Inevitable Evolutions: Punctuated Equilibrium and the Revolution in Military Affairs

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-04-01

record.”64 With the subsequent publication of Models in Paleobiology in 1972, the “young Turks” finally came of age. When Tom Schopf assembled and...edited the myriad scientific papers for Models in Paleobiology , he strived to create a collaborative work that emphasized solely “new conceptual...Equilibria: An Alternative to Phyletic Gradualism,” in Models in Paleobiology , edited by Thomas J. Schopf (San Francisco: W.H. Freeman, 1972), 93. 68

Collaboration Scripts--A Conceptual Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kollar, Ingo; Fischer, Frank; Hesse, Friedrich W.

2006-01-01

This article presents a conceptual analysis of collaboration scripts used in face-to-face and computer-mediated collaborative learning. Collaboration scripts are scaffolds that aim to improve collaboration through structuring the interactive processes between two or more learning partners. Collaboration scripts consist of at least five components:…

The common characteristics and outcomes of multidisciplinary collaboration in primary health care: a systematic literature review

PubMed Central

Schepman, Sanneke; Hansen, Johan; de Putter, Iris D.; Batenburg, Ronald S.; de Bakker, Dinny H.

2015-01-01

Introduction Research on collaboration in primary care focuses on specific diseases or types of collaboration. We investigate the effects of such collaboration by bringing together the results of scientific studies. Theory and methods We conducted a systematic literature review of PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane and EMBASE. The review was restricted to publications that test outcomes of multidisciplinary collaboration in primary care in high-income countries. A conceptual model is used to structure the analysis. Results Fifty-one studies comply with the selection criteria about collaboration in primary care. Approximately half of the 139 outcomes in these studies is non-significant. Studies among older patients, in particular, report non-significant outcomes (p < .05). By contrast, a higher proportion of significant results were found in studies that report on clinical outcomes. Conclusions and discussion This review shows a large diversity in the types of collaboration in primary care; and also thus a large proportion of outcomes do not seem to be positively affected by collaboration. Both the characteristics of the structure of the collaboration and the collaboration processes themselves affect the outcomes. More research is necessary to understand the mechanism behind the success of collaboration, especially on the exact nature of collaboration and the context in which collaboration takes place. PMID:26150765

Promoting Science Learning and Scientific Identification through Contemporary Scientific Investigations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van Horne, Katie

This dissertation investigates the implementation issues and the educational opportunities associated with "taking the practice turn" in science education. This pedagogical shift focuses instructional experiences on engaging students in the epistemic practices of science both to learn the core ideas of the disciplines, as well as to gain an understanding of and personal connection to the scientific enterprise. In Chapter 2, I examine the teacher-researcher co-design collaboration that supported the classroom implementation of a year-long, project-based biology curriculum that was under development. This study explores the dilemmas that arose when teachers implemented a new intervention and how the dilemmas arose and were managed throughout the collaboration of researchers and teachers and between the teachers. In the design-based research of Chapter 3, I demonstrate how students' engagement in epistemic practices in contemporary science investigations supported their conceptual development about genetics. The analysis shows how this involved a complex interaction between the scientific, school and community practices in students' lives and how through varied participation in the practices students come to write about and recognize how contemporary investigations can give them leverage for science-based action outside of the school setting. Finally, Chapter 4 explores the characteristics of learning environments for supporting the development of scientific practice-linked identities. Specific features of the learning environment---access to the intellectual work of the domain, authentic roles and accountability, space to make meaningful contributions in relation to personal interests, and practice-linked identity resources that arose from interactions in the learning setting---supported learners in stabilizing practice-linked science identities through their engagement in contemporary scientific practices. This set of studies shows that providing students with the tools and means of contemporary scientific inquiry allows them to gain conceptual development and proficiency with the scientific practices within the contexts of their lives, in ways that provided access to resources that promoted students' stabilization of practice-linked identities. For teachers implementing this instructional model in their classrooms, it brought up dilemmas and opportunities related to their school contexts and their personal history of instructional practices. The work collectively informs how interest-driven project-based science instruction can happen across a range of school contexts and how such models can support meaningful science learning and identification.

Learning science through talk: A case study of middle school students engaged in collaborative group investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zinicola, Debra Ann

Reformers call for change in how science is taught in schools by shifting the focus towards conceptual understanding for all students. Constructivist learning is being promoted through the dissemination of National and State Science Standards that recommend group learning practices in science classrooms. This study examined the science learning and interactions, using case study methodology, of one collaborative group of 4 students in an urban middle school. Data on science talk and social interaction were collected over 9 weeks through 12 science problem solving sessions. To determine student learning through peer interaction, varied group structures were implemented, and students reflected on the group learning experience. Data included: field notes, cognitive and reflective journals, audiotapes and videotapes of student talk, and audiotapes of group interviews. Journal data were analyzed quantitatively and all other data was transcribed into The Ethnograph database for qualitative analysis. The data record was organized into social and cognitive domains and coded with respect to interaction patterns to show how group members experienced the social construction of science concepts. The most significant finding was that all students learned as a result of 12 talk sessions as evidenced by pre- and post-conceptual change scores. Interactions that promoted learning involved students connecting their thoughts, rephrasing, and challenging ideas. The role structure was only used by students about 15% of the time, but it started the talk with a science focus, created awareness of scientific methods, and created an awareness of equitable member participation. Students offered more spontaneous, explanatory talk when the role structure was relaxed, but did not engage in as much scientific writing. They said the role structure was important for helping them know what to do in the talk but they no longer needed it after a time. Gender bias, status, and early adolescent developmental factors influenced many of the group's interactions. Recommendations are that: collaborative group problem solving be used frequently to promote conceptual change, teachers begin with a role structure to guide interactions, create heterogeneous groups, keep the same students together for a significant period of time, and monitor, guide, and teach during group learning sessions.

Mapping a research agenda for the science of team science

PubMed Central

Falk-Krzesinski, Holly J; Contractor, Noshir; Fiore, Stephen M; Hall, Kara L; Kane, Cathleen; Keyton, Joann; Klein, Julie Thompson; Spring, Bonnie; Stokols, Daniel; Trochim, William

2012-01-01

An increase in cross-disciplinary, collaborative team science initiatives over the last few decades has spurred interest by multiple stakeholder groups in empirical research on scientific teams, giving rise to an emergent field referred to as the science of team science (SciTS). This study employed a collaborative team science concept-mapping evaluation methodology to develop a comprehensive research agenda for the SciTS field. Its integrative mixed-methods approach combined group process with statistical analysis to derive a conceptual framework that identifies research areas of team science and their relative importance to the emerging SciTS field. The findings from this concept-mapping project constitute a lever for moving SciTS forward at theoretical, empirical, and translational levels. PMID:23223093

Assessment Of The Effect Of Participation In Zooniverse Projects On Content Knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cormier, Sebastien; Prather, E. E.; Brissenden, G.; Lintott, C.; Gay, P. L.; Raddick, J.; Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars CATS

2011-01-01

The citizen science projects developed by Zooniverse afford volunteers the opportunity to contribute to scientific research in a meaningful way by interacting with actual scientific data. We created two surveys to measure the impact that participation in the Galaxy Zoo and Moon Zoo citizen science projects has on user conceptual knowledge. The Zooniverse Astronomy Concept Survey (ZACS) was designed to assess Galaxy Zoo user understanding of concepts related to galaxies and how their understanding changed through participation in classifying galaxies. The Lunar Cratering Concept Inventory (LCCI) was designed to measure the impact of the Moon Zoo activities on user knowledge about lunar craters and cratering history. We describe how the surveys were developed and validated in collaboration with education researchers and astronomers. Both instruments are administered over time to measure changes to user conceptual knowledge as they gain experience with either Galaxy Zoo or Moon Zoo. Data collection has already begun and in the future we will be able to compare survey answers from users who have classified, for example, a thousand galaxies with users who have only classified ten galaxies. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0715517, a CCLI Phase III Grant for the Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars (CATS). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Education and Public Outreach Program.

Learners' strategies for reconstructing cognitive frameworks and navigating conceptual change from prior conception to consensual genetics knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parrott, Annette M.

Problem. Science teachers are charged with preparing students to become scientifically literate individuals. Teachers are given curriculum that specifies the knowledge that students should come away with; however, they are not necessarily aware of the knowledge with which the student arrives or how best to help them navigate between the two knowledge states. Educators must be aware, not only of where their students are conceptually, but how their students move from their prior knowledge and naive theories, to scientifically acceptable theories. The understanding of how students navigate this course has the potential to revolutionize educational practices. Methods. This study explored how five 9th grade biology students reconstructed their cognitive frameworks and navigated conceptual change from prior conception to consensual genetics knowledge. The research questions investigated were: (1) how do students in the process of changing their naive science theories to accepted science theories describe their journey from prior knowledge to current conception, and (2) what are the methods that students utilize to bridge the gap between alternate and consensual science conceptions to effect conceptual change. Qualitative and quantitative methods were employed to gather and analyze the data. In depth, semi-structured interviews formed the primary data for probing the context and details of students' conceptual change experience. Primary interview data was coded by thematic analysis. Results and discussion. This study revealed information about students' perceived roles in learning, the role of articulation in the conceptual change process, and ways in which a community of learners aids conceptual change. It was ascertained that students see their role in learning primarily as repeating information until they could add that information to their knowledge. Students are more likely to consider challenges to their conceptual frameworks and be more motivated to become active participants in constructing their knowledge when they are working collaboratively with peers instead of receiving instruction from their teacher. Articulation was found to be instrumental in aiding learners in identifying their alternate conceptions as well as in revisiting, investigating and reconstructing their conceptual frameworks. Based on the assumptions generated, suggestions were offered to inform pedagogical practice in support of the conceptual change process.

Midwife-physician collaboration: a conceptual framework for interprofessional collaborative practice.

PubMed

Smith, Denise Colter

2015-01-01

Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, collaborative practice has been cited as one method of increasing access to care, decreasing costs, and improving efficiency. How and under what conditions might these goals be achieved? Midwives and physicians have built effective collaborative practice models over a period of 30 years. Empirical study of interprofessional collaboration between midwives and physicians could be useful in guiding professional education, regulation, and health policy in women's health and maternity care. Construction of a conceptual framework for interprofessional collaboration between midwives and physicians was guided by a review of the literature. A theory derivation strategy was used to define dimensions, concepts, and statements of the framework. Midwife-physician interprofessional collaboration can be defined by 4 dimensions (organizational, procedural, relational, and contextual) and 12 concepts (trust, shared power, synergy, commitment, and respect, among others). The constructed framework provides the foundation for further empirical study of the interprofessional collaborative process. The experiences of midwife-physician collaborations provide solid support for a conceptual framework of the collaborative process. A conceptual framework provides a point from which further research can increase knowledge and understanding about how successful outcomes are achieved in collaborative health care practices. Construction of a measurement scale and validation of the model are important next steps. © 2014 by the American College of Nurse-Midwives.

Using realist review to inform intervention development: methodological illustration and conceptual platform for collaborative care in offender mental health.

PubMed

Pearson, M; Brand, S L; Quinn, C; Shaw, J; Maguire, M; Michie, S; Briscoe, S; Lennox, C; Stirzaker, A; Kirkpatrick, T; Byng, R

2015-09-28

This paper reports how we used a realist review, as part of a wider project to improve collaborative mental health care for prisoners with common mental health problems, to develop a conceptual platform. The importance of offenders gaining support for their mental health, and the need for practitioners across the health service, the criminal justice system, and the third sector to work together to achieve this is recognised internationally. However, the literature does not provide coherent analyses of how these ambitions can be achieved. This paper demonstrates how a realist review can be applied to inform complex intervention development that spans different locations, organisations, professions, and care sectors. We applied and developed a realist review for the purposes of intervention development, using a three-stage process. (1) An iterative database search strategy (extending beyond criminal justice and offender health) and groups of academics, practitioners, and people with lived experience were used to identify explanatory accounts (n = 347). (2) From these accounts, we developed consolidated explanatory accounts (n = 75). (3) The identified interactions between practitioners and offenders (within their organisational, social, and cultural contexts) were specified in a conceptual platform. We also specify, step by step, how these explanatory accounts were documented, consolidated, and built into a conceptual platform. This addresses an important methodological gap for social scientists and intervention developers about how to develop and articulate programme and implementation theory underpinning complex interventions. An integrated person-centred system is proposed to improve collaborative mental health care for offenders with common mental health problems (near to and after release) by achieving consistency between the goals of different sectors and practitioners, enabling practitioners to apply scientific and experiential knowledge in working judiciously and reflectively, and building systems and aligning resources that are centred on offenders' health and social care needs. As part of a broader programme of work, a realist review can make an important contribution to the specification of theoretically informed interventions that have the potential to improve health outcomes. Our conceptual platform has potential application in related systems of health and social care where integrated, and person-centred care is a goal.

Stacking up against alternative conceptions: using Uno cards to introduce discourse and argumentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dunac, Patricia S.; Demir, Kadir

2013-11-01

We engaged secondary science students in a teacher and student constructed Uno card game (UCG) to change their conceptual understanding of the various energy transformations. The paper outlines how we incorporated Toulmin’s argumentation pattern (Toulmin 1958 The Uses of Argument (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)) in the UCG, using discourse (Erduran et al 2004 Sci. Educ. 88 915-33) and through a 5E learning cycle (Bybee 1997 Achieving Scientific Literacy: From Purposes to Practices (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational Books)). The activity helped students develop a deeper understanding of the energy transformation among and between different sources. Students experienced a conceptual gain in their ways of thinking, in contrast to traditional teaching and learning practices. The collaboration and interaction between teacher-student(s) and between students fostered an environment where they became co-constructors of knowledge.

Comparing interprofessional and interorganizational collaboration in healthcare: A systematic review of the qualitative research.

PubMed

Karam, Marlène; Brault, Isabelle; Van Durme, Thérèse; Macq, Jean

2018-03-01

Interprofessional and interorganizational collaboration have become important components of a well-functioning healthcare system, all the more so given limited financial resources, aging populations, and comorbid chronic diseases. The nursing role in working alongside other healthcare professionals is critical. By their leadership, nurses can create a culture that encourages values and role models that favour collaborative work within a team context. To clarify the specific features of conceptual frameworks of interprofessional and interorganizational collaboration in the healthcare field. This review, accordingly, offers insights into the key challenges facing policymakers, managers, healthcare professionals, and nurse leaders in planning, implementing, or evaluating interprofessional collaboration. This systematic review of qualitative research is based on the Joanna Briggs Institute's methodology for conducting synthesis. Cochrane, JBI, CINAHL, Embase, Medline, Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Sociological Abstract, PsycInfo, and ProQuest were searched, using terms such as professionals, organizations, collaboration, and frameworks. Qualitative studies of all research design types describing a conceptual framework of interprofessional or interorganizational collaboration in the healthcare field were included. They had to be written in French or English and published in the ten years between 2004 and 2014. Sixteen qualitative articles were included in the synthesis. Several concepts were found to be common to interprofessional and interorganizational collaboration, such as communication, trust, respect, mutual acquaintanceship, power, patient-centredness, task characteristics, and environment. Other concepts are of particular importance either to interorganizational collaboration, such as the need for formalization and the need for professional role clarification, or to interprofessional collaboration, such as the role of individuals and team identity. Promoting interorganizational collaboration was found to face greater challenges, such as achieving a sense of belonging among professionals when differences exist between corporate cultures, geographical distance, the multitude of processes, and formal paths of communication. This review sets a direction to follow for implementing changes that meet the challenge of a changing healthcare system and the transition towards non-institutional care. It also shows that collaboration between nurses and healthcare professionals from different healthcare organizations is still poorly explored. This is a major limitation in the existing scientific literature, especially given the potential role that could be played by nurses in enhancing interorganizational collaboration. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Documenting Collections: Cornerstones for More History of Science in Museums

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lourenço, Marta C.; Gessner, Samuel

2014-04-01

Historians of science have recently become increasingly involved with collections and scientific instruments. This creates opportunities for a more significant role of history in museums of science, as well as more meaningful and contextualized exhibitions and educational programmes. However, complementing the mainstream focus on universal scientific principles with history requires structural and cultural changes in museums' approaches and practices. In this paper we draw from recent collaborative work with historians of science at the University of Lisbon to reflect on the challenges museums face as they prepare for a more meaningful historical approach to science. We argue that documentation is crucial both before objects enter the museum and as regular collections practice. We propose a conceptual and methodological framework comprising two operational levels: documenting individual objects and documenting collections.

Computer-Supported Collaborative Inquiry on Buoyancy: A Discourse Analysis Supporting the "Pieces" Position on Conceptual Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turcotte, Sandrine

2012-01-01

This article describes in detail a conversation analysis of conceptual change in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment. Conceptual change is an essential learning process in science education that has yet to be fully understood. While many models and theories have been developed over the last three decades, empirical data to…

The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES): Enhancing Collaboration to Support Science-Based Decision-Making

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duke, C. S.; Quach, K.; Jackson, S. T.

2015-12-01

The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) offers major opportunities to enhance scientific collaboration and advance global environmental sustainability. IPBES was established in 2012 as an independent intergovernmental body dedicated to assessing the state of the planet's biodiversity, its ecosystems, and the essential services they provide to society. IPBES has four functions: 1) identify and prioritize key scientific information needed for policymakers and catalyze efforts to generate new knowledge by engaging relevant scientific, policy and funding organizations; 2) perform regular and timely assessments of knowledge on biodiversity and ecosystem services and their interlinkages; 3) support policy formulation and implementation by identifying policy-relevant tools and methodologies; and 4) prioritize key capacity-building needs to improve the science-policy interface and catalyze related financing. To date, IPBES has brought together representatives of 124 countries at three annual plenary meetings and numerous panel meetings about specific assessments. This presentation will summarize IPBES' opportunities and achievements to date. These include a conceptual framework for IPBES processes and products, an assessment of the status of pollination and pollinators associated with food production, draft reports on scenario analyses and capacity building, and scoping for assessments of land degradation and restoration and of biodiversity in five regions of the world. IPBES provides natural and social scientists and other experts with important opportunities to support collaborative, science-based environmental decision-making at global to local scales. The presentation will conclude by describing opportunities to participate as expert panel members, contributors to assessments, and reviewers.

Conceptualizing and Advancing Research Networking Systems.

PubMed

Schleyer, Titus; Butler, Brian S; Song, Mei; Spallek, Heiko

2012-03-01

Science in general, and biomedical research in particular, is becoming more collaborative. As a result, collaboration with the right individuals, teams, and institutions is increasingly crucial for scientific progress. We propose Research Networking Systems (RNS) as a new type of system designed to help scientists identify and choose collaborators, and suggest a corresponding research agenda. The research agenda covers four areas: foundations, presentation, architecture , and evaluation . Foundations includes project-, institution- and discipline-specific motivational factors; the role of social networks; and impression formation based on information beyond expertise and interests. Presentation addresses representing expertise in a comprehensive and up-to-date manner; the role of controlled vocabularies and folksonomies; the tension between seekers' need for comprehensive information and potential collaborators' desire to control how they are seen by others; and the need to support serendipitous discovery of collaborative opportunities. Architecture considers aggregation and synthesis of information from multiple sources, social system interoperability, and integration with the user's primary work context. Lastly, evaluation focuses on assessment of collaboration decisions, measurement of user-specific costs and benefits, and how the large-scale impact of RNS could be evaluated with longitudinal and naturalistic methods. We hope that this article stimulates the human-computer interaction, computer-supported cooperative work, and related communities to pursue a broad and comprehensive agenda for developing research networking systems.

A Conceptual Model for Analysing Collaborative Work and Products in Groupware Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duque, Rafael; Bravo, Crescencio; Ortega, Manuel

Collaborative work using groupware systems is a dynamic process in which many tasks, in different application domains, are carried out. Currently, one of the biggest challenges in the field of CSCW (Computer-Supported Cooperative Work) research is to establish conceptual models which allow for the analysis of collaborative activities and their resulting products. In this article, we propose an ontology that conceptualizes the required elements which enable an analysis to infer a set of analysis indicators, thus evaluating both the individual and group work and the artefacts which are produced.

The Dynamics of Non-Convergent Learning with a Conflicting Other: Internally Persuasive Discourse as a Framework for Articulating Successful Collaborative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kolikant, Yifat Ben-David; Pollack, Sarah

2015-01-01

Successful collaborative learning is often conceptualized in terms of convergence, a process through which participants' shared understanding increases. This conceptualization does not capture certain successful collaborative learning processes, especially in the humanities, where multiple perspectives are often celebrated. Such is the context of…

An Examination of How Middle School Science Teachers Conduct Collaborative Inquiry and Reflection about Students' Conceptual Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Todd-Gibson, Christine

2013-01-01

This qualitative case study examined how middle school science teachers conducted collaborative inquiry and reflection about students' conceptual understanding, and how individual teachers in the middle school science group acted and made reflections in response to their collaborative inquiry. It also examined external influences that affected the…

An Examination of How Middle School Science Teachers Conduct Collaborative Inquiry and Reflection about Students' Conceptual Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Todd-Gibson, Christine

2017-01-01

This qualitative case study examined how middle school science teachers conducted collaborative inquiry and reflection about students' conceptual understanding, and how individual teachers in the middle school science group acted and made reflections in response to their collaborative inquiry. It also examined external influences that affected the…

Exploiting the Use of Social Networking to Facilitate Collaboration in the Scientific Community

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Coppock, Edrick G.

The goal of this project was to exploit social networking to facilitate scientific collaboration. The project objective was to research and identify scientific collaboration styles that are best served by social networking applications and to model the most effective social networking applications to substantiate how social networking can support scientific collaboration. To achieve this goal and objective, the project was to develop an understanding of the types of collaborations conducted by scientific researchers, through classification, data analysis and identification of unique collaboration requirements. Another technical objective in support of this goal was to understand the current state of technology inmore » collaboration tools. In order to test hypotheses about which social networking applications effectively support scientific collaboration the project was to create a prototype scientific collaboration system. The ultimate goal for testing the hypotheses and research of the project was to refine the prototype into a functional application that could effectively facilitate and grow collaboration within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) research community.« less

Facilitating Students' Conceptual Change and Scientific Reasoning Involving the Unit of Combustion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Chin-Quen; She, Hsiao-Ching

2010-01-01

This article reports research from a 3 year digital learning project to unite conceptual change and scientific reasoning in the learning unit of combustion. One group of students had completed the course combining conceptual change and scientific reasoning. The other group of students received conventional instruction. In addition to the…

Funds of relationality: social bonds and science learners

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smardon, Regina

2011-12-01

In this response to Konstantinos Alexakos, Jayson K. Jones, and Victor H. Rodriguez, I will focus primarily on the importance of relationality for the development of a science learner identity. Along the way I will review (1) The cultural dynamics involved with the formation and sustenance of relationships in social life; (2) The methodological advantages of ethnographic inquiry for exploring funds of relationality; (3) The importance of relationality for science innovation throughout the pipeline of scientific training from K-12 schooling all the way through scientific breakthrough; (4) The absolutely vital role that relationality plays in creating a science learner identity. Finally I highlight how collaborative ethnography, in particular, is an excellent tool for seeking out funds of relationality that can be marshaled in the classroom as well as contributing to conceptual advancement in the theoretical vocabulary of relational sociology.

What Drives Academic Data Sharing?

PubMed Central

Fecher, Benedikt; Friesike, Sascha; Hebing, Marcel

2015-01-01

Despite widespread support from policy makers, funding agencies, and scientific journals, academic researchers rarely make their research data available to others. At the same time, data sharing in research is attributed a vast potential for scientific progress. It allows the reproducibility of study results and the reuse of old data for new research questions. Based on a systematic review of 98 scholarly papers and an empirical survey among 603 secondary data users, we develop a conceptual framework that explains the process of data sharing from the primary researcher’s point of view. We show that this process can be divided into six descriptive categories: Data donor, research organization, research community, norms, data infrastructure, and data recipients. Drawing from our findings, we discuss theoretical implications regarding knowledge creation and dissemination as well as research policy measures to foster academic collaboration. We conclude that research data cannot be regarded as knowledge commons, but research policies that better incentivise data sharing are needed to improve the quality of research results and foster scientific progress. PMID:25714752

Community Capacity Building as a vital mechanism for enhancing the growth and efficacy of a sustainable scientific software ecosystem: experiences running a real-time bi-coastal "Open Science for Synthesis" Training Institute for young Earth and Environmental scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schildhauer, M.; Jones, M. B.; Bolker, B.; Lenhardt, W. C.; Hampton, S. E.; Idaszak, R.; Rebich Hespanha, S.; Ahalt, S.; Christopherson, L.

2014-12-01

Continuing advances in computational capabilities, access to Big Data, and virtual collaboration technologies are creating exciting new opportunities for accomplishing Earth science research at finer resolutions, with much broader scope, using powerful modeling and analytical approaches that were unachievable just a few years ago. Yet, there is a perceptible lag in the abilities of the research community to capitalize on these new possibilities, due to lacking the relevant skill-sets, especially with regards to multi-disciplinary and integrative investigations that involve active collaboration. UC Santa Barbara's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), and the University of North Carolina's Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI), were recipients of NSF OCI S2I2 "Conceptualization awards", charged with helping define the needs of the research community relative to enabling science and education through "sustained software infrastructure". Over the course of our activities, a consistent request from Earth scientists was for "better training in software that enables more effective, reproducible research." This community-based feedback led to creation of an "Open Science for Synthesis" Institute— a innovative, three-week, bi-coastal training program for early career researchers. We provided a mix of lectures, hands-on exercises, and working group experience on topics including: data discovery and preservation; code creation, management, sharing, and versioning; scientific workflow documentation and reproducibility; statistical and machine modeling techniques; virtual collaboration mechanisms; and methods for communicating scientific results. All technologies and quantitative tools presented were suitable for advancing open, collaborative, and reproducible synthesis research. In this talk, we will report on the lessons learned from running this ambitious training program, that involved coordinating classrooms among two remote sites, and included developing original synthesis research activities as part of the course. We also report on the feedback provided by participants as to the learning approaches and topical issues they found most engaging, and why.

A Scientist's Guide to Achieving Broader Impacts through K-12 STEM Collaboration.

PubMed

Komoroske, Lisa M; Hameed, Sarah O; Szoboszlai, Amber I; Newsom, Amanda J; Williams, Susan L

2015-03-01

The National Science Foundation and other funding agencies are increasingly requiring broader impacts in grant applications to encourage US scientists to contribute to science education and society. Concurrently, national science education standards are using more inquiry-based learning (IBL) to increase students' capacity for abstract, conceptual thinking applicable to real-world problems. Scientists are particularly well suited to engage in broader impacts via science inquiry outreach, because scientific research is inherently an inquiry-based process. We provide a practical guide to help scientists overcome obstacles that inhibit their engagement in K-12 IBL outreach and to attain the accrued benefits. Strategies to overcome these challenges include scaling outreach projects to the time available, building collaborations in which scientists' research overlaps with curriculum, employing backward planning to target specific learning objectives, encouraging scientists to share their passion, as well as their expertise with students, and transforming institutional incentives to support scientists engaging in educational outreach.

Conceptualizing and Advancing Research Networking Systems

PubMed Central

SCHLEYER, TITUS; BUTLER, BRIAN S.; SONG, MEI; SPALLEK, HEIKO

2013-01-01

Science in general, and biomedical research in particular, is becoming more collaborative. As a result, collaboration with the right individuals, teams, and institutions is increasingly crucial for scientific progress. We propose Research Networking Systems (RNS) as a new type of system designed to help scientists identify and choose collaborators, and suggest a corresponding research agenda. The research agenda covers four areas: foundations, presentation, architecture, and evaluation. Foundations includes project-, institution- and discipline-specific motivational factors; the role of social networks; and impression formation based on information beyond expertise and interests. Presentation addresses representing expertise in a comprehensive and up-to-date manner; the role of controlled vocabularies and folksonomies; the tension between seekers’ need for comprehensive information and potential collaborators’ desire to control how they are seen by others; and the need to support serendipitous discovery of collaborative opportunities. Architecture considers aggregation and synthesis of information from multiple sources, social system interoperability, and integration with the user’s primary work context. Lastly, evaluation focuses on assessment of collaboration decisions, measurement of user-specific costs and benefits, and how the large-scale impact of RNS could be evaluated with longitudinal and naturalistic methods. We hope that this article stimulates the human-computer interaction, computer-supported cooperative work, and related communities to pursue a broad and comprehensive agenda for developing research networking systems. PMID:24376309

Korean Secondary Students' Perception of Scientific Literacy as Global Citizens: Using Global Scientific Literacy Questionnaire

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mun, Kongju; Shin, Namsoo; Lee, Hyunju; Kim, Sung-Won; Choi, Kyunghee; Choi, Sung-Youn; Krajcik, Joseph S.

2015-01-01

We re-conceptualized the meaning of scientific literacy and developed an instrument, which we call the Global Scientific Literacy Questionnaire (GSLQ) based on a new conceptual framework for scientific literacy in the twenty-first century. We identified five dimensions, each with key elements. The five dimensions are (1) content knowledge (core…

Conceptual Teaching Based on Scientific Storyline Method and Conceptual Change Texts: Latitude-Parallel Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Uzunöz, Abdulkadir

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study is to identify the conceptual mistakes frequently encountered in teaching geography such as latitude-parallel concepts, and to prepare conceptual change text based on the Scientific Storyline Method, in order to resolve the identified misconceptions. In this study, the special case method, which is one of the qualitative…

Instructional games: Scientific language use, concept understanding, and attitudinal development of middle school learners

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mongillo, Geraldine

The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover the influence of instructional games on middle school learners' use of scientific language, concept understanding, and attitude toward learning science. The rationale for this study stemmed from the lack of research concerning the value of play as an instructional strategy for older learners. Specifically, the study focused on the ways in which 6 average ability 7th grade students demonstrated scientific language and concept use during gameplay. The data were collected for this 6-week study in a southern New Jersey suburban middle school and included audio recordings of the 5 games observed in class, written documents (e.g., student created game questions, self-evaluation forms, pre- and post-assessments, and the final quiz) interviews, and researcher field notes. Data were coded and interpreted borrowing from the framework for scientific literacy developed by Bybee (1997). Based on the findings, the framework was modified to reflect the level of scientific understanding demonstrated by the participants and categorized as: Unacquainted, Nominal, Functional, and Conceptual. Major findings suggested that the participants predominantly achieved the Functional level of scientific literacy (i.e., the ability to adequately and appropriately use scientific language in both written and oral discourse) during games. Further, it was discovered that the participants achieved the Conceptual level of scientific literacy during gameplay. Through games participants were afforded the opportunity to use common, everyday language to explore concepts, promoted through peer collaboration. In games the participants used common language to build understandings that exceeded Nominal or token use of the technical vocabulary and concepts. Additionally, the participants reported through interviews and self-evaluation forms that their attitude (patterns included: Motivation, Interest, Fun, Relief from Boredom, and an Alternate Learning Approach) toward learning science was positively affected by playing games. This research confirmed the value of playing instructional games and indicated the potential benefits for teaching and learning scientific vocabulary and concepts in middle school settings. Educators are in need of finding methods that stimulate the often disinterested or disengaged adolescent student. Results from this investigation suggested that games provided a meaningful alternate learning approach that relieved the boredom associated with traditional science instruction.

Exploring prospective secondary science teachers' understandings of scientific inquiry and Mendelian genetics concepts using computer simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cakir, Mustafa

The primary objective of this case study was to examine prospective secondary science teachers' developing understanding of scientific inquiry and Mendelian genetics. A computer simulation of basic Mendelian inheritance processes (Catlab) was used in combination with small-group discussions and other instructional scaffolds to enhance prospective science teachers' understandings. The theoretical background for this research is derived from a social constructivist perspective. Structuring scientific inquiry as investigation to develop explanations presents meaningful context for the enhancement of inquiry abilities and understanding of the science content. The context of the study was a teaching and learning course focused on inquiry and technology. Twelve prospective science teachers participated in this study. Multiple data sources included pre- and post-module questionnaires of participants' view of scientific inquiry, pre-posttests of understandings of Mendelian concepts, inquiry project reports, class presentations, process videotapes of participants interacting with the simulation, and semi-structured interviews. Seven selected prospective science teachers participated in in-depth interviews. Findings suggest that while studying important concepts in science, carefully designed inquiry experiences can help prospective science teachers to develop an understanding about the types of questions scientists in that field ask, the methodological and epistemological issues that constrain their pursuit of answers to those questions, and the ways in which they construct and share their explanations. Key findings included prospective teachers' initial limited abilities to create evidence-based arguments, their hesitancy to include inquiry in their future teaching, and the impact of collaboration on thinking. Prior to this experience the prospective teachers held uninformed views of scientific inquiry. After the module, participants demonstrated extended expertise in their understandings of following aspects of scientific inquiry: (a) the iterative nature of scientific inquiry; (b) the tentativeness of specific knowledge claims; (c) the degree to which scientists rely on empirical data, as well as broader conceptual and metaphysical commitments, to assess models and to direct future inquiries; (d) the need for conceptual consistency; (e) multiple methods of investigations and multiple interpretations of data; and (f) social and cultural aspects of scientific inquiry. This research provided evidence that hypothesis testing can support the integrated acquisition of conceptual and procedural knowledge in science. Participants' conceptual elaborations of Mendelian inheritance were enhanced. There were qualitative changes in the nature of the participants' explanations. Moreover, the average percentage of correct responses improved from 39% on the pretest to 67% on the posttest. Findings also suggest those prospective science teachers' experiences as learners of science in their methods course served as a powerful tool for thinking about the role of inquiry in teaching and learning science. They had mixed views about enacting inquiry in their teaching in the future. All of them stated some kind of general willingness to do so; yet, they also mentioned some reservations and practical considerations about inquiry-based teaching.

Paradoxical empowerment of produsers in the context of informational capitalism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Proulx, Serge; Heaton, Lorna; Kwok Choon, Mary Jane; Millette, Mélanie

2011-04-01

This article develops a critical perspective on how online contribution practices participate in the creation of economic value under informational capitalism. It discusses the theoretical relevance of the concept of empowerment for exploring online contribution practices. We argue that produsage practices are paradoxical insofar as they can be simultaneously alienating and emancipatory. This theoretical lens allows us to take a fresh look at the collective intelligence of produsers and the role of communities in the collective production of content. We illustrate the fruitfulness of this conceptual approach with two case studies: Facebook and TelaBotanica, a platform for the collaborative production of scientific knowledge.

Collaborative Counseling: A Conceptual Framework and Approach for Counselors of Adults in Life Transitions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Avis, Joan P.

1987-01-01

Proposes collaborative counseling as a comprehensive definition of adult counseling. Presents rationale for definition based on broad implications for counselors of adult development and life transitions literature. Discusses three perspectives as a conceptual framework for defining the phenomenology of the counselor of adults. Outlines elements…

Cross-Cultural Considerations in U.S. Research Ethics Education

PubMed Central

Heitman, Elizabeth

2014-01-01

Demand among graduate and postdoctoral trainees for international research experience brings together students and investigators from increasingly diverse cultural backgrounds around the world. Educators in research ethics and scientific integrity need to address the cultural aspects of both science and ethics to help all trainees learn ethical practices for effective collaboration with a diverse array of partners. NIH and NSF’s mandates for instruction in the responsible conduct of research do not specifically address the needs of international trainees or U.S. trainees who undertake research projects abroad. Nonetheless, research ethics educators’ typical focus on policy and professional standards can offer trainees and faculty investigators helpful insights into differing ethical values and priorities in research. Examination of linguistic differences can also reveal important conceptual frameworks that shape ethical practice. New resources for teaching research integrity in cross-cultural settings can be a valuable addition to the development of shared understanding of the goals of scientific research. PMID:25574262

Enhancing Eight Grade Students' Scientific Conceptual Change and Scientific Reasoning through a Web-Based Learning Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liao, Ya-Wen; She, Hsiao-Ching

2009-01-01

This study reports the impacts of the Scientific Concept Construction and Reconstruction (SCCR) digital learning system on eighth grade students' concept construction, conceptual change, and scientific reasoning involving the topic of "atoms". A two-factorial experimental design was carried out to investigate the effects of the approach…

Designing the RiverCare knowledge base and web-collaborative platform to exchange knowledge in river management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cortes Arevalo, Juliette; den Haan, Robert-Jan; van der Voort, Mascha; Hulscher, Suzanne

2016-04-01

Effective communication strategies are necessary between different scientific disciplines, practitioners and non-experts for a shared understanding and better implementation of river management measures. In that context, the RiverCare program aims to get a better understanding of riverine measures that are being implemented towards self-sustaining multifunctional rivers in the Netherlands. During the RiverCare program, user committees are organized between the researchers and practitioners to discuss the aim and value of RiverCare outputs, related assumptions and uncertainties behind scientific results. Beyond the RiverCare program end, knowledge about river interventions, integrated effects, management and self-sustaining applications will be available to experts and non-experts by means of River Care communication tools: A web-collaborative platform and a serious gaming environment. As part of the communication project of RiverCare, we are designing the RiverCare web-collaborative platform and the knowledge-base behind that platform. We aim at promoting collaborative efforts and knowledge exchange in river management. However, knowledge exchange does not magically happen. Consultation and discussion of RiverCare outputs as well as elicitation of perspectives and preferences from different actors about the effects of riverine measures has to be facilitated. During the RiverCare research activities, the platform will support the user committees or collaborative sessions that are regularly held with the organizations directly benefiting from our research, at project level or in study areas. The design process of the collaborative platform follows an user centred approach to identify user requirements, co-create a conceptual design and iterative develop and evaluate prototypes of the platform. The envisioned web-collaborative platform opens with an explanation and visualisation of the RiverCare outputs that are available in the knowledge base. Collaborative sessions are initiated by one facilitator that invites other users to contribute by agreeing on an objective for the session and ways and period of collaboration. Upon login, users can join the different sessions that they are invited or will be willing to participate. Within these sessions, users collaboratively engage on the topic at hand, acquiring knowledge about the ongoing results of RiverCare, sharing knowledge between actors and co-constructing new knowledge in the process as input for RiverCare research activities. An overview of each session will be presented to registered and non-registered users to document collaboration efforts and promote interaction with actors outside RiverCare. At the user requirements analysis stage of the collaborative platform, a questionnaire and workshop session was launched to uncover the end user's preferences and expectations about the tool to be designed. Results comprised insights about design criteria of the collaborative platform. The user requirements will be followed by interview sessions with RiverCare researchers and user committee members to identify considerations for data management, objectives of collaboration, expected outputs and indicators to evaluate the collaborative platform. On one side, considerations of intended users are important for co-designing tools that effectively communicate and promote a shared understanding of scientific outputs. On the other one, active involvement of end-users is important for the establishment of measurable indicators to evaluate the tool and the collaborative process.

Measurement and evaluation practices of factors that contribute to effective health promotion collaboration functioning: A scoping review.

PubMed

Stolp, Sean; Bottorff, Joan L; Seaton, Cherisse L; Jones-Bricker, Margaret; Oliffe, John L; Johnson, Steven T; Errey, Sally; Medhurst, Kerensa; Lamont, Sonia

2017-04-01

The purpose of this scoping review was to identify promising factors that underpin effective health promotion collaborations, measurement approaches, and evaluation practices. Measurement approaches and evaluation practices employed in 14 English-language articles published between January 2001 and October 2015 were considered. Data extraction included research design, health focus of the collaboration, factors being evaluated, how factors were conceptualized and measured, and outcome measures. Studies were methodologically diverse employing either quantitative methods (n=9), mixed methods (n=4), or qualitative methods (n=1). In total, these 14 studies examined 113 factors, 88 of which were only measured once. Leadership was the most commonly studied factor but was conceptualized differently across studies. Six factors were significantly associated with outcome measures across studies; leadership (n=3), gender (n=2), trust (n=2), length of the collaboration (n=2), budget (n=2) and changes in organizational model (n=2). Since factors were often conceptualized differently, drawing conclusions about their impact on collaborative functioning remains difficult. The use of reliable and validated tools would strengthen evaluation of health promotion collaborations and would support and enhance the effectiveness of collaboration. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Effects of Gender and Collaborative Learning Approach on Students' Conceptual Understanding of Electromagnetic Induction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adolphus, Telima; Omeodu, Doris

2016-01-01

The study investigates the effect of gender and collaborative learning approach on students' conceptual understanding of electromagnetic induction in Secondary Schools in Nigeria. Three research questions and 2 hypotheses were formulated to guide the research. The research design adopted for this study is the quasi-experimental design. In…

Teaching the process of science: faculty perceptions and an effective methodology.

PubMed

Coil, David; Wenderoth, Mary Pat; Cunningham, Matthew; Dirks, Clarissa

2010-01-01

Most scientific endeavors require science process skills such as data interpretation, problem solving, experimental design, scientific writing, oral communication, collaborative work, and critical analysis of primary literature. These are the fundamental skills upon which the conceptual framework of scientific expertise is built. Unfortunately, most college science departments lack a formalized curriculum for teaching undergraduates science process skills. However, evidence strongly suggests that explicitly teaching undergraduates skills early in their education may enhance their understanding of science content. Our research reveals that faculty overwhelming support teaching undergraduates science process skills but typically do not spend enough time teaching skills due to the perceived need to cover content. To encourage faculty to address this issue, we provide our pedagogical philosophies, methods, and materials for teaching science process skills to freshman pursuing life science majors. We build upon previous work, showing student learning gains in both reading primary literature and scientific writing, and share student perspectives about a course where teaching the process of science, not content, was the focus. We recommend a wider implementation of courses that teach undergraduates science process skills early in their studies with the goals of improving student success and retention in the sciences and enhancing general science literacy.

