Of books and barbecues

Statewide testing has created an atmosphere in schools that is intimidating and mundane. A substantial body of research indicates that as students pay increasing attention to how well they are doing, they become decreasingly concerned with what they are doing. If we simply wanted to know how well a student was learning, or how well a teacher was teaching, there are many rich, authentic, classroom-based forms of assessment that could give us a meaningful answer. Only if your primary concern was to know who’s beating whom would you need to give exactly the same mass-produced tests under the same condition

Knowing Their Limits: Assessing the Discernment of Pre-Clinical Medical Students

Introduction: Discernment, or awareness of one’s limitations, is one of the qualities fundamental to entrustment (ten Cate et al., 2015). The AAMC Entrustable Professional Activities (EPA) pilot project lists discernment as an expectation of medical students entering residency (AAMC, 2014). Our institution, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine (VCU SOM), was selected to participate in the EPA pilot. Prior to implementing a pilot curriculum on discernment, our institution gathered data on the current practice of discernment among our pre-clinical medical students. The Practice of Clinical Medicine (PCM) at VCU SOM is a pre-clinical longitudinal course which teaches the core skills of doctoring. Students are assessed on their ability to integrate these skills at the end of each semester with an Objective Structure Clinical Exam (OSCE). Starting with the Class of 2020, a question assessing discernment was incorporated into each OSCE

Artificial intelligence and the space station software support environment

In a software system the size of the Space Station Software Support Environment (SSE), no one software development or implementation methodology is presently powerful enough to provide safe, reliable, maintainable, cost effective real time or near real time software. In an environment that must survive one of the most harsh and long life times, software must be produced that will perform as predicted, from the first time it is executed to the last. Many of the software challenges that will be faced will require strategies borrowed from Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is the only development area mentioned as an example of a legitimate reason for a waiver from the overall requirement to use the Ada programming language for software development. The limits are defined of the applicability of the Ada language Ada Programming Support Environment (of which the SSE is a special case), and software engineering to AI solutions by describing a scenario that involves many facets of AI methodologies

From silence to dissent fostering critical voice in teachers

Teachers today have lost almost all control over their work. Few are capable of standing up to state-mandates. They are tightly constrained by school districts seeking compliance and higher text scores. We need critical literate teachers capable of critical reflection

What explains Hadza food sharing?

Most hypotheses proposed to explain human food sharing address motives, yet most tests of these hypotheses have measured only the patterns of food transfer. To choose between these hypotheses we need to measure peopleç—´ propensity to share. To do that, I played two games (the Ultimatum and Dictator Games) with Hadza hunter-gatherers. Despite their ubiquitous food sharing, the Hadza are less willing to share in these games than people in complex societies are. They were also less willing to share in smaller camps than larger camps. I evaluate the various food-sharing hypotheses in light of these results.

Spartan Release Engagement Mechanism (REM) stress and fracture analysis

The revised stress and fracture analysis of the Spartan REM hardware for current load conditions and mass properties is presented. The stress analysis was performed using a NASTRAN math model of the Spartan REM adapter, base, and payload. Appendix A contains the material properties, loads, and stress analysis of the hardware. The computer output and model description are in Appendix B. Factors of safety used in the stress analysis were 1.4 on tested items and 2.0 on all other items. Fracture analysis of the items considered fracture critical was accomplished using the MSFC Crack Growth Analysis code. Loads and stresses were obtaind from the stress analysis. The fracture analysis notes are located in Appendix A and the computer output in Appendix B. All items analyzed met design and fracture criteria

Materials properties, loads, and stress analysis, Spartan REM: Appendix A

The mechanical properties, load tests, and stress analysis of the Spartan Release Engagement Mechanism (REM) is presented. The fracture properties of the components of the unit are also discussed. Detailed engineering drawings are included