First-year engineering students’ use of their mathematics textbook - opportunities and constraints

The role of the mathematics textbook at tertiary level has received limited exposure in previous research although it is likely that students work individually and that some of this work depends on the use of the textbook. The aim of this study was to investigate the process of approaching the textbook from epistemological, cognitive, and didactical perspectives. The focus was on identifying and discussing the opportunities and constraints in the process. The study was an explorative case study and the participants were first-year engineering students taking a basic calculus course. The data were collected through questionnaires, observations, and interviews. Results showed that the textbook was used to a very low degree and mainly perceived as a source of tasks. Different opportunities and constraints are pointed out and some didactical implications are suggested. The results and discussion indicate that a need for greater awareness about the use of mathematical textbooks in meaningful ways at tertiary level

From Healing to Hope: The Continuing Influence of the Chilean Arpilleras

Since the 1970s, instances of widespread societal terror and extermination have proliferated. The source of such conflicts may involve entities outside of a country but, often, the parties involved in the conflict are states and their citizens. These types of social injustices and human rights atrocities tear apart the very fabric of a society, often resulting from internal wars which pit people who previously lived side-by-side against one another. A constant in these conflicts is the silencing of communication on many levels which creates an opening for multiple forms of art to function as communicative media, visual testimony, and human rights violations documentation. This paper studies the processes though which oppressed people are able to create and export visual testimonial art and the conditions that may increase the likelihood of success. The 40-year history of Chilean arpilleras, commonly referred to as political quilts, is used as a case study to identify five phases of the arpilleras which directly correlate to the creators’ lived experience: trauma, survival, healing and recovering, and remembering. The role of oppressors (the Chilean military) and supporters (those who created protected spaces and facilitated movement of the arpilleras) is analyzed in two ways: through their familiar form, which gave the impression that the arpilleras were a safe women’s craft; and through their distinctive features, which created openings for the arpilleras to communicate in an international court of public opinion what the oppressors sought to silence. The fifth phase of the arpilleras, continuing circulation, provides an opportunity to examine how the arpilleras are used as models for subversive communication and in healing and reconciliation efforts. This close examination of the Chilean arpilleras as visual testimony and communicative art illustrates their contributions to social justice and peace

Reconsidering Testimonial Forms and Social Justice: A Study of Official and Unofficial Testimony in Chile

Testimony flows from a story that originates long before the opportunity to be a witness about human atrocities occurs. And, ironically, testimony – the voice that is suppressed during times of state sanctioned terror – continues to flow long after the perpetrators fade from power. It is this ethereal and enduring paradox that raises the questions of what testimonial forms are, how they communicate, and whether they positively impact social justice as evidenced by enhanced communicative freedoms. The testimonial forms of this study are narratives about human rights atrocities which emerged from the 17-year military junta in Chile led by Augusto Pinochet. This project examines the development and uses of official and unofficial testimony surrounding times of transitional justice using a multi-modal analysis incorporating narrative and historical analysis, communication ethics, and critical theory which yields a meta-analysis of testimony and the context in which it functions. This research concludes that a life cycle of testimony exists that is organic and evolving. Furthermore, due to the unique circumstances of transitional justice periods, a theory of testimony ethics is called for to increase individual communicative freedoms that lead to enhanced social justice as well as to increase the success of truth commission communication processes

Effects of Nutrition Education on Dietary Intake Quality and Nutrition Knowledge in Professional Soccer Players – A Pilot Study

Background and Aims: Nutrition is an important factor for optimal performance of professional athletes. Several studies have demonstrated that elite athletes, especially soccer players, don’t eat enough or a high quality diet. Research shows that a diet with 65-70% of calories from carbohydrates, 20-35% calories from fat and approximately 12% of calories from protein out of an approximate 5,000 kcal diet will show improvements in performance of athletes training at high intensities. This pilot study aimed to test the impact of a targeted nutrition education program on dietary intake quality and nutrition knowledge in professional soccer players. Methods: We initially evaluated 35 professional soccer players in San Antonio at the beginning and/or end of pre-season training. However, the number of intervention players (n=3) that 1) accurately completed the evaluation diet log and knowledge survey and 2) remained with the team throughout the preseason were very limited (n=3). The intervention players were on the team roster at the beginning of the pre-season. The non-intervention players (n=3) were added to the team well after the intervention itself and matched the experience level of the intervention players. Pre-intervention evaluation consisted of a dietary analysis and nutrition knowledge survey given the first week of preseason (intervention players only). Educational intervention was given during the second week of pre-season and was designed to address major dietary deficiencies identified in pre-intervention dietary analysis and performance nutrition knowledge survey. At week 9 of preseason, dietary analysis and nutrition knowledge surveys were administered to both the intervention and non-intervention groups. Results: We found no significant differences between the intervention group and the non-intervention group. Discussion: The power of this evaluation was highly limited due to unforeseen logistical issues associated with professional soccer teams. These included 1) poor player compliance with diet logs and survey, 2) very limited access to players during pre-season, 3) budgetary restrictions on training related hydration and recovery nutrition supplements, 4) high player turnover within the 9-week period, and 5) very low subject number. Anecdotally, several players and coaches expressed increased knowledge of appropriate performance nutrition and found themselves practicing what they learned during the education sessions and have invited the investigators back this season to provide nutrition education