Teaching the Process of Science: Faculty Perceptions and an Effective Methodology

PubMed Central

Coil, David; Wenderoth, Mary Pat; Cunningham, Matthew

2010-01-01

Most scientific endeavors require science process skills such as data interpretation, problem solving, experimental design, scientific writing, oral communication, collaborative work, and critical analysis of primary literature. These are the fundamental skills upon which the conceptual framework of scientific expertise is built. Unfortunately, most college science departments lack a formalized curriculum for teaching undergraduates science process skills. However, evidence strongly suggests that explicitly teaching undergraduates skills early in their education may enhance their understanding of science content. Our research reveals that faculty overwhelming support teaching undergraduates science process skills but typically do not spend enough time teaching skills due to the perceived need to cover content. To encourage faculty to address this issue, we provide our pedagogical philosophies, methods, and materials for teaching science process skills to freshman pursuing life science majors. We build upon previous work, showing student learning gains in both reading primary literature and scientific writing, and share student perspectives about a course where teaching the process of science, not content, was the focus. We recommend a wider implementation of courses that teach undergraduates science process skills early in their studies with the goals of improving student success and retention in the sciences and enhancing general science literacy. PMID:21123699

A conceptual framework to assess effectiveness in wheelchair provision.

PubMed

Kamaraj, Deepan C; Bray, Nathan; Rispin, Karen; Kankipati, Padmaja; Pearlman, Jonathan; Borg, Johan

2017-01-01

Currently, inadequate wheelchair provision has forced many people with disabilities to be trapped in a cycle of poverty and deprivation, limiting their ability to access education, work and social facilities. This issue is in part because of the lack of collaboration among various stakeholders who need to work together to design, manufacture and deliver such assistive mobility devices. This in turn has led to inadequate evidence about intervention effectiveness, disability prevalence and subsequent costeffectiveness that would help facilitate appropriate provision and support for people with disabilities. In this paper, we describe a novel conceptual framework that can be tested across the globe to study and evaluate the effectiveness of wheelchair provision. The Comparative Effectiveness Research Subcommittee (CER-SC), consisting of the authors of this article, housed within the Evidence-Based Practice Working Group (EBP-WG) of the International Society of Wheelchair Professionals (ISWP), conducted a scoping review of scientific literature and standard practices used during wheelchair service provision. The literature review was followed by a series of discussion groups. The three iterations of the conceptual framework are described in this manuscript. We believe that adoption of this conceptual framework could have broad applications in wheelchair provision globally to develop evidence-based practices. Such a perspective will help in the comparison of different strategies employed in wheelchair provision and further improve clinical guidelines. Further work is being conducted to test the efficacy of this conceptual framework to evaluate effectiveness of wheelchair service provision in various settings across the globe.

Using concept mapping for assessing and promoting relational conceptual change in science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xiufeng

2004-05-01

In this article, we adopted the relational conceptual change as our theoretical framework to accommodate current views of conceptual change such as ontological beliefs, epistemological commitment, and social/affective contexts commonly mentioned in the literature. We used a specific concept mapping format and process - digraphs and digraphing - as an operational framework for assessing and promoting relational conceptual change. We wanted to find out how concept mapping can be used to account for relational conceptual change. We collected data from a Grade 12 chemistry class using collaborative computerized concept mapping on an ongoing basis during a unit of instruction. Analysis of progressive concept maps and interview transcripts of representative students and the teacher showed that ongoing and collaborative computerized concept mapping is able to account for student conceptual change in ontological, epistemological, and social/affective domains.

Evolution and convergence of the patterns of international scientific collaboration.

PubMed

Coccia, Mario; Wang, Lili

2016-02-23

International research collaboration plays an important role in the social construction and evolution of science. Studies of science increasingly analyze international collaboration across multiple organizations for its impetus in improving research quality, advancing efficiency of the scientific production, and fostering breakthroughs in a shorter time. However, long-run patterns of international research collaboration across scientific fields and their structural changes over time are hardly known. Here we show the convergence of international scientific collaboration across research fields over time. Our study uses a dataset by the National Science Foundation and computes the fraction of papers that have international institutional coauthorships for various fields of science. We compare our results with pioneering studies carried out in the 1970s and 1990s by applying a standardization method that transforms all fractions of internationally coauthored papers into a comparable framework. We find, over 1973-2012, that the evolution of collaboration patterns across scientific disciplines seems to generate a convergence between applied and basic sciences. We also show that the general architecture of international scientific collaboration, based on the ranking of fractions of international coauthorships for different scientific fields per year, has tended to be unchanged over time, at least until now. Overall, this study shows, to our knowledge for the first time, the evolution of the patterns of international scientific collaboration starting from initial results described by literature in the 1970s and 1990s. We find a convergence of these long-run collaboration patterns between the applied and basic sciences. This convergence might be one of contributing factors that supports the evolution of modern scientific fields.

An examination of how middle school science teachers conduct collaborative inquiry and reflection about students' conceptual understanding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Todd-Gibson, Christine

This qualitative case study examined how middle school science teachers conducted collaborative inquiry and reflection about students' conceptual understanding, and how individual teachers in the middle school science group acted and made reflections in response to their collaborative inquiry. It also examined external influences that affected the teachers' ability to engage in collaborative inquiry. Observational, written, and interview data were collected from observations of teachers' face-to-face meetings and reflections, individual interviews, a focus group interview, and online reflections. The results of this study revealed that collaborative inquiry is a form of professional development that includes answering curricular questions through observation, communication, action, and reflection. This approach was developed and implemented by middle school science teachers. The premise of an inquiry is based on a need with students. Middle school science teachers came to consensus about actions to affect students' conceptual understanding, took action as stated, and shared their reflections of the actions taken with consideration to current and upcoming school activities. Activities involved teachers brainstorming and sharing with one another, talking about how the variables were merged into their curriculum, and how they impacted students' conceptual understanding. Teachers valued talking with one another about science content and pedagogy, but did find the inquiry portion of the approach to require more development. The greatest challenge to conducting collaborative inquiry and reflection was embedding teacher inquiry within a prescribed inquiry that was already being conducted by the Sundown School District. Collaborative inquiry should be structured so that it meets the needs of teachers in order to attend to the needs of students. A conducive atmosphere for collaborative inquiry and reflection is one in which administrators make the process mandatory and facilitate the process by removing an existing inquiry.

Learning about Friction: Group Dynamics in Engineering Students' Work with Free Body Diagrams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berge, Maria; Weilenmann, Alexandra

2014-01-01

In educational research, it is well-known that collaborative work on core conceptual issues in physics leads to significant improvements in students' conceptual understanding. In this paper, we explore collaborative learning in action, adding to previous research in engineering education with a specific focus on the students' use of free body…

Utility assessment of a map-based online geo-collaboration tool.

PubMed

Sidlar, Christopher L; Rinner, Claus

2009-05-01

Spatial group decision-making processes often include both informal and analytical components. Discussions among stakeholders or planning experts are an example of an informal component. When participants discuss spatial planning projects they typically express concerns and comments by pointing to places on a map. The Argumentation Map model provides a conceptual basis for collaborative tools that enable explicit linkages of arguments to the places to which they refer. These tools allow for the input of explicitly geo-referenced arguments as well as the visual access to arguments through a map interface. In this paper, we will review previous utility studies in geo-collaboration and evaluate a case study of a Web-based Argumentation Map application. The case study was conducted in the summer of 2005 when student participants discussed planning issues on the University of Toronto St. George campus. During a one-week unmoderated discussion phase, 11 participants wrote 60 comments on issues such as safety, facilities, parking, and building aesthetics. By measuring the participants' use of geographic references, we draw conclusions on how well the software tool supported the potential of the underlying concept. This research aims to contribute to a scientific approach to geo-collaboration in which the engineering of novel spatial decision support methods is complemented by a critical assessment of their utility in controlled, realistic experiments.

Designing for Online Collaborations and Local Environmental Action In Citizen Science: A Multiple Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kermish-Allen, Ruth

Traditional citizen science projects have been based on the scientific communities need to gather vast quantities of high quality data, neglecting to ask what the project participants get in return. How can participants be seen more as collaborative partners in citizen science projects? Online communities for citizen science are expanding rapidly, giving participants the opportunity to take part in a wide range of activities, from monitoring invasive species to identifying far-off galaxies. These communities can bring together the virtual and physical worlds in new ways that are egalitarian, collaborative, applied, localized and globalized to solve real environmental problems. There are a small number of citizen science projects that leverage the affordances of an online community to connect, engage, and empower participants to make local change happen. This multiple case study applies a conceptual framework rooted in sociocultural learning theory, Non-Hierarchical Online Learning Communities (NHOLCs), to three online citizen communities that have successfully fostered online collaboration and on-the-ground environmental actions. The purpose of the study is to identify the range and variation of the online and programmatic functions available in each project. The findings lead to recommendations for designing these innovative communities, specifically the technological and programmatic components of online citizen science communities that support environmental actions in our backyards.

Evaluating Collaboration for Effectiveness: Conceptualization and Measurement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marek, Lydia I.; Brock, Donna-Jean P.; Savla, Jyoti

2015-01-01

Although collaboration is recognized as an effective means to address multifaceted community issues, successful collaboration is difficult to achieve and failure is prevalent. To effectively collaborate, collaborators must recognize the strengths and weaknesses within their own efforts. Using Mattessich and colleagues' work as a springboard, a…

Implicit Learning in Science: Activating and Suppressing Scientific Intuitions to Enhance Conceptual Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jeremy Yi-Ming

This dissertation examines the thesis that implicit learning plays a role in learning about scientific phenomena, and subsequently, in conceptual change. Decades of research in learning science demonstrate that a primary challenge of science education is overcoming prior, naive knowledge of natural phenomena in order to gain scientific understanding. Until recently, a key assumption of this research has been that to develop scientific understanding, learners must abandon their prior scientific intuitions and replace them with scientific concepts. However, a growing body of research shows that scientific intuitions persist, even among science experts. This suggests that naive intuitions are suppressed, not supplanted, as learners gain scientific understanding. The current study examines two potential roles of implicit learning processes in the development of scientific knowledge. First, implicit learning is a source of cognitive structures that impede science learning. Second, tasks that engage implicit learning processes can be employed to activate and suppress prior intuitions, enhancing the likelihood that scientific concepts are adopted and applied. This second proposal is tested in two experiments that measure training-induced changes in intuitive and conceptual knowledge related to sinking and floating objects in water. In Experiment 1, an implicit learning task was developed to examine whether implicit learning can induce changes in performance on near and far transfer tasks. The results of this experiment provide evidence that implicit learning tasks activate and suppress scientific intuitions. Experiment 2 examined the effects of combining implicit learning with traditional, direct instruction to enhance explicit learning of science concepts. This experiment demonstrates that sequencing implicit learning task before and after direct instruction has different effects on intuitive and conceptual knowledge. Together, these results suggest a novel approach for enhancing learning for conceptual change in science education.

EPA Collaboration with Israel

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The United States and Israel focus on scientific and technical collaboration to protect the environment, by exchanging scientific and technical information, arranging visits of scientific personnel, cooperating in scientific symposia and workshops, etc.

Team science as interprofessional collaborative research practice: a systematic review of the science of team science literature

PubMed Central

Little, Meg M; St Hill, Catherine A; Ware, Kenric B; Swanoski, Michael T; Chapman, Scott A; Lutfiyya, M Nawal; Cerra, Frank B

2017-01-01

The National Institute of Health's concept of team science is a means of addressing complex clinical problems by applying conceptual and methodological approaches from multiple disciplines and health professions. The ultimate goal is the improved quality of care of patients with an emphasis on better population health outcomes. Collaborative research practice occurs when researchers from >1 health-related profession engage in scientific inquiry to jointly create and disseminate new knowledge to clinical and research health professionals in order to provide the highest quality of patient care to improve population health outcomes. Training of clinicians and researchers is necessary to produce clinically relevant evidence upon which to base patient care for disease management and empirically guided team-based patient care. In this study, we hypothesized that team science is an example of effective and impactful interprofessional collaborative research practice. To assess this hypothesis, we examined the contemporary literature on the science of team science (SciTS) produced in the past 10 years (2005–2015) and related the SciTS to the overall field of interprofessional collaborative practice, of which collaborative research practice is a subset. A modified preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) approach was employed to analyze the SciTS literature in light of the general question: Is team science an example of interprofessional collaborative research practice? After completing a systematic review of the SciTS literature, the posed hypothesis was accepted, concluding that team science is a dimension of interprofessional collaborative practice. PMID:27619555

Team science as interprofessional collaborative research practice: a systematic review of the science of team science literature.

PubMed

Little, Meg M; St Hill, Catherine A; Ware, Kenric B; Swanoski, Michael T; Chapman, Scott A; Lutfiyya, M Nawal; Cerra, Frank B

2017-01-01

The National Institute of Health's concept of team science is a means of addressing complex clinical problems by applying conceptual and methodological approaches from multiple disciplines and health professions. The ultimate goal is the improved quality of care of patients with an emphasis on better population health outcomes. Collaborative research practice occurs when researchers from >1 health-related profession engage in scientific inquiry to jointly create and disseminate new knowledge to clinical and research health professionals in order to provide the highest quality of patient care to improve population health outcomes. Training of clinicians and researchers is necessary to produce clinically relevant evidence upon which to base patient care for disease management and empirically guided team-based patient care. In this study, we hypothesized that team science is an example of effective and impactful interprofessional collaborative research practice. To assess this hypothesis, we examined the contemporary literature on the science of team science (SciTS) produced in the past 10 years (2005-2015) and related the SciTS to the overall field of interprofessional collaborative practice, of which collaborative research practice is a subset. A modified preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) approach was employed to analyze the SciTS literature in light of the general question: Is team science an example of interprofessional collaborative research practice? After completing a systematic review of the SciTS literature, the posed hypothesis was accepted, concluding that team science is a dimension of interprofessional collaborative practice. Copyright © 2016 American Federation for Medical Research.

Enhancing conceptual change using argumentative essays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalman, Calvin S.; Rohar, Shelley; Wells, David

2004-05-01

We show the utility of following up collaborative group work with written exercises. In a previous paper we discussed promoting conceptual change using collaborative group exercises in a manner based on the notion of conceptual conflict developed by Hewson and Hewson in which representatives of differing viewpoints debate their outlook. In this paper, we describe an enhancement of this method based on Feyerabend's principle of counterinduction—the process by which one theory or idea is used to affect change in its rival. Students were required to follow up the conceptual conflict exercises with a written critique. Evaluations were done using the same enhanced version of the force concept inventory as administered to the students in the previous study.

The Impact of Recurrent On-Line Synchronous Scientific Argumentation on Students' Argumentation and Conceptual Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Chien-Hsien; She, Hsiao-Ching

2012-01-01

This study reports the impact of Recurrent On-Line Synchronous Scientific Argumentation learning on 8th grade students' scientific argumentation ability and conceptual change involving physical science. The control group (N = 76) were recruited to receive conventional instruction whereas the experimental group (N = 74) received the Recurrent…

Bridging Scientific Reasoning and Conceptual Change through Adaptive Web-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

She, Hsiao-Ching; Liao, Ya-Wen

2010-01-01

This study reports an adaptive digital learning project, Scientific Concept Construction and Reconstruction (SCCR), and examines its effects on 108 8th grade students' scientific reasoning and conceptual change through mixed methods. A one-group pre-, post-, and retention quasi-experimental design was used in the study. All students received tests…

Supporting Effective Collaboration: Using a Rearview Mirror to Look Forward

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McManus, Margaret M.; Aiken, Robert M.

2016-01-01

Our original research, to design and develop an Intelligent Collaborative Learning System (ICLS), yielded the creation of a Group Leader Tutor software system which utilizes a Collaborative Skills Network to monitor students working collaboratively in a networked environment. The Collaborative Skills Network was a conceptualization of…

A Scientist's Guide to Achieving Broader Impacts through K–12 STEM Collaboration

PubMed Central

Komoroske, Lisa M.; Hameed, Sarah O.; Szoboszlai, Amber I.; Newsom, Amanda J.; Williams, Susan L.

2015-01-01

The National Science Foundation and other funding agencies are increasingly requiring broader impacts in grant applications to encourage US scientists to contribute to science education and society. Concurrently, national science education standards are using more inquiry-based learning (IBL) to increase students’ capacity for abstract, conceptual thinking applicable to real-world problems. Scientists are particularly well suited to engage in broader impacts via science inquiry outreach, because scientific research is inherently an inquiry-based process. We provide a practical guide to help scientists overcome obstacles that inhibit their engagement in K–12 IBL outreach and to attain the accrued benefits. Strategies to overcome these challenges include scaling outreach projects to the time available, building collaborations in which scientists’ research overlaps with curriculum, employing backward planning to target specific learning objectives, encouraging scientists to share their passion, as well as their expertise with students, and transforming institutional incentives to support scientists engaging in educational outreach. PMID:26955078

Towards a Conceptual Profile: Rethinking Conceptual Mediation in the Light of Recent Cognitive and Neuroscientific Findings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dawson, Chris

2014-06-01

One important focus for science education researchers over many years has been the attempts to replace students' commonsense and non-scientific explanations of various phenomena by scientific explanations. The approach we adopted almost three decades ago was conceptual mediation, and this was shown to have a considerable level of success with both conceptual and attitudinal change. However, since that time, advances have been made in the application of both cognitive science and neuroscience to science learning. In particular, evidence has accumulated that, rather than the replacement of the commonsense view, the reality is that learners develop a conceptual profile which includes both the commonsense and the scientific. If this is the case, instead of focussing on conceptual replacement, science educators need to aim more actively at strengthening the learner's executive processes which select contextually appropriate responses and inhibit inappropriate ones. In this paper, the initial development, theoretical basis and the practical applications of conceptual mediation are introduced, following which, these are re-examined in the light of more recent findings. Within this discussion, several potential links to recent cognitive and neuroscientific research are drawn, and these raise issues for further research into the most appropriate teaching approaches for tackling existing non-scientific conceptions.

Towards a Conceptual Profile: Rethinking Conceptual Mediation in the Light of Recent Cognitive and Neuroscientific Findings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dawson, Chris

2014-01-01

One important focus for science education researchers over many years has been the attempts to replace students' commonsense and non-scientific explanations of various phenomena by scientific explanations. The approach we adopted almost three decades ago was conceptual mediation, and this was shown to have a considerable level of success with…

Effect of Two-Tier Diagnostic Tests on Promoting Learners' Conceptual Understanding of Variables in Conducting Scientific Experiments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Çil, Emine

2015-01-01

Taking a test generally improves the retention of the material tested. This is a phenomenon commonly referred to as testing effect. The present research investigated whether two-tier diagnostic tests promoted student teachers' conceptual understanding of variables in conducting scientific experiments, which is a scientific process skill. In this…

Building shared understandings in introductory physics tutorials through risk, repair, conflict & comedy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conlin, Luke D.

Collaborative inquiry learning environments, such as The Tutorials in Physics Sensemaking, are designed to provide students with opportunities to partake in the authentic disciplinary practices of argumentation and sensemaking. Through these practices, groups of students in tutorial can build shared conceptual understandings of the mechanisms behind physical phenomena. In order to do so, they must also build a shared epistemological understanding of what they are doing together, such that their activity includes collaboratively making sense of mechanisms. Previous work (Conlin, Gupta, Scherr, & Hammer, 2007; Scherr & Hammer, 2009) has demonstrated that tutorial students do not settle upon only one way of understanding their activity together, but instead build multiple shared ways of understanding, or framing (Scherr & Hammer, 2009; Tannen, 1993a), their activity. I build upon this work by substantiating a preliminary finding that one of these shared ways of framing corresponds with increased evidence of the students' collaboratively making sense of physical mechanisms. What previous research has not yet addressed is how the students come to understand their activity as including collaborative sensemaking discussions in the first place, and how that understanding develops over the course of the semester. In this dissertation, I address both of these questions through an in-depth video analysis of three groups' discussions throughout the semester. To build shared understandings through scientific argumentation and collaborative sensemaking, the students need to continually make repairs of each other's understanding, but this comes with the risk of affective damage that can shut down further sensemaking discussions. By analyzing the discourse of the three groups' discussions throughout the semester, I show how each group is able to manage this essential tension as they each build and maintain a safe space to sensemake together. I find that the three groups differ in how soon, how frequently, and how deeply they engage in collaborative scientific sensemaking. This variability can be explained, in part, through differences in how the groups use hedging, irony, and other discourse moves that epistemically distance the speakers from their claims. This work highlights the connection between students' epistemology and affect in face-to-face interaction.

[Coauthorship networks and institutional collaboration in Revista de Neurología].

PubMed

González-Alcaide, G; Alonso-Arroyo, A; González de Dios, J; Sempere, A P; Valderrama-Zurián, J C; Aleixandre-Benavent, R

Scientific cooperation is essential for the advance of science. Bibliometrics and social network analysis offer evaluation indicators to analyse collaboration in scientific papers. The aim of this study is to characterize scientific collaboration patterns in Revista de Neurología between 2002 and 2006. Coauthorships and institutional relationships of papers published in Revista de Neurología have been identified. Collaboration Index, the most productive authors' and institutional collaboration patterns and the types of institutional collaborations have been quantified. Also, it has been constructed the coauthorship networks and the institutional collaboration network. Networks have been identified and represented using Access and Pajek software tools. The Collaboration Index was 4.01. 56.54% of papers involved institutional collaboration. The collaboration between institutions of the same country prevails (52.7%), followed by collaborations between departments, services or units of the same institution (40.47%) and international collaboration (6.83%). 45 coauthorship networks involving 149 investigators with a high intensity of collaboration and a large institutional network involved 80 centres were observed. Revista de Neurología covers scientific production of a high number of research groups. It has been observed a positive evolution in the collaboration patterns over the time. Nevertheless, it is essential to encourage inter-regional and international collaboration.

ASPIRE: Teachers and researchers working together to enhance student learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yager, P. L.; Garay, D. L.; Warburton, J.

2016-02-01

Given the impact of human activities on the ocean, involving teachers, students, and their families in scientific inquiry has never been more important. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines have become key focus areas in the education community of the United States. Newly adopted across the nation, Next Generation Science Standards require that educators embrace innovative approaches to teaching. Transforming classrooms to actively engage students through a combination of knowledge and practice develops conceptual understanding and application skills. The partnerships between researchers and educators during the Amundsen Sea Polynya International Research Expedition (ASPIRE) offer an example of how academic research can enhance K-12 student learning. In this presentation, we illustrate how ASPIRE teacher-scientist partnerships helped engage students with actual and virtual authentic scientific investigations. Scientists benefit from teacher/researcher collaborations as well, as funding for scientific research also depends on effective communication between scientists and the public. While contributing to broader impacts needed to justify federal funding, scientists also benefit by having their research explained in ways that the broader public can understand: collaborations with teachers produce classroom lessons and published work that generate interest in the scientists' research specifically and in marine science in general. Researchers can also learn from their education partners about more effective teaching strategies that can be transferred to the college level. Researchers who work with teachers in turn gain perspectives on the constraints that teachers and students face in the pre-college classroom. Crosscutting concepts of research in polar marine science can serve as intellectual tools to connect important ideas about ocean and climate science for the public good.

Repertoires: A post-Kuhnian perspective on scientific change and collaborative research.

PubMed

Ankeny, Rachel A; Leonelli, Sabina

2016-12-01

We propose a framework to describe, analyze, and explain the conditions under which scientific communities organize themselves to do research, particularly within large-scale, multidisciplinary projects. The framework centers on the notion of a research repertoire, which encompasses well-aligned assemblages of the skills, behaviors, and material, social, and epistemic components that a group may use to practice certain kinds of science, and whose enactment affects the methods and results of research. This account provides an alternative to the idea of Kuhnian paradigms for understanding scientific change in the following ways: (1) it does not frame change as primarily generated and shaped by theoretical developments, but rather takes account of administrative, material, technological, and institutional innovations that contribute to change and explicitly questions whether and how such innovations accompany, underpin, and/or undercut theoretical shifts; (2) it thus allows for tracking of the organization, continuity, and coherence in research practices which Kuhn characterized as 'normal science' without relying on the occurrence of paradigmatic shifts and revolutions to be able to identify relevant components; and (3) it requires particular attention be paid to the performative aspects of science, whose study Kuhn pioneered but which he did not extensively conceptualize. We provide a detailed characterization of repertoires and discuss their relationship with communities, disciplines, and other forms of collaborative activities within science, building on an analysis of historical episodes and contemporary developments in the life sciences, as well as cases drawn from social and historical studies of physics, psychology, and medicine. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The relevance of the philosophical 'mind-body problem' for the status of psychosomatic medicine: a conceptual analysis of the biopsychosocial model.

PubMed

Van Oudenhove, Lukas; Cuypers, Stefaan

2014-05-01

Psychosomatic medicine, with its prevailing biopsychosocial model, aims to integrate human and exact sciences with their divergent conceptual models. Therefore, its own conceptual foundations, which often remain implicit and unknown, may be critically relevant. We defend the thesis that choosing between different metaphysical views on the 'mind-body problem' may have important implications for the conceptual foundations of psychosomatic medicine, and therefore potentially also for its methods, scientific status and relationship with the scientific disciplines it aims to integrate: biomedical sciences (including neuroscience), psychology and social sciences. To make this point, we introduce three key positions in the philosophical 'mind-body' debate (emergentism, reductionism, and supervenience physicalism) and investigate their consequences for the conceptual basis of the biopsychosocial model in general and its 'psycho-biological' part ('mental causation') in particular. Despite the clinical merits of the biopsychosocial model, we submit that it is conceptually underdeveloped or even flawed, which may hamper its use as a proper scientific model.

A conceptual framework to assess effectiveness in wheelchair provision

PubMed Central

Kankipati, Padmaja

2017-01-01

Background Currently, inadequate wheelchair provision has forced many people with disabilities to be trapped in a cycle of poverty and deprivation, limiting their ability to access education, work and social facilities. This issue is in part because of the lack of collaboration among various stakeholders who need to work together to design, manufacture and deliver such assistive mobility devices. This in turn has led to inadequate evidence about intervention effectiveness, disability prevalence and subsequent costeffectiveness that would help facilitate appropriate provision and support for people with disabilities. Objectives In this paper, we describe a novel conceptual framework that can be tested across the globe to study and evaluate the effectiveness of wheelchair provision. Method The Comparative Effectiveness Research Subcommittee (CER-SC), consisting of the authors of this article, housed within the Evidence-Based Practice Working Group (EBP-WG) of the International Society of Wheelchair Professionals (ISWP), conducted a scoping review of scientific literature and standard practices used during wheelchair service provision. The literature review was followed by a series of discussion groups. Results The three iterations of the conceptual framework are described in this manuscript. Conclusion We believe that adoption of this conceptual framework could have broad applications in wheelchair provision globally to develop evidence-based practices. Such a perspective will help in the comparison of different strategies employed in wheelchair provision and further improve clinical guidelines. Further work is being conducted to test the efficacy of this conceptual framework to evaluate effectiveness of wheelchair service provision in various settings across the globe. PMID:28936421

Program of scientific investigations and development of solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFC) in VNIITF. Proposals on scientific and technical collaboration and SOFC commercialization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kleschev, Yu.N.; Chukharev, V.F.

1996-04-01

This paper describes proposals on scientific and technical collaborations pertaining to solid oxide fuel cell commercialization. Topics included for discussion are: materials research and manufacture; market estimation and cost; directions of collaboration; and project of proposals on joint enterprise creation.

A conceptual framework for assessing interorganizational integration and interprofessional collaboration.

PubMed

Willumsen, Elisabeth; Ahgren, Bengt; Ødegård, Atle

2012-05-01

The need for collaboration in health and social welfare is well documented internationally. It is related to the improvement of services for the users, particularly target groups with multiple problems. However, there is still insufficient knowledge of the complex area of collaboration, and the interprofessional literature highlights the need to develop adequate research approaches for exploring collaboration between organizations, professionals and service users. This paper proposes a conceptual framework based on interorganizational and interprofessional research, with focus on the concepts of integration and collaboration. Furthermore, the paper suggests how two measurement instruments can be combined and adapted to the welfare context in order to explore collaboration between organizations, professionals and service users, thereby contributing to knowledge development and policy improvement. Issues concerning reliability, validity and design alternatives, as well as the importance of management, clinical implications and service user involvement in future research, are discussed.

How Earth Educators Can Help Students Develop a Holistic Understanding of Sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Curren, R. R.; Metzger, E. P.

2017-12-01

With their expert understanding of planetary systems, Earth educators play a pivotal role in helping students understand the scientific dimensions of solution-resistant ("wicked") challenges to sustainability that arise from complex interactions between intertwined and co-evolving natural and human systems. However, teaching the science of sustainability in isolation from consideration of human values and social dynamics leaves students with a fragmented understanding and obscures the underlying drivers of unsustainability. Geoscience instructors who wish to address sustainability in their courses may feel ill-equipped to engage students in investigation of the fundamental nature of sustainability and its social and ethical facets. This presentation will blend disciplinary perspectives from Earth system science, philosophy, psychology, and anthropology to: 1) outline a way to conceptualize sustainability that synthesizes scientific, social, and ethical perspectives and 2) provide an overview of resources and teaching strategies designed to help students connect science content to the socio-political dimensions of sustainability through activities and assignments that promote active learning, systems thinking, reflection, and collaborative problem-solving.

Can an Analysis of the Contrast Between pre-Galilean and Newtonian Theoretical Frameworks Help Students Develop a Scientific Mindset

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalman, Calvin S.; Aulls, Mark W.

This study examines a course in which students use two writing activities and collaborative group activities to examine the conceptual structure of the calculus-based introductory Physics course. Students are presented with two alternative frameworks; pre-Galilean Physics and Newtonian Physics. The idea of the course design is that students would at first view the frameworks almost in a theatrical sense as a view of a drama involving a conflict of actors;Aristotle, Galileo, Newton and others occurring a long time ago. As participants passing through a series of interventions, the students become aware that the frameworks relate concepts from different parts of the course and learn to evaluate the two alternative frameworks. They develop a scientific mindset changing their outlook on the course material from the viewpoint that it consists of a tool kit of assorted practices, classified according to problem type, to the viewpoint that it comprises a connected structure of concepts.

A Complexity Approach to Evaluating National Scientific Systems through International Scientific Collaborations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zelnio, Ryan J.

2013-01-01

This dissertation seeks to contribute to a fuller understanding of how international scientific collaboration has affected national scientific systems. It does this by developing three methodological approaches grounded in social complexity theory and applying them to the evaluation of national scientific systems. The first methodology identifies…

On-Line Synchronous Scientific Argumentation Learning: Nurturing Students' Argumentation Ability and Conceptual Change in Science Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeh, Kuan-Hue; She, Hsiao-Ching

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine the difference in effectiveness between two on-line scientific learning programs--one with an argumentation component and one without an argumentation component--on students' scientific argumentation ability and conceptual change. A quasi-experimental design was used in this study. Two classes of 8th grade…

Optimize scientific communication skills on work and energy concept with implementation of interactive conceptual instruction and multi representation approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patriot, E. A.; Suhandi, A.; Chandra, D. T.

2018-05-01

The ultimate goal of learning in the curriculum 2013 is that learning must improve and balance between soft skills and hard skills of learners. In addition to the knowledge aspect, one of the other skills to be trained in the learning process using a scientific approach is communication skills. This study aims to get an overview of the implementation of interactive conceptual instruction with multi representation to optimize the achievement of students’ scientific communication skills on work and energy concept. The scientific communication skills contains the sub-skills were searching the information, scientific writing, group discussion and knowledge presentation. This study was descriptive research with observation method. Subjects in this study were 35 students of class X in Senior High School at Sumedang. The results indicate an achievement of optimal scientific communication skills. The greatest achievement of KKI based on observation is at fourth meeting of KKI-3, which is a sub-skill of resume writing of 89%. Allmost students responded positively to the implication of interactive conceptual instruction with multi representation approach. It can be concluded that the implication of interactive conceptual instruction with multi representation approach can optimize the achievement of students’ scientific communication skill on work and energy concept.

Emerging Concepts for Collaboration; Selected Papers. Bulletin No. 40.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

James, Richard, Ed.; Brown, Ray, Ed.

This collection of articles deals with collaboration in teacher education. The first paper, "A Conceptual Basis for Collaboration," by Earl D. Clark, synthesizes the concepts and components of collaboration and prescribes the relationships needed between all involved if quality programs are to prevail. The second paper, "Parity and Educational…

The Measurement of Collaborative Culture in Secondary Schools: An Informal Subgroup Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meredith, Chloé; Moolenaar, Nienke M.; Struyve, Charlotte; Vandecandelaere, Machteld; Gielen, Sarah; Kyndt, Eva

2017-01-01

Research on teacher collaboration underlines the importance of a collaborative culture for teachers' functioning. However, while scholars usually regard collaborative culture as a school team characteristic, this study argues that subgroups may be more meaningful units of analysis to conceptualize and assess teachers' perceptions of collaborative…

Global and Local Collaborators: A Study of Scientific Collaboration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pao, Miranda Lee

1992-01-01

Describes an empirical study that was conducted to examine the relationship among scientific co-authorship (i.e., collaboration), research funding, and productivity. Bibliographic records from the MEDLINE database that used the subject heading for schistosomiasis are analyzed, global and local collaborators are discussed, and scientific…

Social network analysis of international scientific collaboration on psychiatry research.

PubMed

Wu, Ying; Duan, Zhiguang

2015-01-01

Mental disorder is harmful to human health, effects social life seriously and still brings a heavy burden for countries all over the world. Scientific collaboration has become the indispensable choice for progress in the field of biomedicine. However, there have been few scientific publications on scientific collaboration in psychiatry research so far. The aim of this study was to measure the activities of scientific collaboration in psychiatry research at the level of authors, institutions and countries. We retrieved 36557 papers about psychiatry from Science Ciation Index Expanded (SCI-Expanded) in web of science. Additionally, some methods such as social network analysis (SNA), K-plex analysis and Core-Periphery were used in this study. Collaboration has been increasing at the level of authors, institutions and countries in psychiatry in the last ten years. We selected the top 100 prolific authors, institutions and 30 countries to construct collaborative map respectively. Freedman, R and Seidman, LJ were the central authors, Harvard university was the central institution and the USA was the central country of the whole network. Notably, the rate of economic development of countries affected collaborative behavior. The results show that we should encourage multiple collaboration types in psychiatry research as they not only help researchers to master the current research hotspots but also provide scientific basis for clinical research on psychiatry and suggest policies to promote the development of this area.

Students' Communicative Resources in Relation to Their Conceptual Understanding—The Role of Non-Conventionalized Expressions in Making Sense of Visualizations of Protein Function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rundgren, Carl-Johan; Hirsch, Richard; Chang Rundgren, Shu-Nu; Tibell, Lena A. E.

2012-10-01

This study examines how students explain their conceptual understanding of protein function using visualizations. Thirteen upper secondary students, four tertiary students (studying chemical biology), and two experts were interviewed in semi-structured interviews. The interviews were structured around 2D illustrations of proteins and an animated representation of water transport through a channel in the cell membrane. In the analysis of the transcripts, a score, based on the SOLO-taxonomy, was given to each student to indicate the conceptual depth achieved in their explanations. The use of scientific terms and non-conventionalized expressions in the students' explanations were investigated based upon a semiotic approach. The results indicated that there was a positive relationship between use of scientific terms and level of education. However, there was no correlation between students' use of scientific terms and conceptual depth. In the interviews, we found that non-conventionalized expressions were used by several participants to express conceptual understanding and played a role in making sense of the visualizations of protein function. Interestingly, also the experts made use of non-conventionalized expressions. The results of our study imply that more attention should be drawn to students' use of scientific and non-conventionalized terms in relation to their conceptual understanding.

ABA-Cloud: support for collaborative breath research

PubMed Central

Elsayed, Ibrahim; Ludescher, Thomas; King, Julian; Ager, Clemens; Trosin, Michael; Senocak, Uygar; Brezany, Peter; Feilhauer, Thomas; Amann, Anton

2016-01-01

This paper introduces the advanced breath analysis (ABA) platform, an innovative scientific research platform for the entire breath research domain. Within the ABA project, we are investigating novel data management concepts and semantic web technologies to document breath analysis studies for the long run as well as to enable their full automatic reproducibility. We propose several concept taxonomies (a hierarchical order of terms from a glossary of terms), which can be seen as a first step toward the definition of conceptualized terms commonly used by the international community of breath researchers. They build the basis for the development of an ontology (a concept from computer science used for communication between machines and/or humans and representation and reuse of knowledge) dedicated to breath research. PMID:23619467

ABA-Cloud: support for collaborative breath research.

PubMed

Elsayed, Ibrahim; Ludescher, Thomas; King, Julian; Ager, Clemens; Trosin, Michael; Senocak, Uygar; Brezany, Peter; Feilhauer, Thomas; Amann, Anton

2013-06-01

This paper introduces the advanced breath analysis (ABA) platform, an innovative scientific research platform for the entire breath research domain. Within the ABA project, we are investigating novel data management concepts and semantic web technologies to document breath analysis studies for the long run as well as to enable their full automatic reproducibility. We propose several concept taxonomies (a hierarchical order of terms from a glossary of terms), which can be seen as a first step toward the definition of conceptualized terms commonly used by the international community of breath researchers. They build the basis for the development of an ontology (a concept from computer science used for communication between machines and/or humans and representation and reuse of knowledge) dedicated to breath research.

Biological Aging - Criteria for Modeling and a New Mechanistic Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pletcher, Scott D.; Neuhauser, Claudia

To stimulate interaction and collaboration across scientific fields, we introduce a minimum set of biological criteria that theoretical models of aging should satisfy. We review results of several recent experiments that examined changes in age-specific mortality rates caused by genetic and environmental manipulation. The empirical data from these experiments is then used to test mathematical models of aging from several different disciplines, including molecular biology, reliability theory, physics, and evolutionary biology/population genetics. We find that none of the current models are consistent with all of the published experimental findings. To provide an example of how our criteria might be applied in practice, we develop a new conceptual model of aging that is consistent with our observations.

Collaborative PLM - The Next Generation AKA Cars on Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Soderstrom, Tom; Stefanini, Mike

2007-01-01

In this slide presentation the importance of collaboration in developing the next systems for space exploration is stressed. The mechanism of this collaboration are reviewed, and particular emphasis is given to our planned exploration of Mars and how this will require a great deal of collaboration. A system architecture for this collaboration is shown and the diagram for the collaborative environment is conceptualized.

World scientific collaboration in coronary heart disease research.

PubMed

Yu, Qi; Shao, Hongfang; He, Peifeng; Duan, Zhiguang

2013-08-10

Coronary heart disease (CHD) will continue to exert a heavy burden for countries all over the world. Scientific collaboration has become the only choice for progress in biomedicine. Unfortunately, there is a scarcity of scientific publications about scientific collaboration in CHD research. This study examines collaboration behaviors across multiple collaboration types in the CHD research. 294,756 records about CHD were retrieved from Web of Science. Methods such as co-authorship, social network analysis, connected component, cliques, and betweenness centrality were used in this study. Collaborations have increased at the author, institution and country/region levels in CHD research over the past three decades. 3000 most collaborative authors, 572 most collaborative institutions and 52 countries/regions are extracted from their corresponding collaboration network. 766 cliques are found in the most collaborative authors. 308 cliques are found in the most collaborative institutions. Western countries/regions represent the core of the world's collaboration. The United States ranks first in terms of number of multi-national publications, while Hungary leads in the ranking measured by their proportion of collaborative output. The rate of economic development in the countries/regions also affects the multi-national collaboration behavior. Collaborations among countries/regions need to be encouraged in the CHD research. The visualization of overlapping cliques in the most collaborative authors and institutions are considered "skeleton" of the collaboration network. Eastern countries/regions should strengthen cooperation with western countries/regions in the CHD research. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Collaboration Networks in the Brazilian Scientific Output in Evolutionary Biology: 2000-2012.

PubMed

Santin, Dirce M; Vanz, Samile A S; Stumpf, Ida R C

2016-03-01

This article analyzes the existing collaboration networks in the Brazilian scientific output in Evolutionary Biology, considering articles published during the period from 2000 to 2012 in journals indexed by Web of Science. The methodology integrates bibliometric techniques and Social Network Analysis resources to describe the growth of Brazilian scientific output and understand the levels, dynamics and structure of collaboration between authors, institutions and countries. The results unveil an enhancement and consolidation of collaborative relationships over time and suggest the existence of key institutions and authors, whose influence on research is expressed by the variety and intensity of the relationships established in the co-authorship of articles. International collaboration, present in more than half of the publications, is highly significant and unusual in Brazilian science. The situation indicates the internationalization of scientific output and the ability of the field to take part in the science produced by the international scientific community.

Forging a link between mentoring and collaboration: a new training model for implementation science.

PubMed

Luke, Douglas A; Baumann, Ana A; Carothers, Bobbi J; Landsverk, John; Proctor, Enola K

2016-10-13

Training investigators for the rapidly developing field of implementation science requires both mentoring and scientific collaboration. Using social network descriptive analyses, visualization, and modeling, this paper presents results of an evaluation of the mentoring and collaborations fostered over time through the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) supported by Implementation Research Institute (IRI). Data were comprised of IRI participant self-reported collaborations and mentoring relationships, measured in three annual surveys from 2012 to 2014. Network descriptive statistics, visualizations, and network statistical modeling were conducted to examine patterns of mentoring and collaboration among IRI participants and to model the relationship between mentoring and subsequent collaboration. Findings suggest that IRI is successful in forming mentoring relationships among its participants, and that these mentoring relationships are related to future scientific collaborations. Exponential random graph network models demonstrated that mentoring received in 2012 was positively and significantly related to the likelihood of having a scientific collaboration 2 years later in 2014 (p = 0.001). More specifically, mentoring was significantly related to future collaborations focusing on new research (p = 0.009), grant submissions (p = 0.003), and publications (p = 0.017). Predictions based on the network model suggest that for every additional mentoring relationships established in 2012, the likelihood of a scientific collaboration 2 years later is increased by almost 7 %. These results support the importance of mentoring in implementation science specifically and team science more generally. Mentoring relationships were established quickly and early by the IRI core faculty. IRI fellows reported increasing scientific collaboration of all types over time, including starting new research, submitting new grants, presenting research results, and publishing peer-reviewed papers. Statistical network models demonstrated that mentoring was strongly and significantly related to subsequent scientific collaboration, which supported a core design principle of the IRI. Future work should establish the link between mentoring and scientific productivity. These results may be of interest to team science, as they suggest the importance of mentoring for future team collaborations, as well as illustrate the utility of network analysis for studying team characteristics and activities.

