Master Education and Academic Career Track in Russia

The master’s degree is an obligatory stage for those who are planning to enter PhD. That is why it should have a clear academic track. Embedding the master’s degree in the academic track allows universities to sum up their efforts to support young scientists. There is an urgent need to support scientific centers in Russian universities. When the universities are competing for academic leadership, academic tracks become the ground for the development strategies.Previous researches showed that most students were ready to choose an academic track when they were master’s students. Thus, the academic track starts long before entering the doctoral programs. The study results reveal that master’s students do not have an opportunity to build an individual academic track within “hybrid” master’s programs. The Russian master’s degree programs shortly involve young researchers in projects, and this applies to all types of universities, including the research ones. The structure and ways of involving students in science do not differ in undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Master’s students who choose academic track do it without changing the major program. However, this trend doesn’t cover all the students. Master’s students use academic tracks to upgrade their professional skills for the further career but not at university or scientific institution

The Institutional Support of Master Studies in Russia: Non-Commercial Actors and the Effects of their Influence

В данной исследовательской статье освещены результаты изучения практик институциональной поддержки преподавателей магистратуры негосударственным субъектом. Отслежены треки внедрения и жизненный цикл образовательного продукта в магистратуре, созданного при поддержке Благотворительного фонда Владимира Потанина – единственного некоммерческого фонда, реализующего программу поддержки студентов и преподавателей магистратуры. Установлено, что в системе централизованного государственного регулирования негосударственная поддержка преподавателей магистратуры вносит значимый вклад в изменение ее роли в высшем образовании. Обозначены контуры долгосрочных эффектов этой поддержки, связанные с формированием среды для развития талантов, повышением образовательных результатов студентов, квалификации преподавателей, а также интеграции магистерских программ в стратегические цели развития университета и региона. Статья будет полезна исследователям высшего образования, преподавателям и руководителям магистерских программ, администраторам вузов, лицам, принимающим решения в области трансформации высшего образования в России.This paper presents the results of studying non-state actors’ institutional support for masters’ teachers. The authors analyze the tracks of the introduction and a «life cycle» of the master’s educational product created with the support of the Vladimir Potanin Foundation – the only non-commercial organization in Russia which supports students and professors at the master’s level. The study shows that the support for masters’ teachers makes a significant contribution to changing the role of this degree in higher education. There are outlined the long-term effects of supporting masters’ teachers, which are supposed to create an environment for developing talents, improving the educational results of master students, teachers’ advanced training, and integrating master programs into university’s and region’s strategic goals of development. For higher education researchers, for teachers and managers of master programs, for university administrators, and for higher education transformation decision makers in Russia

Empirical evidence of the impact of lesson study on: students’ achievement, teachers’ professional learning and on institutional and system evolution

In this article we review the evidence of the impact of lesson study on student learning, teacher development, teaching materials, curriculum, professional learning and system enhancement. We argue for lesson study to be treated holistically as a vehicle for development and improvement at classroom, school and system levels rather than as a curricular or pedagogical intervention. We illustrate the need for this approach to evaluating lesson study through a complex case exemplar which used Research Lesson Study (a form of lesson study popular in the UK and Europe) to develop learning, teaching, curriculum and local improvement capacity across schools initially involved in a two-year mathematics curriculum development project that later evolved into three self-sustaining, voluntary lesson study school hubs in London. We discuss resulting changes in culture, practice, belief, expectation and student learning. We argue as a result for greater policy level understanding of this expanded conception of lesson study as a vehicle in classroom, school and system transformation.Both projects described received funding from the Greater London Authorit

You made him be alive: Children’s perceptions of animacy in a humanoid robot

Social robots are becoming more sophisticated; in many cases they offer complex, autonomous interactions, responsive behaviors, and biomimetic appearances. These features may have significant impact on how people perceive and engage with robots; young children may be particularly influenced due to their developing ideas of agency. Young children are considered to hold naive beliefs of animacy and a tendency to mis-categorise moving objects as being alive but, with development, children can demonstrate a biological understanding of animacy. We experimentally explore the impact of children’s age and a humanoid’s movement on children’s perceptions of its animacy. Our humanoid’s behavior varied in apparent autonomy, from motionless, to manually operated, to covertly operated. Across conditions, younger children rated the robot as being significantly more person-like than older children did. We further found an interaction effect: younger children classified the robot as significantly more machine-like if they observed direct operation in contrast observing the motionless or apparently autonomous robot. Our findings replicate field results, supporting the modal model of the developmental trajectory for children’s understanding of animacy. We outline a program of research to both deepen the theoretical understanding of children’s animacy beliefs and develop robotic characters appropriate across key stages of child development

Implementing a new mathematics curriculum in England: district Research Lesson Study as a driver for student learning, teacher learning and professional dialogue.

