Pre-service teachers\u27 use of ICT to collaborate to complete assessment tasks

This research explored the use of ICT products by n = 123 pre-service teachers to complete collaborative assessments. Students responded to a questionnaire relating to the use, benefits and limitations, and what would better enable the use of ICT for collaborative assessment purposes. The ICT products favoured by students did not support some key elements necessary for online collaboration, through either student use or product functionality. Poor Internet access was a commonly cited limitation with the effect of reducing access to available ICT skills training. Suggestions for changes to course structure and content and further research are made

The validity of the science teacher efficacy belief instrument (STEBI-B) for postgraduate, pre-service, primary teachers

The STEBI-B (Enoch and Riggs, 1990) has been widely used as a measure of undergraduate primary pre-service teacher self-efficacy since its creation. However, the publication of its use within postgraduate teaching courses has been limited. The postgraduate pre-service teachers (Graduate Diploma and Master of Education students) are a very different population, presenting with more life experience and importantly, more experience in Science. This brings the generalizability of the STEBI-B to this population into question. The validity of the STEBI-B for use with a postgraduate, pre-service teacher population was investigated using a Rasch model analysis. Results support the two-factor structure presented by the original authors, the rewording proposed by Bleicher (2004), and additional modifications to the Likert scale and wording to improve targeting for this specific population. With simple, justified modifications the STEBI-B can be used as a tool to positively influence course design in postgraduate, pre-service teacher, science education courses

Engaging adolescent Kyrgyzstani EFL students in digital storytelling projects about astronomy

This research is based on the Journey through Space and Time (JTST) educational astronomy project for primary and junior high school science curricula in Australia, which seeks to improve students\u27 astronomy content knowledge through science inquiry. The focus of the current project is on the learning needs of students for whom the language of instruction is a foreign or second language (EFL/ESL). This article reports the results of a pilot case study conducted in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in December 2017. The research employed a Type II Case Study design. Data were collected through video and audio recordings of classroom interactions. The Astronomy Diagnostic Test measured changes in content knowledge and written feedback at the end of the course and helped to understand students\u27 overall impression from the course. The study revealed that engaging Kyrgyzstani EFL students aged between 12 and 15 years in making videos about their learning of astronomy significantly facilitated their content knowledge acquisition. This research contributes to the existing knowledge about the use of technology in students\u27 science education, and specifically as a tool to enhance EFL students\u27 understanding of the integrated science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) curriculum. The results of the shared knowledge construction stimulated by the collaboration in video production create a case for further research in EFL students\u27 disciplinary literacy development

Genomic reconstruction of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in England

AbstractThe evolution of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus leads to new variants that warrant timely epidemiological characterization. Here we use the dense genomic surveillance data generated by the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium to reconstruct the dynamics of 71 different lineages in each of 315 English local authorities between September 2020 and June 2021. This analysis reveals a series of subepidemics that peaked in early autumn 2020, followed by a jump in transmissibility of the B.1.1.7/Alpha lineage. The Alpha variant grew when other lineages declined during the second national lockdown and regionally tiered restrictions between November and December 2020. A third more stringent national lockdown suppressed the Alpha variant and eliminated nearly all other lineages in early 2021. Yet a series of variants (most of which contained the spike E484K mutation) defied these trends and persisted at moderately increasing proportions. However, by accounting for sustained introductions, we found that the transmissibility of these variants is unlikely to have exceeded the transmissibility of the Alpha variant. Finally, B.1.617.2/Delta was repeatedly introduced in England and grew rapidly in early summer 2021, constituting approximately 98% of sampled SARS-CoV-2 genomes on 26 June 2021.</jats:p