Potential for Teacher Collaboration in Post-Soviet Ukraine

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kutsyuruba, Benjamin

2011-01-01

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to analyze the potential for collaborative relationships in schools in Ukraine. In this paper, I examine the nature of teacher collaboration in schools within a framework of postmodernism as a constructive social theory. To better grasp the deep meaning of collaborative interactions in schools, I use…

Collaboration on Procedural Problems May Support Conceptual Knowledge More than You May Think

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olsen, Jennifer K.; Belenky, Daniel M.; Aleven, Vincent; Rummel, Nikol

2014-01-01

While collaborative Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) have been designed for older students and have been shown to support sense-making behaviors, there has not been as much work on creating systems to support collaboration between elementary school students. We have developed and tested, with 84 students, individual and collaborative versions…

Other-Regulation in Collaborative Groups: Implications for Regulation Quality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogat, Toni Kempler; Adams-Wiggins, Karlyn R.

2014-01-01

The current study examines variation in other-regulation, conceptualized as efforts by one student to regulate their group's work. This study extends research which has conceptualized other-regulation as temporarily guiding others' conceptual understanding and skill development by broadening the spectrum of other-regulation to include…

Catalyzing Cross-Disciplinary Research and Education Within and Beyond the Environmental and Geosciences to Address Emerging, Societally-Relevant Issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cak, A. D.; Vigdor, L. J.; Vorosmarty, C. J.; Giebel, B. M.; Santistevan, C.; Chasteau, C.

2017-12-01

Tackling emergent, societally-relevant problems in the environmental sciences is hardly confined to a single research discipline, but rather requires collaborations that bridge diverse domains and perspectives. While new technologies (e.g., Skype) can in theory unite otherwise geographically distributed participation in collaborative research, physical distance nevertheless raises the bar on intellectual dialogue. Such barriers may reveal perceptions of or real differences across disciplines, reflecting particular traditions in their histories and academic cultures. Individual disciplines are self-defined by their scientific, epistemologic, methodologic, or philosophical traditions (e.g., difficulties in understanding processes occurring at different scales, insufficient research funding for interdisciplinary work), or cultural and discursive hurdles (e.g., navigating a new field's jargon). Coupled with these challenges is a considerable deficiency in educating the next generation of scientists to help them develop a sufficient comfort level with thinking critically across multiple disciplinary domains and conceptual frameworks. To address these issues, the City University of New York (CUNY), the largest public urban university in the U.S., made a significant investment in advancing cross-disciplinary research and education, culminating in the opening of the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) in New York City (NYC) in late 2014. We report here on our experiences incubating new collaborative efforts to address environmental science-related research as it is interwoven with the ASRC's five research initiatives (Environmental Sciences, Neuroscience, Structural Biology, Photonics, and Nanoscience). We describe the ASRC's overall structure and function as both a stand-alone interdisciplinary center and one that collaborates more broadly with CUNY's network of twenty-four campuses distributed across NYC's five boroughs. We identify challenges we have faced so far, particularly in attempting to overcome traditional scientific, discursive, and cultural barriers, and how we are addressing them. We also describe several outreach and educational programming efforts designed to promote cross-disciplinarity, including informal science education.

Assessing Competence in Collaborative Case Conceptualization: Development and Preliminary Psychometric Properties of the Collaborative Case Conceptualization Rating Scale (CCC-RS).

PubMed

Kuyken, Willem; Beshai, Shadi; Dudley, Robert; Abel, Anna; Görg, Nora; Gower, Philip; McManus, Freda; Padesky, Christine A

2016-03-01

Case conceptualization is assumed to be an important element in cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) because it describes and explains clients' presentations in ways that inform intervention. However, we do not have a good measure of competence in CBT case conceptualization that can be used to guide training and elucidate mechanisms. The current study addresses this gap by describing the development and preliminary psychometric properties of the Collaborative Case Conceptualization - Rating Scale (CCC-RS; Padesky et al., 2011). The CCC-RS was developed in accordance with the model posited by Kuyken et al. (2009). Data for this study (N = 40) were derived from a larger trial (Wiles et al., 2013) with adults suffering from resistant depression. Internal consistency and inter-rater reliability were calculated. Further, and as a partial test of the scale's validity, Pearson's correlation coefficients were obtained for scores on the CCC-RS and key scales from the Cognitive Therapy Scale - Revised (CTS-R; Blackburn et al., 2001). The CCC-RS showed excellent internal consistency (α = .94), split-half (.82) and inter-rater reliabilities (ICC =.84). Total scores on the CCC-RS were significantly correlated with scores on the CTS-R (r = .54, p < .01). Moreover, the Collaboration subscale of the CCC-RS was significantly correlated (r = .44) with its counterpart of the CTS-R in a theoretically predictable manner. These preliminary results indicate that the CCC-RS is a reliable measure with adequate face, content and convergent validity. Further research is needed to replicate and extend the current findings to other facets of validity.

Cyberinfrastructure and Scientific Collaboration: Application of a Virtual Team Performance Framework with Potential Relevance to Education. WCER Working Paper No. 2010-12

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kraemer, Sara; Thorn, Christopher A.

2010-01-01

The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify and describe some of the dimensions of scientific collaborations using high throughput computing (HTC) through the lens of a virtual team performance framework. A secondary purpose was to assess the viability of using a virtual team performance framework to study scientific collaborations using…

Measuring scientific research in emerging nano-energy field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guan, Jiancheng; Liu, Na

2014-04-01

The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively explore scientific research profiles in the field of emerging nano-energy during 1991-2012 based on bibliometrics and social network analysis. We investigate the growth pattern of research output, and then carry out across countries/regions comparisons on research performances. Furthermore, we examine scientific collaboration across countries/regions by analyzing collaborative intensity and networks in 3- to 4-year intervals. Results indicate with an impressively exponential growth pattern of nano-energy articles, the world share of scientific "giants," such as the USA, Germany, England, France and Japan, display decreasing research trends, especially in the USA. Emerging economies, including China, South Korea and India, exhibit a rise in terms of the world share, illustrating strong development momentum of these countries in nano-energy research. Strikingly, China displays a remarkable rise in scientific influence rivaling Germany, Japan, France, and England in the last few years. Finally, the scientific collaborative network in nano-energy research has expanded steadily. Although the USA and several major European countries play significantly roles on scientific collaboration, China and South Korea exert great influence on scientific collaboration in recent years. The findings imply that emerging economies can earn competitive advantages in some emerging fields by properly engaging a catch-up strategy.

The Military-Industrial-Scientific Complex and the Rise of New Powers: Conceptual, Theoretical and Methodological Contributions and the Brazilian Case

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-09-29

Report: The Military-Industrial-Scientific Complex and the Rise of New Powers: Conceptual, Theoretical and Methodological Contributions and the... Methodological Contributions and the Brazilian Case Report Term: 0-Other Email: aminvielle@ucsd.edu Distribution Statement: 1-Approved for public

Conceptual Level of Understanding about Sound Concept: Sample of Fifth Grade Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bostan Sarioglan, Ayberk

2016-01-01

In this study, students' conceptual change processes related to the sound concept were examined. Study group was comprises of 325 fifth grade middle school students. Three multiple-choice questions were used as the data collection tool. At the data analysis process "scientific response", "scientifically unacceptable response"…

Addressing Barriers to Conceptual Understanding in IE Physics Classes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coletta, Vincent P.; Phillips, Jeffrey A.

2009-11-01

We report on the Thinking in Physics project, which helps students who demonstrate weak scientific reasoning skills, as measured by low preinstruction scores on the Lawson Test of Scientific Reasoning Ability. Without special help, such students are unlikely to achieve a good conceptual understanding of introductory mechanics.

Evaluation of a collaborative model: a case study analysis of watershed planning in the intermountain west

Treesearch

Gary Bentrup

2001-01-01

Collaborative planning processes have become increasingly popular for addressing environmental planning issues, resulting in a number of conceptual models for collaboration. A model proposed by Selin and Chavez suggests that collaboration emerges from a series of antecedents and then proceeds sequentially through problem-setting, direction-setting, implementation, and...

Using Cloud-Computing Applications to Support Collaborative Scientific Inquiry: Examining Pre-Service Teachers' Perceived Barriers to Integration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donna, Joel D.; Miller, Brant G.

2013-01-01

Technology plays a crucial role in facilitating collaboration within the scientific community. Cloud-computing applications, such as Google Drive, can be used to model such collaboration and support inquiry within the secondary science classroom. Little is known about pre-service teachers' beliefs related to the envisioned use of collaborative,…

Network effects on scientific collaborations.

PubMed

Uddin, Shahadat; Hossain, Liaquat; Rasmussen, Kim

2013-01-01

The analysis of co-authorship network aims at exploring the impact of network structure on the outcome of scientific collaborations and research publications. However, little is known about what network properties are associated with authors who have increased number of joint publications and are being cited highly. Measures of social network analysis, for example network centrality and tie strength, have been utilized extensively in current co-authorship literature to explore different behavioural patterns of co-authorship networks. Using three SNA measures (i.e., degree centrality, closeness centrality and betweenness centrality), we explore scientific collaboration networks to understand factors influencing performance (i.e., citation count) and formation (tie strength between authors) of such networks. A citation count is the number of times an article is cited by other articles. We use co-authorship dataset of the research field of 'steel structure' for the year 2005 to 2009. To measure the strength of scientific collaboration between two authors, we consider the number of articles co-authored by them. In this study, we examine how citation count of a scientific publication is influenced by different centrality measures of its co-author(s) in a co-authorship network. We further analyze the impact of the network positions of authors on the strength of their scientific collaborations. We use both correlation and regression methods for data analysis leading to statistical validation. We identify that citation count of a research article is positively correlated with the degree centrality and betweenness centrality values of its co-author(s). Also, we reveal that degree centrality and betweenness centrality values of authors in a co-authorship network are positively correlated with the strength of their scientific collaborations. Authors' network positions in co-authorship networks influence the performance (i.e., citation count) and formation (i.e., tie strength) of scientific collaborations.

Undergraduate Students' Preference for Procedural to Conceptual Solutions to Mathematical Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Engelbrecht, Johann; Bergsten, Christer; Kagesten, Owe

2009-01-01

This article reports on a collaboration project between South Africa and Sweden, in which we want to investigate whether the emphasis in undergraduate mathematics courses for engineering students should be more conceptual than the current traditional way of teaching. On the basis of a review of the distinction between conceptual and procedural…

Individual to collaborative: guided group work and the role of teachers in junior secondary science classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fung, Dennis; Lui, Wai-mei

2016-05-01

This paper, through discussion of a teaching intervention at two secondary schools in Hong Kong, demonstrates the learning advancement brought about by group work and dissects the facilitating role of teachers in collaborative discussions. One-hundred and fifty-two Secondary Two (Grade 8) students were divided into three pedagogical groups, namely 'whole-class teaching', 'self-directed group work' and 'teacher-supported group work' groups, and engaged in peer-review, team debate, group presentation and reflection tasks related to a junior secondary science topic (i.e. current electricity). Pre- and post-tests were performed to evaluate students' scientific conceptions, alongside collected written responses and audio-recorded discussions. The results indicate that students achieved greater cognitive growth when they engaged in cooperative learning activities, the interactive and multi-sided argumentative nature of which is considered to apply particularly well to science education and Vygotsky's zone of proximal development framework. Group work learning is also found to be most effective when teachers play a role in navigating students during the joint construction of conceptual knowledge.

Coordinating the effects of multiple variables: a skill fundamental to scientific thinking.

PubMed

Kuhn, Deanna; Pease, Maria; Wirkala, Clarice

2009-07-01

The skill of predicting outcomes based on simultaneous effects of multiple factors was examined. Over five sessions, 91 sixth graders engaged this task either individually or in pairs and either preceded or followed by six sessions on the more widely studied inquiry task that requires designing and interpreting experiments to identify individual effects. Final assessment, while indicating a high level of mastery on the inquiry task, showed progress but continuing conceptual challenges on the multivariable prediction task having to do with understanding of variables, variable levels, and consistency of a variable's operation across occasions. Task order had a significant but limited effect, and social collaboration conferred only a temporary benefit that disappeared in a final individual assessment. In a follow-up study, the lack of effect of social collaboration was confirmed, as was that of feedback on incorrect answers. Although fundamental to science, the concept that variables operate jointly and, under equivalent conditions, consistently across occasions is one that children appear to acquire only gradually and, therefore, one that cannot be assumed to be in place.

The Cognition and Neuroergonomics (CaN) Collaborative Technology Alliance (CTA): Scientific Vision, Approach, and Translational Paths

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

The Cognition and Neuroergonomics (CaN) Collaborative Technology Alliance (CTA): Scientific Vision, Approach, and Translational Paths by...The Cognition and Neuroergonomics (CaN) Collaborative Technology Alliance (CTA): Scientific Vision, Approach, and Translational Paths Kelvin S. Oie...REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) September 2012 2. REPORT TYPE Final 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE The Cognition and Neuroergonomics

Literature-Based Scientific Learning: A Collaboration Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elrod, Susan L.; Somerville, Mary M.

2007-01-01

Amidst exponential growth of knowledge, student insights into the knowledge creation practices of the scientific community can be furthered by science faculty collaborations with university librarians. The Literature-Based Scientific Learning model advances undergraduates' disciplinary mastery and information literacy through experience with…

Technology-Enhanced Pedagogical Framework for Collaborative Creativity: Analyses of Students' Perception

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pifarré, Manoli; Martí, Laura; Cujba, Andreea

2015-01-01

This paper explores the effects of a technology-enhanced pedagogical framework on collaborative creativity processes. The pedagogical framework is built on socio-cultural theory which conceptualizes creativity as a social activity based on intersubjectivity and dialogical interactions. Dialogue becomes an instrument for collaborative creativity…

[Scientific productivity, collaboration and research areas in Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiología Clínica (2003-2007)].

PubMed

González-Alcaide, Gregorio; Valderrama-Zurián, Juan Carlos; Ramos-Rincón, José Manuel

2010-10-01

Collaboration is essential for biomedical research. The Carlos III Health Institute (the Spanish national public organization responsible for promoting biomedical research) has encouraged scientific collaboration by promoting Thematic Networks and Cooperative Research Centres. Scientific collaboration in Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiología Clinica journal is investigated. Papers published in Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiología Clinica in the period 2002-2007 have been identified. Bibliometrics and Social Network Analysis methods have been carried out in order to quantify and characterise scientific collaboration and research areas. A total of 805 papers generated by 2,289 authors and 326 institutions have been analysed. There were 36 research groups involving 138 authors identified. The Collaboration Index for articles was 5.5. Institutional collaboration was determined in 75% of articles. The collaboration between departments or units of the same institution prevails (43%), followed by intra-regional domestic collaboration (41%) and inter-regional domestic collaboration (14%). Hospital centres were the main institutional sector responsible of research (88% of papers), with 68% of articles cited. Sida/VIH (AIDS/HIV) is the main research area (n=114), followed by Staphylococcal Infections (n=33). Notable collaboration and citation rates have been observed. Research is focused on diseases with the highest mortality rates caused by infectious diseases in Spain. Copyright © 2009 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Dealing with conflicts on knowledge in tutorial groups.

PubMed

Aarnio, Matti; Lindblom-Ylänne, Sari; Nieminen, Juha; Pyörälä, Eeva

2013-05-01

The aim of our study was to gain understanding of different types of conflicts on knowledge in the discussions of problem-based learning tutorial groups, and how such conflicts are dealt with. We examined first-year medical and dental students' (N = 33) conflicts on knowledge in four videotaped reporting phase tutorials. A coding scheme was created for analysing verbatim transcripts of 43 conflict episodes in order to find out whether the conflict episodes were about factual or conceptual knowledge and how the students elaborated the knowledge. Conflict episodes were relatively rare (taking up 7.6 % of the time) in the videotaped groups. Conflict episodes were more frequently about factual knowledge (58 %) than conceptual knowledge (42 %), but conflicts on conceptual knowledge lasted longer and were more often elaborated. Elaboration was, however, more frequently done individually than collaboratively. Conflict episodes were generally fairly short (mean duration 28 s). This was due to a lack of thorough argumentation and collaborative elaboration of conflicting ideas. The results suggest that students' skills to bring out differences in each other's conceptual thinking, the depth of argumentation and the use of questions that elicit elaboration need to be improved. Tutors' skills to facilitate the collaborative resolving of conflicts on knowledge call for further study.

An Official American Thoracic Society Research Statement: Implementation Science in Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

PubMed Central

Krishnan, Jerry A.; Au, David H.; Bender, Bruce G.; Carson, Shannon S.; Cattamanchi, Adithya; Cloutier, Michelle M.; Cooke, Colin R.; Erickson, Karen; George, Maureen; Gerald, Joe K.; Gerald, Lynn B.; Goss, Christopher H.; Gould, Michael K.; Hyzy, Robert; Kahn, Jeremy M.; Mittman, Brian S.; Mosesón, Erika M.; Mularski, Richard A.; Parthasarathy, Sairam; Patel, Sanjay R.; Rand, Cynthia S.; Redeker, Nancy S.; Reiss, Theodore F.; Riekert, Kristin A.; Rubenfeld, Gordon D.; Tate, Judith A.; Wilson, Kevin C.; Thomson, Carey C.

2016-01-01

Background: Many advances in health care fail to reach patients. Implementation science is the study of novel approaches to mitigate this evidence-to-practice gap. Methods: The American Thoracic Society (ATS) created a multidisciplinary ad hoc committee to develop a research statement on implementation science in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. The committee used an iterative consensus process to define implementation science and review the use of conceptual frameworks to guide implementation science for the pulmonary, critical care, and sleep community and to explore how professional medical societies such as the ATS can promote implementation science. Results: The committee defined implementation science as the study of the mechanisms by which effective health care interventions are either adopted or not adopted in clinical and community settings. The committee also distinguished implementation science from the act of implementation. Ideally, implementation science should include early and continuous stakeholder involvement and the use of conceptual frameworks (i.e., models to systematize the conduct of studies and standardize the communication of findings). Multiple conceptual frameworks are available, and we suggest the selection of one or more frameworks on the basis of the specific research question and setting. Professional medical societies such as the ATS can have an important role in promoting implementation science. Recommendations for professional societies to consider include: unifying implementation science activities through a single organizational structure, linking front-line clinicians with implementation scientists, seeking collaborations to prioritize and conduct implementation science studies, supporting implementation science projects through funding opportunities, working with research funding bodies to set the research agenda in the field, collaborating with external bodies responsible for health care delivery, disseminating results of implementation science through scientific journals and conferences, and teaching the next generation about implementation science through courses and other media. Conclusions: Implementation science plays an increasingly important role in health care. Through support of implementation science, the ATS and other professional medical societies can work with other stakeholders to lead this effort. PMID:27739895

An Official American Thoracic Society Research Statement: Implementation Science in Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine.

PubMed

Weiss, Curtis H; Krishnan, Jerry A; Au, David H; Bender, Bruce G; Carson, Shannon S; Cattamanchi, Adithya; Cloutier, Michelle M; Cooke, Colin R; Erickson, Karen; George, Maureen; Gerald, Joe K; Gerald, Lynn B; Goss, Christopher H; Gould, Michael K; Hyzy, Robert; Kahn, Jeremy M; Mittman, Brian S; Mosesón, Erika M; Mularski, Richard A; Parthasarathy, Sairam; Patel, Sanjay R; Rand, Cynthia S; Redeker, Nancy S; Reiss, Theodore F; Riekert, Kristin A; Rubenfeld, Gordon D; Tate, Judith A; Wilson, Kevin C; Thomson, Carey C

2016-10-15

Many advances in health care fail to reach patients. Implementation science is the study of novel approaches to mitigate this evidence-to-practice gap. The American Thoracic Society (ATS) created a multidisciplinary ad hoc committee to develop a research statement on implementation science in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. The committee used an iterative consensus process to define implementation science and review the use of conceptual frameworks to guide implementation science for the pulmonary, critical care, and sleep community and to explore how professional medical societies such as the ATS can promote implementation science. The committee defined implementation science as the study of the mechanisms by which effective health care interventions are either adopted or not adopted in clinical and community settings. The committee also distinguished implementation science from the act of implementation. Ideally, implementation science should include early and continuous stakeholder involvement and the use of conceptual frameworks (i.e., models to systematize the conduct of studies and standardize the communication of findings). Multiple conceptual frameworks are available, and we suggest the selection of one or more frameworks on the basis of the specific research question and setting. Professional medical societies such as the ATS can have an important role in promoting implementation science. Recommendations for professional societies to consider include: unifying implementation science activities through a single organizational structure, linking front-line clinicians with implementation scientists, seeking collaborations to prioritize and conduct implementation science studies, supporting implementation science projects through funding opportunities, working with research funding bodies to set the research agenda in the field, collaborating with external bodies responsible for health care delivery, disseminating results of implementation science through scientific journals and conferences, and teaching the next generation about implementation science through courses and other media. Implementation science plays an increasingly important role in health care. Through support of implementation science, the ATS and other professional medical societies can work with other stakeholders to lead this effort.

Conceptual Change in Psychology Students' Acceptance of the Scientific Foundation of the Discipline

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amsel, Eric; Ashley, Aaron; Baird, Todd; Johnston, Adam

2014-01-01

Two studies explored conceptual change in undergraduate psychology students' acceptance of the scientific foundations of the discipline. In Study 1, Introductory Psychology students completed the Psychology as Science questionnaire (PAS) at the beginning and end of the semester and did so from their own (Self Condition) and their instructors'…

Understanding Starts in the Mesocosm: Conceptual Metaphor as a Framework for External Representations in Science Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niebert, Kai; Gropengiesser, Harald

2015-01-01

In recent years, researchers have become aware of the experiential grounding of scientific thought. Accordingly, research has shown that metaphorical mappings between experience-based source domains and abstract target domains are omnipresent in everyday and scientific language. The theory of conceptual metaphor explains these findings based on…

Teacher Collaboration, Mentorship, and Intergenerational Gap in Post-Soviet Ukrainian Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kutsyuruba, Benjamin

2011-01-01

This article examines the interconnections between mentoring and teacher collaboration in view of the intergenerational gap between experienced and novice educators in the post-Soviet Ukraine. The conceptual framework utilized a constructive postmodern perspective as an analytical lens and examined mentorship as a collaborative form of teacher…

INPROF--Promoting Teamwork Processes and Interprofessional Collaboration in Emergency Work (2010-2012)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collin, Kaija; Paloniemi, Susanna; Herranen, Sanna

2015-01-01

This paper summarises the findings of a research project on interprofessional collaboration in the emergency unit of a major Finnish hospital. The findings are discussed through a broad conceptual framework which involves work process knowledge and interprofessional collaboration. The project, carried out from 2010-2012, investigated different…

Detecting and analyzing research communities in longitudinal scientific networks.

PubMed

Leone Sciabolazza, Valerio; Vacca, Raffaele; Kennelly Okraku, Therese; McCarty, Christopher

2017-01-01

A growing body of evidence shows that collaborative teams and communities tend to produce the highest-impact scientific work. This paper proposes a new method to (1) Identify collaborative communities in longitudinal scientific networks, and (2) Evaluate the impact of specific research institutes, services or policies on the interdisciplinary collaboration between these communities. First, we apply community-detection algorithms to cross-sectional scientific collaboration networks and analyze different types of co-membership in the resulting subgroups over time. This analysis summarizes large amounts of longitudinal network data to extract sets of research communities whose members have consistently collaborated or shared collaborators over time. Second, we construct networks of cross-community interactions and estimate Exponential Random Graph Models to predict the formation of interdisciplinary collaborations between different communities. The method is applied to longitudinal data on publication and grant collaborations at the University of Florida. Results show that similar institutional affiliation, spatial proximity, transitivity effects, and use of the same research services predict higher degree of interdisciplinary collaboration between research communities. Our application also illustrates how the identification of research communities in longitudinal data and the analysis of cross-community network formation can be used to measure the growth of interdisciplinary team science at a research university, and to evaluate its association with research policies, services or institutes.

Detecting and analyzing research communities in longitudinal scientific networks

PubMed Central

Vacca, Raffaele; Kennelly Okraku, Therese; McCarty, Christopher

2017-01-01

A growing body of evidence shows that collaborative teams and communities tend to produce the highest-impact scientific work. This paper proposes a new method to (1) Identify collaborative communities in longitudinal scientific networks, and (2) Evaluate the impact of specific research institutes, services or policies on the interdisciplinary collaboration between these communities. First, we apply community-detection algorithms to cross-sectional scientific collaboration networks and analyze different types of co-membership in the resulting subgroups over time. This analysis summarizes large amounts of longitudinal network data to extract sets of research communities whose members have consistently collaborated or shared collaborators over time. Second, we construct networks of cross-community interactions and estimate Exponential Random Graph Models to predict the formation of interdisciplinary collaborations between different communities. The method is applied to longitudinal data on publication and grant collaborations at the University of Florida. Results show that similar institutional affiliation, spatial proximity, transitivity effects, and use of the same research services predict higher degree of interdisciplinary collaboration between research communities. Our application also illustrates how the identification of research communities in longitudinal data and the analysis of cross-community network formation can be used to measure the growth of interdisciplinary team science at a research university, and to evaluate its association with research policies, services or institutes. PMID:28797047

The Interplay between Scientific Overlap and Cooperation and the Resulting Gain in Co-Authorship Interactions.

PubMed

Mayrose, Itay; Freilich, Shiri

2015-01-01

Considering the importance of scientific interactions, understanding the principles that govern fruitful scientific research is crucial to policy makers and scientists alike. The outcome of an interaction is to a large extent dependent on the balancing of contradicting motivations accompanying the establishment of collaborations. Here, we assembled a dataset of nearly 20,000 publications authored by researchers affiliated with ten top universities. Based on this data collection, we estimated the extent of different interaction types between pairwise combinations of researchers. We explored the interplay between the overlap in scientific interests and the tendency to collaborate, and associated these estimates with measures of scientific quality and social accessibility aiming at studying the typical resulting gain of different interaction patterns. Our results show that scientists tend to collaborate more often with colleagues with whom they share moderate to high levels of mutual interests and knowledge while cooperative tendency declines at higher levels of research-interest overlap, suggesting fierce competition, and at the lower levels, suggesting communication gaps. Whereas the relative number of alliances dramatically differs across a gradient of research overlap, the scientific impact of the resulting articles remains similar. When considering social accessibility, we find that though collaborations between remote researchers are relatively rare, their quality is significantly higher than studies produced by close-circle scientists. Since current collaboration patterns do not necessarily overlap with gaining optimal scientific quality, these findings should encourage scientists to reconsider current collaboration strategies.

A survey of scientific production and collaboration rate among of medical library and information sciences in ISI, scopus and Pubmed databases during 2001-2010.

PubMed

Yousefy, Alireza; Malekahmadi, Parisa

2013-01-01

Research is essential for development. In other words, scientific development of each country can be evaluated by researchers' scientific production. Understanding and assessing the activities of researchers for planning and policy making is essential. The significance of collaboration in the production of scientific publications in today's complex world where technology is everything is very apparent. Scientists realized that in order to get their work wildly used and cited to by experts, they must collaborate. The collaboration among researchers results in the development of scientific knowledge and hence, attainment of wider information. The main objective of this research is to survey scientific production and collaboration rate in philosophy and theoretical bases of medical library and information sciences in ISI, SCOPUS, and Pubmed databases during 2001-2010. This is a descriptive survey and scientometrics methods were used for this research. Then data gathered via check list and analyzed by the SPSS software. Collaboration rate was calculated according to the formula. Among the 294 related abstracts about philosophy, and theoretical bases of medical library and information science in ISI, SCOPUS, and Pubmed databases during 2001-2010, the year 2007 with 45 articles has the most and the year 2003 with 16 articles has the least number of related collaborative articles in this scope. "B. Hjorland" with eight collaborative articles had the most one among Library and Information Sciences (LIS) professionals in ISI, SCOPUS, and Pubmed. Journal of Documentation with 29 articles and 12 collaborative articles had the most related articles. Medical library and information science challenges with 150 articles had first place in number of articles. Results also show that the most elaborative country in terms of collaboration point of view and number of articles was US. "University of Washington" and "University Western Ontario" are the most elaborative affiliation from a collaboration point. The average collaboration rate between researchers in this field during the years studied is 0.25. The most completive reviewed articles are single authors that included 60.54% of the whole articles. Only 30.46% of articles were provided with two or more than two authors.

Practical Advancement of Multipollutant Scientific and Risk Assessment Approaches for Ambient Air Pollution

PubMed Central

Johns, Douglas O.; Walker, Katherine; Benromdhane, Souad; Hubbell, Bryan; Ross, Mary; Devlin, Robert B.; Costa, Daniel L.; Greenbaum, Daniel S.

2012-01-01

Objectives: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is working toward gaining a better understanding of the human health impacts of exposure to complex air pollutant mixtures and the key features that drive the toxicity of these mixtures, which can then be used for future scientific and risk assessments. Data sources: A public workshop was held in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 22–24 February 2011, to discuss scientific issues and data gaps related to adopting multipollutant science and risk assessment approaches, with a particular focus on the criteria air pollutants. Expert panelists in the fields of epidemiology, toxicology, and atmospheric and exposure sciences led open discussions to encourage workshop participants to think broadly about available and emerging scientific evidence related to multipollutant approaches to evaluating the health effects of air pollution. Synthesis: Although there is clearly a need for novel research and analytical approaches to better characterize the health effects of multipollutant exposures, much progress can be made by using existing scientific information and statistical methods to evaluate the effects of single pollutants in a multipollutant context. This work will have a direct impact on the development of a multipollutant science assessment and a conceptual framework for conducting multipollutant risk assessments. Conclusions: Transitioning to a multipollutant paradigm can be aided through the adoption of a framework for multipollutant science and risk assessment that encompasses well-studied and ubiquitous air pollutants. Successfully advancing methods for conducting these assessments will require collaborative and parallel efforts between the scientific and environmental regulatory and policy communities. PMID:22645280

Mentoring the Next Generation of Science Gateway Developers and Users

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayden, L. B.; Jackson-Ward, F.

2016-12-01

The Science Gateway Institute (SGW-I) for the Democratization and Acceleration of Science was a SI2-SSE Collaborative Research conceptualization award funded by NSF in 2012. From 2012 through 2015, we engaged interested members of the science and engineering community in a planning process for a Science Gateway Community Institute (SGCI). Science Gateways provide Web interfaces to some of the most sophisticated cyberinfrastructure resources. They interact with remotely executing science applications on supercomputers, they connect to remote scientific data collections, instruments and sensor streams, and support large collaborations. Gateways allow scientists to concentrate on the most challenging science problems while underlying components such as computing architectures and interfaces to data collection changes. The goal of our institute was to provide coordinating activities across the National Science Foundation, eventually providing services more broadly to projects funded by other agencies. SGW-I has succeeded in identifying two underrepresented communities of future gateway designers and users. The Association of Computer and Information Science/Engineering Departments at Minority Institutions (ADMI) was identified as a source of future gateway designers. The National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) was identified as a community of future science gateway users. SGW-I efforts to engage NOBCChE and ADMI faculty and students in SGW-I are now woven into the workforce development component of SGCI. SGCI (ScienceGateways.org ) is a collaboration of six universities, led by San Diego Supercomputer Center. The workforce development component is led by Elizabeth City State University (ECSU). ECSU efforts focus is on: Produce a model of engagement; Integration of research into education; and Mentoring of students while aggressively addressing diversity. This paper documents the outcome of the SGW-I conceptualization project and describes the extensive Workforce Development effort going forward into the 5-year SGCI project recently funded by NSF.

[Interagency collaboration in Spanish scientific production in nursing: social network analysis].

PubMed

Almero-Canet, Amparo; López-Ferrer, Mayte; Sales-Orts, Rafael

2013-01-01

The objectives of this paper are to analyze the Spanish scientific production in nursing, define its temporal evolution, its geographical and institutional distribution, and observe the interinstitutional collaboration. We analyze a comprehensive sample of Spanish scientific production in the nursing area extracted from the multidisciplinary database SciVerse Scopus. The nursing scientific production grows along time. The collaboration rate is 3.7 authors per paper and 61% of the authors only publish one paper. Barcelona and Madrid are the provinces with highest number of authors. Most belong to the hospitalary environment, followed closely by authors belonging to the university. The most institutions that collaborate, sharing authorship of articles are: University of Barcelona, Autonomous University of Barcelona and Clinic Hospital of Barcelona. The nursing scientific production has been increasing since her incorporation at the university. The collaboration rate found is higher than found for other papers. It shows a low decrease of occasional authors. It discusses the outlook of scientific collaboration in nursing in Spain, at the level of institutions by co-authorship of papers, through a network graph. It observes their distribution, importance and interactions or lack thereof. There is a strong need to use international databases for research, care and teaching, in addition to the national specialized information resources. Professionals are encouraged to normalization of the paper's signature, both, surnames and institutions to which they belong. It confirms the limited cooperation with foreign institutions, although there is an increasing trend of collaboration between Spanish authors in this discipline. It is observed, clearly defined three interinstitutional collaboration patterns. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Toward a Richer View of the Scientific Method: The Role of Conceptual Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Machado, Armando; Silva, Francisco J.

2007-01-01

Within the complex set of activities that comprise the scientific method, three clusters of activities can be recognized: experimentation, mathematization, and conceptual analysis. In psychology, the first two of these clusters are well-known and valued, but the third seems less known and valued. The authors show the value of these three clusters…

The Effects of Inquiry-Based Computer Simulation with Cooperative Learning on Scientific Thinking and Conceptual Understanding of Gas Laws

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abdullah, Sopiah; Shariff, Adilah

2008-01-01

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of inquiry-based computer simulation with heterogeneous-ability cooperative learning (HACL) and inquiry-based computer simulation with friendship cooperative learning (FCL) on (a) scientific reasoning (SR) and (b) conceptual understanding (CU) among Form Four students in Malaysian Smart…

Dialogic Framing of Scientific Content for Conceptual and Epistemic Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ford, Michael J.; Wargo, Brian M.

2012-01-01

This article draws on M. M. Bakhtin's (1981) notion of dialogism to articulate what it means to understand a scientific idea. In science, understanding an idea is both conceptual and epistemic and is exhibited by an ability to use it in explanation and argumentation. Some distillation of these activities implies that dialogic understanding of a…

XSIM Final Report: Modelling the Past and Future of Identity Management for Scientific Collaborations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cowles, Robert; Jackson, Craig; Welch, Von

The eXtreme Science Identity Management (XSIM1) research project: collected and analyzed real world data on virtual organization (VO) identity management (IdM) representing the last 15+ years of collaborative DOE science; constructed a descriptive VO IdM model based on that data; used the model and existing trends to project the direction for IdM in the 2020 timeframe; and provided guidance to scientific collaborations and resource providers that are implementing or seeking to improve IdM functionality. XSIM conducted over 20 semi­structured interviews of representatives from scientific collaborations and resource providers, both in the US and Europe; the interviewees supported diverse set ofmore » scientific collaborations and disciplines. We developed a definition of “trust,” a key concept in IdM, to understand how varying trust models affect where IdM functions are performed. The model identifies how key IdM data elements are utilized in collaborative scientific workflows, and it has the flexibility to describe past, present and future trust relationships and IdM implementations. During the funding period, we gave more than two dozen presentations to socialize our work, encourage feedback, and improve the model; we also published four refereed papers. Additionally, we developed, presented, and received favorable feedback on three white papers providing practical advice to collaborations and/or resource providers.« less

The Impact of Collaborative and Individualized Student Response System Strategies on Learner Motivation, Metacognition, and Knowledge Transfer

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, M. E.; Antonenko, P. D.; Greenwood, C. M.

2012-01-01

This study investigated the impact of collaborative and individualized student response system-based instruction on learner motivation, metacognition, and concept transfer in a large-enrolment undergraduate science course. Participants in the collaborative group responded to conceptual questions, discussed their responses in small groups, and…

The Co-Creation-Wheel: A Four-Dimensional Model of Collaborative Interorganistional Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ehlen, Corry; van der Klink, Marcel; Stoffers, Jol; Boshuizen, Henny

2017-01-01

Purpose: This study aims to design and validate a conceptual and practical model of co-creation. Co-creation, to design collaborative new products, services and processes in contact with users, has become more and more important because organisations increasingly require multidisciplinary collaboration inside and outside the organisation to…

Towards an Agile Approach to Adapting Dynamic Collaboration Support to Student Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adamson, David; Dyke, Gregory; Jang, Hyeju; Rosé, Carolyn Penstein

2014-01-01

This paper investigates the use of conversational agents to scaffold on-line collaborative learning discussions through an approach called Academically Productive Talk (APT). In contrast to past work on dynamic support for collaborative learning, where agents were used to elevate conceptual depth by leading students through directed lines of…

Investigating Effects of Embedding Collaboration in an Intelligent Tutoring System for Elementary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olsen, Jennifer K.; Rummel, Nikol; Aleven, Vincent

2016-01-01

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) are beneficial for individual students learning in several domains, including mathematics where they have been used to support both secondary and elementary students. Collaborative learning may be beneficial to include in ITSs, particularly for conceptual knowledge. There is little work on collaborative ITSs,…

Using Dual Eye-Tracking Measures to Differentiate between Collaboration on Procedural and Conceptual Learning Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Belenky, Daniel; Ringenberg, Michael; Olsen, Jennifer; Aleven, Vincent; Rummel, Nikol

2013-01-01

Dual eye-tracking measures enable novel ways to test predictions about collaborative learning. For example, the research project we are engaging in uses measures of gaze recurrence to help understand how collaboration may differ when students are completing various learning activities focused on different learning objectives. Specifically, we…

Collaboration management framework for OEM - suppliers relationships: a trust-based conceptual approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belkadi, Farouk; Messaadia, Mourad; Bernard, Alain; Baudry, David

2017-08-01

Due to the increased competitiveness and the diversity of requirements in today's markets, manufacturing companies need to join their competencies and resources to propose innovative solutions for each specific market, with the possibility to transpose these solutions to another market, by means of slight adaptations. Thus, manufacturing firms must constantly conduct new collaborations with known partners in most cases, but also with new partners. The critical question for managers in this latter case is how to define the best collaborative strategy according to the goals of the project and the specificity of the target market. This paper tackles the problem by proposing a conceptual framework for supporting the management of collaborative situations in the case of Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Based on the concept of trust level, the framework proposes a classification of different collaboration modes to be adopted in various contexts of inter-enterprise relationships, in manufacturing sector. The aim is to support the flexible navigation between different collaborative situations by taking into account all decision-making levels from the strategy to the implementation of the information technologies (IT) systems at the operational level.

Science Partnerships Enabling Rapid Response: Designing a Strategy for Improving Scientific Collaboration during Crisis Response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mease, L.; Gibbs, T.; Adiseshan, T.

2014-12-01

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster required unprecedented engagement and collaboration with scientists from multiple disciplines across government, academia, and industry. Although this spurred the rapid advancement of valuable new scientific knowledge and tools, it also exposed weaknesses in the system of information dissemination and exchange among the scientists from those three sectors. Limited government communication with the broader scientific community complicated the rapid mobilization of the scientific community to assist with spill response, evaluation of impact, and public perceptions of the crisis. The lessons and new laws produced from prior spills such as Exxon Valdez were helpful, but ultimately did not lead to the actions necessary to prepare a suitable infrastructure that would support collaboration with non-governmental scientists. As oil demand pushes drilling into increasingly extreme environments, addressing the challenge of effective, science-based disaster response is an imperative. Our study employs a user-centered design process to 1) understand the obstacles to and opportunity spaces for effective scientific collaboration during environmental crises such as large oil spills, 2) identify possible tools and strategies to enable rapid information exchange between government responders and non-governmental scientists from multiple relevant disciplines, and 3) build a network of key influencers to secure sufficient buy-in for scaled implementation of appropriate tools and strategies. Our methods include user ethnography, complex system mapping, individual and system behavioral analysis, and large-scale system design to identify and prototype a solution to this crisis collaboration challenge. In this talk, we will present out insights gleaned from existing analogs of successful scientific collaboration during crises and our initial findings from the 60 targeted interviews we conducted that highlight key collaboration challenges that government agencies, academic research institutions, and industry scientists face during oil spill crises. We will also present a synthesis of leverage points in the system that may amplify the impact of an improved collaboration strategy among scientific stakeholders.

Network Effects on Scientific Collaborations

PubMed Central

Uddin, Shahadat; Hossain, Liaquat; Rasmussen, Kim

2013-01-01

Background The analysis of co-authorship network aims at exploring the impact of network structure on the outcome of scientific collaborations and research publications. However, little is known about what network properties are associated with authors who have increased number of joint publications and are being cited highly. Methodology/Principal Findings Measures of social network analysis, for example network centrality and tie strength, have been utilized extensively in current co-authorship literature to explore different behavioural patterns of co-authorship networks. Using three SNA measures (i.e., degree centrality, closeness centrality and betweenness centrality), we explore scientific collaboration networks to understand factors influencing performance (i.e., citation count) and formation (tie strength between authors) of such networks. A citation count is the number of times an article is cited by other articles. We use co-authorship dataset of the research field of ‘steel structure’ for the year 2005 to 2009. To measure the strength of scientific collaboration between two authors, we consider the number of articles co-authored by them. In this study, we examine how citation count of a scientific publication is influenced by different centrality measures of its co-author(s) in a co-authorship network. We further analyze the impact of the network positions of authors on the strength of their scientific collaborations. We use both correlation and regression methods for data analysis leading to statistical validation. We identify that citation count of a research article is positively correlated with the degree centrality and betweenness centrality values of its co-author(s). Also, we reveal that degree centrality and betweenness centrality values of authors in a co-authorship network are positively correlated with the strength of their scientific collaborations. Conclusions/Significance Authors’ network positions in co-authorship networks influence the performance (i.e., citation count) and formation (i.e., tie strength) of scientific collaborations. PMID:23469021

Twenty-Year Survey of Scientific Literacy and Attitudes Toward Science: Students’ Acceptance of Astrology and Pseudoscience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugarman, Hannah R.; Impey, C.; Buxner, S.; Antonellis, J.

