Effects of a Game-Based Fraction Estimation Task on Math Anxiety

Math anxiety is defined as negative feelings associated with mathematical tasks in educational but also real-life situations. Evidence shows that math anxiety negatively affects the ability to solve mathematical tasks. Game-based learning has proven to be an effective approach to improve attitudes toward math. This study looked at the effects of a game-based version of a fraction estimation task on math anxiety and estimation performance when directly compared to a non-game-based task version. Participants aged 18–25-years-old were assessed on their math anxiety levels before and after completing both task versions. Changes in reported math anxiety levels through completion of either the game-based or non-game-based version were then compared. Analyses indicated no significant difference in the change of math anxiety (nor state anxiety as a control variable), nor significant differences in estimation performance due to task version. This seems to indicate no significant influence of game-based presentation of the fraction estimation task on reported math anxiety. Nevertheless, it needs to be considered that levels of math anxiety were generally low in our sample of university students. The current study can be considered a first step toward systematically investigating effects of game-based learning approaches on math anxiety. Accordingly, current results call for further research on a more math-anxious sample to investigate the potential benefits of a game-based task version on math anxiety and fraction estimation performance.Peer reviewe

[In Press] Synchronous abortion events in the grey-headed flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus)

Context: The grey-headed flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) is a vulnerable species endemic to eastern and south-eastern Australia. Environmental stressors are important contributors to physiological stress, leading to synchronous abortions. Aims: We investigate the possibilities of weather conditions and anthropogenic disturbances contributing to synchronous abortion events in a grey-headed flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) roost. Methods: We recorded observations of two synchronous abortion events in a flying-fox roost in Tamworth, New South Wales (NSW), Australia, during October 2017 and August 2019. Key results: Roost searches found ∼200 (October 2017) and 41 (August 2019) foetuses, equating to ∼0.5% and >0.1% of adults present at the time, respectively. Neither event was associated with significantly colder than average temperatures nor hot extremes (>42°C). Synchronous abortions cannot be easily attributed to unusually cold or hot site conditions. However, the surrounding region suffered from rainfall deficiencies, known to cause failure of flowering in diet plants, in the 6 months preceding both abortion events. Notably, no rainfall deficiency occurred in 6 months preceding August 2015 when colony size was also large, and no synchronous abortions occurred. Conclusions: Natural background rates of abortions are unlikely to explain the abortion events. The 2017 abortion event coincided with intense harassment of flying-foxes using noise agents; thus, it is possible that physiological stress was a contributor. The 2019 abortion event was associated with harassment of lesser intensity but coincided with a severe food shortage throughout surrounding regions. Implications: While it is not possible to attribute the synchronous abortion events conclusively to a single factor, the results suggest that the combination of chronic physiological stress from food shortage and acute stress from anthropogenic disturbance may have precipitated both synchronous abortion events

Study to investigate the barriers to learning from Serious Case Reviews (SCRs) and identify ways of overcoming these barriers

Kingston University’s Institute for Child-Centred Interprofessional Practice (ICCIP) was awarded a contract from the Department for Education (DfE) to undertake a small study investigating barriers to learning from Serious Case Reviews (SCRs) in order to identify ways of overcoming these barriers and ensure that any learning is embedded in policy and practice

Common variation near CDKN1A, POLD3 and SHROOM2 influences colorectal cancer risk

We performed a meta-analysis of five genome-wide association studies to identify common variants influencing colorectal cancer (CRC) risk comprising 8,682 cases and 9,649 controls. Replication analysis was performed in case-control sets totaling 21,096 cases and 19,555 controls. We identified three new CRC risk loci at 6p21 (rs1321311, near CDKN1A; P = 1.14 × 10 -10), 11q13.4 (rs3824999, intronic to POLD3; P = 3.65 × 10 -10) and Xp22.2 (rs5934683, near SHROOM2; P = 7.30 × 10 -10) This brings the number of independent loci associated with CRC risk to 20 and provides further insight into the genetic architecture of inherited susceptibility to CRC.</p