Auf dem Weg zu einer gendergerechten Informatikdidaktik. Einstellungen und Erfahrungen von Lehrpersonen auf verschiedenen Stufen des schweizerischen Bildungssystems. Abschlussbericht des Projektes GenUIT

Das Institut Unternehmensentwicklung (INU) der Berner Fachhochschule für Wirtschaft, das Institut Vorschulstufe und Primarstufe und das Institut Sekundarstufe 1 der PH Bern haben gemeinsam ein Projekt zur Untersuchung und Weiterentwicklung der Genderkompetenz der Lehrpersonen im Informatikunterricht durchgeführt. Das Projekt wurde teilweise durch projektgebundene Beiträge des SBFI gefördert. In der Schweiz entscheiden sich – auch im Vergleich zu anderen Ländern –wenig Frauen für technik- und informatiknahe Berufe (ICT, Information and Communication Technologies), auch wenn sie Talent oder Fähigkeiten für diese Ausbildungen und Berufe mitbringen würden. Durch den Lehrplan 21 wird Informatik auf allen Stufen der obligatorischen Schulen als fächerübergreifendes Modul eingeführt. In diesem Ausbildungsgefäss sollen Schüler*innen jene Kompetenzen erwerben, die sie auf die Digitalisierung der Gesellschaft vorbereiten. Die Pädagogischen Hochschulen sind beauftragt, Lehrpersonen für diese neuen Schwerpunkte auszubilden. Ein besonderer Fokus ist unseres Erachtens darauf zu richten, dass über die Schulausbildung der «Digital Gender Gap», d.h. das Fehlen von Frauen in ICT Ausbildungen und das geringe Interesse von Frauen an ICT-Berufen, bereits zu einem möglichst frühen Zeitpunkt und über alle Bildungsstufen adressiert und problematisiert werden kann. Damit dies gelingt, benötigen die Schulen informatik- und genderkompetente Lehrpersonen, die realistische und motivierende Einblicke in ICT geben können. Im Moment existiert jedoch wenig Wissen darüber, welche Einstellungen, Stereotype und Kompetenzen zu Informatik, Gender, Digitalisierung und den neu geforderten Digital Skills Lehrer*innen haben. Im Forschungsprojekt interessierte uns daher, welche Vorstellungen über das Fach Informatik, sowie über den Beruf der Informatikerin bzw. des Informatikers bei Lehrpersonen auf den verschiedenen Stufen des Bildungssystems anzutreffen sind. Über die Bildungsetappen werden Effekte der Verstärkung und der Rückkoppelung von Einstellungen und Fachverständnissen rekonstruiert sowie geschlechterstereotypisierende Haltungen gegenüber Informatik erfasst. Im Projekt wird die Ausbildung der Lehrpersonen hinsichtlich genderkompetentem Informatik- Unterricht evaluiert. Weiter werden Grundlagen und Materialien erarbeitet, die dazu beitragen sollen, Lehrpersonen für die Thematik zu sensibilisieren

Guilt is effectively induced by a written auto-biographical essay but not reduced by experimental pain.

Introduction The aim of the present study was (1) to validate the method of guilt-induction by means of a written auto-biographical essay and (2) to test whether experimental pain is apt to alleviate the mental burden of guilt, a concept receiving support from both empirical research and clinical observation. Methods Three independent groups of healthy male participants were recruited. Group allocation was not randomized but within group pain/sham administration was counterbalanced over the two test-days. Groups were tested in the following consecutive order: Group A: guilt induction, heat-pain/sham, N = 59; Group B: guilt induction, cold-pressure-pain/sham, N = 43; Group C: emotionally neutral induction, heat-pain/sham, N = 39. Guilt was induced on both test-days in group A and B before pain/sham administration. Visual analog scale (VAS) guilt ratings immediately after pain/sham stimulation served as the primary outcome. In a control group C the identical heat-pain experiment was performed like in group A but a neutral emotional state was induced. Results A consistently strong overall effect of guilt-induction (heat-pain: p < 0.001, effect size r = 0.71; CPT-pain p < 0.001, r = 0.67) was found when compared to the control-condition (p = 0.25, r = 0.08). As expected, heat- and cold-pressure-stimuli were highly painful in all groups (p < 0.0001, r = 0.89). However, previous research supporting the hypothesis that pain is apt to reduce guilt was not replicated. Conclusion Although guilt-induction was highly effective on both test-days no impact of pain on behavioral guilt-ratings in healthy individuals could be identified. Guilt induction per se did not depend on the order of testing. The result questions previous experimental work on the impact of pain on moral emotions

Auf dem Weg zu einer gendergerechten Informatikdidaktik

In diesem Beitrag befassen wir uns mit Vorstellungen von Lehrkräften und Dozierenden auf verschiedenen Stufen des Bildungssystems zum Fach Informatik und zum Beruf der Informatikerin beziehungsweise des Informatikers. Im Bereich der MINT-Fächer und insbesondere in der Informatik stehen Lehrkräfte vor der Herausforderung, informatische Inhalte einer Diversität von Lernenden zugänglich zu machen. Im Fach Informatik sind Frauen weiterhin untervertreten. Begründungslinien liefern Untersuchungen zu naturwissenschaftlichen Studiengängen und Berufen, die aufzeigen, dass Wissens- und Arbeitskulturen oft männlich konnotiert sind, sowie Erkenntnisse zu geschlechterspezifischen Zuschreibungsprozessen seitens verschiedener Sozialisationsinstanzen (insbesondere der Schule). Ausgehend von ersten Ergebnissen unserer explorativen Feldstudie diskutieren wir Vorstellungen zu Informatik und Gender. Die im Beitrag dokumentierten Fallbeispiele einer Primarlehrerin, eines Lehrers auf Sekundarstufe I und einer Dozentin der Fachhochschule legen nahe, dass Exklusionsmechanismen unreflektiert in die Vermittlung von Informatikkompetenzen in Schulen und Hochschulen zurückwirken. Auf der Grundlage dieser Analyse leiten wir vier Thesen ab, auf deren Basis die Analyse weitergeführt wird

The simulated physician – a novel concept in communication training

Background: Physician-patient communication trainings with simulated patients are well established at many medical schools. However, a substantial amount of communication in health care takes place between physicians. Despite this fact, physician-physician communication is rarely trained at medical schools. Aim: We aim at to fill this gap in communication training by developing and implementing a scenario of a physician-physician encounter for 6th year medical students using simulated physicians. Methods: In the scenario, students have to obtain a complete handover from a senior doctor who is about to end the shift. To ensure completeness, students are advised to adhere to the SBAR schema [http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/Tools/SBARToolkit.aspx]. The senior physicians are played by lay actors, selected from our pool of simulated patients. Besides the usual role training, they received scenario specific medical information. After the communication training, students filled out a questionnaire concerning awareness of the importance to learn physician-physician communication and the authenticity of the simulated physicians. Results: A clear majority of students agreed that this communication training raised their awareness for the importance of effective physician-physician communication and that they experienced the simulated physicians as authentic. Discussion: We showed that communication training with simulated physicians is feasible. We will continue using simulated physicians and plan to develop additional scenarios with them

Glycerol Metabolism and PrfA Activity in Listeria monocytogenes▿ †

Listeria monocytogenes is able to efficiently utilize glycerol as a carbon source. In a defined minimal medium, the growth rate (during balanced growth) in the presence of glycerol is similar to that in the presence of glucose or cellobiose. Comparative transcriptome analyses of L. monocytogenes showed high-level transcriptional upregulation of the genes known to be involved in glycerol uptake and metabolism (glpFK and glpD) in the presence of glycerol (compared to that in the presence of glucose and/or cellobiose). Levels of expression of the genes encoding a second putative glycerol uptake facilitator (GlpF2) and a second putative glycerol kinase (GlpK2) were less enhanced under these conditions. GlpK1 but not GlpK2 was essential for glycerol catabolism in L. monocytogenes under extracellular conditions, while the loss of GlpK1 affected replication in Caco-2 cells less than did the loss of GlpK2 and GlpD. Additional genes whose transcription levels were higher in the presence of glycerol than in the presence of glucose and cellobiose included those for two dihydroxyacetone (Dha) kinases and many genes that are under carbon catabolite repression control. Transcriptional downregulation in the presence of glycerol (compared to those in the presence glucose and cellobiose) was observed for several genes and operons that are positively regulated by glucose, including genes involved in glycolysis, N metabolism, and the biosynthesis of branched-chain amino acids. The highest level of transcriptional upregulation was observed for all PrfA-dependent genes during early and late logarithmic growth in glycerol. Under these conditions, a low level of HPr-Ser-P and a high level of HPr-His-P were present in the cells, suggesting that all enzyme IIA (EIIA) (or EIIB) components of the phosphotransferase system (PTS) permeases expressed will be phosphorylated. These and other data suggest that the phosphorylation state of PTS permeases correlates with PrfA activity

Visualization in the Einstein Year 2005: A Case Study on Explanatory and Illustrative Visualization of Relativity and Astrophysics

with relativistic and astrophysical visualization, which has been culminating in a substantial engagement for visualization in the Einstein Year 2005---the 100 anniversary of Einstein&apos;s publications on special relativity, the photoelectric effect, and Brownian motion. This paper focuses on explanatory and illustrative visualizations used to communicate aspects of the difficult theories of special and general relativity, their geometric structure, and of the related fields of cosmology and astrophysics. We discuss visualization strategies, motivated by physics education and didactics of mathematics, and describe what kind of visualization methods have proven to be useful for different types of media, such as still images in popular-science magazines, film contributions to TV shows, oral presentations, or interactive museum installations. Although our visualization tools build upon existing methods and implementations, these techniques have been improved by several novel technical contributions like image-based special relativistic rendering on GPUs, an extension of general relativistic ray tracing to manifolds described by multiple charts, GPU-based interactive visualization of gravitational light deflection, as well as planetary terrain rendering. The usefulness and effectiveness of our visualizations are demonstrated by reporting on experiences with, and feedback from, recipients of visualizations and collaborators