2010-01-01

Our survey used to collect data during a twenty-year long investigation into the science literacy of undergraduates (see Impey et al., this meeting), contains several questions addressing how students conceptualize astrology, and other pseudoscientific ideas. This poster presents findings from the quantitative analysis of some of these question responses from almost 10,000 undergraduate students enrolled in introductory astronomy courses from 1989 to 2009. The results from our data reveal that a large majority of students (78%) and half of science majors (52%) consider astrology either "very” or "sort of” scientific. Students performed comparatively better on all other pseudoscientific questions, demonstrating that belief in astrology is pervasive and deeply entrenched. We compare our results to those obtained by the NSF Science Indicators series, and suggest possible reasons for the high susceptibility to belief in astrology. These findings call into question whether our education system is adequately preparing students to be scientifically literate adults. You can help! Stop by our poster and fill out a new survey that will give us important parallel information to help us continue to analyze our valuable data set. We acknowledge the NSF for funding under Award No. 0715517, a CCLI Phase III Grant for the Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars (CATS) Program.

Structure and Evolution of Scientific Collaboration Networks in a Modern Research Collaboratory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pepe, Alberto

2010-01-01

This dissertation is a study of scientific collaboration at the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS), a modern, multi-disciplinary, distributed laboratory involved in sensor network research. By use of survey research and network analysis, this dissertation examines the collaborative ecology of CENS in terms of three networks of…

Examining the influence of formative assessment on conceptual accumulation and conceptual change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tomita, Miki K.

This study explored the effect of formative assessment on student achievement in science. Research in science education has shown that students enter science classrooms with previously formed explanatory models of the natural world; these naive "mental models" have a substantial influence on their learning of scientific conceptions. In general, conceptual change describes the pathway from pre-instructional or prior conceptions to a post-instructional or desired conception. Conceptual change involves a fundamental restructuring of a network of concepts rather than fitting new concepts into an existing conceptual network or structure. Research has shown that conceptual change is difficult to promote; for example, students may accumulate multiple conceptions over the course of instruction, including both new misconceptions and more scientifically-sound conceptions. Hellden and Solomon (2004) found that although students tended to evoke the same, less-scientific conceptions over time, they could produce more scientifically-sound conceptions during interviews with appropriate prompting; thus, students undergo conceptual accumulation rather than conceptual change. Students can recall scientifically-sound conceptions they have learned and may use them to reason, but they do so in partnership or hybridization with their less-scientific prior conceptions. Formative assessment, which focuses on providing immediate feedback by acting upon student understanding during the course of instruction, and conceptual change have both been linked to increased student achievement. Formative assessment is an instructional strategy that helps teachers to assess students' current understanding, identify the gap between current understanding and expected understanding, and provide immediate and useful feedback to students on how to close the gap. Formative assessment ranges from formal (e.g. embedded, planned-for interactions between teacher and entire class) to informal (e.g. on-the-fly interactions between teacher and class or student). In this study, the links between formative assessment and conceptual accumulation and conceptual change were explored. Specifically, this study asked: (1) Does formative assessment promote conceptual accumulation, and (2) Does formative assessment promote conceptual change? It was hypothesized that conceptual change-focused formative assessment would foster conceptual change, in addition to supporting conceptual accumulation. It was further hypothesized that all students will show gains in conceptual accumulation as indicated by measures of declarative and procedural knowledge, but that students exposed to conceptual change-focused formative assessment would also show gains in conceptual change as indicated by measures of schematic knowledge or mental models. To research the effect of formative assessment on conceptual accumulation and conceptual change, a small randomized experiment involving 102 middle school students was conducted. In Phase I of the study, 52 6th graders were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group; in Phase II of this study, 50 7th graders were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. Both the control and experimental groups in both phases were taught about sinking and floating by the same teacher (the author) with identical curriculum materials and activities. In addition, the experimental group received three sets of embedded formative assessments focused on conceptual change around the topic of why things sink and float during the course of instruction. In Phase I of this study, both groups were kept at the same pace through the entire sequence of investigations. The control condition spent more time on some of the more critical FAST lessons, gathering additional data to support the theories the curriculum expected they would develop at a particular juncture but not receiving structured experiences aimed at addressing misconceptions. In Phase II, students in the control condition spent roughly the same time on each FAST lesson as those in the experimental condition (e.g. they finished the sequence of activities earlier because they did not have class sessions devoted to the RLs inserted at critical junctures) but participated in the formal assessments as a block of activities after they finished the FAST investigations and posttest measures. In other words, in addition to replicating Phase I, Phase II included a Reflective Lesson section for the control group after the end of the experiment proper, followed by a post-posttest. Overall, it was found that embedding conceptual change-focused formative assessments in the FAST curriculum significantly influenced conceptual change. It was also found that all students experienced significant gains in terms of their conceptual accumulation, regardless of exposure to the formative assessments. This study connected two previously isolated but theoretically linked educational frameworks: conceptual change and formative assessment. It was found that formative assessments can be used to promote conceptual change. It was also found that conceptual change is different than conceptual accumulation, in that students who show gains on measures of declarative and procedural knowledge do not necessarily show gains on measures of schematic knowledge. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

At the cross-roads of participatory research and biomarker discovery in autism: the need for empirical data.

PubMed

Yusuf, Afiqah; Elsabbagh, Mayada

2015-12-15

Identifying biomarkers for autism can improve outcomes for those affected by autism. Engaging the diverse stakeholders in the research process using community-based participatory research (CBPR) can accelerate biomarker discovery into clinical applications. However, there are limited examples of stakeholder involvement in autism research, possibly due to conceptual and practical concerns. We evaluate the applicability of CBPR principles to biomarker discovery in autism and critically review empirical studies adopting these principles. Using a scoping review methodology, we identified and evaluated seven studies using CBPR principles in biomarker discovery. The limited number of studies in biomarker discovery adopting CBPR principles coupled with their methodological limitations suggests that such applications are feasible but challenging. These studies illustrate three CBPR themes: community assessment, setting global priorities, and collaboration in research design. We propose that further research using participatory principles would be useful in accelerating the pace of discovery and the development of clinically meaningful biomarkers. For this goal to be successful we advocate for increased attention to previously identified conceptual and methodological challenges to participatory approaches in health research, including improving scientific rigor and developing long-term partnerships among stakeholders.

Constructing Conceptual Meaning from a Popular Scientific Paper--The Case of E = mc[superscript 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kapon, Shulamit

2013-01-01

Although high school physics students solve problems using the expression E = mc[superscript 2], the origin of this expression and its deep conceptual meaning are hardly ever discussed due to students' limited prior knowledge. In 1946, a year after the atomic bombs were first dropped, Albert Einstein published a popular scientific paper explaining…

Learning in the Discovery Sciences: The History of a "Radical" Conceptual Change, or the Scientific Revolution That Was Not

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roth, Wolff-Michael

2014-01-01

In this study, I provide a microgenetic-historical account of learning in an informal setting: the conceptual change that occurred while a university-based scientific research laboratory investigated the absorption of light in rod-based photoreceptors of coho salmon, which the "dogma" had suggested to be related to the migration between…

Reflections on scientific collaboration between basic researchers and clinicians.

PubMed

Muia, J; Casari, C

2016-10-01

Early career researchers face uncertainties with respect to their job prospects due to dwindling job markets, decreased availability of funding and undefined career paths. As basic researchers and clinicians tend to have different approaches to scientific problems, there are many advantages from successful collaborations between them. Here, we discuss how collaborations between basic and clinical scientists should be promoted early in their careers. To achieve this, researchers, both basic and clinical, must be proactive during their training and early stages of their careers. Mentors can further augment collaborative links in many ways. We suggest that universities and institutions might reassess their involvement in promoting collaborations between basic and clinical researchers. We hope that this paper will serve as a reminder of the importance of such collaborations, and provide the opportunity for all members of the scientific community to reflect on and ameliorate their own contributions. © 2016 International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

The PACA Project : Pro-Am Collaborative Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yanamandra-Fisher, P. A.

2014-04-01

The Pro-Am Collaborative Astronomy (PACA) project is the next stage of evolution of the paradigm developed for the observational campaign of C/2012 S1 or C/ISON. Four different phases of collaboration are identified, and illustrate the integration of scientific investigations with amateur astronomer community via observations, and models; and the rapid dissemination of the results via a multitude of social media for rapid global access. The success of the paradigm shift in scientific research is now implemented in other comet observing campaigns. Both communities (scientific and amateur astronomers) benefit from these collective, collaborative partnerships; while outreach is the instantaneous deliverable that provides both a framework for future data analyses and the dissemination of the results. While PACA identifies a collaborative approach to pro-am collaborations, given the volume of data generated for each campaign, new ways of rapid data analysis, mining access and storage are needed.

34 CFR 350.12 - What are the general requirements for an Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training Project?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... multidisciplinary, and emphasizes scientific methodology, and may involve collaboration among institutions. (3... guidance, and opportunities for scientific collaboration with qualified researchers at the host university...

34 CFR 350.12 - What are the general requirements for an Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training Project?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... multidisciplinary, and emphasizes scientific methodology, and may involve collaboration among institutions. (3... guidance, and opportunities for scientific collaboration with qualified researchers at the host university...

Preservice teachers' discursive approaches to constructing scientific arguments from evidence to claim

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gilles, Brent David

Scientific argumentation has recently become required in K-12 classrooms, but preservice teachers often do not have prior experiences with this practice. The lack of prior experiences has made engaging in argumentation during inquiry-based content courses a priority for science teacher educators because of its importance in science education. Previous research has not examined how preservice teachers construct arguments in classroom interactions. A discourse analysis of twenty-one preservice teachers was conducted to study how preservice teachers constructed arguments within small group activities. Specifically, I drew upon discursive psychology (Potter & Wetherell, 1987) and conversation analysis (Sacks, 1972) to consider how preservice teachers' talk functioned to build arguments, as well as how their talk evolved over the course of the four targeted activities. Findings indicated that the preservice teachers oriented towards institutional norms in constructing arguments. These norms shaped the ways that arguments were constructed. The construction of arguments also included negotiating epistemic authority. This authority was used by a member of the group to take up a leadership position, which they used to direct the group's actions. However, there were moments that other group members attempted to take up epistemic stances, which created instances where members used various talk moves (e.g., overlapping speech, ignoring, and holding the conversational floor) to implicitly disagree with each other. As the activities progressed the students spontaneously adopted asynchronous online collaborative tools that seemed to shape their discourse by decreasing conceptually rich talk. The transition from talk to text also coincided with an increased reliance on the teacher, which changed from focusing on expectations of the assignment to how evidence should be organized. Overall, the findings demonstrated how preservice teachers used discourse, specifically talk, to construct arguments. The preservice teachers revealed the institutionality within their talk by orienting towards classroom norms. These norms included mentioning the teacher while discussing project needs and justifying claims. The group leaders imitated the role of a teacher within their group by using regulative talk to facilitate their group discussions. While these experiences will likely benefit the group leader when they start planning argumentation activities as inservice teachers, the other group members are not as likely to be benefited by the hierarchal structure of the groups. The spontaneous adoption of online collaborative tools transitioned their talk to becoming text-based over the last two activities. Finally, an implication of adopting asynchronous online collaborative tools is that there needs to be an emphasis placed on scaffolding student facilitated use of these environments so text-based conversations include conceptually rich talk.

Models of Interuniversity Collaboration in Higher Education--How Do Their Features Act as Barriers and Enablers to Sustainability?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coombe, Leanne

2015-01-01

This study combines conceptual and empirical review of the literature around interuniversity collaborations to identify known models and applications, and enablers and barriers impacting on their sustainability, to inform development of a collaborative public health teaching programme in Australia. A range of literature was explored in this study,…

On the Cutting Edge of Research to Conserve At-Risk Species: Maximizing Impact through Partnerships.

PubMed

Marquardt, Shauna R; Annis, Mandy; Drum, Ryan G; Hummel, Stephanie Longstaff; Mosby, David E; Smith, Tamara

2018-04-25

Today's conservation challenges are complex. Solving these challenges often requires scientific collaborations that extend beyond the scope, expertise, and capacity of any single agency, organization, or institution. Conservation efforts can benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration, scientific and technological innovations, and the leveraging of capacity and resources among partners. Here we explore a series of case studies demonstrating how collaborative scientific partnerships are furthering the mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, including: 1) contaminants of emerging concern in the Great Lakes Basin, 2) Poweshiek skipperling conservation, 3) using technology to improve population survey methods for bats and monarch butterfly, and 4) Big River restoration in the Southeast Missouri lead mining district. These case studies illustrate how strategic and effective scientific collaboration is a multi-stage process that requires investment of time and resources by all participants. Early coordination and communication is crucial to aligning planned work with scientific and decision-making needs. Collaborations between USFWS and external scientists can be mutually beneficial by supporting the agency mission while also providing an avenue for innovative research to be directly applied in conservation decisions and management actions.

Collaborative research among academia, business, and government

EPA Science Inventory

SETAC is a tripartite organization comprised chiefly of three sectors: academia, government, and industry. Collaborative connections within and among these sectors provide the basis for scientific structural integrity. Such interactions generally foster scientific integrity, tra...

Science, policy, and the transparency of values.

PubMed

Elliott, Kevin C; Resnik, David B

2014-07-01

Opposing groups of scientists have recently engaged in a heated dispute over a preliminary European Commission (EC) report on its regulatory policy for endocrine-disrupting chemicals. In addition to the scientific issues at stake, a central question has been how scientists can maintain their objectivity when informing policy makers. Drawing from current ethical, conceptual, and empirical studies of objectivity and conflicts of interest in scientific research, we propose guiding principles for communicating scientific findings in a manner that promotes objectivity, public trust, and policy relevance. Both conceptual and empirical studies of scientific reasoning have shown that it is unrealistic to prevent policy-relevant scientific research from being influenced by value judgments. Conceptually, the current dispute over the EC report illustrates how scientists are forced to make value judgments about appropriate standards of evidence when informing public policy. Empirical studies provide further evidence that scientists are unavoidably influenced by a variety of potentially subconscious financial, social, political, and personal interests and values. When scientific evidence is inconclusive and major regulatory decisions are at stake, it is unrealistic to think that values can be excluded from scientific reasoning. Thus, efforts to suppress or hide interests or values may actually damage scientific objectivity and public trust, whereas a willingness to bring implicit interests and values into the open may be the best path to promoting good science and policy.

The Parallelism between Scientists' and Students' Resistance to New Scientific Ideas.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campanario, Juan Miguel

2002-01-01

Compares resistance by scientists to new ideas in scientific discovery with students' resistance to conceptual change in scientific learning. Studies the resistance by students to abandoning their misconceptions concerning scientific topics and the resistance by scientists to scientific discovery. (Contains 64 references.) (Author/YDS)

[Scientific production in clinical medicine and international collaboration networks in South American countries].

PubMed

Huamaní, Charles; González A, Gregorio; Curioso, Walter H; Pacheco-Romero, José

2012-04-01

International collaboration is increasingly used in biomedical research. To describe the characteristics of scientific production in Latin America and the main international collaboration networks for the period 2000 to 2009. Search for papers generated in Latin American countries in the Clinical Medicine database of ISI Web of Knowledge v.4.10 - Current Contents Connect. The country of origin of the corresponding author was considered the producing country of the paper. International collaboration was analyzed calculating the number of countries that contributed to the generation of a particular paper. Collaboration networks were graphed to determine the centrality of each network. Twelve Latin American countries participated in the production of 253,362 papers. The corresponding author was South American in 79% of these papers. Sixteen percent of papers were on clinical medicine and 36% of these were carried out in collaboration. Brazil had the highest production (22,442 papers) and the lower percentage of international collaboration (31%). North America accounts for 63% of collaborating countries. Only 8% of collaboration is between South American countries. Brazil has the highest tendency to collaborate with other South American countries. Brazil is the South American country with the highest scientific production and indicators of centrality in South America. The most common collaboration networks are with North American countries.

Comparison of Pre-Service Physics Teachers' Conceptual Understanding of Dynamics in Model-Based Scientific Inquiry and Scientific Inquiry Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arslan Buyruk, Arzu; Ogan Bekiroglu, Feral

2018-01-01

The focus of this study was to evaluate the impact of model-based inquiry on pre-service physics teachers' conceptual understanding of dynamics. Theoretical framework of this research was based on models-of-data theory. True-experimental design using quantitative and qualitative research methods was carried out for this research. Participants of…

Promoting Scientific Thinking and Conceptual Change about Alternative Explanations of Climate Change and Other Controversial Socio-scientific Topics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lombardi, D.; Sinatra, G. M.

2013-12-01

Critical evaluation and plausibility reappraisal of scientific explanations have been underemphasized in many science classrooms (NRC, 2012). Deep science learning demands that students increase their ability to critically evaluate the quality of scientific knowledge, weigh alternative explanations, and explicitly reappraise their plausibility judgments. Therefore, this lack of instruction about critical evaluation and plausibility reappraisal has, in part, contributed to diminished understanding about complex and controversial topics, such as global climate change. The Model-Evidence Link (MEL) diagram (originally developed by researchers at Rutgers University under an NSF-supported project; Chinn & Buckland, 2012) is an instructional scaffold that promotes students to critically evaluate alternative explanations. We recently developed a climate change MEL and found that the students who used the MEL experienced a significant shift in their plausibility judgments toward the scientifically accepted model of human-induced climate change. Using the MEL for instruction also resulted in conceptual change about the causes of global warming that reflected greater understanding of fundamental scientific principles. Furthermore, students sustained this conceptual change six months after MEL instruction (Lombardi, Sinatra, & Nussbaum, 2013). This presentation will discuss recent educational research that supports use of the MEL to promote critical evaluation, plausibility reappraisal, and conceptual change, and also, how the MEL may be particularly effective for learning about global climate change and other socio-scientific topics. Such instruction to develop these fundamental thinking skills (e.g., critical evaluation and plausibility reappraisal) is demanded by both the Next Generation Science Standards (Achieve, 2013) and the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics (CCSS Initiative-ELA, 2010; CCSS Initiative-Math, 2010), as well as a society that is equipped to deal with challenges in a way that is beneficial to our national and global community.

History and conceptual developments in vascular biology and angiogenesis research: a personal view.

PubMed

Bikfalvi, Andreas

2017-11-01

Vascular biology is an important scientific domain that has gradually penetrated many medical and scientific fields. Scientists are most often focused on present problems in their daily scientific work and lack awareness regarding the evolution of their domain throughout history and of how philosophical issues are related to their research field. In this article, I provide a personal view with an attempt to conceptualize vascular development research that articulates lessons taken from history, philosophy, biology and medicine. I discuss selected aspects related to the history and the philosophy of sciences that can be extracted from the study of vascular development and how conceptual progress in this research field has been made. I will analyze paradigm shifts, cross-fertilization of different fields, technological advances and its impact on angiogenesis and discuss issues related to evolutionary biology, proximity of different molecular systems and scientific methodologies. Finally, I discuss briefly my views where the field is heading in the future.

Electronic Collaboration Logbook

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gysin, Suzanne; Mandrichenko, Igor; Podstavkov, Vladimir; Vittone, Margherita

2012-12-01

In HEP, scientific research is performed by large collaborations of organizations and individuals. The logbook of a scientific collaboration is an important part of the collaboration record. Often it contains experimental data. At Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), we developed an Electronic Collaboration Logbook (ECL) application, which is used by about 20 different collaborations, experiments and groups at FNAL. The ECL is the latest iteration of the project formerly known as the Control Room Logbook (CRL). We have been working on mobile (IOS and Android) clients for the ECL. We will present the history, current status and future plans of the project, as well as design, implementation and support solutions made by the project.

Visualization analysis of author collaborations in schizophrenia research.

PubMed

Wu, Ying; Duan, Zhiguang

2015-02-19

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that levies a heavy medical toll and cost burden throughout the world. Scientific collaborations are necessary for progress in psychiatric research. However, there have been few publications on scientific collaborations in schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent of author collaborations in schizophrenia research. This study used 58,107 records on schizophrenia from 2003 to 2012 which were downloaded from Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI Expanded) via Web of Science. CiteSpace III, an information visualization and analysis software, was used to make a visual analysis. Collaborative author networks within the field of schizophrenia were determined using published documents. We found that external author collaboration networks were more scattered while potential author collaboration networks were more compact. Results from hierarchical clustering analysis showed that the main collaborative field was genetic research in schizophrenia. Based on the results, authors belonging to different institutions and in different countries should be encouraged to collaborate in schizophrenia research. This will help researchers focus their studies on key issues, and allow each other to offer reasonable suggestions for making polices and providing scientific evidence to effectively diagnose, prevent, and cure schizophrenia.

Designing a CTSA‐Based Social Network Intervention to Foster Cross‐Disciplinary Team Science

PubMed Central

McCarty, Christopher; Conlon, Michael; Nelson, David R.

2015-01-01

Abstract This paper explores the application of network intervention strategies to the problem of assembling cross‐disciplinary scientific teams in academic institutions. In a project supported by the University of Florida (UF) Clinical and Translational Science Institute, we used VIVO, a semantic‐web research networking system, to extract the social network of scientific collaborations on publications and awarded grants across all UF colleges and departments. Drawing on the notion of network interventions, we designed an alteration program to add specific edges to the collaboration network, that is, to create specific collaborations between previously unconnected investigators. The missing collaborative links were identified by a number of network criteria to enhance desirable structural properties of individual positions or the network as a whole. We subsequently implemented an online survey (N = 103) that introduced the potential collaborators to each other through their VIVO profiles, and investigated their attitudes toward starting a project together. We discuss the design of the intervention program, the network criteria adopted, and preliminary survey results. The results provide insight into the feasibility of intervention programs on scientific collaboration networks, as well as suggestions on the implementation of such programs to assemble cross‐disciplinary scientific teams in CTSA institutions. PMID:25788258

CGH U.S.-China Program for Biomedical Research Cooperation

Cancer.gov

The International Bilateral Programs for Collaborative Scientific Research seeks to enhance the global activities of NCI’s intramural researchers and grantees through co-funded support for collaborative research between NIH and international scientific research agencies.

The Virtual Learning Commons: Supporting the Fuzzy Front End of Scientific Research with Emerging Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pennington, D. D.; Gandara, A.; Gris, I.

2012-12-01

The Virtual Learning Commons (VLC), funded by the National Science Foundation Office of Cyberinfrastructure CI-Team Program, is a combination of Semantic Web, mash up, and social networking tools that supports knowledge sharing and innovation across scientific disciplines in research and education communities and networks. The explosion of scientific resources (data, models, algorithms, tools, and cyberinfrastructure) challenges the ability of researchers to be aware of resources that might benefit them. Even when aware, it can be difficult to understand enough about those resources to become potential adopters or re-users. Often scientific data and emerging technologies have little documentation, especially about the context of their use. The VLC tackles this challenge by providing mechanisms for individuals and groups of researchers to organize Web resources into virtual collections, and engage each other around those collections in order to a) learn about potentially relevant resources that are available; b) design research that leverages those resources; and c) develop initial work plans. The VLC aims to support the "fuzzy front end" of innovation, where novel ideas emerge and there is the greatest potential for impact on research design. It is during the fuzzy front end that conceptual collisions across disciplines and exposure to diverse perspectives provide opportunity for creative thinking that can lead to inventive outcomes. The VLC integrates Semantic Web functionality for structuring distributed information, mash up functionality for retrieving and displaying information, and social media for discussing/rating information. We are working to provide three views of information that support researchers in different ways: 1. Innovation Marketplace: supports users as they try to understand what research is being conducted, who is conducting it, where they are located, and who they collaborate with; 2. Conceptual Mapper: supports users as they organize their thinking about their own and related research; 3. Workflow Designer: supports users as they generate task-level analytical designs and consider data/methods/tools that could be relevant. This presentation will discuss the innovation theories that have informed design of the VLC, hypotheses about the use of emerging technologies to support the process of innovation, and will include a brief demonstration of these capabilities.

Investigating the Geomorphic and Ecologic Functions of Wood in Relationship to Habitat Type and Salmonid Redds on a Regulated California River

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Senter, A. E.; Pasternack, G. B.

2006-12-01

Most river rehabilitation projects incorporate little to no wood in current designs, and those that do have little science to guide them. The overall goal of this research is to investigate the role of wood in a regulated, mid- sized (where river width is greater than most tree heights), Mediterranean-climate (where smaller, softer-wood trees dominate the landscape) river in order to provide a scientific foundation for the potential use of wood in rehabilitation projects within such systems. Wood structures in the active salmonid spawning reach of the Lower Mokelumne River in Central California were measured, mapped, and described during summer and fall 2006. Digital photos and GPS coordinates were used to establish wood location within the stream channel. Structural morphology was determined by measuring physical properties such as individual diameter and length, orientation to stream flow, and jam dimensions. In addition, qualitative attributes were recorded such as decay class and leaf, limb, bark, and root characteristics. A GIS wood layer will be created and added to a database of existing Mokelumne River GIS layers containing salmonid redd (salmon egg nests) densities, hydraulic conditions associated with individual redds, and sub-reach habitat types. An analysis of wood properties, redd locations and conditions, and habitat types will be used to develop a conceptual model of wood dynamics in relation to salmonid habitat on the Lower Mokelumne River. The primary products of this study will be (1) a scientific conceptual model of the role of wood in regulated gravel reaches of mid-size rivers in Mediterranean California and (2) a decision-making framework that will enable river managers to include scientifically based wood structures into rehabilitation designs, thereby enhancing spawning habitat, stream complexity, and biological diversity. These tools will be developed in collaboration with East Bay Municipal Utilities District to aid in the continuing rehabilitation of the Lower Mokelumne River.

Socio-Scientific Decision Making in the Science Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siribunnam, Siripun; Nuangchalerm, Prasart; Jansawang, Natchanok

2014-01-01

The learning ability of students in science is improved by socio-scientific decision-making, an important activity that improves a student's scientific literacy, conceptual understanding, scientific inquiry, attitudes, and social values. The socio-scientific issues must be discussed during science classroom activities in the current state of 21st…

Etherospermia: Conceptual art, science and allegory in the sky-seeding project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michaloudis, Ioannis; Seats, Michael

2014-11-01

This paper presents the practice of the artist/researcher Ioannis Michaloudis. It showcases his use of a space technology nanomaterial, silica aerogel, and its potential in the cultural utilization of space. Since 2001, his projects have centered around the esthetic, sculptural and conceptual use of silica aerogel. For Michaloudis, this material is highly allegorical of what he terms 'our breaking sky'. For the authors, the step towards space is a real 'bridge moment', analogous to the evolutionary progression of organisms from water to earth. In this current era of space exploration, it is clear that humans need to develop new organs and survival skills - or, cultivate new skies in response to the breaking of our atmosphere's dome. It is also clear that science and art need to collaborate more productively. To this end, it is argued that allegory provides the link between imaginability, experiment and representation in both scientific and artistic practices. Etherospermia (εθεροσπερμία) is an invented word from ether and panspermia. The Etherospermia project pursues, allegorically, the creation of new atmospheres on other planets, in order to draw attention to the degradation and destruction of the earth's protective veil. Imagine an astronaut who, during a space walk, scatters fragments of Michaloudis' silica aerogel as seed material to alter the atmospheres of other planets, making them habitable. The paper discusses nine artworks as a way of presenting the conceptual core of the etherospermia allegory.

A study of the bibliometry and areas of the research groups of Archivos de Bronconeumología (2003-2007).

PubMed

González-Alcaide, Gregorio; Aleixandre-Benavent, Rafael; de Granda-Orive, José Ignacio

2010-02-01

Scientific cooperation is essential for the advance of biomedical research. Scientists set up informal groups to work together on common issues, who are the main units in the research funding system. Bibliometric and Social Network Analysis methods allow informal groups in scientific papers to be identified and characterised. The objective of the study is to identify research groups in Archivos de Bronconeumología between 2003 and 2007 period with the aim of characterizing their scientific collaboration patterns and research areas. Co-authorships, institutional collaboration relationships and the main research areas of papers published in Archivos de Bronconeumología have been identified. Co-authorship networks and institutional collaboration networks have been constructed by using Pajek software tool. A total of 41 research groups involving 171 investigators have been identified. The Collaboration Index for articles was 5.59 and the Transcience Index was 73.11%. There was institutional collaboration in 60.33% of papers. The collaboration between institutions of the same region prevails (41.03%), followed by collaborations between departments, services or units of the same institution (39.74%), inter-regional collaboration (14,97%) and international collaboration (6.83%). A total of 83.03% of articles were cited. The main research areas covered by groups were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, lung neoplasm, bronchogenic carcinoma, smoking and pulmonary embolism. The scientific production of a large number of Respiratory System Spanish research groups is published in Archivos de Bronconeumología. A notable collaboration and citation rate has been observed. Nevertheless, it is still essential to encourage inter-regional and international collaboration. Copyright 2009 SEPAR. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

The Proof of the Pudding?: A Case Study of an "At-Risk" Design-Based Inquiry Science Curriculum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chue, Shien; Lee, Yew-Jin

2013-12-01

When students collaboratively design and build artifacts that require relevant understanding and application of science, many aspects of scientific literacy are developed. Design-based inquiry (DBI) is one such pedagogy that can serve these desired goals of science education well. Focusing on a Projectile Science curriculum previously found to be implemented with satisfactory fidelity, we investigate the many hidden challenges when using DBI with Grade 8 students from one school in Singapore. A case study method was used to analyze video recordings of DBI lessons conducted over 10 weeks, project presentations, and interviews to ascertain the opportunities for developing scientific literacy among participants. One critical factor that hindered learning was task selection by teachers, which emphasized generic scientific process skills over more important cognitive and epistemic learning goals. Teachers and students were also jointly engaged in forms of inquiry that underscored artifact completion over deeper conceptual and epistemic understanding of science. Our research surfaced two other confounding factors that undermined the curriculum; unanticipated teacher effects and the underestimation of the complexity of DBI and of inquiry science in general. Thus, even though motivated or experienced teachers can implement an inquiry science curriculum with good fidelity and enjoy school-wide support, these by themselves will not guarantee deep learning of scientific literacy in DBI. Recommendations are made for navigating the hands- and minds-on aspects of learning science that is an asset as well as inherent danger during DBI teaching.

Zebrafish in Brazilian Science: Scientific Production, Impact, and Collaboration.

PubMed

Gheno, Ediane Maria; Rosemberg, Denis Broock; Souza, Diogo Onofre; Calabró, Luciana

2016-06-01

By means of scientometric indicators, this study investigated the characteristics of scientific production and research collaboration involving zebrafish (Danio rerio) in Brazilian Science indexed by the Web of Science (WoS). Citation data were collected from the WoS and data regarding Impact Factor (IF) were gathered from journals in the Journal Citation Reports. Collaboration was evaluated according to coauthorship data, creating representative nets with VOSviewer. Zebrafish has attained remarkable importance as an experimental model organism in recent years and an increase in scientific production with zebrafish is observed in Brazil and around the world. The citation impact of the worldwide scientific production is superior when compared to the Brazilian scientific production. However, the citation impact of the Brazilian scientific production is consistently increasing. Brazil does not follow the international trends with regard to publication research fields. The state of Rio Grande do Sul has the greatest number of articles and the institution with the largest number of publications is Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul. Journals' average IF is higher in Brazilian publications with international coauthorship, and around 90% of articles are collaborative. The Brazilian institutions presenting the greatest number of collaborations are Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Fundação Universidade Federal de Rio Grande, and Universidade de São Paulo. These data indicate that Brazilian research using zebrafish presents a growth in terms of number of publications, citation impact, and collaborative work.

Zebrafish in Brazilian Science: Scientific Production, Impact, and Collaboration

PubMed Central

Gheno, Ediane Maria; Rosemberg, Denis Broock; Souza, Diogo Onofre

2016-01-01

Abstract By means of scientometric indicators, this study investigated the characteristics of scientific production and research collaboration involving zebrafish (Danio rerio) in Brazilian Science indexed by the Web of Science (WoS). Citation data were collected from the WoS and data regarding Impact Factor (IF) were gathered from journals in the Journal Citation Reports. Collaboration was evaluated according to coauthorship data, creating representative nets with VOSviewer. Zebrafish has attained remarkable importance as an experimental model organism in recent years and an increase in scientific production with zebrafish is observed in Brazil and around the world. The citation impact of the worldwide scientific production is superior when compared to the Brazilian scientific production. However, the citation impact of the Brazilian scientific production is consistently increasing. Brazil does not follow the international trends with regard to publication research fields. The state of Rio Grande do Sul has the greatest number of articles and the institution with the largest number of publications is Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul. Journals' average IF is higher in Brazilian publications with international coauthorship, and around 90% of articles are collaborative. The Brazilian institutions presenting the greatest number of collaborations are Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Fundação Universidade Federal de Rio Grande, and Universidade de São Paulo. These data indicate that Brazilian research using zebrafish presents a growth in terms of number of publications, citation impact, and collaborative work. PMID:27045850

Teaching for Hot Conceptual Change: Towards a New Model, beyond the Cold and Warm Ones

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kural, Mehmet; Kocakülah, M. Sabri

2016-01-01

At the beginning of the 1980s, one of the most striking explanations of conceptual change was made by Posner, Strike, Hewson & Gertzog (1982) with a Conceptual Change Theory based on a Scientific Revolution Theory of Kuhn (1970). In Conceptual Change Theory, learning was explained with the Piaget (1970)'s concepts such as assimilation and…

An analysis of national collaboration with Spanish researchers abroad in the health sciences.

PubMed

Aceituno-Aceituno, Pedro; Romero-Martínez, Sonia Janeth; Victor-Ponce, Patricia; García-Núñez, José

2015-11-07

The establishment of scientific collaborations with researchers abroad can be considered a good practice to make appropriate use of their knowledge and to increase the possibilities of them returning to their country. This paper analyses the collaboration between Spanish researchers abroad devoted to health sciences and national science institutions. We used the Fontes' approach to perform a study on this collaboration with Spanish researchers abroad. We measured the level of national and international cooperation, the opportunity provided by the host country to collaborate, the promotion of collaboration by national science institutions, and the types of collaboration. A total of 88 biomedical researchers out of the 268 Spanish scientists who filled up the survey participated in the study. Different data analyses were performed to study the variables selected to measure the scientific collaboration and profile of Spanish researchers abroad. There is a high level of cooperation between Spanish health science researchers abroad and international institutions, which contrasts with the small-scale collaboration with national institutions. Host countries facilitate this collaboration with national and international scientific institutions to a larger extent than the level of collaboration promotion carried out by Spanish institutions. The national collaboration with Spanish researchers abroad in the health sciences is limited. Thus, the practice of making appropriate use of the potential of their expertise should be promoted and the opportunities for Spanish health science researchers to return home should be improved.

Cognitive and Social Structure of the Elite Collaboration Network of Astrophysics: A Case Study on Shifting Network Structures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heidler, Richard

2011-01-01

Scientific collaboration can only be understood along the epistemic and cognitive grounding of scientific disciplines. New scientific discoveries in astrophysics led to a major restructuring of the elite network of astrophysics. To study the interplay of the epistemic grounding and the social network structure of a discipline, a mixed-methods…

Promoting high school students' conceptual understandings of the particulate nature of matter through multiple representations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adadan, Emine

This study mainly explored the efficacy of the two instructional interventions, namely Reform-Based Teaching with Multiple Representations (RBTw/MR) and Reform-Based Teaching (RBT) on stimulating change in students' conceptual understandings of the particulate nature of matter (PNM) and maintaining those scientific understandings constructed during the instruction over a three-month period. In this context, this study also examined the RBTw/MR and RBT students' types of conceptual understandings of the PNM before, immediately after and three-months after the interventions. This study was conducted in two introductory level chemistry classes of a suburban high school. The participants of the study included a total of 42 students who were enrolled in one of the two classes of the chemistry teacher who taught both of the classes. Both the RBTw/MR and the RBT group students were engaged in the same activities with the same sequence of experiences. However, the RBTw/MR instruction differed from the RBT instruction in terms of the frequency of using the multiple representations in relationship to the macroscopic phenomenon and the likely actions that occur at the submicroscopic level. A quasi-experimental control group research design with a pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest was employed by incorporating qualitative data collection and analysis methods. In order to assess students' conceptual understanding of the PNM, the open-ended questionnaire, namely Nature of Matter Diagnostic Questions, was administered to both groups just before, immediately after and three months after the instructional interventions. Fifteen of the 42 students were also interviewed following the posttest. The results of the study revealed the positive short- and long-term learning impacts on the RBTw/MR students' conceptual understandings of the PNM. Before the instruction, a majority of students in both groups (82.6%, RBTw/MR; 73.7%, RBT) held nonscientific types of conceptual understandings of the PNM. Immediately following the instruction, 52.1% of the RBTw/MR students held the types of conceptual understandings of either scientific or scientific fragments. Three months after the instruction, 34.8% of the RBTw/MR students held onto their scientific conceptual understandings of the PNM, only 15.8% of the RBT students' conceptual understandings of the PNM differed from their initial type of conceptual understandings.

Collaboration in Action: Office of Research and Development ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The "Collaboration in Action: US EPA's Office of Research and Develop - Current Wildfire Research Program" was invited by the USDA's US Forest Service's Scientific Executive Committee to provide USFS scientific leadership active and potential future opportunities for cooperation/collaboration. Health impacts of wildfire smoke merit the attention and action of the US EPA and current research is supported in the ACE and SHC Research Programs. Wildland fire smoke research has taken on greater importance because the 1) contribution of wildland fire PM emissions relative to total US PM emissions is increasing, 2) the population health impacts are measurable and costly, 3) vulnerable and sensitive populations at-risk are increasing attendant to our aging U.S. population and the increasing area of the wildland-urban interface, and 4) health impacts of smoke could be minimized by identifying at-risk individuals and reducing their exposures. Examples are provided. The "Collaboration in Action: US EPA's Office of Research and Develop - Current Wildfire Research Program" was invited by the USDA's US Forest Service's Scientific Executive Committee to provide USFS scientific leadership active and potential future opportunities for cooperation/collaboration.

The Effect of Scientific Inquiry Learning Model Based on Conceptual Change on Physics Cognitive Competence and Science Process Skill (SPS) of Students at Senior High School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sahhyar; Nst, Febriani Hastini

2017-01-01

The purpose of this research was to analyze the physics cognitive competence and science process skill of students using scientific inquiry learning model based on conceptual change better than using conventional learning. The research type was quasi experiment and two group pretest-posttest designs were used in this study. The sample were Class…

Young children learning about living things: A case study of conceptual change from ontological and social perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Venville, Grady

2004-05-01

Although research from a developmental/psychological perspective indicates that many children do not have a scientific understanding of living things, even by the age of 10 years, little research has been conducted about how students learn this science topic in the classroom. This exploratory research used a case-study design and qualitative data-collection methods to investigate the process of conceptual change from ontological and social perspectives when Year 1 (5- and 6-year-old) students were learning about living things. Most students were found to think about living things with either stable, nonscientific or stable, scientific framework theories. Transitional phases of understanding also were identified. Patterns of conceptual change observed over the 5-week period of instruction included theory change and belief revision as well as reversals in beliefs. The predominant pattern of learning, however, was the assimilation of facts and information into the students' preferred framework theory. The social milieu of the classroom context exposed students' scientific and nonscientific beliefs that influenced other individuals in a piecemeal fashion. Children with nonscientific theories of living things were identified as being least able to benefit from socially constructed, scientific knowledge; hence, recommendations are made for teaching that focuses on conceptual change strategies rather than knowledge enrichment.

Concepts in Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rusanen, Anna-Mari; Pöyhönen, Samuli

2013-06-01

In this article we focus on the concept of concept in conceptual change. We argue that (1) theories of higher learning must often employ two different notions of concept that should not be conflated: psychological and scientific concepts. The usages for these two notions are partly distinct and thus straightforward identification between them is unwarranted. Hence, the strong analogy between scientific theory change and individual learning should be approached with caution. In addition, we argue that (2) research in psychology and cognitive science provides a promising theoretical basis for developing explanatory mechanistic models of conceptual change. Moreover, we argue that (3) arguments against deeper integration between the fields of psychology and conceptual change are not convincing, and that recent theoretical developments in the cognitive sciences might prove indispensable in filling in the details in mechanisms of conceptual change.

Measuring Scientific Reasoning--A Review of Test Instruments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Opitz, Ansgar; Heene, Moritz; Fischer, Frank

2017-01-01

Education systems increasingly emphasize the importance of scientific reasoning skills such as "generating hypotheses" and "evaluating evidence." Despite this importance, we do not know which tests of scientific reasoning exist, which skills they emphasize, how they conceptualize scientific reasoning, and how well they are…

How collaboration in therapy becomes therapeutic: the therapeutic collaboration coding system.