Judicial Case Management: Caught in the Crossfire

For thirty years, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have relied on active Judicial case management to combat undue cost and delay The complaints about cost and delay have not gone away, but few blame the case-management rules for that Indeed, lawyers continue to view active judicial case management as one of the best ways of reducing cost and delay, and most of the reforms being urged today seek even greater Judicial case management for that reason But some think the rulemakers took a wrong turn thirty years ago and that each round of rulemaking that places more reliance on case management simply compounds the error This Article examines the role of case management in the current system, the criticisms of the case-management model, and the implications of those criticisms for the current reform agenda It is organized around five questions, each exploring a policy or practical issue associated with having a pretrial system that (1) has Just one set of rules for all cases, and (2) relies on active Judicial case management to ensure that the pretrial process in each case is just, speedy, and inexpensive The stakes are high If we, participants in the Judicial system, are to continue to rely on active Judicial case management to tailor the pretrial process to the needs of individual cases, then we must be sure that we understand the implications of doing so If we conclude that we do not like those implications, or that there are better ways to tailor the pretrial process, then we need to take a different path than the one we have traversed for the last thirty years But if we conclude that we have been on the right path, and that federal courts should push even farther down that path, then we must be prepared to meet the crossfire that we will encounter along the wa

Engineering students approaching the mathematics textbook as a potential learning tool – opportunities and constraints

DoktorgradsavhandlingIt is usually assumed that the students at tertiary level work intensively and individually with the new mathematical concepts (Wood, 2001). In this context the mathematics textbook might be an important learning tool. This thesis addresses the issue of what factors might influence the role of the mathematics textbook as a learning tool. The study is situated in the context of the basic mathematics course taken by first-year engineering students. A brief pilot study indicated that a majority of the students preferred using lecture notes rather than the textbook although in the beginning of the semester they perceived the textbook as being important when learning mathematics. This was the starting point of this research that aims to identify and explore the factors that might influence the role of the textbook proposed to first-year engineering students. The textbook is conceptualized as a cognitive learning tool embedded in the educational setting offering the basic mathematics course. The study was conducted when the students worked with the derivative concept. The process of students’ approaching the textbook is viewed from an epistemological, a cognitive and a didactical perspective. The study is an exploratory case study, and a qualitative research strategy within an interpretative paradigm was chosen. Data was gathered from a number of vantage points: students’ responses to a questionnaire, observations of lectures and task solving sessions, interviews with the teacher and the students, and informal talks with the teacher and the students. Additionally a questionnaire was sent to authors of the most used calculus textbooks with the aim of exploring their vision concerning their mathematics texts. The results of the main study confirm the observed phenomena from the pilot study. Students perceived the textbook as difficult and the lecture notes were preferred when working with the derivative concept. The textbook was used by the students mainly to read the examples and figure out possible procedures when working with the tasks. The findings of the study reveal possible opportunities and constraining factors of epistemological, cognitive and didactical nature. Students’ poor previous knowledge, their approach to learning mathematics, the cognitive demands of the textbook, and the way the textbook was used during the lectures seem to influence the role of the textbook as a learning tool. Possibilities and limitations were discussed within the given theoretical framework. This study suggests that higher awareness about the assumed and real role of the mathematics textbooks at tertiary level is necessary. Some suggestions for further research that might provide deeper insights about the issue are given

From resource to document: Scaffolding content and organising student learning in teachers’ documentation work on the teaching of series

