Tournaments, Rankings, and Time Crunches: Exploring the use of Competition Technologies in the Classroom

Two studies are presented in which a competitive online tournament is used for exam preparation. The first study looks at the effectiveness of online tournaments in motivating undergraduate students to prepare for their exams. An analysis of variance was used to assess whether participation in the review tournaments had a significant effect on achieved grades. A significant effect is discovered; suggesting that the participants’ difference in test scores is dependent on their participation amount (three tournaments versus one tournament). The second study assessed whether group members working together in a competitive tournament are more likely to pool resources and partake in peer mentoring to improve their understanding of course material in preparation for an exam. The findings from this study suggest that students who performed poorer on their mid-term exam were likely to improve significantly on their final exam, particularly if they participated in the grouped competitive final exam review

Development and evaluation of an online university readiness course furthered by capturing the lived experience of students during this transition: A multi-perspective understanding of the transition to university

In the transition to university, students may hold expectations about university life: how their classes, friendships, and support networks would change in university. They may need to adjust their time management skills and study strategies to better suit the new self-directed learning environment, while grappling with psychosocial and emotional changes resulting from the new social and living environments. ‘University readiness’ provided the context and rationale for development of a pre-university online course, Leg UP: An Introduction to Health Across the Lifespan. This program was evaluated in a quasi-experimental study to assess its effectiveness at easing students’ transition to university in the areas of academic achievement and adjustment. Academic achievement was measured by achieved grades and academic adjustment was measured by scores on the Student Adaption to College Questionnaire (SACQ). The results of two multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) suggest (1) Leg UP participants achieved higher grades, and (2) Leg UP participants achieved higher scores on the SACQ, specifically in the ‘attachment’ subscale. Furthermore, a qualitative study was conducted to describe the lived experience of first- and second-year students in the School of Health Studies in their transition to university. This study was situated within an interpretivist paradigm and the methodology of phenomenology; where my interpretation of the accounts of students who experienced the phenomenon of transitioning to university is offered. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was conducted on focus group and interview data collected in order to present a rich, descriptive account of their personal experiences. Findings from this study suggest six overall themes in describing the phenomenon of transitioning to university: Uncertainty, Expectations (and adjusting expectations), Living Arrangement, Pressure, Independence and Identity, and Support. The significance of the combined studies reinforces the need to understand and support students in their transition to university. In doing so, institutions may be encouraged to develop or adapt existing transition strategies to best fit the needs of their unique student populations. This research also has potential for application outside of the area of higher education, wherein close examination of ‘transitions’ in broad terms can encourage a better understanding of individual experiences during pivotal, life-altering moments

Measurement of the F2 structure function in deep inelastic e+^{+}p scattering using 1994 data from the ZEUS detector at HERA

We present measurements of the structure function \Ft\ in e^+p scattering at HERA in the range 3.5\;\Gevsq < \qsd < 5000\;\Gevsq. A new reconstruction method has allowed a significant improvement in the resolution of the kinematic variables and an extension of the kinematic region covered by the experiment. At \qsd < 35 \;\Gevsq the range in x now spans 6.3\cdot 10^{-5} < x < 0.08 providing overlap with measurements from fixed target experiments. At values of Q^2 above 1000 GeV^2 the x range extends to 0.5. Systematic errors below 5\perc\ have been achieved for most of the kinematic urray, W

Comparison of ZEUS data with standard model predictions for e+p→e+Xe^+ p \rightarrow e^+ X scattering at high xx and Q2Q^2

Using the ZEUS detector at HERA, we have studied the reaction e(+)p --> e(+)X for Q(2) > 5000 GeV2 with a 20.1 pb(-1) data sample collected during the years 1993 to 1996. For Q(2) below 15000 GeV2, the data are in good agreement with Standard Model expectations. For Q(2) > 35000 GeV2. two events are observed while 0.145 +/- 0.013 events are expected, A statistical analysis of a large ensemble of simulated Standard Model experiments indicates that with probability 6.0%, an excess at least as unlikely as that observed would occur above some Q(2) cut. For x > 0.55 and y > 0.75, four events are observed where 0.91 +/- 0.08 events are expected, A statistical analysis of the two-dimensional distribution of the events in x and y yields a probability of 0.72% for the region x > 0.55 and y > 0.25 and a probability of 7.8% for the entire Q(2) > 5000 GeV2 data sample. The observed excess above Standard Model expectations is particularly interesting because it occurs in a previously unexplored kinematic region