PubMed

Ribeiro, Eugénia; Ribeiro, António P; Gonçalves, Miguel M; Horvath, Adam O; Stiles, William B

2013-09-01

The quality and strength of the therapeutic collaboration, the core of the alliance, is reliably associated with positive therapy outcomes. The urgent challenge for clinicians and researchers is constructing a conceptual framework to integrate the dialectical work that fosters collaboration, with a model of how clients make progress in therapy. We propose a conceptual account of how collaboration in therapy becomes therapeutic. In addition, we report on the construction of a coding system - the therapeutic collaboration coding system (TCCS) - designed to analyse and track on a moment-by-moment basis the interaction between therapist and client. Preliminary evidence is presented regarding the coding system's psychometric properties. The TCCS evaluates each speaking turn and assesses whether and how therapists are working within the client's therapeutic zone of proximal development, defined as the space between the client's actual therapeutic developmental level and their potential developmental level that can be reached in collaboration with the therapist. We applied the TCCS to five cases: a good and a poor outcome case of narrative therapy, a good and a poor outcome case of cognitive-behavioural therapy, and a dropout case of narrative therapy. The TCCS offers markers that may help researchers better understand the therapeutic collaboration on a moment-to-moment basis and may help therapists better regulate the relationship. © 2012 The British Psychological Society.

[Health-related scientific and technological capabilities and university-industry research collaboration].

PubMed

Britto, Jorge; Vargas, Marco Antônio; Gadelha, Carlos Augusto Grabois; Costa, Laís Silveira

2012-12-01

To examine recent developments in health-related scientific capabilities, the impact of lines of incentives on reducing regional scientific imbalances, and university-industry research collaboration in Brazil. Data were obtained from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) databases for the years 2000 to 2010. There were assessed indicators of resource mobilization, research network structuring, and knowledge transfer between science and industry initiatives. Based on the regional distribution map of health-related scientific and technological capabilities there were identified patterns of scientific capabilities and science-industry collaboration. There was relative spatial deconcentration of health research groups and more than 6% of them worked in six areas of knowledge areas: medicine, collective health, dentistry, veterinary medicine, ecology and physical education. Lines of incentives that were adopted from 2000 to 2009 contributed to reducing regional scientific imbalances and improving preexisting capabilities or, alternatively, encouraging spatial decentralization of these capabilities. Health-related scientific and technological capabilities remain highly spatially concentrated in Brazil and incentive policies have contributed to reduce to some extent these imbalances.

Conceptual Change and Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vosniadou, Stella

2007-01-01

In order to understand the advanced, scientific concepts of the various disciplines, students cannot rely on the simple memorization of facts. They must learn how to restructure their naive, intuitive theories based on everyday experience and lay culture. In other words, they must undergo profound conceptual change. This type of conceptual change…

The EGS Data Collaboration Platform: Enabling Scientific Discovery

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Weers, Jonathan D; Johnston, Henry; Huggins, Jay V

Collaboration in the digital age has been stifled in recent years. Reasonable responses to legitimate security concerns have created a virtual landscape of silos and fortified castles incapable of sharing information efficiently. This trend is unfortunately opposed to the geothermal scientific community's migration toward larger, more collaborative projects. To facilitate efficient sharing of information between team members from multiple national labs, universities, and private organizations, the 'EGS Collab' team has developed a universally accessible, secure data collaboration platform and has fully integrated it with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Geothermal Data Repository (GDR) and the National Geothermal Data Systemmore » (NGDS). This paper will explore some of the challenges of collaboration in the modern digital age, highlight strategies for active data management, and discuss the integration of the EGS Collab data management platform with the GDR to enable scientific discovery through the timely dissemination of information.« less

Humanistic Intentionality in Clinical Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gold, Joshua

2016-01-01

This conceptual paper introduces a clinical collaboration model for counselors founded in the principles of humanistic counseling and wellness. The article offers applications for client life self-assessment and the discovery of personally relevant social resources. Finally, implications of this approach for graduate training, clinical service and…

Development of an Empirically Based Learning Performances Framework for Third-Grade Students' Model-Based Explanations about Plant Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zangori, Laura; Forbes, Cory T.

2016-01-01

To develop scientific literacy, elementary students should engage in knowledge building of core concepts through scientific practice (Duschl, Schweingruber, & Schouse, 2007). A core scientific practice is engagement in scientific modeling to build conceptual understanding about discipline-specific concepts. Yet scientific modeling remains…

The Quest for Clarity in Research Integrity: A Conceptual Schema.

PubMed

Shaw, David

2018-03-28

Researchers often refer to "research integrity", "scientific integrity", "research misconduct", "scientific misconduct" and "research ethics". However, they may use some of these terms interchangeably despite conceptual distinctions. The aim of this paper is to clarify what is signified by several key terms related to research integrity, and to suggest clearer conceptual delineation between them. To accomplish this task, it provides a conceptual analysis based upon definitions and general usage of these phrases and categorization of integrity-breaching behaviours in literature and guidelines, including clarification of the different domains and agents involved. In the first part of the analysis, following some initial clarifications, I explore the distinction between internal and external rules of integrity. In the second part, I explore the distinction between integrity and lack of misconduct, before suggesting a recategorisation of different types of integrity breach. I conclude that greater clarity is needed in the debate on research integrity. Distinguishing between scientific and research integrity, reassessing the relative gravity of different misbehaviours in light of this distinction, and recognising all intentional breaches of integrity as misconduct may help to improve guidelines and education.

Motivation and Performance within a Collaborative Computer-Based Modeling Task: Relations between Students' Achievement Goal Orientation, Self-Efficacy, Cognitive Processing, and Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sins, Patrick H. M.; van Joolingen, Wouter R.; Savelsbergh, Elwin R.; van Hout-Wolters, Bernadette

2008-01-01

Purpose of the present study was to test a conceptual model of relations among achievement goal orientation, self-efficacy, cognitive processing, and achievement of students working within a particular collaborative task context. The task involved a collaborative computer-based modeling task. In order to test the model, group measures of…

The Influence of Group Dynamics on Collaborative Scientific Argumentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryu, Suna; Sandoval, William A.

2015-01-01

Research has addressed what instructional conditions may inhibit or promote scientific argumentation. Little research, however, has paid attention to interpersonal factors that influence collaborative argumentation. The present study examines the ways interpersonal factors affected group dynamics, which influence the features of collaborative…

Integration and collaboration in public health--a conceptual framework.

PubMed

Axelsson, Runo; Axelsson, Susanna Bihari

2006-01-01

With the increasing differentiation of organisations involved in the pursuit of public health, there is also a growing need for inter-organisational integration. Starting from the concepts of differentiation and integration, this article is attempting a theoretical reconstruction based on published research on inter-organisational integration in public health and related welfare services. Different forms of integration are defined and related to each other in a conceptual framework, which is in itself an integration of different theoretical perspectives. According to this framework, integration in the field of public health requires inter-organisational collaboration across different sectors of the society. Such intersectoral collaboration can be organised mainly in the form of multidisciplinary teams across the boundaries of different organisations and sectors. Such an organisation is fragile and volatile, however, which means that it needs a lot of management support in order to survive.

Cross-domain Collaborative Research and People Interoperability: Beyond Knowledge Representation Frameworks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fox, P. A.; Diviacco, P.; Busato, A.

2016-12-01

Geo-scientific research collaboration commonly faces of complex systems where multiple skills and competences are needed at the same time. Efficacy of such collaboration among researchers then becomes of paramount importance. Multidisciplinary studies draw from domains that are far from each other. Researchers also need to understand: how to extract what data they need and eventually produce something that can be used by others. The management of information and knowledge in this perspective is non-trivial. Interoperability is frequently sought in computer-to-computer environements, so-as to overcome mismatches in vocabulary, data formats, coordinate reference system and so on. Successful researcher collaboration also relies on interoperability of the people! Smaller, synchronous and face-to-face settings for researchers are knownn to enhance people interoperability. However changing settings; either geographically; temporally; or with increasing the team size, diversity, and expertise requires people-computer-people-computer (...) interoperability. To date, knowledge representation framework have been proposed but not proven as necessary and sufficient to achieve multi-way interoperability. In this contribution, we address epistemology and sociology of science advocating for a fluid perspective where science is mostly a social construct, conditioned by cognitive issues; especially cognitive bias. Bias cannot be obliterated. On the contrary it must be carefully taken into consideration. Information-centric interfaces built from different perspectives and ways of thinking by actors with different point of views, approaches and aims, are proposed as a means for enhancing people interoperability in computer-based settings. The contribution will provide details on the approach of augmenting and interfacing to knowledge representation frameworks to the cognitive-conceptual frameworks for people that are needed to meet and exceed collaborative research goals in the 21st century. A web based collaborative portal has been developed that integrates both approaches and will be presented. Reports will be given on initial tests that have encouraging results.

Designing a CTSA-Based Social Network Intervention to Foster Cross-Disciplinary Team Science.

PubMed

Vacca, Raffaele; McCarty, Christopher; Conlon, Michael; Nelson, David R

2015-08-01

This paper explores the application of network intervention strategies to the problem of assembling cross-disciplinary scientific teams in academic institutions. In a project supported by the University of Florida (UF) Clinical and Translational Science Institute, we used VIVO, a semantic-web research networking system, to extract the social network of scientific collaborations on publications and awarded grants across all UF colleges and departments. Drawing on the notion of network interventions, we designed an alteration program to add specific edges to the collaboration network, that is, to create specific collaborations between previously unconnected investigators. The missing collaborative links were identified by a number of network criteria to enhance desirable structural properties of individual positions or the network as a whole. We subsequently implemented an online survey (N = 103) that introduced the potential collaborators to each other through their VIVO profiles, and investigated their attitudes toward starting a project together. We discuss the design of the intervention program, the network criteria adopted, and preliminary survey results. The results provide insight into the feasibility of intervention programs on scientific collaboration networks, as well as suggestions on the implementation of such programs to assemble cross-disciplinary scientific teams in CTSA institutions. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Discovering Plate Boundaries in Data-integrated Environments: Preservice Teachers' Conceptualization and Implementation of Scientific Practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sezen-Barrie, Asli; Moore, Joel; Roig, Cara E.

2015-08-01

Drawn from the norms and rules of their fields, scientists use variety of practices, such as asking questions and arguing based on evidence, to engage in research that will contribute to our understanding of Earth and beyond. In this study, we explore how preservice teachers' learn to teach scientific practices while teaching plate tectonic theory. In particular, our aim is to observe which scientific practices preservice teachers use while teaching an earth science unit, how do they integrate these practices into their lessons, and what challenges do they face during their first time teaching of an earth science content area integrated with scientific practices. The study is designed as a qualitative, exploratory case study of seven preservice teachers while they were learning to teach plate tectonic theory to a group of middle school students. The data were driven from the video records and artifacts of the preservice teachers' learning and teaching processes as well as written reflections on the teaching. Intertextual discourse analysis was used to understand what scientific practices preservice teachers choose to integrate into their teaching experience. Our results showed that preservice teachers chose to focus on four aspects of scientific practices: (1) employing historical understanding of how the theory emerged, (2) encouraging the use of evidence to build up a theory, (3) observation and interpretation of data maps, and (4) collaborative practices in making up the theory. For each of these practices, we also looked at the common challenges faced by preservice teachers by using constant comparative analysis. We observed the practices that preservice teachers decided to use and the challenges they faced, which were determined by what might have come as in their personal history as learners. Therefore, in order to strengthen preservice teachers' background, college courses should be arranged to teach important scientific ideas through scientific practices. In addition, such practices should also reflect the authentic practices of earth scientists such as use of historical record and differentiating observation versus interpretation.

Cross-Boundary Leadership: A Framework for Understanding Leadership Preparation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curry, Katherine; Krumm, Bernita

2016-01-01

Through the conceptual framework of Cross-boundary leadership, this case study examines the influence of EDLE 6633 School/Community Collaboration, a doctoral course at Oklahoma State University, on course completer's capacity to effectively facilitate and sustain collaborative partnerships between schools and communities. Findings suggest that the…

Science education as an exercise in foreign affairs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cobern, William W.

1995-07-01

In Kuhnian terms, science education has been a process of inducting students into the reigning paradigms of science. In 1985, Duschl noted that science education had not kept pace with developments in the history and philosophy of science. The claim of certainty for scientific knowledge which science educators grounded in positivist philosophy was rendered untenable years ago and it turns out that social and cultural factors surrounding discovery may be at least as important as the justification of knowledge. Capitalizing on these new developments, Duschl, Hamilton, and Grandy (1990) wrote a compelling argument for the need to have a joint research effort in science education involving the philosophy and history of science along with cognitive psychology. However, the issue of discovery compels the research community go one step further. If the science education community has been guilty of neglecting historical and philosophical issues in science, let it not now be guilty of ignoring sociological issues in science. A collaborative view ought also to include the sociological study of cultural milieu in which scientific ideas arise. In other words, an external sociological perspective on science. The logic of discovery from a sociological point of view implies that conceptual change can also be viewed from a sociological perspective.

The functional-cognitive framework for psychological research: Controversies and resolutions.

PubMed

Hughes, Sean; De Houwer, Jan; Perugini, Marco

2016-02-01

The scientific goals, values and assumptions of functional and cognitive researchers have propelled them down two very different scientific pathways. Many have, and continue to argue, that these differences undermine any potential communication and collaboration between the two traditions. We explore a different view on this debate. Specifically, we focus on the Functional-Cognitive (FC) framework, and in particular, the idea that cognitive and functional researchers can and should interact to the benefit of both. Our article begins with a short introduction to the FC framework. We sweep aside misconceptions about the framework, present the original version as it was outlined by De Houwer (2011) and then offer our most recent thoughts on how it should be implemented. Thereafter, we reflect on its strengths and weaknesses, clarify the functional (effect-centric vs. analytic-abstractive) level and consider its many implications for cognitive research and theorising. In the final section, we briefly review the articles contained in this Special Issue. These contributions provide clear examples of the conceptual, empirical and methodological developments that can emerge when cognitive, clinical, personality and neuroscientists fully engage with the functional-cognitive perspective. © 2015 International Union of Psychological Science.

Enabling long-term oceanographic research: Changing data practices, information management strategies and informatics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baker, Karen S.; Chandler, Cynthia L.

2008-09-01

Interdisciplinary global ocean science requires new ways of thinking about data and data management. With new data policies and growing technological capabilities, datasets of increasing variety and complexity are being made available digitally and data management is coming to be recognized as an integral part of scientific research. To meet the changing expectations of scientists collecting data and of data reuse by others, collaborative strategies involving diverse teams of information professionals are developing. These changes are stimulating the growth of information infrastructures that support multi-scale sampling, data repositories, and data integration. Two examples of oceanographic projects incorporating data management in partnership with science programs are discussed: the Palmer Station Long-Term Ecological Research program (Palmer LTER) and the United States Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (US JGOFS). Lessons learned from a decade of data management within these communities provide an experience base from which to develop information management strategies—short-term and long-term. Ocean Informatics provides one example of a conceptual framework for managing the complexities inherent to sharing oceanographic data. Elements are introduced that address the economies-of-scale and the complexities-of-scale pertinent to a broader vision of information management and scientific research.

Conceptual Change within Dyadic Interactions: The Dance of Conceptual and Material Agency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heyd-Metzuyanim, Einat; Schwarz, Baruch B.

2017-01-01

We offer a new approach to emergent knowledge in processes of conceptual change in dyadic interaction by drawing on Pickering's ("The Mangle of Practice," The University of Chicago Press, London, 1995) Mangle of Practice theory, which theorizes the emergence of new scientific knowledge as occurring due to material resistance and human…

Children's Responses to Anomalous Scientific Data: How Is Conceptual Change Impeded?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chinn, Clark A.; Malhotra, Betina A.

2002-01-01

Four experiments with 4th, 5th, and 6th graders addressed conceptual change in response to anomalous data about empirical regularities in science. Impedance to conceptual change in response to anomalous data could potentially occur at any of four cognitive processes: observation, interpretation, generalization, or retention. In the four…

Sciologer: Visualizing and Exploring Scientific Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bales, Michael Eliot

2009-01-01

Despite the recognized need to increase interdisciplinary collaboration, there are few information resources available to provide researchers with an overview of scientific communities--topics under investigation by various groups, and patterns of collaboration among groups. The tools that are available are designed for expert social network…

Consortium for Mathematics in the Geosciences (CMG++): Promoting the application of mathematics, statistics, and computational sciences to the geosciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mead, J.; Wright, G. B.

2013-12-01

The collection of massive amounts of high quality data from new and greatly improved observing technologies and from large-scale numerical simulations are drastically improving our understanding and modeling of the earth system. However, these datasets are also revealing important knowledge gaps and limitations of our current conceptual models for explaining key aspects of these new observations. These limitations are impeding progress on questions that have both fundamental scientific and societal significance, including climate and weather, natural disaster mitigation, earthquake and volcano dynamics, earth structure and geodynamics, resource exploration, and planetary evolution. New conceptual approaches and numerical methods for characterizing and simulating these systems are needed - methods that can handle processes which vary through a myriad of scales in heterogeneous, complex environments. Additionally, as certain aspects of these systems may be observable only indirectly or not at all, new statistical methods are also needed. This type of research will demand integrating the expertise of geoscientist together with that of mathematicians, statisticians, and computer scientists. If the past is any indicator, this interdisciplinary research will no doubt lead to advances in all these fields in addition to vital improvements in our ability to predict the behavior of the planetary environment. The Consortium for Mathematics in the Geosciences (CMG++) arose from two scientific workshops held at Northwestern and Princeton in 2011 and 2012 with participants from mathematics, statistics, geoscience and computational science. The mission of CMG++ is to accelerate the traditional interaction between people in these disciplines through the promotion of both collaborative research and interdisciplinary education. We will discuss current activities, describe how people can get involved, and solicit input from the broader AGU community.

Patients Should Define Value in Health Care: A Conceptual Framework.

PubMed

Kamal, Robin N; Lindsay, Sarah E; Eppler, Sara L

2018-05-10

The main tenet of value-based health care is delivering high-quality care that is centered on the patient, improving health, and minimizing cost. Collaborative decision-making frameworks have been developed to help facilitate delivering care based on patient preferences (patient-centered care). The current value-based health care model, however, focuses on improving population health and overlooks the individuality of patients and their preferences for care. We highlight the importance of eliciting patient preferences in collaborative decision making and describe a conceptual framework that incorporates individual patients' preferences when defining value. Copyright © 2018 American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Refocusing research priorities in schools of nursing.

PubMed

Kulage, Kristine M; Ardizzone, Laura; Enlow, William; Hickey, Kathleen; Jeon, Christie; Kearney, Joan; Schnall, Rebecca; Larson, Elaine L

2013-01-01

It is critical for schools of nursing to periodically reassess their scholarly programs to ensure that their conceptual framework and approaches address current challenges and enhance productivity. This article describes the process undertaken at Columbia University School of Nursing to evaluate scholarly enterprise so that it remains relevant and responsive to changing trends and to revise our research conceptual model to be reflective of the foci of our clinicians and researchers. As part of a larger strategic initiative, a two-phase Research Excellence Planning and Implementation Workgroup was convened, consisting of a broad representation of faculty and administrative staff, with an overall goal of expanding scholarly capacity. During Phase I, members developed measurable outcomes and tactics and revised the school's conceptual research model. In Phase II, the workgroup implemented and monitored tactics and presented final recommendations to the dean. To measure progress, faculty members completed a survey to establish baseline scholarship and collaboration with results indicating room for growth in interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaboration. Ongoing assessment of outcomes includes Web-based tracking of scholarly activities and follow-up surveys to monitor expansion of faculty collaboration. We recommend this process to other schools committed to sustainable, increasingly relevant scholarship. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessment of Collaborative Problem Solving in Education Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Care, Esther; Scoular, Claire; Griffin, Patrick

2016-01-01

The Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (ATC21S™) project undertook a research and development plan that included conceptualization of 21st century skills and assessment task development. Conceptualization focused on the definition of 21st century skills. This article outlines the particular case of one of these skills, collaborative…

Virtual Communities of Collaborative Learning for Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sotomayor, Gilda E.

2014-01-01

This article aims to outline and project three new learning scenarios for Higher Education that, after the emergence of ICT and communication through the Network-lnternet, have appeared under the generic name of virtual communities. To that end, we start from a previous conceptual analysis on collaborative learning, cooperative learning and…

Addressing Complex Challenges through Adaptive Leadership: A Promising Approach to Collaborative Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Tenneisha; Squires, Vicki

2017-01-01

Organizations are faced with solving increasingly complex problems. Addressing these issues requires effective leadership that can facilitate a collaborative problem solving approach where multiple perspectives are leveraged. In this conceptual paper, we critique the effectiveness of earlier leadership models in tackling complex organizational…

Collaborative Science Activities and the Social Construction of Understanding of Physical Science Concepts by Pre-service Teachers in Fiji.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Neil; Lucas, Keith B.; Watters, James J.

1999-01-01

Finds that collaborative group work among pre-service elementary teachers stimulated increased levels of discussion and fostered deeper conceptual understanding than did traditional instructional methods. Discusses implications for science education in Fiji and similar places. (Contains 37 references.) (Author/WRM)

HWSTD High Water Speed Technology Demonstrator - Power Pack - Conceptual Design Study

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-04-22

splitter box with mounting equipment to be developed and built in collaboration with the German firm, "Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen " (ZF). This...collaboration with the German firm,"Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen " (ZF). This is a proposed option with regard to saving interface problems and additional

Progress and Accountability in Family Literacy: Lessons from a Collaborative Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryan, Katherine E.; And Others

1996-01-01

The implementation of a collaborative approach to evaluating family literacy programs was studied using a conceptual framework and applied to 36 family literacy programs from a midwestern state. Evaluation participants learned how results could be used to develop curriculum in addition to reporting to funding agencies. (SLD)

Negotiating Your Syllabus: Building a Collaborative Contract

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaplan, David M.; Renard, Monika K.

2015-01-01

We provide instruction for engaging students in negotiating their course syllabus. In contrast to the common conceptualization of the syllabus as an instructor-determined contract, we involve our students in developing the collaborative contract under which they will be evaluated. We discuss our successful facilitation of this activity and how to…

Preparing Scientists to be Community Partners

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pandya, R. E.

2012-12-01

Many students, especially students from historically under-represented communities, leave science majors or avoid choosing them because scientific careers do not offer enough opportunity to contribute to their communities. Citizen science, or public participation in scientific research, may address these challenges. At its most collaborative, it means inviting communities to partner in every step of the scientific process from defining the research question to applying the results to community priorities. In addition to attracting and retaining students, this level of community engagement will help diversify science, ensure the use and usability of our science, help buttress public support of science, and encourage the application of scientific results to policy. It also offers opportunities to tackle scientific questions that can't be accomplished in other way and it is demonstrably effective at helping people learn scientific concepts and methods. In order to learn how to prepare scientists for this kind of intensive community collaboration, we examined several case studies, including a project on disease and public health in Africa and the professionally evaluated experience of two summer interns in Southern Louisiana. In these and other cases, we learned that scientific expertise in a discipline has to be accompanied by a reservoir of humility and respect for other ways of knowing, the ability to work collaboratively with a broad range of disciplines and people, patience and enough career stability to allow that patience, and a willingness to adapt research to a broader set of scientific and non-scientific priorities. To help students achieve this, we found that direct instruction in participatory methods, mentoring by community members and scientists with participatory experience, in-depth training on scientific ethics and communication, explicit articulation of the goal of working with communities, and ample opportunity for personal reflection were essential. There is much more to learn about preparing students for these collaborative approaches, and the principal goal of sharing these strategies is to spark a conversation about the ways we prepare scientists and the public to work together in an increasingly collaborative scientific enterprise.

Examining the Effects of Model-Based Inquiry on Concepetual Understanding and Engagement in Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baze, Christina L.

Model-Based Inquiry (MBI) is an instructional model which engages students in the scientific practices of modeling, explanation, and argumentation while they work to construct explanations for natural phenomena. This instructional model has not been previously studied at the community college level. The purpose of this study is to better understand how MBI affects the development of community college students' conceptual understanding of evolution and engagement in the practices of science. Mixed-methods were employed to collect quantitative and qualitative data through the multiple-choice Concepts Inventory of Natural Selection, student artifacts, and semi-structured interviews. Participants were enrolled in Biology Concepts, an introductory class for non-science majors, at a small, rural community college in the southwestern United States. Preliminary data shows that conceptual understanding is not adversely affected by the implementation of MBI, and that students gain valuable insights into the practices of science. Specifically, students who participated in the MBI intervention group gained a better understanding of the role of models in explaining and predicting phenomena and experienced feeling ownership of their ideas, an appropriate depth of thinking, more opportunities for collaboration, and coherence and context within the unit. Implications of this study will be of interest to postsecondary science educators and researchers who seek to reform and improve science education.

Information Infrastructure, Information Environments, and Long-Term Collaboration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baker, K. S.; Pennington, D. D.

2009-12-01

Information infrastructure that supports collaborative science is a complex system of people, organizational arrangements, and tools that require co-management. Contemporary studies are exploring how to establish and characterize effective collaborative information environments. Collaboration depends on the flow of information across the human and technical system components through mechanisms that create linkages, both conceptual and technical. This transcends the need for requirements solicitation and usability studies, highlighting synergistic interactions between humans and technology that can lead to emergence of group level cognitive properties. We consider the ramifications of placing priority on establishing new metaphors and new types of learning environments located near-to-data-origin for the field sciences. In addition to changes in terms of participant engagement, there are implications in terms of innovative contributions to the design of information systems and data exchange. While data integration occurs in the minds of individual participants, it may be facilitated by collaborative thinking and community infrastructure. Existing learning frameworks - from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to organizational learning - require modification and extension if effective approaches to decentralized information management and systems design are to emerge. Case studies relating to data integration include ecological community projects: development of cross-disciplinary conceptual maps and of a community unit registry.

Gender differences in scientific collaborations: Women are more egalitarian than men

PubMed Central

Araújo, Eduardo B.; Araújo, Nuno A. M.; Moreira, André A.; Herrmann, Hans J.; Andrade, José S.

2017-01-01

By analyzing a unique dataset of more than 270,000 scientists, we discovered substantial gender differences in scientific collaborations. While men are more likely to collaborate with other men, women are more egalitarian. This is consistently observed over all fields and regardless of the number of collaborators a scientist has. The only exception is observed in the field of engineering, where this gender bias disappears with increasing number of collaborators. We also found that the distribution of the number of collaborators follows a truncated power law with a cut-off that is gender dependent and related to the gender differences in the number of published papers. Considering interdisciplinary research, our analysis shows that men and women behave similarly across fields, except in the case of natural sciences, where women with many collaborators are more likely to have collaborators from other fields. PMID:28489872

Gender differences in scientific collaborations: Women are more egalitarian than men.

PubMed

Araújo, Eduardo B; Araújo, Nuno A M; Moreira, André A; Herrmann, Hans J; Andrade, José S

2017-01-01

By analyzing a unique dataset of more than 270,000 scientists, we discovered substantial gender differences in scientific collaborations. While men are more likely to collaborate with other men, women are more egalitarian. This is consistently observed over all fields and regardless of the number of collaborators a scientist has. The only exception is observed in the field of engineering, where this gender bias disappears with increasing number of collaborators. We also found that the distribution of the number of collaborators follows a truncated power law with a cut-off that is gender dependent and related to the gender differences in the number of published papers. Considering interdisciplinary research, our analysis shows that men and women behave similarly across fields, except in the case of natural sciences, where women with many collaborators are more likely to have collaborators from other fields.

The coexistence of alternative and scientific conceptions in physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozdemir, Omer F.

The purpose of this study was to inquire about the simultaneous coexistence of alternative and scientific conceptions in the domain of physics. This study was particularly motivated by several arguments put forward in opposition to the Conceptual Change Model. In the simplest form, these arguments state that people construct different domains of knowledge and different modes of perception in different situations. Therefore, holding different conceptualizations is unavoidable and expecting a replacement in an individual's conceptual structure is not plausible in terms of instructional practices. The following research questions were generated to inquire about this argument: (1) Do individuals keep their alternative conceptions after they have acquired scientific conceptions? (2) Assuming that individuals who acquired scientific conceptions also have alternative conceptions, how are these different conceptions nested in their conceptual structure? (3) What kind of knowledge, skills, and reasoning are necessary to transfer scientific principles instead of alternative ones in the construction of a valid model? Analysis of the data collected from the non-physics group indicated that the nature of alternative conceptions is framed by two types of reasoning: reasoning by mental simulation and semiformal reasoning. Analysis of the data collected from the physics group revealed that mental images or scenes feeding reasoning by mental simulation had not disappeared after the acquisition of scientific conceptions. The analysis of data also provided enough evidence to conclude that alternative principles feeding semiformal reasoning have not necessarily disappeared after the acquisition of scientific conceptions. However, in regard to semiformal reasoning, compartmentalization was not as clear as the case demonstrated in reasoning by mental simulation; instead semiformal and scientific reasoning are intertwined in a way that the components of semiformal reasoning can easily take their place among the components of scientific reasoning. In spite of the fact that the coexistence of multiple conceptions might obstruct the transfer of scientific conceptions in problem-solving situations, several factors stimulating the use of scientific conceptions were noticed explicitly. These factors were categorized as follows: (a) the level of individuals' domain specific knowledge in the corresponding field, (b) the level of individuals' knowledge about the process of science (how science generates its knowledge claims), (c) the level of individuals' awareness of different types of reasoning and conceptions, and (d) the context in which the problem is situated. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The nature of the (visualization) game: Challenges and opportunities from computational geophysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kellogg, L. H.

2016-12-01

As the geosciences enters the era of big data, modeling and visualization become increasingly vital tools for discovery, understanding, education, and communication. Here, we focus on modeling and visualization of the structure and dynamics of the Earth's surface and interior. The past decade has seen accelerated data acquisition, including higher resolution imaging and modeling of Earth's deep interior, complex models of geodynamics, and high resolution topographic imaging of the changing surface, with an associated acceleration of computational modeling through better scientific software, increased computing capability, and the use of innovative methods of scientific visualization. The role of modeling is to describe a system, answer scientific questions, and test hypotheses; the term "model" encompasses mathematical models, computational models, physical models, conceptual models, statistical models, and visual models of a structure or process. These different uses of the term require thoughtful communication to avoid confusion. Scientific visualization is integral to every aspect of modeling. Not merely a means of communicating results, the best uses of visualization enable scientists to interact with their data, revealing the characteristics of the data and models to enable better interpretation and inform the direction of future investigation. Innovative immersive technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality, and remote collaboration techniques, are being adapted more widely and are a magnet for students. Time-varying or transient phenomena are especially challenging to model and to visualize; researchers and students may need to investigate the role of initial conditions in driving phenomena, while nonlinearities in the governing equations of many Earth systems make the computations and resulting visualization especially challenging. Training students how to use, design, build, and interpret scientific modeling and visualization tools prepares them to better understand the nature of complex, multiscale geoscience data.

Design of a naturalized flow regime—An example from the Lower Missouri River, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jacobson, Robert B.; Galat, David L.

2008-01-01

 group of river managers, stakeholders, and scientists met during summer 2005 to design a more naturalized flow regime for the Lower Missouri River (LMOR). The objective was to comply with requirements under the U.S. Endangered Species Act to support reproduction and survival of threatened and endangered species, with emphasis on the endangered pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus), while minimizing negative effects to existing social and economic benefits of prevailing river management. Specific hydrograph requirements for pallid sturgeon reproduction are unknown, hence much of the design process was based on features of the natural flow regime. Environmental flow components (EFCs) extracted from the reference natural flow regime were used to design and assess performance of alternative flow regimes.The design process incorporated a primary stage in which conceptual hydrographs were developed and assessed for their general ecological and social-economic performance. The second stage accounted for hydroclimatic variation by coding the conceptual hydrographs into reservoir release rules, adding constraints for downstream flooding and low-storage precludes, and running the rules through 100 years of hydroclimatic simulation. The output flow regimes were then evaluated for presumed ecological benefits based on how closely they resembled EFCs in the reference natural flow regime. Flow regimes also were assessed for social-economic cost indicators, including days of flooding of low-lying agricultural land, days over flood stage, and storage levels in system reservoirs.Our experience with flow-regime design on the LMOR underscored the lack of confidence the stakeholders place in the value of the natural flow regime as a measure of ecosystem benefit in the absence of fundamental scientific documentation. Stakeholders desired proof of ecological benefits commensurate with the certainty of economic losses. We also gained insight into the processes of integrating science into a collaborative management exercise. Although the 2005 collaborative effort failed to reach a consensus among stakeholders on a naturalized flow regime, the process was successful in pilot-testing a design approach; it helped focus scienctific efforts on key knowledge gaps; and it demonstrated the potential for collaborations among scientists, stakeholders, and managers in river management decision making.

Scientific Misconduct

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moore, John W.

2002-12-01

These cases provide a good basis for discussions of scientific ethics, particularly with respect to the responsibilities of colleagues in collaborative projects. With increasing numbers of students working in cooperative or collaborative groups, there may be opportunities for more than just discussion—similar issues of responsibility apply to the members of such groups. Further, this is an area where, “no clear, widely accepted standards of behavior exist” (1). Thus there is an opportunity to point out to students that scientific ethics, like science itself, is incomplete and needs constant attention to issues that result from new paradigms such as collaborative research. Finally, each of us can resolve to pay more attention to the contributions we and our colleagues make to collaborative projects, applying to our own work no less critical an eye than we would cast on the work of those we don’t know at all.

Science Classroom Discussion as Scientific Argumentation: A Study of Conceptually Rich (and Poor) Student Talk

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shemwell, Jonathan T.; Furtak, Erin Marie

2010-01-01

One way to frame science classroom discussion is to engage students in scientific argumentation, an important discourse format within science aimed at coordinating empirical evidence and scientific theory. Framing discussion as scientific argumentation gives clear priority to contributions that are sustained by evidence. We question whether this…

SCCR Digital Learning System for Scientific Conceptual Change and Scientific Reasoning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

She, H. C.; Lee, C. Q.

2008-01-01

This study reports an adaptive digital learning project, scientific concept construction and reconstruction (SCCR), that was developed based on the theories of Dual Situated Learning Model (DSLM) and scientific reasoning. In addition, the authors investigated the effects of an SCCR related to a "combustion" topic for sixth grade students…

Evaluating the Impact of Conceptual Knowledge Engineering on the Design and Usability of a Clinical and Translational Science Collaboration Portal

PubMed Central

Payne, Philip R.O.; Borlawsky, Tara B.; Rice, Robert; Embi, Peter J.

2010-01-01

With the growing prevalence of large-scale, team science endeavors in the biomedical and life science domains, the impetus to implement platforms capable of supporting asynchronous interaction among multidisciplinary groups of collaborators has increased commensurately. However, there is a paucity of literature describing systematic approaches to identifying the information needs of targeted end-users for such platforms, and the translation of such requirements into practicable software component design criteria. In previous studies, we have reported upon the efficacy of employing conceptual knowledge engineering (CKE) techniques to systematically address both of the preceding challenges in the context of complex biomedical applications. In this manuscript we evaluate the impact of CKE approaches relative to the design of a clinical and translational science collaboration portal, and report upon the preliminary qualitative users satisfaction as reported for the resulting system. PMID:21347146

Collaboration in Action: Office of Research and Development (ORD) at the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)-Current Wildfire Program

EPA Science Inventory

The "Collaboration in Action: US EPA's Office of Research and Develop - Current Wildfire Research Program" was invited by the USDA's US Forest Service's Scientific Executive Committee to provide USFS scientific leadership active and potential future opportunities for co...

Research Networks Map | Division of Cancer Prevention

Cancer.gov

The Division of Cancer Prevention supports major scientific collaborations and research networks at more than 100 sites across the United States. Seven Major Programs' sites are shown on this map. | The Division of Cancer Prevention supports major scientific collaborations and research networks at more than 100 sites across the United States.

Apprenticeships, Collaboration and Scientific Discovery in Academic Field Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Madden, Derek Scott; Grayson, Diane J.; Madden, Erinn H.; Milewski, Antoni V.; Snyder, Cathy Ann

2012-01-01

Teachers may use apprenticeships and collaboration as instructional strategies that help students to make authentic scientific discoveries as they work as amateur researchers in academic field studies. This concept was examined with 643 students, ages 14-72, who became proficient at field research through cognitive apprenticeships with the…

High School Intervention for Influenza Biology and Epidemics/Pandemics: Impact on Conceptual Understanding among Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dumais, Nancy; Hasni, Abdelkrim

2009-01-01

Understanding real-life issues such as influenza epidemiology may be of particular interest to the development of scientific knowledge and initiation of conceptual changes about viruses and their life cycles for high school students. The goal of this research project was to foster the development of adolescents' conceptual understanding of viruses…

Using Memes and Memetic Processes to Explain Social and Conceptual Influences on Student Understanding about Complex Socio-Scientific Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoon, Susan

2008-01-01

This study investigated seventh grade learners' decision making about genetic engineering concepts and applications. A social network analyses supported by technology tracked changes in student understanding with a focus on social and conceptual influences. Results indicated that several social and conceptual mechanisms potentially affected how…

Conceptual Demand of Science Curricula: A Study at the Middle School Level

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Calado, Sílvia; Neves, Isabel P.; Morais, Ana M.

2013-01-01

This article addresses the issue of the level of conceptual demand of science curricula by analysing the case of the current Portuguese Natural Sciences curriculum for middle school. Conceptual demand is seen in terms of the complexity of cognitive skills, the complexity of scientific knowledge and the intra-disciplinary relations between distinct…

International Collaboration and Academic Exchange of the CHAIN Project in this Three Years (Period)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ueno, Satoru; Shibata, Kazunari; Morita, Satoshi; Kimura, Goichi; Asai, Ayumi; Kitai, Reizaburo; Ichimoto, Kiyoshi; Nagata, Shin'ichi; Ishii, Takako; Nakatani, Yoshikazu; Masashi, Yamaguchi; et al.

2014-02-01

We will introduce contents of international collaboration and academic exchange of the CHAIN project in recent three years (ISWI period). After April of 2010, we have not obtained any enough budget for new instruments. Therefore, we have not been able to install new Flare Monitoring Telescopes (FMT) in new countries, such as Algeria. On the other hand, however, we have continued international academic exchange through scientific and educational collaboration with mainly Peru, such as data-analysis training, holding scientific workshops etc. Additionally, in this year, King Saudi University of Saudi Arabia and CRAAG of Algeria have planned to build a new FMT in their university by their own budget. Therefore, we have started some collaboration in the field of technical advices of instruments and scientific themes etc. Moreover, Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) also offered us participation in the CHAIN-project. We would like to continue to consider the possibility of academic collaboration with such new positive developing nations, too.

Building a Science Software Institute: Synthesizing the Lessons Learned from the ISEES and WSSI Software Institute Conceptualization Efforts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Idaszak, R.; Lenhardt, W. C.; Jones, M. B.; Ahalt, S.; Schildhauer, M.; Hampton, S. E.

2014-12-01

The NSF, in an effort to support the creation of sustainable science software, funded 16 science software institute conceptualization efforts. The goal of these conceptualization efforts is to explore approaches to creating the institutional, sociological, and physical infrastructures to support sustainable science software. This paper will present the lessons learned from two of these conceptualization efforts, the Institute for Sustainable Earth and Environmental Software (ISEES - http://isees.nceas.ucsb.edu) and the Water Science Software Institute (WSSI - http://waters2i2.org). ISEES is a multi-partner effort led by National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). WSSI, also a multi-partner effort, is led by the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI). The two conceptualization efforts have been collaborating due to the complementarity of their approaches and given the potential synergies of their science focus. ISEES and WSSI have engaged in a number of activities to address the challenges of science software such as workshops, hackathons, and coding efforts. More recently, the two institutes have also collaborated on joint activities including training, proposals, and papers. In addition to presenting lessons learned, this paper will synthesize across the two efforts to project a unified vision for a science software institute.

Build It: Will They Come?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corrie, Brian; Zimmerman, Todd

Scientific research is fundamentally collaborative in nature, and many of today's complex scientific problems require domain expertise in a wide range of disciplines. In order to create research groups that can effectively explore such problems, research collaborations are often formed that involve colleagues at many institutions, sometimes spanning a country and often spanning the world. An increasingly common manifestation of such a collaboration is the collaboratory (Bos et al., 2007), a “…center without walls in which the nation's researchers can perform research without regard to geographical location — interacting with colleagues, accessing instrumentation, sharing data and computational resources, and accessing information from digital libraries.” In order to bring groups together on such a scale, a wide range of components need to be available to researchers, including distributed computer systems, remote instrumentation, data storage, collaboration tools, and the financial and human resources to operate and run such a system (National Research Council, 1993). Media Spaces, as both a technology and a social facilitator, have the potential to meet many of these needs. In this chapter, we focus on the use of scientific media spaces (SMS) as a tool for supporting collaboration in scientific research. In particular, we discuss the design, deployment, and use of a set of SMS environments deployed by WestGrid and one of its collaborating organizations, the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in the Mathematical and Computational Sciences (IRMACS) over a 5-year period.

Possibilities of the Integration of the Method of the Ecologically Oriented Independent Scientific Research in the Study Process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grizans, Jurijs; Vanags, Janis

2010-01-01

The aim of this paper is to analyse possibilities of the integration of the method of the ecologically oriented independent scientific research in the study process. In order to achieve the set aim, the following scientific research methods were used: analysis of the conceptual guidelines for the development of environmentally oriented entrepreneurship, interpretation of the experts' evaluation of the ecologically oriented management, analysis of the results of the students' ecologically oriented independent scientific research, as well as monographic and logically constructive methods. The results of the study give an opportunity to make conclusions and to develop conceptual recommendations on how to introduce future economics and business professionals with the theoretical and practical aspects of ecologically oriented management during the study process.

Conceptualizing Stakeholders' Perceptions of Ecosystem Services: A Participatory Systems Mapping Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopes, Rita; Videira, Nuno

2015-12-01

A participatory system dynamics modelling approach is advanced to support conceptualization of feedback processes underlying ecosystem services and to foster a shared understanding of leverage intervention points. The process includes systems mapping workshop and follow-up tasks aiming at the collaborative construction of causal loop diagrams. A case study developed in a natural area in Portugal illustrates how a stakeholder group was actively engaged in the development of a conceptual model depicting policies for sustaining the climate regulation ecosystem service.

Conceptual and institutional gaps: understanding how the WHO can become a more effective cross-sectoral collaborator.

