Getting more from getting out : increasing achievement in literacy and science through ecological fieldwork

This paper demonstrates the positive impact of learning through ecological fieldwork upon children's ability to write, and to write about science. Specifically we have carried out a relatively large-scale study (involving 379 children aged 9–11 years from 8 primary schools in North East England) comparing intervention classes (involved in fieldwork) and comparison classes (no fieldwork). Pre-intervention assessments revealed no differences between classes in mean literacy scores; post-intervention assessments revealed that significantly higher literacy scores were achieved by children who had carried out fieldwork (girls consistently outperformed boys in all classes). Intervention class children achieved higher scores in science (ecology) assessments than their comparison class peers before and after the intervention. We suggest that this may be an effect of these children thinking as scientists throughout the project. Our work confirms that a child-centred outdoor learning experience focused upon science can result in learning benefits across the wider curriculum

Fatal General Aviation Accidents in Furtherance of Business (1996–2015): Rates, Risk Factors, and Accident Causes

Introduction: General aviation missions related to furtherance of business potentially carry higher risk (operations in adverse weather, at night, for longer distances) than those undertaken for recreation. The study herein was undertaken to determine fatal accident rates, proportions, and risk factors/causes. Method: The National Transportation Safety Board aviation accident database was queried for accidents (1996–2015). Annual fleet times were from the general aviation annual activity survey. Statistical analyses used Poisson distributions, proportion testing, and Cohen’s Kappa tests. Results: The fatal accident rate for business operations was three- to six-fold lower than the rate for recreational flights with a decline evident between 1996 and 2015. However, a higher proportion of business-related accidents were fatal (33%) compared with recreational flight mishaps (22%). Business-related, fatal accidents were over-represented for operations of longer flight distance, non-daylight hours, and degraded visibility. The most frequent accident cause categories were a deficiency in pilot skills/experience/systems knowledge (45%) and violation of the federal aviation regulations (e.g. departure into instrument conditions without an instrument flight plan, flight into known/forecast icing) (26%). Conclusion: Despite the fatal accident rate declining for business-related missions, the proportion of fatal mishaps was higher than that for recreational flights. Practical application: Towards enhancing safety (a) flight reviews should discuss alternate flight planning to circumvent the hazards of night operations, adverse weather, and fatigue, (b) pilots should be encouraged to participate in additional training, e.g. the FAAST program, and (c) pilots should avail themselves of aviation training devices for maintaining instrument proficiency

Some aspects of the metabolism of the developing chick embryo: the metabolism of 'biologically labile' methyl groups

Excluding inorganic ions and molecules, the methyl group is surely one of the simplest chemical units encountered in the living cell. This radical is found in biological material in covalent combination with various elements, yielding molecules well known to the organic chemist, which could be classified as follows:-(a) Methyl group attached to nitrogen, as in choline, creatine and adrenaline.(b) Methyl group attached to sulphur, as in methionin and dimethylthetin.(c) Methyl group attached to sulphur, as in methionin and dimethylthetin. attached to carbon, as in alanine, valine and thymine.(d) Methyl group attached to oxygen, as in alkaloids such as narcotine.(e) Methyl group attached to metalloids such as selenium, tellurium and arsenic, yielding selenides, tellurides and arsenides.Whilst the methylated nitrogen, sulphur and are widely distributed in the kingdoms, the methyl ethers and methylated metallic complexes are rareties, occurring in certain highly specialized organisms, or under non -physiological circumstances. For this and other reasons to be elaborated later, the subject of biological methylation was for long mainly confined to the study of methyl groups attached to nitrogen or sulphur and was only quite recently extended to include methyl - carbon compounds. The phenomena of synthesis, transport and degradation of the methyl group have occupied the attention of physiologists and biochemists during the greater part of the twentieth century. Although these problems have not been settled, the groundwork has been laid to open the way to a fuller elucidation of the role of the methyl radical in biochemical processes