We examine teachers’ use of resources as they prepare to teach the topic of numerical series of real numbers in order to identify how their personal relationship with mathematical content—and its teaching—interacts with their use of a commonly used textbook. We describe this interplay between textbook and personal relationship, a term coined in the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic (ATD, Chevallard, 2003), in the terms of documentation work (resources, aims, rules of action, operational invariants), a key construct from the documentational approach (DA, Gueudet & Trouche, 2009). We do so in the case of five post-secondary teachers who use the same textbook as a main resource to teach the topic. Documentational analysis of interviews with the teachers led to the identification of their aims and rules of action (the what and how of their resource use as they organise their teaching of the topic) as well as the operational invariants (the why for this organisation of their teaching). We describe the teachers’ documentation work in two sets of aims/rules of action: scaffolding mathematical content (series as a stepping stone to learning about Taylor polynomials and Maclaurin series) and organising student learning about series through drill exercises, visualisation, examples, and applications. Our bridging (networking) of theoretical constructs originating in one theoretical framework (personal relationship, ATD) with the constructs of a different, yet compatible, framework (documentation work, DA) aims to enrich the latter (teachers’ documentation work) with the individual agency (teachers’ personal relationship with the topic) provided by the former

Evaluation of internal contamination levels after a radiological dispersal device using portal monitors

In the event of a radioactive dispersal device (RDD), the assessment of the internal contamination level of victims is necessary to determine if immediate medical follow-up is necessary. Thermo Scientific's TPM-903B Portal Monitor was investigated to determine if it is a suitable first cut screening tool for internal contamination assessment of victims. A portal monitor was chosen for this study because they are readily accessible, transportable, easy to assemble, and provide whole body count rates due to the detector size. The TPM-903B was modeled in Monte Carlo N-Particles Transport Code Version 5 (MCNP). This computational model was validated against the portal monitor's response to a series of measurements made with four point sources in a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) slab box. Using the validated MCNP5 model and models of the MIRD male and female anthropomorphic phantoms, the response of the portal monitor was simulated for the inhalation and ingestion radionuclides from an RDD. Six representative phantoms were considered: Reference Male, Reference Female, Adipose Male, Adipose Female, Post-Menopausal Adipose Female, and 10-Year-Old Child. The biokinetics via Dose and Risk Calculation Software (DCAL) was implemented using both the inhalation and ingestion pathways to determine the radionuclide concentrations in the organs of the body which were then used to determine the count rate of the portal monitor as a function of time. Dose coefficients were employed to determine the count rate of the detector associated with specific dose limits. These count rates were then compiled into procedure sheets to be used by first responders during the triaging of victims following an RDD.M.S.Committee Chair: Hertel, Nolan; Committee Member: Ansari, Armin; Committee Member: Wang, Chri

Integration i europeisk kontext : Kritisk granskning utifrån skilda perspektiv inom politisk teori

In modern times of globalisation, most countries no longer consist of a homogeneous population. People from different backgrounds, with different stories, religion and culture live together in the same community. Unfortunately, this creates challenges and a modern state needs to have a plan for integration so that all these groups and individuals may live together peacefully, which is important in aspects of universal human rights and human dignity, but also for the function of a society. In this Master's thesis in Human Rights, questions about integration are discussed in a European context through four ideal-typical integration policy options from a model by Karin Borevi; together with perspectives from Seyla Benhabib, Abdelmalek Sayad and Charles Taylor. The four ideal-typical options for integration that are used in this thesis are: 1: Assimilaion to an ethnic community 2: Politics for ethnic exclusion 3: Assimilation to a civil community 4: Multicultural politics. Integration in Sweden, Great Britain and France during the 90's are used as illustrative examples of integration in order to be able to discuss the ideal-typical policy options in relation to real examples for demonstrating which political ideas and values that are built into different models of integration. In the end a normative discussion results in a solution of which values that should be prioritised and which strategy that is the best to accomplish these values. I conclude amongst other things that different forms of integration value culture, groups or individuals differently and that many different types of strategies and politics can be put into the same ideal-typical option for integration. People tend to treat cultures as unchangeable and well-defined units, even though they in reality seem to be of a changeable nature. The modern state should in my opinion work more with the principles around which type of society that would be the best for all its citizens and not so much how we should preserve what cannot be preserved in the first place, like cultures. We should create societies where cultures can mix and change. The global world is here to stay and so is the heterogeneous society, the state should focus on creating a society built on this fact, where society and people as individuals may grow