PubMed

Gopinathan, Unni; Watts, Nicholas; Hougendobler, Daniel; Lefebvre, Alex; Cheung, Arthur; Hoffman, Steven J; Røttingen, John-Arne

2015-11-24

Two themes consistently emerge from the broad range of academics, policymakers and opinion leaders who have proposed changes to the World Health Organization (WHO): that reform efforts are too slow, and that they do too little to strengthen WHO's capacity to facilitate cross-sectoral collaboration. This study seeks to identify possible explanations for the challenges WHO faces in addressing the broader determinants of health, and the potential opportunities for working across sectors. This qualitative study used a mixed methods approach of semi-structured interviews and document review. Five interviewees were selected by stratified purposive sampling within a sampling frame of approximately 45 potential interviewees, and a targeted document review was conducted. All interviewees were senior WHO staff at the department director level or above. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data from interview transcripts, field notes, and the document review, and data coded during the analysis was analyzed against three central research questions. First, how does WHO conceptualize its mandate in global health? Second, what are the barriers and enablers to enhancing cross-sectoral collaboration between WHO and other intergovernmental organizations? Third, how do the dominant conceptual frames and the identified barriers and enablers to cross-sectoral collaboration interact? Analysis of the interviews and documents revealed three main themes: 1) WHO's role must evolve to meet the global challenges and societal changes of the 21st century; 2) WHO's cross-sectoral engagement is hampered internally by a dominant biomedical view of health, and the prevailing institutions and incentives that entrench this view; and 3) WHO's cross-sectoral engagement is hampered externally by siloed areas of focus for each intergovernmental organization, and the lack of adequate conceptual frameworks and institutional mechanisms to facilitate engagement across siloes. There are a number of external and internal pressures on WHO which have created an organizational culture and operational structure that focuses on a narrow, technical approach to global health, prioritizing disease-based, siloed interventions over more complex approaches that span sectors. The broader approach to promoting human health and wellbeing, which is conceptualized in WHO's constitution, requires cultural and institutional changes for it to be fully implemented.

Exploring Institutional Mechanisms for Scientific Input into the Management Cycle of the National Protected Area Network of Peru: Gaps and Opportunities.

PubMed

López-Rodríguez, M D; Castro, H; Arenas, M; Requena-Mullor, J M; Cano, A; Valenzuela, E; Cabello, J

2017-12-01

Understanding how to improve decision makers' use of scientific information across their different scales of management is a core challenge for narrowing the gap between science and conservation practice. Here, we present a study conducted in collaboration with decision makers that aims to explore the functionality of the mechanisms for scientific input within the institutional setting of the National Protected Area Network of Peru. First, we analyzed institutional mechanisms to assess the scientific information recorded by decision makers. Second, we developed two workshops involving scientists, decision makers and social actors to identify barriers to evidence-based conservation practice. Third, we administered 482 questionnaires to stakeholders to explore social perceptions of the role of science and the willingness to collaborate in the governance of protected areas. The results revealed that (1) the institutional mechanisms did not effectively promote the compilation and application of scientific knowledge for conservation practice; (2) six important barriers hindered scientific input in management decisions; and (3) stakeholders showed positive perceptions about the involvement of scientists in protected areas and expressed their willingness to collaborate in conservation practice. This collaborative research helped to (1) identify gaps and opportunities that should be addressed for increasing the effectiveness of the institutional mechanisms and (2) support institutional changes integrating science-based strategies for strengthening scientific input in decision-making. These insights provide a useful contextual orientation for scholars and decision makers interested in conducting empirical research to connect scientific inputs with operational aspects of the management cycle in other institutional settings around the world.

Exploring Institutional Mechanisms for Scientific Input into the Management Cycle of the National Protected Area Network of Peru: Gaps and Opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

López-Rodríguez, M. D.; Castro, H.; Arenas, M.; Requena-Mullor, J. M.; Cano, A.; Valenzuela, E.; Cabello, J.

2017-12-01

Understanding how to improve decision makers' use of scientific information across their different scales of management is a core challenge for narrowing the gap between science and conservation practice. Here, we present a study conducted in collaboration with decision makers that aims to explore the functionality of the mechanisms for scientific input within the institutional setting of the National Protected Area Network of Peru. First, we analyzed institutional mechanisms to assess the scientific information recorded by decision makers. Second, we developed two workshops involving scientists, decision makers and social actors to identify barriers to evidence-based conservation practice. Third, we administered 482 questionnaires to stakeholders to explore social perceptions of the role of science and the willingness to collaborate in the governance of protected areas. The results revealed that (1) the institutional mechanisms did not effectively promote the compilation and application of scientific knowledge for conservation practice; (2) six important barriers hindered scientific input in management decisions; and (3) stakeholders showed positive perceptions about the involvement of scientists in protected areas and expressed their willingness to collaborate in conservation practice. This collaborative research helped to (1) identify gaps and opportunities that should be addressed for increasing the effectiveness of the institutional mechanisms and (2) support institutional changes integrating science-based strategies for strengthening scientific input in decision-making. These insights provide a useful contextual orientation for scholars and decision makers interested in conducting empirical research to connect scientific inputs with operational aspects of the management cycle in other institutional settings around the world.

Exploring Co-Teaching with a Social Justice Perspective: A Conceptual Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharma, Manu; Cobb, Cam

2018-01-01

This conceptual article emerges out of a research project--including a systematic literature review and autoethnographic study--on social justice-informed co-teaching. The authors collaborated on two Faculty of Education courses at a mid-sized Canadian University to analyze their own experiences as well as research patterns in a pool of studies…

Teacher Students' Dilemmas When Teaching Science through Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krämer, Philipp; Nessler, Stefan H.; Schlüter, Kirsten

2015-01-01

Background: Inquiry-based science education (IBSE) is suitable to teach scientific contents as well as to foster scientific skills. Similar conclusions are drawn by studies with respect to scientific literacy, motivational aspects, vocabulary knowledge, conceptual understandings, critical thinking, and attitudes toward science. Nevertheless, IBSE…

The Affordance of Online Multiuser Virtual Environments (MUVE) for Creative Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hong, Seung Wan

2013-01-01

Creativity is an important criterion for evaluating conceptual and design abilities of architects and their praxis. However, in recent years, the world has grown more complex. New problems have emerged that are often outside the architect's capacity. Given this challenge, architects collaborate with colleagues from architecture and other related…

Working in the Interpretive Zone: Conceptualizing Collaboration in Qualitative Research Teams.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wasser, Judith Davidson; Bresler, Liora

1996-01-01

Formulates the idea of the "interpretive zone" as a way to describe the space in which collaborative interpretation of research unfolds. Because of the importance of teamwork to qualitative research, the interpretive zone becomes a critical location for future methodological inquiry and examination of the dynamics of group research. (SLD)

Conceptual and Socio-Cognitive Support for Collaborative Learning in Videoconferencing Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ertl, Bernhard; Fischer, Frank; Mandl, Heinz

2006-01-01

Studies have shown that videoconferencing is an effective medium for facilitating communication between parties who are separated by distance, particularly when learners are engaged in complex collaborative learning tasks. However, as in face-to-face communication, learners benefit most when they receive additional support for such learning tasks.…

A Collaborative Multimedia Annotation Tool for Enhancing Knowledge Sharing in CSCL

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Stephen J. H.; Zhang, Jia; Su, Addison Y. S.; Tsai, Jeffrey J. P.

2011-01-01

Knowledge sharing in computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) requires intensive social interactions among participants, typically in the form of annotations. An annotation refers to an explicit expression of knowledge that is attached to a document to reveal the conceptual meanings of an annotator's implicit thoughts. In this research, we…

Challenges of Teacher Collaboration within a Professional Learning Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seisay, Benson M.

2013-01-01

The professional learning community (PLC) is a powerful tool in education, one that is intended to reform failing schools and improve student achievement. This research gathered data to determine teacher perceptions about challenges of teacher collaboration within a PLC school. The key conceptual framework for this case study originated from work…

Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Gerontology and Geriatrics in Latin America: Conceptual Approaches and Health Care Teams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gomez, Fernando; Curcio, Carmen Lucia

2013-01-01

The underlying rationale to support interdisciplinary collaboration in geriatrics and gerontology is based on the complexity of elderly care. The most important characteristic about interdisciplinary health care teams for older people in Latin America is their subjective-basis framework. In other regions, teams are organized according to a…

Health literacy: setting an international collaborative research agenda

PubMed Central

Protheroe, Joanne; Wallace, Lorraine S; Rowlands, Gillian; DeVoe, Jennifer E

2009-01-01

Background Health literacy is an increasingly important topic in both the policy and research agendas of many countries. During the recent 36th Annual Meeting of the North American Primary Care Research Group, the authors led an audio-taped 3-hour forum, "Studying Health Literacy: Developing an International Collaboration," where the current state of health literacy (HL) in the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) was presented and attendees were encouraged to debate a future research agenda. Discussion of Forum Themes The debate centred around three distinct themes, including: (1) refining HL definitions and conceptual models, (2) HL measurement and assessment tools, and (3) developing a collaborative international research agenda. The attendees agreed that future research should be theoretically grounded and conceptual models employed in studies should be explicit to allow for international comparisons to be drawn. Summary and Authors Reflections The importance of HL research and its possible contribution to health disparities is becoming increasingly recognised internationally. International collaborations and comparative studies could illuminate some of the possible determinants of disparities, and also possibly provide a vehicle to examine other research questions of interest. PMID:19589176

Weaving a knowledge network for Deep Carbon Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Xiaogang; West, Patrick; Zednik, Stephan; Erickson, John; Eleish, Ahmed; Chen, Yu; Wang, Han; Zhong, Hao; Fox, Peter

2017-05-01

Geoscience researchers are increasingly dependent on informatics and the Web to conduct their research. Geoscience is one of the first domains that take lead in initiatives such as open data, open code, open access, and open collections, which comprise key topics of Open Science in academia. The meaning of being open can be understood at two levels. The lower level is to make data, code, sample collections and publications, etc. freely accessible online and allow reuse, modification and sharing. The higher level is the annotation and connection between those resources to establish a network for collaborative scientific research. In the data science component of the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO), we have leveraged state-of-the-art information technologies and existing online resources to deploy a web portal for the over 1000 researchers in the DCO community. An initial aim of the portal is to keep track of all research and outputs related to the DCO community. Further, we intend for the portal to establish a knowledge network, which supports various stages of an open scientific process within and beyond the DCO community. Annotation and linking are the key characteristics of the knowledge network. Not only are key assets, including DCO data and methods, published in an open and inter-linked fashion, but the people, organizations, groups, grants, projects, samples, field sites, instruments, software programs, activities, meetings, etc. are recorded and connected to each other through relationships based on well-defined, formal conceptual models. The network promotes collaboration among DCO participants, improves the openness and reproducibility of carbon-related research, facilitates accreditation to resource contributors, and eventually stimulates new ideas and findings in deep carbon-related studies.

Dynamics of co-authorship and productivity across different fields of scientific research.

PubMed

Parish, Austin J; Boyack, Kevin W; Ioannidis, John P A

2018-01-01

We aimed to assess which factors correlate with collaborative behavior and whether such behavior associates with scientific impact (citations and becoming a principal investigator). We used the R index which is defined for each author as log(Np)/log(I1), where I1 is the number of co-authors who appear in at least I1 papers written by that author and Np are his/her total papers. Higher R means lower collaborative behavior, i.e. not working much with others, or not collaborating repeatedly with the same co-authors. Across 249,054 researchers who had published ≥30 papers in 2000-2015 but had not published anything before 2000, R varied across scientific fields. Lower values of R (more collaboration) were seen in physics, medicine, infectious disease and brain sciences and higher values of R were seen for social science, computer science and engineering. Among the 9,314 most productive researchers already reaching Np ≥ 30 and I1 ≥ 4 by the end of 2006, R mostly remained stable for most fields from 2006 to 2015 with small increases seen in physics, chemistry, and medicine. Both US-based authorship and male gender were associated with higher values of R (lower collaboration), although the effect was small. Lower values of R (more collaboration) were associated with higher citation impact (h-index), and the effect was stronger in certain fields (physics, medicine, engineering, health sciences) than in others (brain sciences, computer science, infectious disease, chemistry). Finally, for a subset of 400 U.S. researchers in medicine, infectious disease and brain sciences, higher R (lower collaboration) was associated with a higher chance of being a principal investigator by 2016. Our analysis maps the patterns and evolution of collaborative behavior across scientific disciplines.

Scientific networking in disciplines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Ching-Ray; Marks, Ann; Dawson, Silvina Ponce

2013-03-01

Scientific networking occurs at various levels. There are regional and worldwide professional organizations that link together national physical societies (IUPAP, EPS, AAPPS, FeLaSoFi), providing a platform to exchange ideas and advance common agendas. National and international agencies have special lines of funding for scientific collaboration between groups of various countries. Some of these lines are targeted at improving science education at all levels. There are then personal networks that link people with common interests or who know each other for any reason. The International Conferences on Women in Physics have provided a unique opportunity for female physicists from all over the world to start a network of interactions that can involve all sorts of collaborative efforts. In the three-session workshop organized at ICWIP11, we discussed these various issues that the worldwide scientific community faces. In this paper we summarize the main ideas that surged during the meeting and provide the list of recommendations that were to start and keep an active network of female physicists and to foster scientific collaboration regionally and internationally.

Learning about friction: group dynamics in engineering students' work with free body diagrams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berge, Maria; Weilenmann, Alexandra

2014-11-01

In educational research, it is well-known that collaborative work on core conceptual issues in physics leads to significant improvements in students' conceptual understanding. In this paper, we explore collaborative learning in action, adding to previous research in engineering education with a specific focus on the students' use of free body diagrams in interaction. By looking at details in interaction among a group of three engineering students, we illustrate how they collectively construct a free body diagram together when learning introductory mechanics. In doing so, we have focused on both learning possibilities and the dynamic processes that take place in the learning activity. These findings have a number of implications for educational practice.

Physical-Biological-Optics Model Development and Simulation for the Pacific Ocean and Monterey Bay, California

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-30

and easy to apply in large-scale physical-biogeochemical simulations. We also collaborate with Dr. Curt Mobley at Sequoia Scientific for the second...we are collaborating with Dr. Curtis Mobley of Sequoia Scientific on improving the link between the radiative transfer model (EcoLight) within the

Using Collaboration between English and Biology to Teach Scientific Writing and Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colton, Jared Sterling; Surasinghe, Thilina Dilan

2014-01-01

Writing has an important role in science education and practice. Emphasizing the interdisciplinary collaboration between English rhetoric studies and biology, seemingly disparate disciplines, we describe a model for a scientific writing and communication course. The goals of the course were to prepare students for science-oriented careers, as well…

South American collaboration in scientific publications on leishmaniasis: bibliometric analysis in SCOPUS (2000-2011).

PubMed

Huamaní, Charles; Romaní, Franco; González-Alcaide, Gregorio; Mejia, Miluska O; Ramos, José Manuel; Espinoza, Manuel; Cabezas, César

2014-01-01

Evaluate the production and the research collaborative network on Leishmaniasis in South America. A bibliometric research was carried out using SCOPUS database. The analysis unit was original research articles published from 2000 to 2011, that dealt with leishmaniasis and that included at least one South American author. The following items were obtained for each article: journal name, language, year of publication, number of authors, institutions, countries, and others variables. 3,174 articles were published, 2,272 of them were original articles. 1,160 different institutional signatures, 58 different countries and 398 scientific journals were identified. Brazil was the country with more articles (60.7%) and Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) had 18% of Brazilian production, which is the South American nucleus of the major scientific network in Leishmaniasis. South American scientific production on Leishmaniasis published in journals indexed in SCOPUS is focused on Brazilian research activity. It is necessary to strengthen the collaboration networks. The first step is to identify the institutions with higher production, in order to perform collaborative research according to the priorities of each country.

SOUTH AMERICAN COLLABORATION IN SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS ON LEISHMANIASIS: BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS IN SCOPUS (2000-2011)

PubMed Central

Huamaní, Charles; Romaní, Franco; González-Alcaide, Gregorio; Mejia, Miluska O.; Ramos, José Manuel; Espinoza, Manuel; Cabezas, César

2014-01-01

Objectives: Evaluate the production and the research collaborative network on Leishmaniasis in South America. Methods: A bibliometric research was carried out using SCOPUS database. The analysis unit was original research articles published from 2000 to 2011, that dealt with leishmaniasis and that included at least one South American author. The following items were obtained for each article: journal name, language, year of publication, number of authors, institutions, countries, and others variables. Results: 3,174 articles were published, 2,272 of them were original articles. 1,160 different institutional signatures, 58 different countries and 398 scientific journals were identified. Brazil was the country with more articles (60.7%) and Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) had 18% of Brazilian production, which is the South American nucleus of the major scientific network in Leishmaniasis. Conclusions: South American scientific production on Leishmaniasis published in journals indexed in SCOPUS is focused on Brazilian research activity. It is necessary to strengthen the collaboration networks. The first step is to identify the institutions with higher production, in order to perform collaborative research according to the priorities of each country. PMID:25229217

AI applications to conceptual aircraft design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chalfan, Kathryn M.

1990-01-01

This paper presents in viewgraph form several applications of artificial intelligence (AI) to the conceptual design of aircraft, including: an access manager for automated data management, AI techniques applied to optimization, and virtual reality for scientific visualization of the design prototype.

It's Time for a Conceptual Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hausfather, Samuel J.

1992-01-01

Conceptual change teaching is an instructional method that helps students modify, extend, or exchange their alternative conceptions for the appropriate scientific conceptions. Provides activities and a diagnostic test to apply the method to the concepts of heat and temperature. (MDH)

An examination of conceptual change in undergraduate biology majors while learning science concepts including biological evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McQuaide, Glenn G.

2006-12-01

Without adequate understanding of science, we cannot make responsible personal, regional, national, or global decisions about any aspect of life dealing with science. Better understanding how we learn about science can contribute to improving the quality of our educational experiences. Promoting pathways leading to life-long learning and deep understanding in our world should be a goal for all educators. This dissertation project was a phenomenological investigation into undergraduate understanding and acceptance of scientific theories, including biological evolution. Specifically, student descriptions of conceptual change while learning science theory were recorded and analyzed. These qualitative investigations were preceded by a survey that provided a means of selecting students who had a firmer understanding of science theory. Background information and survey data were collected in an undergraduate biology class at a small, Southern Baptist-affiliated liberal arts school located in south central Kentucky. Responses to questions on the MATE (Rutledge and Warden, 1999) instrument were used to screen students for interviews, which investigated the way by which students came to understand and accept scientific theories. This study identifies some ways by which individuals learn complex science theories, including biological evolution. Initial understanding and acceptance often occurs by the conceptual change method described by Posner et al. (1982). Three principle ways by which an individual may reach a level of understanding and acceptance of science theory were documented in this study. They were conceptual change through application of logic and reasoning; conceptual change through modification of religious views; and conceptual change through acceptance of authoritative knowledge. Development of a deeper, richer understanding and acceptance of complex, multi-faceted concepts such as biological evolution occurs in some individuals by means of conceptual enrichment. Conceptual enrichment occurs through addition of new knowledge, and then examining prior knowledge through the perspective of this new knowledge. In the field of science, enrichment reinforces complex concepts when multiple, convergent lines of supporting evidences point to the same rational scientific conclusion.

Our Journal Unites Us: Global Responsibilities and Possibilities for Pediatric Physical Therapy.

PubMed

Van Sant, Ann F

2018-04-01

This article was designed to describe personal and social responsibilities for strengthening the science of pediatric physical therapy and effective international research collaboration and communication. Common flaws in research design and analysis are reviewed with recommendations for developing research students' design and analytical skills. Our social responsibility to be informed by global knowledge is highlighted. Barriers to scientific collaboration and communication including international disparities in scientific development and language barriers are presented. Suggestions to reduce these barriers are outlined. The importance of free access to scientific literature in developing countries is reviewed. The journal should assume a leadership role in building a strong science of pediatric physical therapy through encouraging personal and social responsibility in research and serving as a model of international collaboration and communication. Treatment for children with movement disorders will be improved by stronger science, international collaboration, and communication.

The Evolution of an Interprofessional Shared Decision-Making Research Program: Reflective Case Study of an Emerging Paradigm

PubMed Central

Menear, Matthew; Stacey, Dawn; Brière, Nathalie; Légaré, France

2016-01-01

Introduction: Healthcare research increasingly focuses on interprofessional collaboration and on shared decision making, but knowledge gaps remain about effective strategies for implementing interprofessional collaboration and shared decision-making together in clinical practice. We used Kuhn’s theory of scientific revolutions to reflect on how an integrated interprofessional shared decision-making approach was developed and implemented over time. Methods: In 2007, an interdisciplinary team initiated a new research program to promote the implementation of an interprofessional shared decision-making approach in clinical settings. For this reflective case study, two new team members analyzed the team’s four projects, six research publications, one unpublished and two published protocols and organized them into recognizable phases according to Kuhn’s theory. Results: The merging of two young disciplines led to challenges characteristic of emerging paradigms. Implementation of interprofessional shared-decision making was hindered by a lack of conceptual clarity, a dearth of theories and models, little methodological guidance, and insufficient evaluation instruments. The team developed a new model, identified new tools, and engaged knowledge users in a theory-based approach to implementation. However, several unresolved challenges remain. Discussion: This reflective case study sheds light on the evolution of interdisciplinary team science. It offers new approaches to implementing emerging knowledge in the clinical context. PMID:28435417

The Evolution of an Interprofessional Shared Decision-Making Research Program: Reflective Case Study of an Emerging Paradigm.

PubMed

Dogba, Maman Joyce; Menear, Matthew; Stacey, Dawn; Brière, Nathalie; Légaré, France

2016-07-19

Healthcare research increasingly focuses on interprofessional collaboration and on shared decision making, but knowledge gaps remain about effective strategies for implementing interprofessional collaboration and shared decision-making together in clinical practice. We used Kuhn's theory of scientific revolutions to reflect on how an integrated interprofessional shared decision-making approach was developed and implemented over time. In 2007, an interdisciplinary team initiated a new research program to promote the implementation of an interprofessional shared decision-making approach in clinical settings. For this reflective case study, two new team members analyzed the team's four projects, six research publications, one unpublished and two published protocols and organized them into recognizable phases according to Kuhn's theory. The merging of two young disciplines led to challenges characteristic of emerging paradigms. Implementation of interprofessional shared-decision making was hindered by a lack of conceptual clarity, a dearth of theories and models, little methodological guidance, and insufficient evaluation instruments. The team developed a new model, identified new tools, and engaged knowledge users in a theory-based approach to implementation. However, several unresolved challenges remain. This reflective case study sheds light on the evolution of interdisciplinary team science. It offers new approaches to implementing emerging knowledge in the clinical context.

Moving the Science of Team Science Forward: Collaboration and Creativity

PubMed Central

Hall, Kara L.; Feng, Annie X.; Moser, Richard P.; Stokols, Daniel; Taylor, Brandie K.

2012-01-01

Teams of scientists representing diverse disciplines are often brought together for purposes of better understanding and, ultimately, resolving urgent public health and environmental problems. Likewise, the emerging field of the science of team science draws on diverse disciplinary perspectives to better understand and enhance the processes and outcomes of scientific collaboration. In this supplement to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, leading scholars in the nascent field of team science have come together with a common goal of advancing the field with new models, methods, and measures. This summary article highlights key themes reflected in the supplement and identifies several promising directions for future research organized around the following broad challenges: (1) operationalizing cross-disciplinary team science and training more clearly; (2) conceptualizing the multiple dimensions of readiness for team science; (3) ensuring the sustainability of transdisciplinary team science; (4) developing more effective models and strategies for training transdisciplinary scientists; (5) creating and validating improved models, methods, and measures for evaluating team science; and (6) fostering transdisciplinary cross-sector partnerships. A call to action is made to leaders from the research, funding, and practice sectors to embrace strategies of creativity and innovation in a collective effort to move the field forward, which may not only advance the science of team science but, ultimately, public health science and practice. PMID:18619406

Conceptual Tools for Understanding Nature - Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Costa, G.; Calucci, M.

1997-04-01

The Table of Contents for the full book PDF is as follows: * Foreword * Some Limits of Science and Scientists * Three Limits of Scientific Knowledge * On Features and Meaning of Scientific Knowledge * How Science Approaches the World: Risky Truths versus Misleading Certitudes * On Discovery and Justification * Thought Experiments: A Philosophical Analysis * Causality: Epistemological Questions and Cognitive Answers * Scientific Inquiry via Rational Hypothesis Revision * Probabilistic Epistemology * The Transferable Belief Model for Uncertainty Representation * Chemistry and Complexity * The Difficult Epistemology of Medicine * Epidemiology, Causality and Medical Anthropology * Conceptual Tools for Transdisciplinary Unified Theory * Evolution and Learning in Economic Organizations * The Possible Role of Symmetry in Physics and Cosmology * Observational Cosmology and/or other Imaginable Models of the Universe

Constructing conceptual meaning from a popular scientific paper—the case of E = mc2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kapon, Shulamit

2013-01-01

Although high school physics students solve problems using the expression E = mc2, the origin of this expression and its deep conceptual meaning are hardly ever discussed due to students’ limited prior knowledge. In 1946, a year after the atomic bombs were first dropped, Albert Einstein published a popular scientific paper explaining the equivalence between mass and energy to the general public and the implications of this principle for our daily lives. This paper describes the utilization of Einstein’s paper in a high-school physics lesson on the equivalence of mass and energy, and discusses the instructional affordances of discussing exemplary popular scientific texts in a physics lesson.

Role of Scientific Societies in International Collaboration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fucugauchi, J. U.

2007-12-01

Geophysical research increasingly requires global multidisciplinary approaches. Understanding how deeply interrelated are Earth components and processes, population growth, increased needs of mineral and energy resources, global impact of human activities, and view of our planet as an interconnected system emphasizes the need of international cooperation. International research collaboration has an immense potential and is needed for further development of Earth science research and education. The Union Session is planned to provide a forum for analysis and discussion of the status of research and education of geosciences in developing countries, international collaboration programs and new initiatives for promoting and strengthening scientific cooperation. A theme of particular relevance in the analyses and discussions is the role of scientific societies in international collaboration. Societies organize meetings, publish journals and books and promote cooperation through academic exchange activities. They may further assist communities in developing countries in providing and facilitating access to scientific literature, attendance to international meetings, short and long-term stays and student and young researcher mobility. What else can be done? This is a complex subject and scientific societies may not be seen independently from the many factors involved in research and education. Developing countries present additional challenges resulting from limited economic resources and social and political problems, while urgently requiring improved educational and research programs. Needed are in-depth analyses of infrastructure and human resources, and identification of major problems and needs. What are the major limitations and needs in research and postgraduate education in developing countries? What and how should international collaboration do? What are the roles of individuals, academic institutions, funding agencies, scientific societies? Here we attempt to examine some of these questions from analyses and examples in Latin America. We concentrate on current situation, size and characteristics of research community, education programs, facilities, economic support, and bilateral and multinational collaborations, and then move to perspectives for future development in an international context.

International Collaborative Research Partnerships: Blending Science with Management and Diplomacy.

PubMed

Lau, Chuen-Yen; Wang, Crystal; Orsega, Susan; Tramont, Edmund C; Koita, Ousmane; Polis, Michael A; Siddiqui, Sophia

2014-12-01

As globalization progressively connects and impacts the health of people across the world, collaborative research partnerships provide mutual advantages by sharing knowledge and resources to address locally and globally relevant scientific and public health questions. Partnerships undertaken for scientific research are similar to business collaborations in that they require attention to partner systems, whether local, international, political, academic, or non-academic. Scientists, like diplomats or entrepreneurs, are representatives of their field, culture, and country and become obligatory agents in health diplomacy. This role significantly influences current and future collaborations with not only the immediate partner but with other in country partners as well. Research partnerships need continuous evaluation of the collaboration's productivity, perspectives of all partners, and desired outcomes for success to avoid engaging in "research tourism", particularly in developing regions. International engagement is a cornerstone in addressing the impact of infectious diseases globally. Global partnerships are strategically aligned with national, partner and global health priorities and may be based on specific requests for assistance from the partnering country governments. Here we share experiences from select research collaborations to highlight principles that we have found key in building long-term relationships with collaborators and in meeting the aim to address scientific questions relevant to the host country and strategic global health initiatives.

Science and Technology Diplomacy with Cuba

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colon, Frances

President Obama's announcement of U. S. policy change toward Cuba and increased freedom of interaction with the Cuban people opens unprecedented and long-awaited opportunities for the scientific and engineering communities in the U. S. and in Cuba to establish and expand collaborative efforts that will greatly advance U.S. and Cuba science and technology agendas. New rules for export of donated-only items for scientific use will bring researchers closer to the level of their professional peers around the world. Increasing Cubans' access to information will result in greater interactions between scientific communities and enable the sharing of ideas and discoveries that can fuel entrepreneurship on the island. The scientific community has expressed an extraordinary level of interest in the wide range of scientific opportunities that the new policy presents, in collaborating with their Cuban counterparts, and in supporting the development of scientific capacity in Cuba. In response to numerous expressions of interest and inquiries from the scientific community, the Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State (STAS) has engaged in public outreach to inform the U.S. science and technology community of the implications of the new policy for collaborative research, emerging scientific opportunities, and the standing limitations for engagement with the people of Cuba.

Which Way Is Up? Thomas S. Kuhn's Analogy to Conceptual Development in Childhood

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levine, Alexander T.

In the Preface to his Structure Of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas S. Kuhn let it be known that his view of scientific development was indebted to the work of pioneering developmental psychologist Jean Piaget. Piaget's model of conceptual development in childhood, on which the child passes through several discontinuous stages, served as the template for Kuhn's reading of the history of a scientific discipline, on which mutually incommensurable periods of normal science are separated by scientific revolutions. The analogy to conceptual change in childhood pervades Kuhn's corpus, serving as the central motif in his well-known essays, A Function for Thought Experiments and Second Thoughts on Paradigms. But it is deeply problematic. For as a careful student of Piaget might note, Piaget, and the developmental psychologists he inspired, relied on the same analogy, but with the order of epistemic dependencies reversed. One begins to worry that Kuhn's use of the analogy, and its subsequent re-use by developmental psychologists, sneaks a vicious circularity into our understanding of important processes. This circularity is grounds for some concern on the part of science educators accustomed to employing such Kuhnian notions as incommensurability and paradigm.

A study on scientific collaboration and co-authorship patterns in library and information science studies in Iran between 2005 and 2009

PubMed Central

Siamaki, Saba; Geraei, Ehsan; Zare- Farashbandi, Firoozeh

2014-01-01

Background: Scientific collaboration is among the most important subjects in scientometrics, and many studies have investigated this concept to this day. The goal of the current study is investigation of scientific collaboration and co-authorship patterns of researchers in the field of library and information science in Iran between years 2005 and 2009. Materials and Methods: The current study uses scientometrics method. The statistical population consists of 942 documents published in Iranian library and information science journals between years 2005 and 2009. Collaboration coefficient, collaboration index (CI), and degree of collaboration (DC) were used for data analysis. Findings: The findings showed that among 942 investigated documents, 506 documents (53.70%) was created by one individual researcher and 436 documents (46.30%) were the result of collaboration between two or more researchers. Also, the highest rank of different authorship patterns belonged to National Journal of Librarianship and Information Organization (code H). Conclusion: The average collaboration coefficient for the library and information science researchers in the investigated time frame was 0.23. The closer this coefficient is to 1, the higher is the level of collaboration between authors, and a coefficient near zero shows a tendency to prefer individual articles. The highest collaboration index with an average of 1.92 authors per paper was seen in year 1388. The five year collaboration index in library and information science in Iran was 1.58, and the average degree of collaboration between researchers in the investigated papers was 0.46, which shows that library and information science researchers have a tendency for co-authorship. However, the co-authorship had increased in recent years reaching its highest number in year 1388. The researchers’ collaboration coefficient also shows relative increase between years 1384 and 1388. National Journal of Librarianship and Information Organization has the highest rank among all the investigated journals based on collaboration coefficient, collaboration index (CI), and degree of collaboration (DC). PMID:25250365

A study on scientific collaboration and co-authorship patterns in library and information science studies in Iran between 2005 and 2009.

PubMed

Siamaki, Saba; Geraei, Ehsan; Zare-Farashbandi, Firoozeh

2014-01-01

Scientific collaboration is among the most important subjects in scientometrics, and many studies have investigated this concept to this day. The goal of the current study is investigation of scientific collaboration and co-authorship patterns of researchers in the field of library and information science in Iran between years 2005 and 2009. The current study uses scientometrics method. The statistical population consists of 942 documents published in Iranian library and information science journals between years 2005 and 2009. Collaboration coefficient, collaboration index (CI), and degree of collaboration (DC) were used for data analysis. The findings showed that among 942 investigated documents, 506 documents (53.70%) was created by one individual researcher and 436 documents (46.30%) were the result of collaboration between two or more researchers. Also, the highest rank of different authorship patterns belonged to National Journal of Librarianship and Information Organization (code H). The average collaboration coefficient for the library and information science researchers in the investigated time frame was 0.23. The closer this coefficient is to 1, the higher is the level of collaboration between authors, and a coefficient near zero shows a tendency to prefer individual articles. The highest collaboration index with an average of 1.92 authors per paper was seen in year 1388. The five year collaboration index in library and information science in Iran was 1.58, and the average degree of collaboration between researchers in the investigated papers was 0.46, which shows that library and information science researchers have a tendency for co-authorship. However, the co-authorship had increased in recent years reaching its highest number in year 1388. The researchers' collaboration coefficient also shows relative increase between years 1384 and 1388. National Journal of Librarianship and Information Organization has the highest rank among all the investigated journals based on collaboration coefficient, collaboration index (CI), and degree of collaboration (DC).

Innovation by coercion: Emerging institutionalization of university-industry collaborations in Russia.

PubMed

Bychkova, Olga

2016-08-01

This article explores the emerging institutionalization of collaborative university-industry networks in Russia. The Russian government has attempted to use a top-down public policy scheme to stimulate and promote network-building in the R&D sector. In order to understand the initial organizational responses that universities and companies select while structuring collaborations, the article utilizes conceptual perspectives from institutional theory, especially drawing on arguments from strategic choice, network-building, and network failure studies.

Conflict Management in Collaborative Engineering Design: Basic Research in Fundamental Theory, Modeling Framework, and Computer Support for Collaborative Engineering Activities

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-01-01

behaviors are influenced by social interactions, and to how modern IT sys- tems should be designed to support these group technical activities. The...engineering disciplines to behavior, decision, psychology, organization, and the social sciences. “Conflict manage- ment activity in collaborative...Researchers instead began to search for an entirely new paradigm, starting from a theory in social science, to construct a conceptual framework to describe

The doctor dilemma in interprofessional education and care: how and why will physicians collaborate?

PubMed

Whitehead, Cynthia

2007-10-01

Interprofessional educational (IPE) initiatives are seen as a means to engage health care professionals in collaborative patient-centred care. Given the hierarchical nature of many clinical settings, it is important to examine how the aims of formal IPE courses intersect with the socialisation of medical students into roles of responsibility and authority. This article aims to provide an overview of doctor barriers to collaboration and describe aspects of medical education and socialisation that may limit doctor engagement in the goals of interprofessional education. Additionally, the paper examines the nature of team function in the health care system, reviewing different conceptual models to propose a spectrum of collaborative possibilities. Finally, specific suggestions are offered to increase the impact of interprofessional education programmes in medical education. An acknowledgement of power differentials between health care providers is necessary in the development of models for shared responsibility between professions. Conceptual models of teamwork and collaboration must articulate the desired nature of interaction between professionals with different degrees of responsibility and authority. Educational programmes in areas such as professionalism and ethics have shown limited success when formal and informal curricula significantly diverge. The socialisation of medical students into the role of a responsible doctor must be balanced with training to share responsibility appropriately. Doctor collaborative capacity may be enhanced by programmes designed to develop particular skills for which there is evidence of improved patient outcomes.

Conceptual-level workflow modeling of scientific experiments using NMR as a case study

PubMed Central

Verdi, Kacy K; Ellis, Heidi JC; Gryk, Michael R

2007-01-01

Background Scientific workflows improve the process of scientific experiments by making computations explicit, underscoring data flow, and emphasizing the participation of humans in the process when intuition and human reasoning are required. Workflows for experiments also highlight transitions among experimental phases, allowing intermediate results to be verified and supporting the proper handling of semantic mismatches and different file formats among the various tools used in the scientific process. Thus, scientific workflows are important for the modeling and subsequent capture of bioinformatics-related data. While much research has been conducted on the implementation of scientific workflows, the initial process of actually designing and generating the workflow at the conceptual level has received little consideration. Results We propose a structured process to capture scientific workflows at the conceptual level that allows workflows to be documented efficiently, results in concise models of the workflow and more-correct workflow implementations, and provides insight into the scientific process itself. The approach uses three modeling techniques to model the structural, data flow, and control flow aspects of the workflow. The domain of biomolecular structure determination using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy is used to demonstrate the process. Specifically, we show the application of the approach to capture the workflow for the process of conducting biomolecular analysis using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Conclusion Using the approach, we were able to accurately document, in a short amount of time, numerous steps in the process of conducting an experiment using NMR spectroscopy. The resulting models are correct and precise, as outside validation of the models identified only minor omissions in the models. In addition, the models provide an accurate visual description of the control flow for conducting biomolecular analysis using NMR spectroscopy experiment. PMID:17263870

Conceptual-level workflow modeling of scientific experiments using NMR as a case study.

PubMed

Verdi, Kacy K; Ellis, Heidi Jc; Gryk, Michael R

2007-01-30

Scientific workflows improve the process of scientific experiments by making computations explicit, underscoring data flow, and emphasizing the participation of humans in the process when intuition and human reasoning are required. Workflows for experiments also highlight transitions among experimental phases, allowing intermediate results to be verified and supporting the proper handling of semantic mismatches and different file formats among the various tools used in the scientific process. Thus, scientific workflows are important for the modeling and subsequent capture of bioinformatics-related data. While much research has been conducted on the implementation of scientific workflows, the initial process of actually designing and generating the workflow at the conceptual level has received little consideration. We propose a structured process to capture scientific workflows at the conceptual level that allows workflows to be documented efficiently, results in concise models of the workflow and more-correct workflow implementations, and provides insight into the scientific process itself. The approach uses three modeling techniques to model the structural, data flow, and control flow aspects of the workflow. The domain of biomolecular structure determination using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy is used to demonstrate the process. Specifically, we show the application of the approach to capture the workflow for the process of conducting biomolecular analysis using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Using the approach, we were able to accurately document, in a short amount of time, numerous steps in the process of conducting an experiment using NMR spectroscopy. The resulting models are correct and precise, as outside validation of the models identified only minor omissions in the models. In addition, the models provide an accurate visual description of the control flow for conducting biomolecular analysis using NMR spectroscopy experiment.

Cross-border data exchange - a case study on international collaboration gone wrong

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yanko-Hombach, Valentina

2016-04-01

The subject of ethics in science has become a hot topic recently (Gleick, 2011). As publication pressure on researchers increases and use of the internet allows faster turn-around, the quality of the peer review process has suffered. This presentation describes one case of scientific ethics violation in which the editors of a high-ranking scientific journal improperly permitted publication of a paper that was based upon unethical acquisition of data and failed to acknowledge scientific collaboration and exchange of intellectual property. We will present "Case description" and "Ethical issues" with a hope that our experience draws attention to important ethical issues in international collaborative research, and prevents such misconduct in the future. Since international research involves cooperation and coordination among many people in different disciplines and institutions across national borders, ethical standards should promote values that are essential to integrity and collaborative work, including trust, accountability, mutual respect, and fairness. One lesson to be learned is not to engage in collaboration without a written agreement stating clearly who is responsible for what and how the results of collaborative research are to be shared. This is especially important in cases of international collaborations, particularly those involving smaller or developing nations who often do not have the high-tech facilities of developed nations. There is also need to establish clear regulations regarding co-authorship on papers in which intellectual property and significant financial investment was made to allow the research to proceed. As such, a system of ethics to guide the practice of science from data collection to publication and beyond is timely and much needed to protect the integrity of scientific collaboration. It will keep science moving forward by validating research findings and confirming or raising questions about results. References Benos, D. J., Fabres, J., Farmer, J., Gutierrez, J.P., Hennessy, K., Kosek, D., Joo Hyoung Lee, Olteanu, D., Russell, T., Shaikh, F., Wang, K. 2005. Ethics and scientific publication. Adv. Physiol. Educ. 29: 59-74. Gleick, P. 2011. AGU's new task force on scientific ethics and integrity begins work. EOS 92(47): 22. Guidelines for responsible conduct of research. http://www.provost.pitt.edu/documents/GUIDELINES FOR ETHICAL PRACTICES IN RESEARCH-FINALrevised2-March 2011.pdf

The Relevance of Science in a "Black Box" Technological World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abrahams, Ian; Constantinou, Marina; Fotou, Nikolaos; Potterton, Bev

2017-01-01

This article questions the need for relatively shallow, widespread, scientific literacy across a broad range of topics if it lacks the conceptual depth, and/or intellectual rigour, to provide any basis for rational, scientifically informed choices. We suggest that "functional," widespread scientific literacy should only be taught in key…

Working toward a Stronger Conceptualization of Scientific Explanation for Science Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Braaten, Melissa; Windschitl, Mark

2011-01-01

Scientific explanation plays a central role in science education reform documents, including the "Benchmarks for Science Literacy," the "National Science Education Standards", and the recent research report, "Taking Science to School." While scientific explanation receives significant emphases in these documents, there is little discussion or…

Professional Learning Community Process in the United States: Conceptualization of the Process and District Support for Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olivier, Dianne F.; Huffman, Jane B.

