The Science behind a flipped classroom

Paper presented at the 3rd Strathmore International Mathematics Conference (SIMC 2015), 3 - 7 August 2015, Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya.When first asked to teach a flipped classroom, I was excited and apprehensive at the same time. I knew I always wanted to try it but I wasn’t sure what the best practices were nor which parts of the class should be flipped and which shouldn’t. I soon found out there is a lot more to flipping a classroom, but the results can be rewarding. In this paper, I will describe how I flipped a College Algebra class with a specific focus for nursing students. In addition, valuable ideas and best practices on how to effectively flip a class are presented

The need for effective study skills under the 21st century: a case of USA and KENYA

Paper presented at the 2nd Strathmore International Mathematics Conference (SIMC 2013), 12 - 16 August 2013, Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya.The current world is operating in an economy that values creativity and innovation for scientific and technological development. Education gives people appropriate skills and knowledge they need to address their social problems. Mathematics and Science education is at the centre of this and needs to be at the forefront to connect the present to the future. The fact that a new generation of learners is in our classrooms requiring a paradigm shift in pedagogy is indisputable. Teaching in the same old way and emphasis on examinations, grades, certificates as well as lack of basic facilities have affected learning by generation Y students. As a result, Kenya like the United States of America faces a myriad of problems despite the fact that the youth is a reach reservoir for development. More than 50 per cent of the world's gold reserves, diamond, manganese, chromium, and cobalt are in Africa yet Africans live in the poorest situations imaginable. The United States, despite being the most powerful nation on the planet has, in general, have poor test scores in mathematics if results of international comparative studies are anything to go by. This paper argues in addition to poor teaching methods, strategies, and techniques, the assumption that stu- dents know how to study mathematics once in secondary school, college, and university and the failure to teach the same is partly to blame since year after year, students either drop out, receive poor grades, fail to attend classes and or don't take mathematics seri- ously. Millennials therefore need to be taught study skills in mathematics to ensure quality mathematics learning for creativity and innovativeness in the citizens. This will ensure education empowers Kenya, Africa, and the United States for global competitiveness. In particular, this paper intends to address the following current issues in Kenyan and Unites States schools: 1. Describe the Millennial Student, 2. Ramifications for Kenya and the United States, 3. Kenyan and United States curricula, 4. How to teach effective study skills, 5. What is needed of educators, and 6. What to do in the future.The current world is operating in an economy that values creativity and innovation for scientific and technological development. Education gives people appropriate skills and knowledge they need to address their social problems. Mathematics and Science education is at the centre of this and needs to be at the forefront to connect the present to the future. The fact that a new generation of learners is in our classrooms requiring a paradigm shift in pedagogy is indisputable. Teaching in the same old way and emphasis on examinations, grades, certificates as well as lack of basic facilities have affected learning by generation Y students. As a result, Kenya like the United States of America faces a myriad of problems despite the fact that the youth is a reach reservoir for development. More than 50 per cent of the world's gold reserves, diamond, manganese, chromium, and cobalt are in Africa yet Africans live in the poorest situations imaginable. The United States, despite being the most powerful nation on the planet has, in general, have poor test scores in mathematics if results of international comparative studies are anything to go by. This paper argues in addition to poor teaching methods, strategies, and techniques, the assumption that stu- dents know how to study mathematics once in secondary school, college, and university and the failure to teach the same is partly to blame since year after year, students either drop out, receive poor grades, fail to attend classes and or don't take mathematics seri- ously. Millennials therefore need to be taught study skills in mathematics to ensure quality mathematics learning for creativity and innovativeness in the citizens. This will ensure education empowers Kenya, Africa, and the United States for global competitiveness. In particular, this paper intends to address the following current issues in Kenyan and Unites States schools: 1. Describe the Millennial Student, 2. Ramifications for Kenya and the United States, 3. Kenyan and United States curricula, 4. How to teach effective study skills, 5. What is needed of educators, and 6. What to do in the future

On collaboration: an important skill for Mathematics educators for the 21st century

Paper presented at the 3rd Strathmore International Mathematics Conference (SIMC 2015), 3 - 7 August 2015, Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya.Mathematics, problem solving, and critical-thinking are key skills to innovation. Not only does the 21st century workforce require mathematics skills for success in everyday life but also for scientific advancement and technological development so as to enhance global competitiveness. Since teaching as an individual process in the 21st century classroom is no longer effective, mathematics educators should embrace practices that foster 21st century skills to their learners. Collaboration is a key skill that not only empowers teachers of mathematics in handling the bigger challenges of the 21st century education but also enables students to succeed in today's world. When we think about collaboration, many different types exist. Most of all major turning points in our history were motivated by a collaborative effort. With any new teacher entering the profession, one needs a mentor to help guide us through the first years of the profession. This is where collaborations start. However, collaborations in education should never stop and should always be on going, as there is always something new to learn. This presentation will outline why collaboration in education is important for both the mathematics educator and student. In addition, the presenters will also outline personal examples of collaborations and provide some ideas on how to obtain and maintain collaborators. This, we believe, can help prepare educators and learners for the challenges in life ahead

Constitutively Enhanced Lymphatic Pumping in the Upper Limbs of Women Who Later Develop Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema.