Measurement of Elastic ϕ\phi Photoproduction at HERA

The production of $\phi$ mesons in the reaction $e^{+}p \rightarrow e^{+} \phi p$ ($\phi \rightarrow K^{+}K^{-}$) at a median $Q^{2}$ of $10^{-4} \ \rm{GeV^2}$has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The differential$\phi$photoproduction cross section$d\sigma/dt$has an exponential shape and has been determined in the kinematic range$0.1<|t|<0.5 \ \rm{GeV^2}$and$60 < W < 80 \ \rm{GeV}$. An integrated cross section of$\sigma_{\gamma p \rightarrow \phi p} = 0.96 \pm 0.19^{+0.21}_{-0.18}$$\rm{\mu b}$has been obtained by extrapolating to {\it t} = 0. When compared to lower energy data, the results show a weak energy dependence of both$\sigma_{\gamma p \rightarrow \phi p}$and the slope of the$t$distribution. The$\phi$decay angular distributions are consistent with$s$-channel helicity conservation. From lower energies to HERA energies, the features of$\phi$ photoproduction are compatible with those of a soft diffractive process.Comment: 23 pages, including 6 post script figure

Students as Partners in collaborative course design: University Science Education

The global Students as Partners movement showcases students working alongside faculty as co-designers, co-researchers, co-developers etc. on a wide variety of educational issues (Healy et al. 2014). In this work, we explore the impact of such a collaborative approach to course design. The course in question, a 3rd year one-semester offering called University Science Education, opened with a syllabus providing only basic administrative information and broad educational outcomes. During the first 3 weeks, faculty facilitators collaborated with students within an Appreciative Inquiry framework to develop expanded outcomes, specific learning activities, assessments, rubrics, due dates and course policies. Written course materials and focus group transcripts from consenting students were de-identified, coded and subjected to longitudinal interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). Student responses clustered around two major themes of: i) “growth”, expressed as willingness to confront and learn from personal and/or academic challenges; and ii) “effect”, expressed as students’ awareness that their education in science is now collaborative, empowered, and resting on foundational understanding. We experienced collaborative course design as a powerful vehicle for engagement for faculty and students alike. Healy, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K. (2014). Engagement through partnership: Students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education. York, UK: Higher Education Academy

Measurement of the proton structure function F-2 and sigma(gamma*p)(tot) at low Q(2) and very low x at HERA

A small electromagnetic sampling calorimeter, installed in the ZEUS experiment in 1995, significantly enhanced the acceptance for very low x and low Q^2 inelastic neutral current scattering, e^{+}p \to e^{+}X, at HERA. A measurement of the proton structure function F_2 and the total virtual photon-proton (\gamma^*p) cross-section is presented for 0.11 \le Q^{2} \le 0.65 GeV^2 and 2 \times 10^{-6} \le x \le 6 \times 10^{-5}, corresponding to a range in the \gamma^{*}p c.m. energy of 100 \le W \le 230 GeV. Comparisons with various models are also presented.Comment: 18 pages including 4 figure

Study of charged-current ep interactions at Q(2)>200 GeV2 with the ZEUS detector at HERA

Deep inelastic charged-current reactions have been studied in e(+)p and e(-)p collisions at a center of mass energy of about 300 GeV in the kinematic region Q(2)>200 GeV2 and x>0.006 using the ZEUS detector at HERA, The integrated cross sections for Q(2)>200 GeV2 are found to be sigma(e+p-->)=30.3(-4.2 -2.6)(+5.5 +1.6) pb and sigma(e-p-->upsilon X)=54.7(-9.8 -3.4)(+15.9 +2.8) pb. Differential cross sections have been measures as functions of the variables x, y and Q(2). From the measured differential cross sections d sigma/dQ(2), the W boson mass is determined to be M(W)=79(-7 -4)(+8 +4) GeV. Measured jet rates and transverse energy profiles agree with model predictions, A search for charged-current interactions with a large rapidity gap yielded one candidate event, corresponding to a cross section of sigma(e+p-->)(Q(2)>200 GeV2; eta(max)<2.5)=0.8(-0.7)(+1.8)+/-0.1 pb