2016-01-01

As the Professional Learning Community (PLC) process becomes embedded within schools, the level of district support has a direct impact on whether schools have the ability to re-culture and sustain highly effective collaborative practices. The purpose of this article is to share a professional learning community conceptual framework from the US,…

The Collaboration of Cooperative Learning and Conceptual Change: Enhancing the Students' Understanding of Chemical Bonding Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eymur, Gülüzar; Geban, Ömer

2017-01-01

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cooperative learning based on conceptual change approach instruction on ninth-grade students' understanding in chemical bonding concepts compared to traditional instruction. Seventy-two ninth-grade students from two intact chemistry classes taught by the same teacher in a public high…

Using Virtual Microscopy to Scaffold Learning of Pathology: A Naturalistic Experiment on the Role of Visual and Conceptual Cues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nivala, Markus; Saljo, Roger; Rystedt, Hans; Kronqvist, Pauliina; Lehtinen, Erno

2012-01-01

New representational technologies, such as virtual microscopy, create new affordances for medical education. In the article, a study on the following two issues is reported: (a) How does collaborative use of virtual microscopy shape students' engagement with and learning from virtual slides of tissue specimen? (b) How do visual and conceptual cues…

Bridging the divide between families and health professionals’ perspectives on family‐centred care

PubMed Central

MacKean, Gail L.; Thurston, Wilfreda E.; Scott, Catherine M.

2005-01-01

Abstract Objectives  To describe and discuss key findings from a recent research project that challenge an increasingly prevalent theme, apparent in both family‐centred care research and practice, of conceptualizing family‐centred care as shifting care, care management, and advocacy responsibilities to families. The purpose of the research, from which these findings emerged, was to develop a conceptualization of family‐centred care grounded in the experiences of families and direct health‐care providers. Design  Qualitative research methods, following the grounded theory tradition, were used to develop a conceptual framework that described the dimensions of the concept of family‐centred care and their interrelationships, in the substantive area of children's developmental services. This article reports on and extends key findings from this grounded theory study, in light of current trends in the literature. Setting and participants  The substantive area that served as the setting for the research was developmental services at a children's hospital in Alberta, Canada. Data was collected through focus groups and individual interviews with 37 parents of children diagnosed with a developmental problem and 16 frontline health‐care providers. Findings  Key findings from this research project do not support the current emphasis in family‐centred care research and practice on conceptualizing family‐centred care as the shifting of care, care management, and advocacy responsibilities to families. Rather, what emerged was that parents want to work truly collaboratively with health‐care providers in making treatment decisions and on implementing a dynamic care plan that will work best for child and family. Discussion and conclusions  A definition of collaboration is provided, and the nature of collaborative relationships described. Contributing factors to the difficulty in establishing true collaborative relationships between families and health‐care professionals, where the respective roles to be played by health‐care professionals and families are jointly determined, are discussed. In light of these findings we strongly advocate for the re‐examination of current family‐centred care policy and practice. PMID:15713173

The importance of the concepts of disaster, catastrophe, violence, trauma and barbarism in defining posttraumatic stress disorder in clinical practice

PubMed Central

Braga, Luciana L; Fiks, Jose P; Mari, Jair J; Mello, Marcelo F

2008-01-01

Background Several terms in the scientific literature about posttraumatic stress disorder are used with different meanings in studies conducted by different authors. Words such as trauma, violence, catastrophe, disaster and barbarism are often used vaguely or confusingly, and their meanings change in different articles. The lack of conceptual references for these expressions complicates the organization of literature. Furthermore, the absence of clear concepts may be an obstacle to clinical treatment because the use of these words by the patients does not necessarily point to a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder. Discussion A critical review of scientific literature showed that stress can be divided in stages to facilitate specific terminological adjustments to the event itself, to the subject-event interaction and to psychological responses. Moreover, it demonstrated that the varying concept of trauma expands into fundamental psychotherapeutic definitions and that the meanings of violence associated with barbarism are an obstacle to resilience. Therefore, this study updates the etymological origins and applications of these words, connects them to the expansions of meanings that can be operated in the clinical care of patients with posttraumatic stress disorder, and analyzes them critically according to the criterion A of DSM-IV and ICD-10. Summary The terminology in the literature about posttraumatic stress disorder includes a plethora of terms whose meanings are not fully understood, and that, therefore, limit this terminology. The analysis of these terms suggested that the transformation of the concept of trauma led to a broader understanding of this phenomenon in its psychic dimensions, that a barbarian type of violence constitutes an obstacle to resilience, and that the criterion A of the DSM-IV and ICD-10 shows imprecision and conceptual fragilities. Methods To develop this debate article, a current specialized literature review was achieved by searching and retrieving the key terms from two major databases: PubMed and PsycINFO. The key terms included "disaster", "catastrophe", "barbarism", "terrorism", "trauma", "psychic trauma" and "violence", also in combination with the terms "PTSD", "concept" and "conceptual aspects". The data were captured specially from review articles. The included studies were those mostly identified by the authors as relevant by the presence of a conceptual approach in any part of the paper. Researches that relied solely on empirical indicators, like psychopathological, neurobiological or pharmacological aspects, were excluded. The focus here was in conceptual aspects, even when some few empirical studies were included. As it was noted a paucity of medical references related to conceptual aspects of these terms, a wider literature needed to be included, including chapters, books and articles proceeded from the Humanities areas. "Interdisciplinary research is needed in this area to include perspectives from a range of different disciplines" once that "to promote public health (...) new dimensions of such interactions and the implications thereof should be pursued in collaboration with researchers from broader areas" [1]. PMID:18694520

The importance of the concepts of disaster, catastrophe, violence, trauma and barbarism in defining posttraumatic stress disorder in clinical practice.

PubMed

Braga, Luciana L; Fiks, Jose P; Mari, Jair J; Mello, Marcelo F

2008-08-12

Several terms in the scientific literature about posttraumatic stress disorder are used with different meanings in studies conducted by different authors. Words such as trauma, violence, catastrophe, disaster and barbarism are often used vaguely or confusingly, and their meanings change in different articles. The lack of conceptual references for these expressions complicates the organization of literature. Furthermore, the absence of clear concepts may be an obstacle to clinical treatment because the use of these words by the patients does not necessarily point to a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder. A critical review of scientific literature showed that stress can be divided in stages to facilitate specific terminological adjustments to the event itself, to the subject-event interaction and to psychological responses. Moreover, it demonstrated that the varying concept of trauma expands into fundamental psychotherapeutic definitions and that the meanings of violence associated with barbarism are an obstacle to resilience. Therefore, this study updates the etymological origins and applications of these words, connects them to the expansions of meanings that can be operated in the clinical care of patients with posttraumatic stress disorder, and analyzes them critically according to the criterion A of DSM-IV and ICD-10. The terminology in the literature about posttraumatic stress disorder includes a plethora of terms whose meanings are not fully understood, and that, therefore, limit this terminology. The analysis of these terms suggested that the transformation of the concept of trauma led to a broader understanding of this phenomenon in its psychic dimensions, that a barbarian type of violence constitutes an obstacle to resilience, and that the criterion A of the DSM-IV and ICD-10 shows imprecision and conceptual fragilities. To develop this debate article, a current specialized literature review was achieved by searching and retrieving the key terms from two major databases: PubMed and PsycINFO. The key terms included "disaster", "catastrophe", "barbarism", "terrorism", "trauma", "psychic trauma" and "violence", also in combination with the terms "PTSD", "concept" and "conceptual aspects". The data were captured specially from review articles. The included studies were those mostly identified by the authors as relevant by the presence of a conceptual approach in any part of the paper. Researches that relied solely on empirical indicators, like psychopathological, neurobiological or pharmacological aspects, were excluded. The focus here was in conceptual aspects, even when some few empirical studies were included. As it was noted a paucity of medical references related to conceptual aspects of these terms, a wider literature needed to be included, including chapters, books and articles proceeded from the Humanities areas. "Interdisciplinary research is needed in this area to include perspectives from a range of different disciplines" once that "to promote public health (...) new dimensions of such interactions and the implications thereof should be pursued in collaboration with researchers from broader areas" 1.

Using Dual Eye-Tracking to Evaluate Students' Collaboration with an Intelligent Tutoring System for Elementary-Level Fractions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Belenky, Daniel; Ringenberg, Michael; Olsen, Jennifer; Aleven, Vincent; Rummel, Nikol

2014-01-01

As learning technologies proliferate, it is important for research to address how to best align instruction to educational goals. For example, recent evidence indicates that working collaboratively may have unique benefits for facilitating the acquisition of conceptual understanding, as opposed to procedural fluency (Mullins, Rummel & Spada,…

A Teachable-Agent-Based Game Affording Collaboration and Competition: Evaluating Math Comprehension and Motivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pareto, Lena; Haake, Magnus; Lindstrom, Paulina; Sjoden, Bjorn; Gulz, Agneta

2012-01-01

This paper presents an educational game in mathematics based on an apprenticeship model using a teachable agent, as well as an evaluative study of how the game affects (1) conceptual understanding and (2) attitudes towards mathematics. In addition, we discuss how collaborative and competitive affordances of the game may affect understanding and…

Adaptation Patterns as a Conceptual Tool for Designing the Adaptive Operation of CSCL Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karakostas, Anastasios; Demetriadis, Stavros

2011-01-01

While adaptive collaboration support has become the focus of increasingly intense research efforts in the CSCL domain, scarce, however, remain the research-based evidence on pedagogically useful ideas on what and how to adapt during the collaborative learning activity. Based principally on two studies, this work presents a compilation of…

A Digital Ecosystem for the Collaborative Production of Open Textbooks: The LATIn Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silveira, Ismar Frango; Ochôa, Xavier; Cuadros-Vargas, Alex; Pérez Casas, Alén; Casali, Ana; Ortega, Andre; Sprock, Antonio Silva; Alves, Carlos Henrique; Collazos Ordoñez, Cesar Alberto; Deco, Claudia; Cuadros-Vargas, Ernesto; Knihs, Everton; Parra, Gonzalo; Muñoz-Arteaga, Jaime; Gomes dos Santos, Jéssica; Broisin, Julien; Omar, Nizam; Motz, Regina; Rodés, Virginia; Bieliukas, Yosly Hernández C.

2013-01-01

Access to books in higher education is an issue to be addressed, especially in the context of underdeveloped countries, such as those in Latin America. More than just financial issues, cultural aspects and need for adaptation must be considered. The present conceptual paper proposes a methodology framework that would support collaborative open…

4SPPIces: A Case Study of Factors in a Scripted Collaborative-Learning Blended Course across Spatial Locations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perez-Sanagustin, Mar; Santos, Patricia; Hernandez-Leo, Davinia; Blat, Josep

2012-01-01

Computer-Supported Collaborative Blended Learning (CSCBL) scripts are complex learning situations in which formal and informal activities conducted at different spatial locations are coordinated and integrated into one unique learning setting through the use of technology. We define a conceptual model identifying four factors to be considered when…

Creating Cultures of Schooling: Historical and Conceptual Background of the KEEP/Rough Rock Collaboration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jordan, Cathie

1995-01-01

Discusses the collaborative efforts of the Hawaiian Kamehameha Early Education Program (KEEP) and the Navajo Rough Rock Community School in Arizona to develop educational practices and strategies that would help minority-language children succeed in school. Examines the modification of KEEP strategies for use with Navajo children. (16 references)…

Conceptualizing Social Presence Awareness in E-Collaboration of Postgraduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seaba, Tshinakaho Relebogile; Kekwaletswe, Raymond Mompoloki

2012-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to argue that an e-collaboration environment, driven by awareness of social presence, may provide the just-in-time learning support needed by postgraduate students. The academic challenges faced by students may be alleviated if a correct electronic platform is provided for them to be able to consult with each…

Teaching Scientific Literacy in an Introductory Women's Studies Course: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fuselier, Linda; Murphy, Claudia; Bender, Anita; Falcón, Kandace Creel

2015-01-01

Background and purpose: The purpose of this exploratory case study is to describe how scholars negotiated disciplinary divides to develop and communicate to their students an understanding of the basic features of scientific knowledge. Our goals were to examine boundary crossing in interdisciplinary collaboration and to assess the efficacy of…

Group Projects as a Method of Promoting Student Scientific Communication and Collaboration in a Public Health Microbiology Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walton, Kristen L. W.; Baker, Jason C.

2009-01-01

Communication of scientific and medical information and collaborative work are important skills for students pursuing careers in health professions and other biomedical sciences. In addition, group work and active learning can increase student engagement and analytical skills. Students in our public health microbiology class were required to work…

Physical-Biological-Optics Model Development and Simulation for the Pacific Ocean and Monterey Bay, California

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-30

collaborate with Dr. Curt Mobley at Sequoia Scientific for the second scheme to implement the updated version of EcoLight into the ROMS-CoSiNE model...collaborating with Dr. Curtis Mobley of Sequoia Scientific on improving the link between the radiative transfer model (EcoLight) within the ROMS-CoSiNE

Analysis of Research Collaboration between Universities and Private Companies in Spain Based on Joint Scientific Publications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olmeda-Gómez, Carlos; Ovalle-Perandones, María Antonia; de Moya-Anegón, Félix

2015-01-01

Introduction: The article presents the results of a study on scientific collaboration between Spanish universities and private enterprise, measured in terms of the co-authorship of papers published in international journals. Method: Bibliometric analysis of papers published in journals listed in Scopus in 2003-2011. Indicators were calculated for…

Teaching Anthropogenic Climate Change through Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Helping Students Think Critically about Science and Ethics in Dialogue

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Todd, Claire; O'Brien, Kevin J.

2016-01-01

Anthropogenic climate change is a complicated issue involving scientific data and analyses as well as political, economic, and ethical issues. In order to capture this complexity, we developed an interdisciplinary student and faculty collaboration by (1) offering introductory lectures on scientific and ethical methods to two classes, (2) assigning…

21st Annual Spring Research Festival Highlights Science, Celebrates Collaboration | Poster

Cancer.gov

For two days at the annual Spring Research Festival, Fort Detrick was abuzz with scientific discussion as researchers and visitors from the site’s many resident government agencies and contractors gathered to share findings and recognize collaborative research. Each year, the festival focuses on intermural scientific work, as well as challenges and discoveries in the fight

Ocean Drilling: Forty Years of International Collaboration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Deborah K.; Exon, Neville; Barriga, Fernando J. A. S.; Tatsumi, Yoshiyuki

2010-10-01

International cooperation is an essential component of modern scientific research and societal advancement [see Ismail-Zadeh and Beer, 2009], and scientific ocean drilling represents one of Earth science's longest-running and most successful international collaborations. The strength of this collaboration and its continued success result from the realization that scientific ocean drilling provides a unique and powerful tool to study the critical processes of both short-term change and the long-term evolution of Earth systems. A record of Earth's changing tectonics, climate, ocean circulation, and biota is preserved in marine sedimentary deposits and the underlying basement rocks. And because the ocean floor is the natural site for accumulation and preservation of geological materials, it may preserve a continuous record of these processes.

Key-Aspects of Scientific Modeling Exemplified by School Science Models: Some Units for Teaching Contextualized Scientific Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Develaki, Maria

2016-01-01

Models and modeling are core elements of scientific methods and consequently also are of key importance for the conception and teaching of scientific methodology. The epistemology of models and its transfer and adaption to nature of science education are not, however, simple themes. We present some conceptual units in which school science models…

Constructing Scientific Explanations: a System of Analysis for Students' Explanations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Andrade, Vanessa; Freire, Sofia; Baptista, Mónica

2017-08-01

This article describes a system of analysis aimed at characterizing students' scientific explanations. Science education literature and reform documents have been highlighting the importance of scientific explanations for students' conceptual understanding and for their understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge. Nevertheless, and despite general agreement regarding the potential of having students construct their own explanations, a consensual notion of scientific explanation has still not been reached. As a result, within science education literature, there are several frameworks defining scientific explanations, with different foci as well as different notions of what accounts as a good explanation. Considering this, and based on a more ample project, we developed a system of analysis to characterize students' explanations. It was conceptualized and developed based on theories and models of scientific explanations, science education literature, and from examples of students' explanations collected by an open-ended questionnaire. With this paper, it is our goal to present the system of analysis, illustrating it with specific examples of students' collected explanations. In addition, we expect to point out its adequacy and utility for analyzing and characterizing students' scientific explanations as well as for tracing their progression.

Development of a Template Lesson Plan Based on 5e Model Enhanced with Computer Supported Applications and Conceptual Change Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seker, Burcu Sezginsoy; Erdem, Aliye

2017-01-01

Students learning a defined subject only perform by learning of thinking based on the concepts forming that subjects. Otherwise, students may move away from the scientific meaning of concepts and may fall into conceptual errors. Students' conceptual errors affect their following learning and cause them resist change. It is possible to prevent this…

Hackathons as a means of accelerating scientific discoveries and knowledge transfer.

PubMed

Ghouila, Amel; Siwo, Geoffrey Henry; Entfellner, Jean-Baka Domelevo; Panji, Sumir; Button-Simons, Katrina A; Davis, Sage Zenon; Fadlelmola, Faisal M; Ferdig, Michael T; Mulder, Nicola

2018-05-01

Scientific research plays a key role in the advancement of human knowledge and pursuit of solutions to important societal challenges. Typically, research occurs within specific institutions where data are generated and subsequently analyzed. Although collaborative science bringing together multiple institutions is now common, in such collaborations the analytical processing of the data is often performed by individual researchers within the team, with only limited internal oversight and critical analysis of the workflow prior to publication. Here, we show how hackathons can be a means of enhancing collaborative science by enabling peer review before results of analyses are published by cross-validating the design of studies or underlying data sets and by driving reproducibility of scientific analyses. Traditionally, in data analysis processes, data generators and bioinformaticians are divided and do not collaborate on analyzing the data. Hackathons are a good strategy to build bridges over the traditional divide and are potentially a great agile extension to the more structured collaborations between multiple investigators and institutions. © 2018 Ghouila et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Scientific Collaboration in Chinese Nursing Research: A Social Network Analysis Study.

PubMed

Hou, Xiao-Ni; Hao, Yu-Fang; Cao, Jing; She, Yan-Chao; Duan, Hong-Mei

2016-01-01

Collaboration has become very important in research and in technological progress. Coauthorship networks in different fields have been intensively studied as an important type of collaboration in recent years. Yet there are few published reports about collaboration in the field of nursing. This article aimed to reveal the status and identify the key features of collaboration in the field of nursing in China. Using data from the top 10 nursing journals in China from 2003 to 2013, we constructed a nursing scientific coauthorship network using social network analysis. We found that coauthorship was a common phenomenon in the Chinese nursing field. A coauthorship network with 228 subnetworks formed by 1428 nodes was constructed. The network was relatively loose, and most subnetworks were of small scales. Scholars from Shanghai and from military medical system were at the center of the Chinese nursing scientific coauthorship network. We identified the authors' positions and influences according to the research output and centralities of each author. We also analyzed the microstructure and the evolution over time of the maximum subnetwork.

Children's science learning: A core skills approach.

PubMed

Tolmie, Andrew K; Ghazali, Zayba; Morris, Suzanne

2016-09-01

Research has identified the core skills that predict success during primary school in reading and arithmetic, and this knowledge increasingly informs teaching. However, there has been no comparable work that pinpoints the core skills that underlie success in science. The present paper attempts to redress this by examining candidate skills and considering what is known about the way in which they emerge, how they relate to each other and to other abilities, how they change with age, and how their growth may vary between topic areas. There is growing evidence that early-emerging tacit awareness of causal associations is initially separated from language-based causal knowledge, which is acquired in part from everyday conversation and shows inaccuracies not evident in tacit knowledge. Mapping of descriptive and explanatory language onto causal awareness appears therefore to be a key development, which promotes unified conceptual and procedural understanding. This account suggests that the core components of initial science learning are (1) accurate observation, (2) the ability to extract and reason explicitly about causal connections, and (3) knowledge of mechanisms that explain these connections. Observational ability is educationally inaccessible until integrated with verbal description and explanation, for instance, via collaborative group work tasks that require explicit reasoning with respect to joint observations. Descriptive ability and explanatory ability are further promoted by managed exposure to scientific vocabulary and use of scientific language. Scientific reasoning and hypothesis testing are later acquisitions that depend on this integration of systems and improved executive control. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

Concept mapping as a promising method to bring practice into science.

PubMed

van Bon-Martens, M J H; van de Goor, L A M; Holsappel, J C; Kuunders, T J M; Jacobs-van der Bruggen, M A M; te Brake, J H M; van Oers, J A M

2014-06-01

Concept mapping is a method for developing a conceptual framework of a complex topic for use as a guide to evaluation or planning. In concept mapping, thoughts and ideas are represented in the form of a picture or map, the content of which is determined by a group of stakeholders. This study aimed to explore the suitability of this method as a tool to integrate practical knowledge with scientific knowledge in order to improve theory development as a sound basis for practical decision-making. Following a short introduction to the method of concept mapping, five Dutch studies, serving different purposes and fields in public health, will be described. The aim of these studies was: to construct a theoretical framework for good regional public health reporting; to design an implementation strategy for a guideline for integral local health policy; to guide the evaluation of a local integral approach of overweight and obesity in youth; to guide the construction of a questionnaire to measure the quality of postdisaster psychosocial care; and to conceptualize an integral base for formulation of ambitions and targets for the new youth healthcare programme of a regional health service. The studies showed that concept mapping is a way to integrate practical and scientific knowledge with careful selection of participants that represent the different perspectives. Theory development can be improved through concept mapping; not by formulating new theories, but by highlighting the key issues and defining perceived relationships between topics. In four of the five studies, the resulting concept map was received as a sound basis for practical decision-making. Concept mapping is a valuable method for evidence-based public health policy, and a powerful instrument for facilitating dialogue, coherence and collaboration between researchers, practitioners, policy makers and the public. Development of public health theory was realized by a step-by-step approach, considering both scientific and practical knowledge. However, the external validity of the concept maps in place and time is of importance. Copyright © 2014 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Supporting Scientific Analysis within Collaborative Problem Solving Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watson, Velvin R.; Kwak, Dochan (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

Collaborative problem solving environments for scientists should contain the analysis tools the scientists require in addition to the remote collaboration tools used for general communication. Unfortunately, most scientific analysis tools have been designed for a "stand-alone mode" and cannot be easily modified to work well in a collaborative environment. This paper addresses the questions, "What features are desired in a scientific analysis tool contained within a collaborative environment?", "What are the tool design criteria needed to provide these features?", and "What support is required from the architecture to support these design criteria?." First, the features of scientific analysis tools that are important for effective analysis in collaborative environments are listed. Next, several design criteria for developing analysis tools that will provide these features are presented. Then requirements for the architecture to support these design criteria are listed. Sonic proposed architectures for collaborative problem solving environments are reviewed and their capabilities to support the specified design criteria are discussed. A deficiency in the most popular architecture for remote application sharing, the ITU T. 120 architecture, prevents it from supporting highly interactive, dynamic, high resolution graphics. To illustrate that the specified design criteria can provide a highly effective analysis tool within a collaborative problem solving environment, a scientific analysis tool that contains the specified design criteria has been integrated into a collaborative environment and tested for effectiveness. The tests were conducted in collaborations between remote sites in the US and between remote sites on different continents. The tests showed that the tool (a tool for the visual analysis of computer simulations of physics) was highly effective for both synchronous and asynchronous collaborative analyses. The important features provided by the tool (and made possible by the specified design criteria) are: 1. The tool provides highly interactive, dynamic, high resolution, 3D graphics. 2. All remote scientists can view the same dynamic, high resolution, 3D scenes of the analysis as the analysis is being conducted. 3. The responsiveness of the tool is nearly identical to the responsiveness of the tool in a stand-alone mode. 4. The scientists can transfer control of the analysis between themselves. 5. Any analysis session or segment of an analysis session, whether done individually or collaboratively, can be recorded and posted on the Web for other scientists or students to download and play in either a collaborative or individual mode. 6. The scientist or student who downloaded the session can, individually or collaboratively, modify or extend the session with his/her own "what if" analysis of the data and post his/her version of the analysis back onto the Web. 7. The peak network bandwidth used in the collaborative sessions is only 1K bit/second even though the scientists at all sites are viewing high resolution (1280 x 1024 pixels), dynamic, 3D scenes of the analysis. The links between the specified design criteria and these performance features are presented.

Scientific collaboration and endorsement: Network analysis of coauthorship and citation networks

PubMed Central

Ding, Ying

2010-01-01

Scientific collaboration and endorsement are well-established research topics which utilize three kinds of methods: survey/questionnaire, bibliometrics, and complex network analysis. This paper combines topic modeling and path-finding algorithms to determine whether productive authors tend to collaborate with or cite researchers with the same or different interests, and whether highly cited authors tend to collaborate with or cite each other. Taking information retrieval as a test field, the results show that productive authors tend to directly coauthor with and closely cite colleagues sharing the same research interests; they do not generally collaborate directly with colleagues having different research topics, but instead directly or indirectly cite them; and highly cited authors do not generally coauthor with each other, but closely cite each other. PMID:21344057

Collaborative Problem-Solving Environments; Proceedings for the Workshop CPSEs for Scientific Research, San Diego, California, June 20 to July 1, 1999

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chin, George

1999-01-11

A workshop on collaborative problem-solving environments (CPSEs) was held June 29 through July 1, 1999, in San Diego, California. The workshop was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the High Performance Network Applications Team of the Large Scale Networking Working Group. The workshop brought together researchers and developers from industry, academia, and government to identify, define, and discuss future directions in collaboration and problem-solving technologies in support of scientific research.

[Peruvian scientific production in medicine and collaboration networks, analysis of the Science Citation Index 2000-2009].

PubMed

Huamaní, Charles; Mayta-Tristán, Percy

2010-09-01

To describe the Peruvian scientific production in indexed journals in the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) and the characteristics of the institutional collaborative networks. All papers published in the ISI database (Clinical Medicine collection) were included during 2000 to 2009 with at least one author with a Peruvian affiliation. The publication trend, address of corresponding author, type of article, institution, city (only for Peru), and country were evaluated. The collaborative networks were analized using the Pajek® software. 1210 papers were found, increasing from 61 in 2000 to 200 in 2009 (average of 121 articles/year). 30.4% articles included a corresponding author from a Peruvian institution. The average of authors per article was 8.3. Original articles represented 82.1% of total articles. Infectious diseases-related journals concentrated most of the articles. The main countries that collaborate with Peru are: USA (60.4%), England (12.9%), and Brazil (8.0%). Lima concentrated 94.7% of the publications and three regions (Huancavelica, Moquegua and Tacna) did not register any publication. Only two universities published more than one article/year and four institutions published more than 10 articles/year. Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia published 45% of the total number of articles, being the most productive institution and which concentrated the most number of collaborations with foreign institutions. The ministry of Health--including all dependencies--published 37.3% of the total number of publications. There is a higher level of collaboration with foreign institutions rather than local institutions. The Peruvian scientific production in medicine represented in the ISI database is very low but growing, and is concentrated in Lima and in a few institutions. The most productive Peruvian institutions collaborate more intensively with foreign journals rather than local institutions.

Model and experiences of initiating collaboration with traditional healers in validation of ethnomedicines for HIV/AIDS in Namibia

PubMed Central

Chinsembu, Kazhila C

2009-01-01

Many people with Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in Namibia have access to antiretroviral drugs but some still use traditional medicines to treat opportunistic infections and offset side-effects from antiretroviral medication. Namibia has a rich biodiversity of indigenous plants that could contain novel anti-HIV agents. However, such medicinal plants have not been identified and properly documented. Various ethnomedicines used to treat HIV/AIDS opportunistic infections have not been scientifically validated for safety and efficacy. These limitations are mostly attributable to the lack of collaboration between biomedical scientists and traditional healers. This paper presents a five-step contextual model for initiating collaboration with Namibian traditional healers in order that candidate plants that may contain novel anti-HIV agents are identified, and traditional medicines used to treat HIV/AIDS opportunistic infections are subjected to scientific validation. The model includes key structures and processes used to initiate collaboration with traditional healers in Namibia; namely, the National Biosciences Forum, a steering committee with the University of Namibia (UNAM) as the focal point, a study tour to Zambia and South Africa where other collaborative frameworks were examined, commemorations of the African Traditional Medicine Day (ATMD), and consultations with stakeholders in north-eastern Namibia. Experiences from these structures and processes are discussed. All traditional healers in north-eastern Namibia were willing to collaborate with UNAM in order that their traditional medicines could be subjected to scientific validation. The current study provides a framework for future collaboration with traditional healers and the selection of candidate anti-HIV medicinal plants and ethnomedicines for scientific testing in Namibia. PMID:19852791

On (scientific) integrity: conceptual clarification.

PubMed

Patrão Neves, Maria do Céu

2018-06-01

The notion of "integrity" is currently quite common and broadly recognized as complex, mostly due to its recurring and diverse application in various distinct domains such as the physical, psychic or moral, the personal or professional, that of the human being or of the totality of beings. Nevertheless, its adjectivation imprints a specific meaning, as happens in the case of "scientific integrity". This concept has been defined mostly by via negativa, by pointing out what goes against integrity, that is, through the identification of its infringements, which has also not facilitated the elaboration of an overarching and consensual code of scientific integrity. In this context, it is deemed necessary to clarify the notion of "integrity", first etymologically, recovering the original meaning of the term, and then in a specifically conceptual way, through the identification of the various meanings with which the term can be legitimately used, particularly in the domain of scientific research and innovation. These two steps are fundamental and indispensable for a forthcoming attempt at systematizing the requirements of "scientific integrity".

Inquiry Coaching: Scientists & Science Educators Energizing the Next Generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shope, R. E.; Alcantara Valverde, L.

2007-05-01

A recent National Academy of Sciences report recommends that science educators focus strategically on teaching the practice of science. To accomplish this, we have devised and implemented the Science Performance Laboratory, a collaborative research, education, and workforce model that brings scientists and science educators together to conduct scientific inquiry. In this session, we demonstrate how to form active inquiry teams around Arctica Science Research content areas related to the International Polar Year. We use the term "Arctica Science Research" to refer to the entire scope of exploration and discovery relating to: polar science and its global connections; Arctic and Antarctic research and climate sciences; ice and cryospheric studies on Earth; polar regions of the Moon, Mars, and Mercury; icy worlds throughout the Solar System, such as Europa, Enceladus, Titan, Pluto and the Comets; cryovolcanism; ice in interstellar space, and beyond. We apply the notion of teaching the practice science by enacting three effective strategies: 1) The Inquiry Wheel Game, in which we develop an expanded understanding of what has been traditionally taught as "the scientific method"; 2) Acting Out the Science Story, in which we develop a physicalized expression of our conceptual understanding; and 3) Selecting Success Criteria for Inquiry Coaching, in which we reframe how we evaluate science learning as we teach the practice of science.

NQRY Coaching: Scientists and Science Educators Energizing the Next Generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shope, R. E.

2007-12-01

A recent National Academy of Science report recommends that science educators focus strategically on teaching the practice of science. To accomplish this, we have devised and implemented the Science Performance Collaboratory, a collaborative research, education, and workforce model that brings scientists and science educators together to conduct scientific inquiry. In this session, we demonstrate how to form active inquiry teams around Arctica Science Research content areas related to the International Polar Year. We use the term Arctica Science Research to refer to the entire scope of exploration and discovery relating to: polar science and its global connections; Arctic and Antarctic research and climate sciences; ice and cryospheric studies on Earth; polar regions of the Moon, Mars, and Mercury; icy worlds throughout the Solar System, such as Europa, Enceladus, Titan, Pluto and the Comets; cryovolvanism; ice in interstellar space, and beyond. We apply the notion of teaching the practice science by enacting three effective strategies: 1) The Inquiry Wheel Game, in which we develop an expanded understanding of what has been traditionally taught as "the scientific method"; 2) Acting Out the Science Story, in which we develop a physicalized expression of our conceptual understanding; and 3) Selecting Success Criteria for Inquiry Coaching, in which we reframe how we evaluate science learning as we teach the practice of science.

Venus high temperature atmospheric dropsonde and extreme-environment seismometer (HADES)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boll, Nathan J.; Salazar, Denise; Stelter, Christopher J.; Landis, Geoffrey A.; Colozza, Anthony J.

2015-06-01

The atmospheric composition and geologic structure of Venus have been identified by the US National Research Council's Decadal Survey for Planetary Science as priority targets for scientific exploration; however, the high temperature and pressure at the surface, along with the highly corrosive chemistry of the Venus atmosphere, present significant obstacles to spacecraft design that have severely limited past and proposed landed missions. Following the methodology of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) proposal regime and the Collaborative Modeling and Parametric Assessment of Space Systems (COMPASS) design protocol, this paper presents a conceptual study and initial feasibility analysis for a Discovery-class Venus lander capable of an extended-duration mission at ambient temperature and pressure, incorporating emerging technologies within the field of high temperature electronics in combination with novel configurations of proven, high Technology Readiness Level (TRL) systems. Radioisotope Thermal Power (RTG) systems and silicon carbide (SiC) communications and data handling are examined in detail, and various high-temperature instruments are proposed, including a seismometer and an advanced photodiode imager. The study combines this technological analysis with proposals for a descent instrument package and a relay orbiter to demonstrate the viability of an integrated atmospheric and in-situ geologic exploratory mission that differs from previous proposals by greatly reducing the mass, power requirements, and cost, while achieving important scientific goals.

Venus High Temperature Atmospheric Dropsonde and Extreme-Environment Seismometer (HADES)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boll, Nathan J.; Salazar, Denise; Stelter, Christopher J.; Landis, Geoffrey A.; Colozza, Anthony J.

2014-01-01

The atmospheric composition and geologic structure of Venus have been identified by the US National Research Council's Decadal Survey for Planetary Science as priority targets for scientific exploration, however the high temperature and pressure at the surface, along with the highly corrosive chemistry of the Venus atmosphere, present significant obstacles to spacecraft design that have severely limited past and proposed landed missions. Following the methodology of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) proposal regime and the Collaborative Modeling and Parametric Assessment of Space Systems (COMPASS) design protocol, this paper presents a conceptual study and initial feasibility analysis for a Discovery-class Venus lander capable of an extended-duration mission at ambient temperature and pressure, incorporating emerging technologies within the field of high temperature electronics in combination with novel configurations of proven, high Technology Readiness Level (TRL) systems. Radioisotope Thermal Power (RTG) systems and silicon carbide (SiC) communications and data handling are examined in detail, and various high-temperature instruments are proposed, including a seismometer and an advanced photodiode imager. The study combines this technological analysis with proposals for a descent instrument package and a relay orbiter to demonstrate the viability of an integrated atmospheric and in-situ geologic exploratory mission that differs from previous proposals by greatly reducing the mass, power requirements, and cost, while achieving important scientific goals.

Evidence-based librarianship: an overview.

PubMed

Eldredge, J D

2000-10-01

To demonstrate how the core characteristics of both evidence-based medicine (EBM) and evidence-based health care (EBHC) can be adapted to health sciences librarianship. Narrative review essay involving development of a conceptual framework. The author describes the central features of EBM and EBHC. Following each description of a central feature, the author then suggests ways that this feature applies to health sciences librarianship. First, the decision-making processes of EBM and EBHC are compatible with health sciences librarianship. Second, the EBM and EBHC values of favoring rigorously produced scientific evidence in decision making are congruent with the core values of librarianship. Third, the hierarchical levels of evidence can be applied to librarianship with some modifications. Library researchers currently favor descriptive-survey and case-study methods over systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials, or other higher levels of evidence. The library literature nevertheless contains diverse examples of randomized controlled trials, controlled-comparison studies, and cohort studies conducted by health sciences librarians. Health sciences librarians are confronted with making many practical decisions. Evidence-based librarianship offers a decision-making framework, which integrates the best available research evidence. By employing this framework and the higher levels of research evidence it promotes, health sciences librarians can lay the foundation for more collaborative and scientific endeavors.

Evidence-based librarianship: an overview

PubMed Central

Eldredge, Jonathan D.

2000-01-01

Objective: To demonstrate how the core characteristics of both evidence-based medicine (EBM) and evidence-based health care (EBHC) can be adapted to health sciences librarianship. Method: Narrative review essay involving development of a conceptual framework. The author describes the central features of EBM and EBHC. Following each description of a central feature, the author then suggests ways that this feature applies to health sciences librarianship. Results: First, the decision-making processes of EBM and EBHC are compatible with health sciences librarianship. Second, the EBM and EBHC values of favoring rigorously produced scientific evidence in decision making are congruent with the core values of librarianship. Third, the hierarchical levels of evidence can be applied to librarianship with some modifications. Library researchers currently favor descriptive-survey and case-study methods over systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials, or other higher levels of evidence. The library literature nevertheless contains diverse examples of randomized controlled trials, controlled-comparison studies, and cohort studies conducted by health sciences librarians. Conclusions: Health sciences librarians are confronted with making many practical decisions. Evidence-based librarianship offers a decision-making framework, which integrates the best available research evidence. By employing this framework and the higher levels of research evidence it promotes, health sciences librarians can lay the foundation for more collaborative and scientific endeavors. PMID:11055296

Conceptual frameworks in astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pundak, David

2016-06-01

How to evaluate students' astronomy understanding is still an open question. Even though some methods and tools to help students have already been developed, the sources of students' difficulties and misunderstanding in astronomy is still unclear. This paper presents an investigation of the development of conceptual systems in astronomy by 50 engineering students, as a result of learning a general course on astronomy. A special tool called Conceptual Frameworks in Astronomy (CFA) that was initially used in 1989, was adapted to gather data for the present research. In its new version, the tool included 23 questions, and five to six optional answers were given for each question. Each of the answers was characterized by one of the four conceptual astronomical frameworks: pre-scientific, geocentric, heliocentric and sidereal or scientific. The paper describes the development of the tool and discusses its validity and reliability. Using the CFA we were able to identify the conceptual frameworks of the students at the beginning of the course and at its end. CFA enabled us to evaluate the paradigmatic change of students following the course and also the extent of the general improvement in astronomical knowledge. It was found that the measure of the students’ improvement (gain index) was g = 0.37. Approximately 45% of the students in the course improved their understanding of conceptual frameworks in astronomy and 26% deepened their understanding of the heliocentric or sidereal conceptual frameworks.

Contributions of team climate in the study of interprofessional collaboration: A conceptual analysis.

PubMed

Agreli, Heloise F; Peduzzi, Marina; Bailey, Christopher

2017-11-01

The concept of team climate is widely used to understand and evaluate working environments. It shares some important features with Interprofessional Collaboration (IPC). The four-factor theory of climate for work group innovation, which underpins team climate, could provide a better basis for understanding both teamwork and IPC. This article examines in detail the common ground between team climate and IPC, and assesses the relevance of team climate as a theoretical approach to understanding IPC. There are important potential areas of overlap between team climate and IPC that we have grouped under four headings: (1) interaction and communication between team members; (2) common objectives around which collective work is organised; (3) responsibility for performing work to a high standard; and (4) promoting innovation in working practices. These overlapping areas suggest common characteristics that could provide elements of a framework for considering the contribution of team climate to collaborative working, both from a conceptual perspective and, potentially, in operational terms as, for example, a diagnostic tool.

The Development of Scientific Thinking Skills in Elementary and Middle School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zimmerman, Corinne

2007-01-01

The goal of this article is to provide an integrative review of research that has been conducted on the development of children's scientific reasoning. Broadly defined, scientific thinking includes the skills involved in inquiry, experimentation, evidence evaluation, and inference that are done in the service of "conceptual change" or scientific…

C3: A Collaborative Web Framework for NASA Earth Exchange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foughty, E.; Fattarsi, C.; Hardoyo, C.; Kluck, D.; Wang, L.; Matthews, B.; Das, K.; Srivastava, A.; Votava, P.; Nemani, R. R.

2010-12-01

The NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) is a new collaboration platform for the Earth science community that provides a mechanism for scientific collaboration and knowledge sharing. NEX combines NASA advanced supercomputing resources, Earth system modeling, workflow management, NASA remote sensing data archives, and a collaborative communication platform to deliver a complete work environment in which users can explore and analyze large datasets, run modeling codes, collaborate on new or existing projects, and quickly share results among the Earth science communities. NEX is designed primarily for use by the NASA Earth science community to address scientific grand challenges. The NEX web portal component provides an on-line collaborative environment for sharing of Eearth science models, data, analysis tools and scientific results by researchers. In addition, the NEX portal also serves as a knowledge network that allows researchers to connect and collaborate based on the research they are involved in, specific geographic area of interest, field of study, etc. Features of the NEX web portal include: Member profiles, resource sharing (data sets, algorithms, models, publications), communication tools (commenting, messaging, social tagging), project tools (wikis, blogs) and more. The NEX web portal is built on the proven technologies and policies of DASHlink.arc.nasa.gov, (one of NASA's first science social media websites). The core component of the web portal is a C3 framework, which was built using Django and which is being deployed as a common framework for a number of collaborative sites throughout NASA.

My Science Is Better than Your Science: Conceptual Change as a Goal in Teaching Science Majors Interested in Teaching Careers about Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Utter, Brian C.; Paulson, Scott A.; Almarode, John T.; Daniel, David B.

2018-01-01

We argue, based on a multi-year collaboration to develop a pedagogy course for physics majors by experts in physics, education, and the science of learning, that the process of teaching science majors about education and the science of learning, and evidence-based teaching methods in particular, requires conceptual change analogous to that…

Hot Spots and Hot Moments in Scientific Collaborations and Social Movements

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, John N.; Hackett, Edward J.

