Bridging the gap between educational research and educational practice: The need for critical distance

The contributions to this special issue explore a range of different aspects of the relationship between research and practice in education. All start from the assumption that there is a gap between research and practice. Some authors take a descriptive approach in that they try to outline the nature of and reasons for the alleged gap between research and practice. Educational research is, after all, never simply research on education but always in some sense also research for education. This, in sum, reveals that it is as important to try to bridge gaps between research and practice as it is to keep a critical distance between the two, both from the side of educational research and from the side of educational practice

Vibrational spectra and normal coordinate analysis of CF 3 OF and CF 3 OCl

The IR spectra (1400 cm −1 to 160 cm −1 ) of the gases at ambient temperature and the Raman spectra (below 1400 cm −1 ) of the liquids near −196°C are reported for CF 3 OF and CF 3 OCl. All fundamentals are assigned under C s symmetry and the results of a normal coordinate analysis are presented. The assignments of Smardzewski and Fox are adopted with one exception for both CF 3 OF and CF 3 OCl: the CF 3 rock of A ″ symmetry is assigned near 430 cm −1 and the two bands between 200 cm −1 and 300 cm −1 are assigned to an A ′ fundamental, involving CF 3 rocking and COX bending and a Δ ν =2 transition in the CF 3 torsion. An extra band at 548 cm −1 in the Raman spectrum of liquid CF 3 COl near −196°C is assigned to a CF 3 OCl ⃛Cl 2 complex. The values of the force constants d (OX) for CF 3 OX molecules are suggested to be near those for X 2 O molecules. More than half the normal modes of A ′ symmetry show extensive mixing of symmetry coordinates. In some of these cases the symmetry coordinate for which the normal mode is named is the largest but not the dominant contributor to the potential energy distribution, while in others this symmetry coordinate is not even the largest contributor to the potential energy distribution. No normal modes of A ′ symmetry are present in which ν(CO), δ s (CF 3 ), δ(COX), or δ(CF 3 ) symmetry coordinates are dominant, and the mode conventionally labeled as v (CO) should be labeled as ν s (CF 3 ). For the remaining A ′ normal modes and all the A ″ normal modes, the symmetry coordinate for which the normal mode is named is dominant in the potential energy distribution.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91176/1/1250090406_ftp.pd

Learning from multimedia and hypermedia

Computer-based multimedia and hypermedia resources (e.g., the world wide web) have become one of the primary sources of academic information for a majority of pupils and students. In line with this expansion in the field of education, the scientific study of learning from multimedia and hypermedia has become a very active field of research. In this chapter we provide a short overview with regard to research on learning with multimedia and hypermedia. In two review sections, we describe the educational benefits of multiple representations and of learner control, as these are the two defining characteristics of hypermedia. In a third review section we describe recent scientific trends in the field of multimedia/hypermedia learning. In all three review sections we will point to relevant European work on multimedia/hypermedia carried out within the last 5 years, and often carried out within the Kaleidoscope Network of Excellence. According to the interdisciplinary nature of the field this work might come not only from psychology, but also from technology or pedagogy. Comparing the different research activities on multimedia and hypermedia that have dominated the international scientific discourse in the last decade reveals some important differences. Most important, a gap seems to exist between researchers mainly interested in a “serious” educational use of multimedia/ hypermedia and researchers mainly interested in “serious” experimental research on learning with multimedia/hypermedia. Recent discussions about the pros and cons of “design-based research” or “use-inspired basic research” can be seen as a direct consequence of an increasing awareness of the tensions within these two different cultures of research on education

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead