Transforming gender relations in rural Ethiopia through community conversations

Poster prepared for a share fair, Addis Ababa, May 201

Diagnosing the Diagnostics: Misconceptions of Twelfth Grade Students on Selected Chemistry Concepts in Two Preparatory Schools in Eastern Ethiopia

This article aimed at diagnosing suspected students’ misconceptions towards the selected five chemistry concepts (valence, oxidation number, coordination number, number of bonds and formal charge) by developing appropriate diagnostic instrument. Within this theme, it was also attempted to test the accuracy and precision of the common diagnostic tests in measuring students’ misconceptions and performance in terms of different test standards and standard indicators. To attain these goals, respective data were gathered through open-ended test and three-tier chemistry misconception test. The earlier was administered to identify major areas of students’ misconceptions, while the later was administered twice as a pilot and revised form. Using the result of the pilot test some items were rewritten accordingly. The result of the study showed that conceptual knowledge gained by these students was only superficial, accompanied by a range of misconceptions largely shared by about 28 % of the sampled students. Finally, the findings of this study show that open-ended multiple choice items and two-tier tests are less valid, reliable and discriminatory than that of three-tier chemistry misconceptions test

A diagnostic assessment of eighth grade students’ and their teachers’ misconceptions about basic chemical concepts

Even though many students at all levels struggle to learn chemistry and feel its exact essence, they are often unsuccessful. In this regard, most studies identified that the key cause of such failure to succeed especially in post primary and college education is formations of misconceptions towards basic chemistry/science concepts from the very beginning in primary education. However, what these studies couldn’t exactly figure out is all about the possible source and cause of such misconceptions. Hence, in this study, it was aimed to diagnose both teachers’ and students’ misconceptions about five basic chemistry concepts (particulate nature of matter, physical state of matter, distinguishing differences of chemical and physical changes, phase changes and stoichiometry) and to examine the relevance and consistency of areas and intensity of students’ misconceptions with that of their teachers. As a result, a survey research method comprising of multi-tier chemistry misconception test (MTCMT) and an interview as data gathering instruments were employed by which eighth grade students and chemistry/science teachers from four second cycle primary schools found in Mettu Administrative Town were purposely selected as target populations. In the mean time, the MTCMT was  administered for 64 students and 4 teachers as a pilot test, for 192 students and 6 teachers as a final version, and 32 students were finally interviewed to get detail information on their existing conception. As a result, many set of suspected and new misconceptions were found, and finally from the Pearson’s correlation, it was found that 90% of students’ misconceptions has a significant correlation with teachers misconceptions implying that teachers are responsible for most (90%) of their students’ misconceptions.[AJCE, 3(1), January 2013

Integrating research with NHS clinical practice: Unwelcome intrusion or constructive triangulation?

When embarking on research into the effectiveness of psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the NHS or the application of psychoanalytic principles, researchers come up against a number of hurdles: many clinicians still see empirical research as antithetical or disruptive to the practice of psychoanalytic psychotherapy; psychoanalytic psychotherapy has previously fared poorly in evidence-based policy guidelines and this can discourage ambition, and there are technical problems of research design, measurement and standardization. Nevertheless, in a political climate which stresses service evaluation, measurable outcomes and empirical evidence, psychoanalytic psychotherapy must participate to survive. There may be gains from conducting research beyond simply meeting the requirement to provide evidence of effectiveness. Research may be viewed by some clinicians as an unwelcome intruder but it may have the potential to offer triangulation, the perspective of the 'third', and so strengthen the foundations of clinical practice and the development of psychoanalytic thought

Investigation into the Nutritional Content and Microbiological Property of Abyssinian Donkey’s Milk

A study was carried out on donkey milk in Ada’a District of central Ethiopia to investigate the nutritional and microbiological properties of Abyssinian donkey’s milk. The study utilized primary data that were collected from 24 jennies in the study area. The physicochemical composition such as fat, total protein, lactose, minerals, vitamin C, pH, density, total solid and freezing points; and microbiological characteristics were analyzed. Results indicated that the Abyssinian donkey milk has close similarity with milk of other donkeys previously investigated elsewhere for most of the compositions. More importantly, the present findings confirmed that Abyssinian donkey milk has a very close similarity with human breast milk in its protein, lactose, vitamin C, pH, density, and zinc contents whereas, the concentrations of calcium, iron and magnesium were higher than those of human breast milk. Other unique properties of Abyssinian donkey milk were lack of fermentation and lower microbial load in contrast to cow’s milk. In conclusion, the findings of this preliminary study showed the existence of similarity between Abyssinian donkey’s milk and human breast milk in their physicochemical composition and thus could suggest that the Abyssinian donkey’s milk can serve as an alternative supplement for human breast milk despite differences in some aspects of the microbiological and sensory properties. However, Abyssinian donkey’s milk should be tested for its safety to human being before it is recommended for human consumption.Key words: donkey milk, Ethiopia, human breast milk, physicochemical propert

Identifying with the beautiful: Facial attractiveness effects on unisensory and multisensory self-other distinction

People tend to evaluate their own traits and abilities favourably and such favourable self-perceptions extend to attractiveness. However, the exact mechanism underlying this self-enhancement bias remains unclear. One possibility could be the identification with attractive others through blurring of self–other boundaries. Across two experiments, we used the enfacement illusion to investigate the effect of others’ attractiveness in the multisensory perception of the self. In Experiment 1 (N = 35), participants received synchronous or asynchronous interpersonal visuo-tactile stimulation with an attractive and non-attractive face. In Experiment 2 (N = 35), two new faces were used and spatial incongruency was introduced as a control condition. The results showed that increased ratings of attractiveness of an unfamiliar face lead to blurring of self–other boundaries, allowing the identification of our psychological self with another’s physical self and specifically their face, and this seems to be unrelated to perceived own attractiveness. The effect of facial attractiveness on face ownership showed dissociable mechanisms, with multisensory integration modulating the effect on similarity but not identification, an effect that may be purely based on vision. Overall, our findings suggest that others’ attractiveness may lead to positive distortions of the self. This research provides a psychophysical starting point for studying the impact of others’ attractiveness on self-face recognition, which can be particularly important for individuals with malleable, embodied self–other boundaries and body image disturbances