Against a backdrop of a transformation in teacher professional development and learning and state school organisation in England this century, this chapter describes a project which harnessed six cycles of Research Lesson Study at school and district level over two years to tailor the implementation of a new statutory curriculum in England to address the professional development needs of teachers and classroom learning needs of London students. It also reports the findings of research carried out during the project into how these teachers learned and developed this new curricular expertise and practice- knowledge through lesson study dialogues that supported student learning. It concludes by proposing future directions for teacher professional learning research and practice

Cross-Dimensional Mapping of Number, Length and Brightness by Preschool Children

Human adults in diverse cultures, children, infants, and non-human primates relate number to space, but it is not clear whether this ability reflects a specific and privileged number-space mapping. To investigate this possibility, we tested preschool children in matching tasks where the dimensions of number and length were mapped both to one another and to a third dimension, brightness. Children detected variation on all three dimensions, and they reliably performed mappings between number and length, and partially between brightness and length, but not between number and brightness. Moreover, children showed reliably better mapping of number onto the dimension of length than onto the dimension of brightness. These findings suggest that number establishes a privileged mapping with the dimension of length, and that other dimensions, including brightness, can be mapped onto length, although less efficiently. Children's adeptness at number-length mappings suggests that these two dimensions are intuitively related by the end of the preschool years

Impact of High Mathematics Education on the Number Sense

In adult number processing two mechanisms are commonly used: approximate estimation of quantity and exact calculation. While the former relies on the approximate number sense (ANS) which we share with animals and preverbal infants, the latter has been proposed to rely on an exact number system (ENS) which develops later in life following the acquisition of symbolic number knowledge. The current study investigated the influence of high level math education on the ANS and the ENS. Our results showed that the precision of non-symbolic quantity representation was not significantly altered by high level math education. However, performance in a symbolic number comparison task as well as the ability to map accurately between symbolic and non-symbolic quantities was significantly better the higher mathematics achievement. Our findings suggest that high level math education in adults shows little influence on their ANS, but it seems to be associated with a better anchored ENS and better mapping abilities between ENS and ANS

Ectoparasitos de cães no ambiente doméstico da vertente Caribe, Costa Rica

Reports on ectoparasites on dogs in Central America are scarce. The aim of this study was to identify flea, louse and tick species infesting dogs in home environments on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica, and determine their frequency and coexistence. Ectoparasites were collected from dogs in 83 rural homes at five study sites. Specimens were identified and separated according to species. Fleas were the most common ectoparasite (G = 22,217, DF = 8, p = 0.004). Ctenocephalides felis and Pulex simulans were found in 83% and 55% of the homes with ectoparasites, respectively. Trichodectes canis (13%), Heterodoxus spiniger (10%), Rhipicephalus sanguineus (18%), Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus (5%) and Amblyomma ovale (8%) were also present. More than one species was collected in most cases (66%), and the most common combination was C. felis and P. simulans (59% of homes with fleas). The high frequency of P. simulans emphasizes the need for adequate identification. This was the first study involving different ectoparasites of dogs in Costa Rica, as well as the first report of T.  canis in this country. The relative frequency and coexistence of these ectoparasites in the home environment may have implications for animal and human health.Relatos de ectoparasitos em cães da América Central são escassos. O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar espécies de pulgas, piolhos e carrapatos que infestam os cães no ambiente doméstico da vertente Caribe da Costa Rica, determinando sua frequência e coexistência. Foram coletados ectoparasitos de cães em 83 casas rurais de cinco sítios do estudo. Os indivíduos foram separados e identificados. Os ectoparasitos mais comuns foram as pulgas (G = 22.217, DF = 8, p = 0.004). Ctenocephalides felis e Pulex simulans foram observados em 83% e 55% das moradias com ectoparasitos, respectivamente. Da mesma forma também foram observados Trichodectes canis (13%), Heterodoxus spiniger (10%), Rhipicephalus sanguineus (18%), Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus (5%) e Amblyomma ovale (8%). Na maioria dos casos, mais de uma espécie foi achada (66%), sendo que a combinação mais comum foi C. felis e P. simulans (59% de moradias com pulgas). A frequência alta de P. simulans ressalta a necessidade de sua adequada identificação. Este é o primeiro estudo que envolve diferentes ectoparasitas de cães na Costa Rica, da mesma forma, é o primeiro relato de T.  canis no país. A frequência relativa e coexistência destes ectoparasitos no ambiente domiciliar poderiam ter implicações na saúde animal e humana.Universidad de Costa Rica/[803-A8-127]/UCR/Costa Rica/[9-N-2008]/NeTropica/Costa RicaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias de la Salud::Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales (CIET)UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Básicas::Centro de Investigación en Estructuras Microscópicas (CIEMIC)UCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ciencias Básicas::Facultad de Ciencias::Escuela de Biologí