various ways in which adding information from the nonlinguistic context affects dialogue structure.  In this paper, we  look at how annotations based only on linguistic information were preserved once the nonlinguistic context was factored in.  We explain that while the preservation of relation instances is relatively high when we move from one corpus to the other, there is little preservation of higher order structures that capture "the main point" of a dialogue and distinguish it from peripheral information

Working with interpreters: Guidelines for psychologists

In today’s multilingual and globalised world, it is likely that psychologists will come into contact with service users who do not use English as their first language, or who use British Sign Language (BSL) Interpreters. This will happen whether working with adults, children or young people, in the UK or overseas settings. All parties, including commissioners, need to facilitate clear pathways to support for all members of their local community including those who speak another language. To ensure that all groups have access to psychological services and that the outcomes of such services are equally effective, psychologists may have to work with interpreters. These good practice guidelines give an overview of the issues that psychologists need to consider when working with interpreters to ensure that they are able to be as effective as possible. Prepared by Professor Rachel Tribe, University of East London & Dr Kate Thompson, InterHealth Worldwide with acknowledgement to the Glasgow Psychological Trauma Service, DCP Faculty for people with intellectual disabilities, Neuro-psychology colleagues particularly the group representing BSL/English interpreters who responded to the consultation. With thanks to Dr Farkhondeh Farsimadan for her attention to detail and proof reading skills

Opportunity for development or necessary nuisance? The case for viewing working with interpreters as a bonus in therapeutic work

This paper explores the central role a language interpreter can play in the process of the therapeutic relationship. Although others have described the changes to the therapeutic dyad that the presence of a third party (an interpreter) brings, little attention has been paid to the advantages and additional opportunities of this altered therapeutic situation. This paper details these gains and further argues that clinicians who are willing to gain experience of working with interpreters will find that benefits accrue at the micro and macro levels: at the micro level, through enhancement of their work with individual non English speaking clients, and at the macro level through learning about different cultural perspectives, idioms of distress and the role of language in the therapeutic endeavour. This is in addition to developing skills to fulfil legal and professional requirements relating to equity of service provision. Some ideas are offered to explain the negative slant than runs throughout the literature in this area and tends to colour the overall discussion of therapeutic work with interpreters and, before the final section, makes some specific suggestions which may help maximise the gains possible in such work while reducing difficulties

The Impact of a Multipronged Intervention to Increase School Lunch Participation among Secondary School Students in an Urban Public School District.

Introduction: Schools meals offer a critical opportunity for improving youths' diets, particularly for economically disadvantaged students. We examine the impact of a multipronged intervention to increase middle and high school students' lunch participation in an urban school district. Methods: In school years 2015-2016 through 2017-2018, a quasi-experimental study was conducted in 24 secondary schools, half (n = 12) of which received the following intervention: cafeteria redesign, additional school lunch points-of-sale (mobile carts and vending machines), and teacher education. Results: From baseline to follow-up, lunch participation dropped 4.1% in intervention and 5.1% in comparison schools (difference-in-difference 1.0%, 95% CI 0.5-1.4). The overall decline in lunch participation occurred simultaneously with a drop-in free or reduced-price meal eligibility (from 72% to 58%) across all schools, which is likely related to changing local economic conditions, including a county-wide minimum wage increase that began in summer 2015. Among students eligible for free or reduced-price meals, participation decreased 1.8% in intervention and 4.9% in comparison schools (difference-in-difference 3.1%, 95% CI: 2.5-3.7), with a larger difference-in-difference seen in high schools (5.0%, 95% CI: 4.2-5.9) than middle schools (1.8%, 95% CI: 0.8-2.6). Conclusions: While this intervention demonstrated a modest, but significant relative increase in school lunch participation, the effect was not sufficient to halt large district-wide declines in participation during this study period. Given the significant time, money, and political capital required to implement the intervention, districts should carefully consider similar investments. Broader public policies or other changes to economic conditions that affect eligibility for means-tested benefits-in this case, a strengthening local economy coupled with an increased local minimum wage-may influence school lunch participation more than school-level interventions