Does the TPACK framework help to design a more engaging learning environment?

This paper describes an attempt to design an e-learning course within a framework that combines theoretical underpinnings with pedagogy and content knowledge. It focuses on how a university lecturer can facilitate learning that integrates pedagogical and technological knowledge. The Technology Pedagogy And Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework enables new ways of thinking about technology integration and emphasises the intersection of these three domains: technology, pedagogy and content knowledge. Students’ involvement in a blended learning course and their reflections were examined to provide a picture of the synergy or lack there of in relation to this framework. This paper offers a look at the intersections of the TPACK domains to consider how the use of Web 2 technologies in teaching complement the other domains. It also describes how students assessed the combination of the technological, pedagogical and content knowledge domains in their learning experiences

Probing States in the Mott Insulator Regime

We propose a method to probe states in the Mott insulator regime produced from a condensate in an optical lattice. We consider a system in which we create time-dependent number fluctuations in a given site by turning off the atomic interactions and lowering the potential barriers on a nearly pure Mott state to allow the atoms to tunnel between sites. We calculate the expected interference pattern and number fluctuations from such a system and show that one can potentially observe a deviation from a pure Mott state. We also discuss a method in which to detect these number fluctuations using time-of-flight imaging.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Send correspondence to [email protected]

Differences between heavy and light quarks

The quark Dyson-Schwinger equation shows that there are distinct differences between light and heavy quarks. The dynamical mass function of the light quarks is characterised by a sharp increase below 1 GeV, whereas the mass function of the heavy quarks is approximately constant in this infrared region. As a consequence, the heavy-meson masses increase linearly with the current-quark masses, whereas the light pseudoscalar meson masses are proportional to the square root of the current-quark masses.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Contribution to the IVth International Workshop on Progress in Heavy Quark Physics, 20-22 Sept. 1997, Rostoc

Can paraphrasing increase the amount and accuracy of reports from child eyewitnesses?

Young children’s descriptions of sexual abuse are often sparse thus creating the need for techniques that elicit lengthier accounts. ‘Paraphrasing’, or repeating information children have just disclosed, is a technique sometimes used by forensic interviewers to clarify or elicit information. (e.g., if a child stated “He touched me”, an interviewer could respond “He touched you?”). However, the effects of paraphrasing have yet to be scientifically assessed. The impact of different paraphrasing styles on young children’s reports was investigated. Overall, paraphrasing per se did not improve the length, richness, or accuracy of reports when compared to open-ended prompts such as “tell me more,” but some styles of paraphrasing were more beneficial than others. The results provide clear recommendations for investigative interviewers about how to use paraphrasing appropriately, and which practices can compromise the quality of children’s reports

Tracing masses of ground-state light-quark mesons

We describe a symmetry-preserving calculation of the meson spectrum, which combines a description of pion properties with reasonable estimates of the masses of heavier light-quark mesons, including axial-vector states. The kernels used in formulating the problem are essentially nonperturbative. They incorporate effects of dynamical chiral symmetry breaking (DCSB) that were not previously possible to express. Our analysis clarifies a causal connection between DCSB and the splitting between vector and axial-vector mesons, and exposes a key role played by the anomalous chromomagnetic moment of dressed-quarks in forming the spectrum.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. To appear in Phys. Rev. C (Rapid Comm.

Dyson-Schwinger Equations - aspects of the pion

The contemporary use of Dyson-Schwinger equations in hadronic physics is exemplified via applications to the calculation of pseudoscalar meson masses, and inclusive deep inelastic scattering with a determination of the pion's valence-quark distribution function.Comment: 4 pages. Contribution to the Proceedings of ``DPF 2000,'' the Meeting of the Division of Particles and Fields of the American Physical Society, August 9-12, 2000, Department of Physics, the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohi