‘Slow Science’: Building scientific concepts in physics in high school     

Lucia Bigozzi  Paola Falsini  Carlo Fiorentini 《International Journal of Science Education》2013,35(13):2221-2242

In this study, a progressive-learning approach to physics, based on knowledge-building pedagogy, was compared to a content-centered approach in which explanations, experiments, and discussions are centered on the transmission of knowledge. Forty-six students attending the first year of high school participated in this study over a whole school year. Students’ knowledge and mastery of physics concepts were assessed through questionnaires containing both open-ended and multiple-choice questions. Overall, the ‘progressive-learning' group outperformed the content-centered group. Results are discussed in relation to the theoretical background and the experimental teacher's diary of classroom activities. The main conclusion achieved by this study is that the teaching of physics should be slow, cyclic, and developmentally appropriate for the context.  相似文献   

Integrity in UNESCO World Heritage Sites. A comparative study for rural landscapes     

Paola Gullino  Federica Larcher 《Journal of Cultural Heritage》2013,14(5):389-395

Since 2005, Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) is the standard by which United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) evaluates world cultural heritage site suitability. The sites worthy of UNESCO preservation as well as the parameters used to demonstrate OUV are diverse. Our study focused on the uniquely distinguished rural landscape sites and the OUV parameter of integrity. Integrity however, is an elusive concept for which UNESCO provides no definitional protocol, and for which the scientific community objects to a static or pure historical interpretation. Given this, our work aims to analyse the concept of integrity and how it can be used to preserve the heritage of rural landscapes. After reviewing the UNESCO approach, we focused on the international scientific debate on the meaning and application of integrity. We designed and conducted a comparative study of UNESCO rural landscapes selected from the 2011 World Heritage List. Documents describing the historical, rural, and agro-ecological features of each of the fourteen rural sites were analysed. From this, several historical and ecological parameters were chosen as “values to have” and several socio-economic and management parameters were chosen as “values to maintain” to assess the integrity of each landscape. Our results found integrity to be a value of both cultural and natural landscapes and that it is key to site identity. We demonstrated that UNESCO assigns a high value to the following parameters: historical features, traditional crops and local products, land-use and agricultural practice permanence, and the presence of architecture related to agricultural activity. Finally, we found the relationship between culture and nature to characterize best the integrity of a rural landscape, rather than nature or culture alone.  相似文献   

Mechanical properties of the triceps surae: Differences between football and non-football players     

Aurélio Faria  Ronaldo Gabriel  João Abrantes  Paola Wood  Helena Moreira 《Journal of sports sciences》2013,31(14):1559-1567

Abstract

We investigated the mechanical properties of the triceps surae between professional, junior, and non-football players. Fifty-nine men participated in this study. The mechanical properties of the right legs’ triceps surae were measured in vivo using a free oscillation technique; no significant differences existed between the groups. The mean results for musculo-articular stiffness, damping coefficient, and damping ratio were as follows: professional football players (21523 N· m^?1, 330.8 N · s · m^?1, and 0.201); junior football players (21063 N · m^?1, 274.4 N · s · m^?1, and 0.173); and non-players (19457 N · m^?1, 281.5 N · s · m^?1, and 0.184). When analysed according to position, the results were as follows: defender (21447 N · m^?1, 308.6 N · s · m^?1, and 0.189); midfielder (20762 N · m^?1, 250.7 N · s · m^?1, and 0.157); winger (21322 N · m^?1, 335.1 N · s · m^?1, and 0.212); forward (22085 N · m^?1, 416.2 N · s · m^?1, and 0.254); and non-players (19457 N · m^?1, 281.5 N · s · m^?1, and 0.184).

Thus, football training, football games, and the position played had no effect on triceps surae mechanical properties. These results may be attributed to opposing adaptations between different types of training that are usually implemented in football. Alternatively, the minimum strain amplitude and/or frequency threshold of the triceps surae required to trigger adaptations of mechanical properties might not be achieved by football players with football training and matches.  相似文献   

Until somebody hears me: parent voice and advocacy in special educational decision making     

Robyn S. Hess  Amy M. Molina  Elizabeth B. Kozleski 《British Journal of Special Education》2006,33(3):148-157

When a family finds out their child has a disability, they enter the world of special education which has its own terminology, rules, settings and personnel. In addition to grappling with the meaning of their child's special needs, families are also thrown into the role of principle advocate for their child. The research study reported here presents the findings from focus groups conducted in the United States of America with 27 diverse families on their efforts to obtain the best educational outcomes for their children. In this article, Robyn Hess, Amy Molina and Elizabeth Kozleski bring their collective past experiences, as a school psychologist, bilingual counsellor and special education teacher respectively, to bear on this topic and frame the issue from a systemic perspective. They argue that engaging in conversation with families around their needs, as well as assisting them in their efforts to advocate for their child, is the first step in creating more equal partnerships between parents of children with special needs and educational professionals.  相似文献   

Factors affecting willingness to mentor     

Chiara Ghislieri  Paola Gatti  Gian Piero Quaglino 《International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance》2009,9(3):205-219

The paper presents a survey among 300 employees in Northern Italy to assess the willingness to mentor and identify the factors that affect it. Men and respondents with previous mentoring experience indicate a higher willingness to be a mentor. Willingness is affected by personal characteristics that are perceived as necessary for a mentor and the perceived benefits and drawbacks of mentoring.  相似文献   

Does it matter where patent citations come from? Inventor vs. examiner citations in European patents     

Paola Criscuolo 《Research Policy》2008,37(10):1892-1908

This paper addresses the question of whether patent citations are useful indicators of technology flows. We exploit the distinction between citations added by inventors and patent examiners. We use information from the search reports of European Patent Office patent examiners to construct our dataset of patenting activity in Europe and the US, and apply various econometric models to investigate what determines the probability that a citation is added by the inventor rather than the examiner. Contrary to previous work which uses US Patent and Trademark Office data, we find that geographical distance is a factor that strongly diminishes the probability of knowledge flows. We find other significant effects of such factors as cognitive distance, time and strategic factors on citing behaviour.  相似文献   

Analysis of the system of practicum in Spanish universities     

Enriqueta Molina Ruiz 《欧洲师范教育杂志》2008,31(4):339-366

The analysis focuses on an area of the university system that is considered to be important for its potential as an element addressed appropriately to raise the level of the quality of education and of the university formation. We refer to the ‘System of Practical Formation’ (practicum) used in the development of the future professionals that will join the world of the work from the university classrooms.

Firstly, the different programmes and their performances that are taken in the different Spanish universities are compared. The judgements obtained from the experts are considered, and thinking about their results I reflect on the reality of our approaches with the purpose of enriching and improving the system of practical formation.

El análisis que llevamos a cabo se centra prioritariamente en un ámbito del sistema universitario que consideramos importante por su gran potencial como elemento con capacidad propia para elevar el nivel de calidad de la enseñanza y de la formación universitaria. Nos referimos al ‘Sistema de Formación Práctica’ (Practicum) utilizado en la formación de los futuros profesionales que se incorporarán desde las aulas universitarias, al mundo del trabajo.

Nos interesa, en un primer momento, comparar los distintos programas y actuaciones que, en tal sentido, se llevan a cabo en las diferentes universidades españolas, así como, recabar el juicio de expertos para, apoyándonos en sus resultados, proceder posteriormente a reflexionar sobre nuestra propia realidad con la finalidad de enriquecer y mejorar el propio sistema de formación práctica.  相似文献   

Stretching of DNA confined in nanochannels with charged walls     

Chiara Manneschi  Paola Fanzio  Tapio Ala-Nissila  Elena Angeli  Luca Repetto  Giuseppe Firpo  Ugo Valbusa 《Biomicrofluidics》2014,8(6)

There is currently a growing interest in control of stretching of DNA inside nanoconfined regions due to the possibility to analyze and manipulate single biomolecules for applications such as DNA mapping and barcoding, which are based on stretching the DNA in a linear fashion. In the present work, we couple Finite Element Methods and Monte Carlo simulations in order to study the conformation of DNA molecules confined in nanofluidic channels with neutral and charged walls. We find that the electrostatic forces become more and more important when lowering the ionic strength of the solution. The influence of the nanochannel cross section geometry is also studied by evaluating the DNA elongation in square, rectangular, and triangular channels. We demonstrate that coupling electrostatically interacting walls with a triangular geometry is an efficient way to stretch DNA molecules at the scale of hundreds of nanometers. The paper reports experimental observations of λ-DNA molecules in poly(dimethylsiloxane) nanochannels filled with solutions of different ionic strength. The results are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions, confirming the crucial role of the electrostatic repulsion of the constraining walls on the molecule stretching.  相似文献   

Parental satisfaction with disabled children’s school inclusion in Italy     

Mirella Zanobini  Paola Viterbori  Valentina Garello  Roberta Camba 《欧洲特需教育杂志》2018,33(5):597-614

The principal aim of the present study is to examine the level of parental satisfaction with inclusive education for their children with disability attending Italian schools of any grade level. The survey involved 285 parents of pupils randomly selected from the population of students with disability certificates. On average, parents expressed a high level of satisfaction. Four principal components of parental satisfaction were extracted from the item scores of the questionnaire: inclusive educational practices; environment and special equipment; classmates’ and families’ acceptance; integration between education and rehabilitation activities. Various correlations were found between these aspects and both child-related and context-related variables. In particular, children’s emotional regulation abilities evaluated by teachers are involved in various dimensions of the parents’ satisfaction. On the other hand, satisfaction with the integration between the educational and rehabilitation activities showed a significant negative correlation with the fathers’ and mothers’ educational level. Lastly, parental satisfaction towards classmates’ and families’ acceptance appears to be the most critical aspect and tends to decrease in relation to school level, while it is positively linked with the number of hours the support teacher spends in class. Taken together, these results stimulate useful considerations to promote better practices in inclusive education.  相似文献   

Using formative assessment to promote argumentation in a university bilingual science course     

Pablo Antonio Archila  Jorge Molina  Anne-Marie Truscott de Mejía 《International Journal of Science Education》2018,40(13):1669-1695

Formative assessment, bilingualism, and argumentation when combined can enrich bilingual scientific literacy. However, argumentation receives little attention in the practice of bilingual science education. This article describes the effect of a formative assessment-based pedagogical strategy in promoting university students’ argumentation. It examines the written and oral arguments produced by 54 undergraduates (28 females and 26 males, 16–21 years old) in Colombia during a university bilingual (Spanish-English) science course. The data used in this analysis was derived from students’ written responses, and audio and video recordings. The first goal of this study was to determine how this teaching strategy could help students increase the use of English as a means of communication in argumentation in science. The second goal was to establish the potential of the strategy to engage students in argumentative classroom interactions as an essential part of formative assessment. The findings show that the strategy provided participants with opportunities to write their argumentation in Spanish, in English and in a hybrid version using code-switching. Educational implications for higher education are discussed.  相似文献