BACKGROUND: It has previously been shown that the lymph drainage rate in both upper limbs is greater in women destined to develop breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL) than in those who do not develop BCRL, indicating a constitutive predisposition. We explored constitutive differences further by measuring the maximum lymphatic pump pressure (Ppump) and the rate of (99m)Tc-Nanocoll transport generated by the contractile upper limb lymphatics before and after breast cancer surgery in a group of women who were followed for 2 years to determine their eventual BCRL or non-BCRL status. METHODS AND RESULTS: Ppump and tracer transport rate were measured by lymphatic congestion lymphoscintigraphy in the ipsilateral upper limb in 26 women pre- and post-breast cancer surgery. BCRL occurred in 10/26 (38.5%) cases. Ppump in the women who later developed BCRL (40.0 ± 8.2 mmHg) was 1.7-fold higher than in those who did not develop BCRL (23.1 ± 10.8 mmHg, p = 0.001). Moreover, the rate of lymph tracer transport into the forearm was 2.2-fold greater in the women who later developed BCRL (p = 0.052). Surgery did not significantly reduce Ppump measured 21 weeks postsurgery, but impaired forearm tracer transport in pre-BCRL women by 58% (p = 0.047), although not in those who did not develop BCRL. CONCLUSIONS: Women destined to develop BCRL have higher pumping pressures and lymph transport, indicating harder-working lymphatics before cancer treatment. Axillary lymphatic damage from surgery appears to compromise lymph drainage in those women constitutively predisposed to higher lymphatic pressures and lymph transport

The Landscape of Particle Production: Results from PHOBOS

Recent results from the PHOBOS experiment at RHIC are presented, both from Au+Au collisions from the 2001 run and p+p and d+Au collisions from 2003. The centrality dependence of the total charged particle multiplicity in p+p and d+Au show features, such as Npart-scaling and limiting fragmentation, similar to p+A collisions at lower energies. Multiparticle physics in Au+Au is found to be local in (pseudo)rapidity, both when observed by HBT correlations and by forward-backward pseudorapidity correlations. The shape of elliptic flow in Au+Au, measured over the full range of pseudorapidity, appears to have a very weak centrality dependence. Identified particle ratios in d+Au reactions show little difference between the shape of proton and anti-proton spectra, while the absolute yields show an approximate m_T scaling.Comment: 8 Pages, 11 Figures, Plenary talk at Quark Matter 2004, Oakland, CA, January 11-18, 200

Profiling of the perturbed metabolomic state of mouse spleen during acute and chronic toxoplasmosis

Background Toxoplasma gondii, a common opportunistic protozoan, is a leading cause of illness and mortality among immunosuppressed individuals and during congenital infections. Current therapeutic strategies for toxoplasmosis are not fully effective at curtailing disease progression in these cases. Given the parasite ability to influence host immunity and metabolism, understanding of the metabolic alterations in the host’s immune organs during T. gondii infection may enhance the understanding of the molecular mechanisms that define the pathophysiology of T. gondii infection. Methods We investigated the global metabolic changes in the spleen of BALB/c mice at early and late stage of infection with T. gondii using LC-MS/MS-based metabolomics. Multivariate data analysis methods, principal components analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), were used to identify metabolites that are influenced by T. gondii infection. Results Multivariate analyses clearly separated the metabolites of spleen of infected and control mice. A total of 132 differential metabolites were identified, 23 metabolites from acutely infected versus control mice and 109 metabolites from chronically infected versus control mice. Lipids, hormones, lactones, acids, peptides, antibiotics, alkaloids and natural toxins were the most influenced chemical groups. There were 12 shared differential metabolites between acutely infected versus control mice and chronically infected versus control mice, of which 4,4-Dimethyl-5alpha-cholesta-8,14,24-trien-3beta-ol was significantly upregulated and ubiquinone-8 was significantly downregulated. Major perturbed metabolic pathways included primary bile acid biosynthesis, steroid hormone biosynthesis, biotin metabolism, and steroid biosynthesis, with arachidonic acid metabolism being the most significantly impacted pathway. These metabolic changes suggest a multifactorial nature of the immunometabolic responses of mouse spleen to T. gondii infection. Conclusions This study demonstrated that T. gondii infection can cause significant metabolomic alterations in the spleen of infected mice. These findings provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms that underpin the pathogenesis of T. gondii infection

LSST Science Book, Version 2.0

A survey that can cover the sky in optical bands over wide fields to faint magnitudes with a fast cadence will enable many of the exciting science opportunities of the next decade. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will have an effective aperture of 6.7 meters and an imaging camera with field of view of 9.6 deg^2, and will be devoted to a ten-year imaging survey over 20,000 deg^2 south of +15 deg. Each pointing will be imaged 2000 times with fifteen second exposures in six broad bands from 0.35 to 1.1 microns, to a total point-source depth of r~27.5. The LSST Science Book describes the basic parameters of the LSST hardware, software, and observing plans. The book discusses educational and outreach opportunities, then goes on to describe a broad range of science that LSST will revolutionize: mapping the inner and outer Solar System, stellar populations in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, the structure of the Milky Way disk and halo and other objects in the Local Volume, transient and variable objects both at low and high redshift, and the properties of normal and active galaxies at low and high redshift. It then turns to far-field cosmological topics, exploring properties of supernovae to z~1, strong and weak lensing, the large-scale distribution of galaxies and baryon oscillations, and how these different probes may be combined to constrain cosmological models and the physics of dark energy.Comment: 596 pages. Also available at full resolution at http://www.lsst.org/lsst/sciboo