Work in progress — Role of faculty in promoting lifelong learning: Initial findings

Calls for educational reform emphasize the need for student-centered learning approaches that foster lifelong learning. To be a lifelong learner includes characteristics consistent with those of self-directed learners, such as being curious, motivated, reflective, analytical, persistent, flexible, and independent. Instructor support of students’ self-directed learning (SDL) development relies on understanding and balancing these factors in the classroom. Engineering educators play a critical role in influencing outcomes related to SDL through their design of courses that support students’ transitions from controlled to autonomous learning behaviors. This study will examine a variety of engineering courses and pedagogical approaches. Each will be characterized using instructor course information, recorded observations of instructorstudent and student-student interactions, student and instructor responses to surveys, and focus groups. Finally, the students’ capacity for SDL will be measured using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. This approach should provide for rich, contextualized descriptions of what instructors and learners do, how instructors and students relate to each other, and how students view their classrooms. This work-in-progress paper will describe our initial work in this multiyear study

Opportunity for verbalization does not improve visual change detection performance:A state trace analysis

Evidence suggests that there is a tendency to verbally recode visually-presented information, and that in some cases verbal recoding can boost memory performance. According to multi-component models of working memory, memory performance is increased because task-relevant information is simultaneously maintained in two codes. The possibility of dual encoding is problematic if the goal is to measure capacity for visual information exclusively. To counteract this possibility, articulatory suppression is frequently used with visual change detection tasks specifically to prevent verbalization of visual stimuli. But is this precaution always necessary? There is little reason to believe that concurrent articulation affects performance in typical visual change detection tasks, suggesting that verbal recoding might not be likely to occur in this paradigm, and if not, precautionary articulatory suppression would not always be necessary. We present evidence confirming that articulatory suppression has no discernible effect on performance in a typical visual change-detection task in which abstract patterns are briefly presented. A comprehensive analysis using both descriptive statistics and Bayesian state-trace analysis revealed no evidence for any complex relationship between articulatory suppression and performance that would be consistent with a verbal recoding explanation. Instead, the evidence favors the simpler explanation that verbal strategies were either not deployed in the task or, if they were, were not effective in improving performance, and thus have no influence on visual working memory as measured during visual change detection. We conclude that in visual change detection experiments in which abstract visual stimuli are briefly presented, pre-cautionary articulatory suppression is unnecessary

Modeling of gas extraction from closed coal mines

International audienceThe closed coal mines carry on releasing firedamp. In some cases, the quantity of gas released is not negligible and it can induce an overpressure in old works. A means to avoid hazards related to these gas emissions at the surface is to put in drainage installations and to keep the pressure of the underground reservoir under the atmospheric one. This practice has been used in several mines in France like in the Lorraine basin. A mathematical model has been developed by INERIS in order to improve operation of such installations. This model needs to determine 4 main parameters of reservoir. After its calibration, it is possible to forecast daily variations of pressure and methane content in drained gas as a function of daily extracted gas flow rate. Validations were made for several years. This model is able to evaluate firedamp quantity which may be extracted for a givent period to characterize the extraction conditions allowing an optimal production and its durability

The association between the body mass index (BMI) of African American college women and their exposure to magazine advertisements

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the association between body mass index (BMI) and exposure to magazine advertisements among African-American college women aged 19 to 29. This study also sought to determine how personal, behavioral, and environmental factors affect the BMI of African-American college women. A sample of 252 African-American college women enrolled in undergraduate degree programs in the Southeast United States completed a web-based survey on their weight-related health behaviors and magazine usage. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and multivariable regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Bivariate correlations showed significant associations between BMI and several independent variables, including age, mean household income, and physical activity. However, no correlation was seen between BMI and the main independent variable, Reader Usage Measure (RUM). In the full regression model, RUM was not significantly associated with BMI suggesting that other factors, such as African-American magazine readership, are influencing the BMI of African-American college women. Keywords: advertisements, African-American women, college, magazines, obesit

Work in Progress - Role of Faculty in Promoting Lifelong Learning

Students’ development of self-directed and lifelong learning capacities is vital for their success in today’s engineering environment. Instructors play a critical role in influencing outcomes related to self-directed learning (SDL) through their design of courses that support students’ transitions from controlled to autonomous learning behaviors. Yet there is a critical lack of research examining how instructor choices promote self-directed (and eventually lifelong) learning development in undergraduate engineering students. In this work in progress, we introduce a project that explores how instructor choices affect a range of student outcomes related to their development as self-directed and lifelong learners. Drawing on existing research that suggests strong correlations between student autonomy support and outcomes related to SDL, we plan to examine the ways in which engineering instructors assist students in becoming self-directed learners, the role of instructors’ autonomy support on students’ behavioral, motivational, affective responses, and the effect of autonomy on students’ perceptions of learning

A survey of listeners' perceptions of an extension-produced invasive plant podcast

Science communication and university Extension initiatives are evolving in response to society’s needs and an ever-changing digital landscape. The UF/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants (CAIP) has recently launched a podcast called Working in the Weeds (WITW). We surveyed podcast listeners to find out their motivations for listening and asked for their feedback on current episodes and future content. The survey revealed that a majority of respondents were individuals who work in the world of invasive plants. Many respondents were introduced to the podcast through work and listen to learn more about relevant research and information, to feel connected to the Center, and to be entertained. Overall, the respondents were satisfied with the podcast production elements and the variety of episode styles. Based on open-ended responses, listeners described that the podcast shares science in a meaningful way and the Center should continue producing episodes that highlight invasive plant research. Some respondents suggested future episodes should cover specific invasive plants, environmental impacts, herbicide use and safety, management techniques, and social issues surrounding invasive plant management