Effectiveness of Stimulating Neural Branching Strategies in Developing Creative and Critical Thinking among Eighth Grade Students in Sultanate of Oman

This research aims to examine the effect of teaching by using strategies that stimulate neural branching in creative and critical thinking of study groups. The sample of this study consisted of two experimental groups and a control group. In terms of the treatment, one experimental group was taught using strategies that stimulate the neural branching in human brain mentally. The other experimental group was taught using the same strategies supported by technology. The control group was taught using the traditional instruction. The sample included (95) male student and (102) female students from two schools of the governorate of Muscat. To answer the research questions, Torrance test of creative thinking (TTCT) and Watson & Glaser critical thinking test (WGCTT) were used. The results show that the experimental groups significantly outperformed the control group with respect to the creative thinking test. However there were no statistically significant differences between the study's groups in the critical thinking test. This study recommends investment of mental capacities of the learners to encourage creative thinking and train teachers on using methods that stimulate neural branching

Exploring verbal, visual and schematic learners' static and dynamic mental images of scientific species and processes in relation to their spatial ability

The current study compared different learners' static and dynamic mental images of unseen scientific species and processes in relation to their spatial ability. Learners were classified into verbal, visual and schematic. Dynamic images were classified into: appearing/disappearing, linear-movement, and rotation. Two types of scientific entities and their related processes were investigated: astronomical and microscopic. The sample included 79 female students from Grades 9 and 10. For the purpose of the study, three instruments were used. The Mental Images by Guided Imagery instrument was designed to investigate participants' visualization of static and dynamic mental images. The Water-Level Task was adopted to estimate participants' spatial ability. The Learning Styles Inventory was used to classify participants into verbal, visual and schematic learners. The research findings suggest that schematic learners outperformed verbal and visual learners in their spatial ability. They also outperformed them in their vividness of microscopic images; both micro-static and micro-dynamic images; especially in the case of appearing/disappearing images. The differences were not significant in the case of astronomical images. The results also indicate that appearing/disappearing images received the least vividness scores for all three types of learners

Metacognitive Awareness Perceptions of Students with High and Low Scores on TIMSS-Like Science Tests

The current study explores the differences in metacognitive awareness perceptions of students who had high and low scores on TIMSS-like science tests. The sample consisted of 937 Omani students, 478 in Grade Five and 459 in Grade Nine. TIMSS-like tests were specially designed for both grade levels, and students also completed a metacognitive awareness perceptions inventory which explored their use of four main skills: planning, information management strategies, debugging strategies and evaluation. MANOVA was used to analyze the data. The findings indicated that students with high scores in the TIMSS-like test out-performed students with low scores in the test on all four metacognitive skills surveyed. This was true for all three performance areas analysed: performance in the TIMSS-like test as a whole, performance in lower-level test questions and performance in higher-level test questions. These findings highlight the extent to which students’ metacognitive skills influence their performance in science tests. The study recommends that students be trained to improve their metacognitive skills, reviews several methods for doing this, and suggests that such training might better prepare them for taking science tests. However, it also notes that further research is needed to explore the impact of metacognitive training on student performance in specific science examinations such as TIMSS

Omani twelfth grade students' most common misconceptions in chemistry

The current study, undertaken in the Sultanate of Oman, explored twelfth grade students' common misconceptions in seven chemistry conceptual areas. The sample included 786 twelfth grade students in Oman while the instrument was a two-tier test called Chemistry Misconceptions Diagnostic Test (CMDT), consisting of 25 items with 12 items incorporating visual representations and eight items used sub-microscopic representations. In addition, nine items required participants to study the visual diagram(s) in order to answer the questions. The results confirmed several misconceptions that had been identified in previous studies, as higher percentages of the misconceptions were recorded compared to the findings of previous studies. Misconceptions receiving the highest percentages were associated with combustion, chemical equilibrium, and electrochemistry. The results also indicated that twelfth graders had a difficulty dealing with visual test items. These findings are serious alerts to the practice of chemistry education at the secondary level in Oman. Recommendations are given to improve the teaching of chemistry by taking research-diagnosed misconceptions into account when designing instructional materials and classroom activities

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination modelling for safe surgery to save lives: data from an international prospective cohort study

Background: Preoperative SARS-CoV-2 vaccination could support safer elective surgery. Vaccine numbers are limited so this study aimed to inform their prioritization by modelling. Methods: The primary outcome was the number needed to vaccinate (NNV) to prevent one COVID-19-related death in 1 year. NNVs were based on postoperative SARS-CoV-2 rates and mortality in an international cohort study (surgical patients), and community SARS-CoV-2 incidence and case fatality data (general population). NNV estimates were stratified by age (18-49, 50-69, 70 or more years) and type of surgery. Best- and worst-case scenarios were used to describe uncertainty. Results: NNVs were more favourable in surgical patients than the general population. The most favourable NNVs were in patients aged 70 years or more needing cancer surgery (351; best case 196, worst case 816) or non-cancer surgery (733; best case 407, worst case 1664). Both exceeded the NNV in the general population (1840; best case 1196, worst case 3066). NNVs for surgical patients remained favourable at a range of SARS-CoV-2 incidence rates in sensitivity analysis modelling. Globally, prioritizing preoperative vaccination of patients needing elective surgery ahead of the general population could prevent an additional 58 687 (best case 115 007, worst case 20 177) COVID-19-related deaths in 1 year. Conclusion: As global roll out of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination proceeds, patients needing elective surgery should be prioritized ahead of the general population