2012-01-01

Emotions are essential but little understood components of research; they catalyze and sustain creative scientific work and fuel the scientific and intellectual social movements (SIMs) that propel scientific change. Adopting a micro-sociological focus, we examine how emotions shape two intellectual processes central to all scientific work:…

"Let's Set Up Some Subgoals": Understanding Human-Pedagogical Agent Collaborations and Their Implications for Learning and Prompt and Feedback Compliance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harley, Jason M.; Taub, Michelle; Azevedo, Roger; Bouchet, Francois

2018-01-01

Research on collaborative learning between humans and virtual pedagogical agents represents a necessary extension to recent research on the conceptual, theoretical, methodological, analytical, and educational issues behind co- and socially-shared regulated learning between humans. This study presents a novel coding framework that was developed and…

The Management of Education and the Social Theory of the Firm: From Distributed Leadership to Collaborative Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartley, David

2010-01-01

Modes of organisation and control within educational organisations have tended to accord with those of the workplace. Bureaucracy has endured in both. Of late, it has been loosened. This has opened up a new conceptual space within educational management and leadership. Its underlying theme is collaboration. The analysis here extends the space…

Collaboration in young children.

PubMed

Tomasello, Michael; Hamann, Katharina

2012-01-01

Humans accomplish much of what they do in collaboration with others. In ontogeny, children's earliest abilities to collaborate develop in two basic steps. First, 1- and 2-year-olds learn to form with others joint goals and joint attention--which include an understanding of the individual roles and perspectives involved. Second, as they approach their third birthdays, children's collaborative interactions with others take on a more normative dimension involving obligations to the partner. In addition, their cognitive abilities to conceptualize simultaneously both their own role and perspective along with those of the other develop considerably as well. This form of collaborative interaction is underlain by species-unique skills and motivations for shared intentionality that make possible, ultimately, such things as complex cultural institutions.

Incorporating a collaborative web-based virtual laboratory in an undergraduate bioinformatics course.

PubMed

Weisman, David

2010-01-01

Face-to-face bioinformatics courses commonly include a weekly, in-person computer lab to facilitate active learning, reinforce conceptual material, and teach practical skills. Similarly, fully-online bioinformatics courses employ hands-on exercises to achieve these outcomes, although students typically perform this work offsite. Combining a face-to-face lecture course with a web-based virtual laboratory presents new opportunities for collaborative learning of the conceptual material, and for fostering peer support of technical bioinformatics questions. To explore this combination, an in-person lecture-only undergraduate bioinformatics course was augmented with a remote web-based laboratory, and tested with a large class. This study hypothesized that the collaborative virtual lab would foster active learning and peer support, and tested this hypothesis by conducting a student survey near the end of the semester. Respondents broadly reported strong benefits from the online laboratory, and strong benefits from peer-provided technical support. In comparison with traditional in-person teaching labs, students preferred the virtual lab by a factor of two. Key aspects of the course architecture and design are described to encourage further experimentation in teaching collaborative online bioinformatics laboratories. Copyright © 2010 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

sbtools: A package connecting R to cloud-based data for collaborative online research

USGS Publications Warehouse

Winslow, Luke; Chamberlain, Scott; Appling, Alison P.; Read, Jordan S.

2016-01-01

The adoption of high-quality tools for collaboration and reproducible research such as R and Github is becoming more common in many research fields. While Github and other version management systems are excellent resources, they were originally designed to handle code and scale poorly to large text-based or binary datasets. A number of scientific data repositories are coming online and are often focused on dataset archival and publication. To handle collaborative workflows using large scientific datasets, there is increasing need to connect cloud-based online data storage to R. In this article, we describe how the new R package sbtools enables direct access to the advanced online data functionality provided by ScienceBase, the U.S. Geological Survey’s online scientific data storage platform.

New project to support scientific collaboration electronically

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clauer, C. R.; Rasmussen, C. E.; Niciejewski, R. J.; Killeen, T. L.; Kelly, J. D.; Zambre, Y.; Rosenberg, T. J.; Stauning, P.; Friis-Christensen, E.; Mende, S. B.; Weymouth, T. E.; Prakash, A.; McDaniel, S. E.; Olson, G. M.; Finholt, T. A.; Atkins, D. E.

A new multidisciplinary effort is linking research in the upper atmospheric and space, computer, and behavioral sciences to develop a prototype electronic environment for conducting team science worldwide. A real-world electronic collaboration testbed has been established to support scientific work centered around the experimental operations being conducted with instruments from the Sondrestrom Upper Atmospheric Research Facility in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. Such group computing environments will become an important component of the National Information Infrastructure initiative, which is envisioned as the high-performance communications infrastructure to support national scientific research.

Does the Discussion of Socio-Scientific Issues require a Paradigm Shift in Science Teachers' Thinking?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Day, Stephen P.; Bryce, Tom G. K.

2011-08-01

The purpose of this study was to characterise secondary school science teachers' conceptual models of discussion, against the background that a number of researchers have found that discussion of socio-scientific issues in science classrooms is rare, somewhat discomforting for teachers and its purpose unclear. Recent research indicates that when science teachers do engage in socio-scientific discussion, the quality is poor and is teacher-centred where pupils' views do not figure prominently (far less be clarified and integrated with their scientific learning). This has led to calls for such dialogue to be conducted by humanities teachers. The question arising from such thinking is: Do science teachers hold different conceptual models of discussion from their humanities colleagues? Using semi-structured interviews, three groups each of six teachers (experienced science teachers, experienced humanities teachers, and newly qualified science teachers) were interviewed in-depth in order to characterise their conceptual understanding of discussion as a teaching strategy. Analysis of the interview transcripts utilised the constant comparison approach of grounded theory. Five conceptual models of discussion emerged from an analysis of the data-discussion: (1) as a teacher-mediated discourse; (2) as open-ended inquiry; (3) for the development of reasoning skills; (4) as mediated transfer of knowledge to real-life contexts; and (5) as practice for democratic citizenship. The results confirmed that the science teachers' emphasis tended to stress practice for democratic citizenship whereas the humanities teachers' emphasis was more towards open-ended inquiry and for the development of reasoning skills.

Scientific collaboration and team science: a social network analysis of the centers for population health and health disparities.

PubMed

Okamoto, Janet

2015-03-01

The past decade has seen dramatic shifts in the way that scientific research is conducted as networks, consortia, and large research centers are funded as transdisciplinary, team-based enterprises to tackle complex scientific questions. Key investigators (N = 167) involved in ten health disparities research centers completed a baseline social network and collaboration readiness survey. Collaborative ties existed primarily between investigators from the same center, with just 7 % of ties occurring across different centers. Grants and work groups were the most common types of ties between investigators, with shared presentations the most common tie across different centers. Transdisciplinary research orientation was associated with network position and reciprocity. Center directors/leaders were significantly more likely to form ties with investigators in other roles, such as statisticians and trainees. Understanding research collaboration networks can help to more effectively design and manage future team-based research, as well as pinpoint potential issues and continuous evaluation of existing efforts.

International Collaborative Research Partnerships: Blending Science with Management and Diplomacy

PubMed Central

Lau, Chuen-Yen; Wang, Crystal; Orsega, Susan; Tramont, Edmund C; Koita, Ousmane; Polis, Michael A; Siddiqui, Sophia

2015-01-01

As globalization progressively connects and impacts the health of people across the world, collaborative research partnerships provide mutual advantages by sharing knowledge and resources to address locally and globally relevant scientific and public health questions. Partnerships undertaken for scientific research are similar to business collaborations in that they require attention to partner systems, whether local, international, political, academic, or non-academic. Scientists, like diplomats or entrepreneurs, are representatives of their field, culture, and country and become obligatory agents in health diplomacy. This role significantly influences current and future collaborations with not only the immediate partner but with other in country partners as well. Research partnerships need continuous evaluation of the collaboration’s productivity, perspectives of all partners, and desired outcomes for success to avoid engaging in “research tourism”, particularly in developing regions. International engagement is a cornerstone in addressing the impact of infectious diseases globally. Global partnerships are strategically aligned with national, partner and global health priorities and may be based on specific requests for assistance from the partnering country governments. Here we share experiences from select research collaborations to highlight principles that we have found key in building long-term relationships with collaborators and in meeting the aim to address scientific questions relevant to the host country and strategic global health initiatives. PMID:26225217

Exploring the Use of Conceptual Metaphors in Solving Problems on Entropy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jeppsson, Fredrik; Haglund, Jesper; Amin, Tamer G.; Stromdahl, Helge

2013-01-01

A growing body of research has examined the experiential grounding of scientific thought and the role of experiential intuitive knowledge in science learning. Meanwhile, research in cognitive linguistics has identified many "conceptual metaphors" (CMs), metaphorical mappings between abstract concepts and experiential source domains,…

Conceptual Model of Research to Reduce Stigma Related to Mental Disorders in Adolescents

PubMed Central

Pinto-Foltz, Melissa D.; Logsdon, M. Cynthia

2010-01-01

Purpose: To explicate an initial conceptual model that is amenable to testing and guiding anti-stigma interventions with adolescents. Design/Sources Used: Multidisciplinary research and theoretical articles were reviewed. . Conclusions: The conceptual model may guide anti-stigma interventions, and undergo testing and refinement in the future to reflect scientific advances in stigma reduction among adolescents. Use of a conceptual model enhances empirical evaluation of anti-stigma interventions yielding a casual explanation for the intervention effects and enhances clinical applicability of interventions across settings. PMID:19916813

Diversity of social ties in scientific collaboration networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Quan; Xu, Bo; Xu, Xiaomin; Xiao, Yanghua; Wang, Wei; Wang, Hengshan

2011-11-01

Diversity is one of the important perspectives to characterize behaviors of individuals in social networks. It is intuitively believed that diversity of social ties accounts for competition advantage and idea innovation. However, quantitative evidences in a real large social network can be rarely found in the previous research. Thanks to the availability of scientific publication records on WWW; now we can construct a large scientific collaboration network, which provides us a chance to gain insight into the diversity of relationships in a real social network through statistical analysis. In this article, we dedicate our efforts to perform empirical analysis on a scientific collaboration network extracted from DBLP, an online bibliographic database in computer science, in a systematical way, finding the following: distributions of diversity indices tend to decay in an exponential or Gaussian way; diversity indices are not trivially correlated to existing vertex importance measures; authors of diverse social ties tend to connect to each other and these authors are generally more competitive than others.

The Two Nursing Disciplinary Scientific Revolutions: Florence Nightingale and Martha E. Rogers.

PubMed

Koffi, Kan; Fawcett, Jacqueline

2016-07-01

The purpose of this essay is to share Kan Koffi's ideas about scientific revolutions in the discipline of nursing. Koffi has proposed that the works of Florence Nightingale and Martha E. Rogers represent two scientific revolutions in nursing as a learned discipline. The outcome of these two scientific revolutions is a catalyst for critical disciplinary and paradigmatic debate about the universal conceptualization of nursing's distinctive professional and scientific knowledge. © The Author(s) 2016.

Developing a comprehensive conceptual arhictecture to support Earth sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, C. P.; Xu, C.; Sun, M.; Li, Z.

2014-12-01

Global challenges require the comprehensive understanding of the earth system to make smarter descisions about scientific research, operational management, and educational activities. We conducted in the one and half year a comprehensive investigation about how to develop a comprehensive conceptual architecture for developing a cyberinfrastructure that can help address such global challenges. This includes three aspects of research and outreach: we first analyzed the conceptual architecture requirements from the earth science domains and the exisiting global and national systems from different agencies and organizations to consolidate a list of requirements from scientific, technological, and educational aspects. A conceptual design by considering these reqquirements and the latest development in enterprise arhictecture was conducted based on our past decade's investigation about cyberinfrastructure architecture for supporting different aspects. We also organized several levels of reviews by different levels of experts from different organizations and background to help us comment the completeness, reasonability, and practicality of the design. A comprehensive conceptual design will be released for public comments this spring to solicit the general comments for reaching a design as comprehensive as possible. The final design is scheduled to be published in 2015 to contribute to the general world wide scientists and CI builders in the geoscience domain and beyond.

A conceptual framework for economic optimization of single hazard surveillance in livestock production chains.

PubMed

Guo, Xuezhen; Claassen, G D H; Oude Lansink, A G J M; Saatkamp, H W

2014-06-01

Economic analysis of hazard surveillance in livestock production chains is essential for surveillance organizations (such as food safety authorities) when making scientifically based decisions on optimization of resource allocation. To enable this, quantitative decision support tools are required at two levels of analysis: (1) single-hazard surveillance system and (2) surveillance portfolio. This paper addresses the first level by presenting a conceptual approach for the economic analysis of single-hazard surveillance systems. The concept includes objective and subjective aspects of single-hazard surveillance system analysis: (1) a simulation part to derive an efficient set of surveillance setups based on the technical surveillance performance parameters (TSPPs) and the corresponding surveillance costs, i.e., objective analysis, and (2) a multi-criteria decision making model to evaluate the impacts of the hazard surveillance, i.e., subjective analysis. The conceptual approach was checked for (1) conceptual validity and (2) data validity. Issues regarding the practical use of the approach, particularly the data requirement, were discussed. We concluded that the conceptual approach is scientifically credible for economic analysis of single-hazard surveillance systems and that the practicability of the approach depends on data availability. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An Examination of the Effects of Collaborative Scientific Visualization via Model-Based Reasoning on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Learning within an Immersive 3D World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soleimani, Ali

2013-01-01

Immersive 3D worlds can be designed to effectively engage students in peer-to-peer collaborative learning activities, supported by scientific visualization, to help with understanding complex concepts associated with learning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Previous research studies have shown STEM learning benefits…

The Metaphorical Student.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carger, Chris Liska

1996-01-01

The "patient" metaphor still thrives in teaching. Carl Rogers' concept of client, connoting a collaborative rather than directive relationship, may be more useful to conceptualize the relationship between teachers and students. (SK)

Is it all in the game? Flow experience and scientific practices during an INPLACE mobile game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bressler, Denise M.

Mobile science learning games show promise for promoting scientific practices and high engagement. Researchers have quantified this engagement according to flow theory. Using an embedded mixed methods design, this study investigated whether an INPLACE mobile game promotes flow experience, scientific practices, and effective team collaboration. Students playing the game (n=59) were compared with students in a business-as-usual control activity (n=120). Using an open-ended instrument designed to measure scientific practices and a self-report flow survey, this study empirically assessed flow and learner's scientific practices. The game players had significantly higher levels of flow and scientific practices. Using a multiple case study approach, collaboration among game teams (n=3 teams) were qualitatively compared with control teams (n=3 teams). Game teams revealed not only higher levels of scientific practices but also higher levels of engaged responses and communal language. Control teams revealed lower levels of scientific practice along with higher levels of rejecting responses and command language. Implications for these findings are discussed.

Student Difficulties in Socio-Scientific Argumentation and Decision-Making Research Findings: Crossing the Borders of Two Research Lines

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Acar, Omer; Turkmen, Lutfullah; Roychoudhury, Anita

2010-01-01

Students' poor argumentation in the context of socio-scientific issues has become a concern in science education. Identified problems associated with student argumentation in socio-scientific issues are misevaluation of evidence, naive nature of science conceptualizations, and inappropriate use of value-based reasoning. In this theoretical paper,…

Lexical Errors in Second Language Scientific Writing: Some Conceptual Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carrió Pastor, María Luisa; Mestre-Mestre, Eva María

2014-01-01

Nowadays, scientific writers are required not only a thorough knowledge of their subject field, but also a sound command of English as a lingua franca. In this paper, the lexical errors produced in scientific texts written in English by non-native researchers are identified to propose a classification of the categories they contain. This study…

The Development of Scientific Thinking in Elementary School: A Comprehensive Inventory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koerber, Susanne; Mayer, Daniela; Osterhaus, Christopher; Schwippert, Knut; Sodian, Beate

2015-01-01

The development of scientific thinking was assessed in 1,581 second, third, and fourth graders (8-, 9-, 10-year-olds) based on a conceptual model that posits developmental progression from naïve to more advanced conceptions. Using a 66-item scale, five components of scientific thinking were addressed, including experimental design, data…

The Role of Individual Writing in Fostering Scientific Conceptualization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bigozzi, Lucia; Vezzani, Claudio; Tarchi, Christian; Fiorentini, Carlo

2011-01-01

This paper aims to evaluate a teaching methodology for the learning of scientific concepts in a primary school context. The focus is on the role played by individual writing, associated to a collective observation of an experiment and a classroom discussion. The hypothesis is that this methodology shows its effect both, on the scientific quality…

Data First: Building Scientific Reasoning in AP Chemistry via the Concept Development Study Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nichol, Carolyn A.; Szymczyk, Amber J.; Hutchinson, John S.

2014-01-01

This article introduces the "Data First" approach and shows how the observation and analysis of scientific data can be used as a scaffold to build conceptual understanding in chemistry through inductive reasoning. The "Data First" approach emulates the scientific process by changing the order by which we introduce data. Rather…

Designing and Implementing a Computational Methods Course for Upper-level Undergraduates and Postgraduates in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, E.; L'Ecuyer, T. S.; Douglas, A.; Hansen, Z.

2017-12-01

In the modern computing age, scientists must utilize a wide variety of skills to carry out scientific research. Programming, including a focus on collaborative development, has become more prevalent in both academic and professional career paths. Faculty in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin—Madison recognized this need and recently approved a new course offering for undergraduates and postgraduates in computational methods that was first held in Spring 2017. Three programming languages were covered in the inaugural course semester and development themes such as modularization, data wrangling, and conceptual code models were woven into all of the sections. In this presentation, we will share successes and challenges in developing a research project-focused computational course that leverages hands-on computer laboratory learning and open-sourced course content. Improvements and changes in future iterations of the course based on the first offering will also be discussed.

Exploring the diversity of conceptualizations of work (dis)ability: a scoping review of published definitions.

PubMed

Lederer, Valérie; Loisel, Patrick; Rivard, Michèle; Champagne, François

2014-06-01

Researchers are confronted to numerous definitions of work ability/disability, influenced by their context of emergence, discipline, purpose, underlying paradigm and relationship to time. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the concept through a systematic scoping review and the development of an integrative concept map of work (dis)ability. The research questions are: How has work (dis)ability been conceptualized from the perspectives of research, practice, policy and industry in the published scientific literature? How has the conceptualization of work (dis)ability evolved over time? A search strategy was designed with a library scientist to retrieve scientific publications containing explicit definition(s) of work (dis)ability in leading-edge databases. The screening and the extraction of the definitions were achieved by duplicate assessment. The definitions were subject to a comparative analysis based on the grounded theory approach. In total, 423 abstracts were retrieved from the bibliographic databases. After removing duplicates, 280 unique records were screened for inclusion. A final set of 115 publications containing unique original conceptual definitions served as basis for analysis. The scientific literature does not reflect a shared, integrated vision of the exact nature and dimensions of work (dis)ability. However, except for a few definitions, there seems to be a consensus that work (dis)ability is a relational concept resulting from the interaction of multiple dimensions that influence each other through different ecological levels. The conceptualization of work (dis)ability also seems to have become more dynamic over time. The way work (dis)ability is defined has important implications for research, compensation and rehabilitation.

The GTC Scientific Data Centre

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solano, E.

2005-12-01

Since the early stages of the GTC project, the need of a scientific archive was already identified as an important tool for the scientific exploitation of the data. In this work, the conceptual design and the main functionalities of the Scientific Data Archive of the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GSA) are described. The system will be developed, implemented and maintained at the Laboratorio de Astrofísica Espacial y Física Fundamental (LAEFF).

Examining the Conceptual Understandings of Geoscience Concepts of Students with Visual Impairments: Implications of 3-D Printing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koehler, Karen E.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the use of 3-D printed models as an instructional tool in a middle school science classroom for students with visual impairments and compare their use to traditional tactile graphics for aiding conceptual understanding of geoscience concepts. Specifically, this study examined if the students' conceptual understanding of plate tectonics was different when 3-D printed objects were used versus traditional tactile graphics and explored the misconceptions held by students with visual impairments related to plate tectonics and associated geoscience concepts. Interview data was collected one week prior to instruction and one week after instruction and throughout the 3-week instructional period and additional ata sources included student journals, other student documents and audio taped instructional sessions. All students in the middle school classroom received instruction on plate tectonics using the same inquiry-based curriculum but during different time periods of the day. One group of students, the 3D group, had access to 3-D printed models illustrating specific geoscience concepts and the group of students, the TG group, had access to tactile graphics illustrating the same geoscience concepts. The videotaped pre and post interviews were transcribed, analyzed and coded for conceptual understanding using constant comparative analysis and to uncover student misconceptions. All student responses to the interview questions were categorized in terms of conceptual understanding. Analysis of student journals and classroom talk served to uncover student mental models and misconceptions about plate tectonics and associated geoscience concepts to measure conceptual understanding. A slight majority of the conceptual understanding before instruction was categorized as no understanding or alternative understanding and after instruction the larger majority of conceptual understanding was categorized as scientific or scientific with fragments. Most of the participants in the study increased their scientific understandings of plate tectonics and other geoscience concepts and held more scientific understandings after instruction than before instruction. All students had misconceptions before the instructional period began, but the number of misconceptions were fewer after the instructional period. Students in the TG group not only had fewer misconceptions than the 3D group before instruction, but also after instruction. Many of the student misconceptions were similar to those held by students with typical vision; however, some were unique to students with visual impairments. One unique aspect of this study was the examination of student mental models, which had not previously been done with students with visual impairments, but is more commonplace in research on students with typical vision. Student mental models were often descriptive rather than explanatory, often incorporating scientific language, but not clearly showing that the student had a complete grasp of the concept. Consistent with prior research, the use of 3-D printed models instead of tactile graphics seemed to make little difference either positively or negatively on student conceptual understanding; however, the participants did interact with the 3-D printed models differently, sometimes gleaning additional information from them. This study also provides additional support for inquiry-based instruction as an effective means of science instruction for students with visual impairments.

Science discovery in clinician-economist collaboration: legacy and future challenges.

PubMed

Wells, Kenneth B

2002-06-01

2002 Carl Taube Lecture at the NIMH Mental Health Economics Meeting. To analyze the contribution and process of clinician/economist collaboration. Personal scientific autobiography, using relationships with three economists as case examples. In joint efforts by clinicians and economists, clinicians bring an interest in case examples and in responding to unmet need, while economists bring structured analysis methods and respect for a societal perspective. Through mutual respect and discovery, both clinicians and economists can define unmet need in clinical and economic terms and help develop models and programs to improve clinical care, while maintaining a societal evaluation perspective. Key to scientific discovery is the principle that the emotions generated by data, such as hope and despair, need to be acknowledged and utilized rather than avoided or buried, provided that such feelings are used in a balanced manner in research. According to the author, collaboration helps maintain such a balance. Collaboration requires and builds trust, and improves the depth of research by combining different personal and disciplinary perspectives and strengths. Young investigators should be encouraged to explore collaboration and to consider their feelings in response to health and economic data as an important scientific and creative resource.

International Handbook of Research on Conceptual Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vosniadou, Stella

2008-01-01

The study of conceptual change traces its heritage to the notions of paradigm (networks of shared beliefs, concepts, practices) and paradigm shift made famous by Thomas Kuhn in his book, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions". Kuhn's work was quickly linked to developmental psychology (how knowledge develops) and to science education (teaching…

Rethinking Connections between Research and Practice in Education: A Conceptual Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farley-Ripple, Elizabeth; May, Henry; Karpyn, Allison; Tilley, Katherine; McDonough, Kalyn

2018-01-01

Recent efforts to improve the quality and availability of scientific research in education, coupled with increased expectations for the use of research in practice, demand new ways of thinking about connections between research and practice. The conceptual framework presented in this paper argues that increasing research in educational…

Future Elementary School Teachers' Conceptual Change Concerning Photosynthesis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahopelto, Ilona; Mikkila-Erdmann, Mirjamaija; Anto, Erkki; Penttinen, Marjaana

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine conceptual change among future elementary school teachers while studying a scientific text concerning photosynthesis. Students' learning goals in relation to their learning outcomes were also examined. The participants were future elementary school teachers. The design consisted of pre- and post-tests. The…

Learning Complex Scientific Information: Motivation Theory and Its Relation to Student Perceptions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hynd, Cynthia; Holschuh, Jodi; Nist, Sherrie

2000-01-01

Examines motivation in high school students' conceptual change about physics principles, and college students' motivation for biology learning. Finds grades and interest were important, but students did not report the importance of social support. Suggests similar motivations are important in both conceptual change and assimilation and help…

Conceptualizing the World of Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Rooy, William H.; Bailey, Larry J.

1973-01-01

The conceptual model described here has resulted from the need to organize a body of knowledge related to the world of work which would enable curriculum developers to prepare accurate, realistic instructional materials. The world of work is described by applying Malinowski's scientific study of the structural components of culture. (Author/DS)

The status of interprofessional education in Canada.

PubMed

Gilbert, John H V

2010-01-01

This article describes the history and development of interprofessional education (IPE) in Canada from its conceptual beginnings in the 1960s to today. The status of IPE in Canada is viewed in relation to the broader international movements for IPE and collaborative healthcare. The current goals and principles of the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative are reviewed, and the future of IPE is considered in light of these goals.

Context-Aware Mobile Collaborative Systems: Conceptual Modeling and Case Study

PubMed Central

Benítez-Guerrero, Edgard; Mezura-Godoy, Carmen; Montané-Jiménez, Luis G.

2012-01-01

A Mobile Collaborative System (MCOS) enable the cooperation of the members of a team to achieve a common goal by using a combination of mobile and fixed technologies. MCOS can be enhanced if the context of the group of users is considered in the execution of activities. This paper proposes a novel model for Context-Aware Mobile COllaborative Systems (CAMCOS) and a functional architecture based on that model. In order to validate both the model and the architecture, a prototype system in the tourism domain was implemented and evaluated. PMID:23202007

Empirical research in medical ethics: how conceptual accounts on normative-empirical collaboration may improve research practice.

PubMed

Salloch, Sabine; Schildmann, Jan; Vollmann, Jochen

2012-04-13

The methodology of medical ethics during the last few decades has shifted from a predominant use of normative-philosophical analyses to an increasing involvement of empirical methods. The articles which have been published in the course of this so-called 'empirical turn' can be divided into conceptual accounts of empirical-normative collaboration and studies which use socio-empirical methods to investigate ethically relevant issues in concrete social contexts. A considered reference to normative research questions can be expected from good quality empirical research in medical ethics. However, a significant proportion of empirical studies currently published in medical ethics lacks such linkage between the empirical research and the normative analysis. In the first part of this paper, we will outline two typical shortcomings of empirical studies in medical ethics with regard to a link between normative questions and empirical data: (1) The complete lack of normative analysis, and (2) cryptonormativity and a missing account with regard to the relationship between 'is' and 'ought' statements. Subsequently, two selected concepts of empirical-normative collaboration will be presented and how these concepts may contribute to improve the linkage between normative and empirical aspects of empirical research in medical ethics will be demonstrated. Based on our analysis, as well as our own practical experience with empirical research in medical ethics, we conclude with a sketch of concrete suggestions for the conduct of empirical research in medical ethics. High quality empirical research in medical ethics is in need of a considered reference to normative analysis. In this paper, we demonstrate how conceptual approaches of empirical-normative collaboration can enhance empirical research in medical ethics with regard to the link between empirical research and normative analysis.

Empirical research in medical ethics: How conceptual accounts on normative-empirical collaboration may improve research practice

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The methodology of medical ethics during the last few decades has shifted from a predominant use of normative-philosophical analyses to an increasing involvement of empirical methods. The articles which have been published in the course of this so-called 'empirical turn' can be divided into conceptual accounts of empirical-normative collaboration and studies which use socio-empirical methods to investigate ethically relevant issues in concrete social contexts. Discussion A considered reference to normative research questions can be expected from good quality empirical research in medical ethics. However, a significant proportion of empirical studies currently published in medical ethics lacks such linkage between the empirical research and the normative analysis. In the first part of this paper, we will outline two typical shortcomings of empirical studies in medical ethics with regard to a link between normative questions and empirical data: (1) The complete lack of normative analysis, and (2) cryptonormativity and a missing account with regard to the relationship between 'is' and 'ought' statements. Subsequently, two selected concepts of empirical-normative collaboration will be presented and how these concepts may contribute to improve the linkage between normative and empirical aspects of empirical research in medical ethics will be demonstrated. Based on our analysis, as well as our own practical experience with empirical research in medical ethics, we conclude with a sketch of concrete suggestions for the conduct of empirical research in medical ethics. Summary High quality empirical research in medical ethics is in need of a considered reference to normative analysis. In this paper, we demonstrate how conceptual approaches of empirical-normative collaboration can enhance empirical research in medical ethics with regard to the link between empirical research and normative analysis. PMID:22500496

Escape the Black Hole of Lecturing: Put Collaborative Ranking Tasks on Your Event Horizon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hudgins, D. W.; Prather, E. E.; Grayson, D. J.

2005-05-01

At the University of Arizona, we have been developing and testing a new type of introductory astronomy curriculum material called Ranking Tasks. Ranking Tasks are a form of conceptual exercise that presents students with four to six physical situations, usually by pictures or diagrams, and asks students to rank order the situations based on some resulting effect. Our study developed design guidelines for Ranking Tasks based on learning theory and classroom pilot studies. Our research questions were: Do in-class collaborative Ranking Task exercises result in student conceptual gains when used in conjunction with traditional lecture-based instruction? And are these gains sufficient to justify implementing them into the astronomy classroom? We conducted a single-group repeated measures experiment across eight core introductory astronomy topics with 250 students at the University of Arizona in the Fall of 2004. The study found that traditional lecture-based instruction alone produced statistically significant gains - raising test scores to 61% post-lecture from 32% on the pretest. While significant, we find these gains to be unsatisfactory from a teaching and learning perspective. The study data shows that adding a collaborative learning component to the class structured around Ranking Task exercises helped students achieve statistically significant gains - with post-Ranking Task scores over the eight astronomy topic rising to 77%. Interestingly, we found that the normalized gain from the Ranking Tasks was equal to the entire previous gain from traditional instruction. Further analysis of the data revealed that Ranking Tasks equally benefited both genders; they also equally benefited both high and low-scoring median groups based on their pretest scores. Based on these results, we conclude that adding collaborative Ranking Task exercises to traditional lecture-based instruction can significantly improve student conceptual understanding of core topics in astronomy.

Investigating the Effects of Peer to Peer Prompts on Collaborative Argumentation, Consensus and Perceived Efficacy in Collaborative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harney, Owen M.; Hogan, Michael J.; Quinn, Sarah

2017-01-01

In a society which is calling for more productive modes of collaboration to address increasingly complex scientific and social issues, greater involvement of students in dialogue, and increased emphasis on collaborative discourse and argumentation, become essential modes of engagement and learning. This paper investigates the effects of…

Expanding NASA and Roscosmos Scientific Collaboration on the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hasbrook, Pete

2016-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) is a world-class laboratory orbiting in space. NASA and Roscosmos have developed a strong relationship through the ISS Program Partnership, working together and with the other ISS Partners for more than twenty years. Since 2013, based on a framework agreement between the Program Managers, NASA and Roscosmos are building a joint program of collaborative research on ISS. This international collaboration is developed and implemented in phases. Initially, members of the ISS Program Science Forum from NASA and TsNIIMash (representing Roscosmos) identified the first set of NASA experiments that could be implemented in the "near term". The experiments represented the research categories of Technology Demonstration, Microbiology, and Education. Through these experiments, the teams from the "program" and "operations" communities learned to work together to identify collaboration opportunities, establish agreements, and jointly plan and execute the experiments. The first joint scientific activity on ISS occurred in January 2014, and implementation of these joint experiments continues through present ISS operations. NASA and TsNIIMash have proceeded to develop "medium term" collaborations, where scientists join together to improve already-proposed experiments. A major success is the joint One-Year Mission on ISS, with astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, who returned from ISS in March, 2016. The teams from the NASA Human Research Program and the RAS Institute for Biomedical Problems built on their considerable experience to design joint experiments, learn to work with each other's protocols and processes, and share medical and research data. New collaborations are being developed between American and Russian scientists in complex fluids, robotics, rodent research and space biology, and additional human research. Collaborations are also being developed in Earth Remote Sensing, where scientists will share data from imaging systems mounted on ISS as well as other orbiting spacecraft to improve our understanding of the Earth and its climate. NASA and Roscosmos continue to encourage international scientific cooperation and expanded use of the ISS Laboratory. "Long-term", larger collaborations will achieve scientific objectives that no single national science team or agency can achieve on its own. The joint accomplishments achieved so far have paved the way for a stronger international scientific community and improved results and benefits from ISS.

Adults' decision-making about the electronic waste issue: The role of the nature of science conceptualizations and moral concerns in socio-scientific decision-making

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Yuqing

Socio-scientific issues have become increasingly important in Science-Technology-Society (STS) education as a means to make science learning more relevant to students' lives. This study used the e-waste issue as a context to investigate two aspects of socio-scientific decision-making: (1) the relationship between the nature of science (NOS) conceptualizations and decision-making; and (2) moral concerns involved in the process of decision-making. This study contributes to the field of socio-scientific issue research and STS education in the following ways. First, it is the first study that performed meta-analysis to seek the relationship between the NOS understanding and decision-making. This study concludes that valuable NOS conceptualizations that are highly related to the socio-scientific issue under investigation, rather than general NOS understanding, exert statistically significant influences on decision-making. Second, this study empirically examined the Multiple Responses Model (MRM), which enables the transfer of qualitative NOS responses into quantitative data, and hence, inferential statistics. The current study justifies the significance of unidimensionality to the application of the MRM. It addresses the limitations associated with the MRM and provides implications for future use of the MRM in other contexts. Finally, the study explores the role of moral concerns in socio-scientific decision-making. Eight participants engaged in interviews that were designed to elicit their reactions and feelings regarding the issue of exporting e-waste to poor countries. Qualitative analyses demonstrated that moral considerations were significant influences on decision-making. In addition, participants' action responses revealed that they were motivated to take action to help the environment. The study has implications for socio-scientific issue studies in other contexts and for teacher education programs that use socio-scientific issues to advance teachers' reasoning and discourse skills.

A Conceptual Model and Database to Integrate Data and Project Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guarinello, M. L.; Edsall, R.; Helbling, J.; Evaldt, E.; Glenn, N. F.; Delparte, D.; Sheneman, L.; Schumaker, R.

2015-12-01

Data management is critically foundational to doing effective science in our data-intensive research era and done well can enhance collaboration, increase the value of research data, and support requirements by funding agencies to make scientific data and other research products available through publically accessible online repositories. However, there are few examples (but see the Long-term Ecological Research Network Data Portal) of these data being provided in such a manner that allows exploration within the context of the research process - what specific research questions do these data seek to answer? what data were used to answer these questions? what data would have been helpful to answer these questions but were not available? We propose an agile conceptual model and database design, as well as example results, that integrate data management with project management not only to maximize the value of research data products but to enhance collaboration during the project and the process of project management itself. In our project, which we call 'Data Map,' we used agile principles by adopting a user-focused approach and by designing our database to be simple, responsive, and expandable. We initially designed Data Map for the Idaho EPSCoR project "Managing Idaho's Landscapes for Ecosystem Services (MILES)" (see https://www.idahoecosystems.org//) and will present example results for this work. We consulted with our primary users- project managers, data managers, and researchers to design the Data Map. Results will be useful to project managers and to funding agencies reviewing progress because they will readily provide answers to the questions "For which research projects/questions are data available and/or being generated by MILES researchers?" and "Which research projects/questions are associated with each of the 3 primary questions from the MILES proposal?" To be responsive to the needs of the project, we chose to streamline our design for the prototype database and build it in a way that is modular and can be changed or expanded to meet user needs. Our hope is that others, especially those managing large collaborative research grants, will be able to use our project model and database design to enhance the value of their project and data management both during and following the active research period.

Baltimore Urban Waters Partnership Conceptual Framework

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Patapsco Watershed/Baltimore Region (Maryland) Area of the Urban Waters Federal Partnership (UWFP) reconnects urban communities with their waterways by improving coordination among federal agencies and collaborating with community-led efforts.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yavas, Oe.

The Turkish Accelerator Center (TAC) Project was started in 1997 with support of the State Planning Organization (SPO) of Turkey under Ankara University's coordination. After completing Feasibility Report (FR, 2000) and Conceptual Design Repot (CDR, 2005), third phase of the project was started in 2006 as an inter-university project with support of SPO. Third phase of the project has two main scientific goals: to write Technical Design Report (TDR) of TAC and to establish an Infrared Free Electron Laser (IR FEL) facility as a first step. The first facility and TDR studies are planned to be completed in 2012. Constructionmore » phase of TAC will cover 2013-2023. TAC collaboration include ten Turkish Universities: Ankara, Gazi, Istanbul, Bogazici, Dogus, Uludag, Dumlupmar, Nigde, Erciyes and S. Demirel Universities. It was planned that the first facility will be an IR FEL and Bremsstrahlung laboratory based on 15-40 MeV electron linac and two optical cavities with 2.5 and 9 cm undulators to scan 2-250 microns wavelength range. Main purpose of the facility is to use IR FEL for research in material science, nonlinear optics, semiconductors, biotechnology, medicine and photochemical processes. In this study; aims, regional importance, main parts and main parameters of TAC and TAC IR FEL and Bremsstrahlung facility are explained. Road map of the TAC project is given. National and international collaborations are explained.« less

Establishing good collaborative research practices in the responsible conduct of research in nursing science.

PubMed

Ulrich, Connie M; Wallen, Gwenyth R; Cui, Naixue; Chittams, Jesse; Sweet, Monica; Plemmons, Dena

2015-01-01

Team science is advocated to speed the pace of scientific discovery, yet the goals of collaborative practice in nursing science and the responsibilities of nurse stakeholders are sparse and inconclusive. The purpose of this study was to examine nurse scientists' views on collaborative research as part of a larger study on standards of scientific conduct. Web-based descriptive survey of nurse scientists randomly selected from 50 doctoral graduate programs in the United States. Nearly forty percent of nurse respondents were not able to identify good collaborative practices for the discipline; more than three quarters did not know of any published guidelines available to them. Successful research collaborations were challenged by different expectations of authorship and data ownership, lack of timeliness and communication, poorly defined roles and responsibilities, language barriers, and when they involve junior and senior faculty working together on a project. Individual and organizational standards, practices, and policies for collaborative research needs clarification within the discipline. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Scientific research in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome: bibliometric analysis in SCOPUS, 1991-2012.

PubMed

Huamaní, Charles; Rey de Castro, Jorge; González-Alcaide, Gregorio; Polesel, Daniel Ninello; Tufik, Sergio; Andersen, Monica Levy

2015-03-01

The research in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may be beneficial from the collaboration between countries and researchers. In this study, we aimed to analyze the scientific research on OSA from 1991 to 2012 and to evaluate the collaboration networks between countries. We conducted a bibliometric study in the SCOPUS database. The systematic search was limited to "articles" published from 1991 to 2012. Articles are results of original research; we evaluated the following criteria: number of countries represented, number of authors, number of citations, and journal names. We determined which countries were the most productive (more articles published) and the number of collaborations between these countries. The probability of citation was evaluated using adjusted odds ratios in a logistic regression analysis. We found a total of 6,896 OSA-related articles that had been published in 1,422 journals, 50 % of these articles were concentrated in 41 journals. Of the 74 different countries associated with these articles, the USA had the highest involvement with 23.8 % of all articles published. The probability of citation increased by 1.23 times for each additional author, and by 2.23 times for each additional country represented; these findings were independent of time since publication, journal, or the country of the author. Scientific production on OSA is increasing with limited international collaboration. The country with the greatest production in this period (1991-2012) was the USA, which concentrated the international collaboration network on OSA. We recommended that articles should be produced with international collaboration to improve the quantity of scientific publications and their chances of publication in high impact journals.

Art-Science-Technology collaboration through immersive, interactive 3D visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kellogg, L. H.

2014-12-01

At the W. M. Keck Center for Active Visualization in Earth Sciences (KeckCAVES), a group of geoscientists and computer scientists collaborate to develop and use of interactive, immersive, 3D visualization technology to view, manipulate, and interpret data for scientific research. The visual impact of immersion in a CAVE environment can be extremely compelling, and from the outset KeckCAVES scientists have collaborated with artists to bring this technology to creative works, including theater and dance performance, installations, and gamification. The first full-fledged collaboration designed and produced a performance called "Collapse: Suddenly falling down", choreographed by Della Davidson, which investigated the human and cultural response to natural and man-made disasters. Scientific data (lidar scans of disaster sites, such as landslides and mine collapses) were fully integrated into the performance by the Sideshow Physical Theatre. This presentation will discuss both the technological and creative characteristics of, and lessons learned from the collaboration. Many parallels between the artistic and scientific process emerged. We observed that both artists and scientists set out to investigate a topic, solve a problem, or answer a question. Refining that question or problem is an essential part of both the creative and scientific workflow. Both artists and scientists seek understanding (in this case understanding of natural disasters). Differences also emerged; the group noted that the scientists sought clarity (including but not limited to quantitative measurements) as a means to understanding, while the artists embraced ambiguity, also as a means to understanding. Subsequent art-science-technology collaborations have responded to evolving technology for visualization and include gamification as a means to explore data, and use of augmented reality for informal learning in museum settings.

Conceptual Variation or Incoherence? Textbook Discourse on Genes in Six Countries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gericke, Niklas M.; Hagberg, Mariana; dos Santos, Vanessa Carvalho; Joaquim, Leyla Mariane; El-Hani, Charbel N.

2014-02-01

The aim of this paper is to investigate in a systematic and comparative way previous results of independent studies on the treatment of genes and gene function in high school textbooks from six different countries. We analyze how the conceptual variation within the scientific domain of Genetics regarding gene function models and gene concepts is transformed via the didactic transposition into school science textbooks. The results indicate that a common textbook discourse on genes and their function exist in textbooks from the different countries. The structure of science as represented by conceptual variation and the use of multiple models was present in all the textbooks. However, the existence of conceptual variation and multiple models is implicit in these textbooks, i.e., the phenomenon of conceptual variation and multiple models are not addressed explicitly, nor its consequences and, thus, it ends up introducing conceptual incoherence about the gene concept and its function within the textbooks. We conclude that within the found textbook-discourse ontological aspects of the academic disciplines of genetics and molecular biology were retained, but without their epistemological underpinnings; these are lost in the didactic transposition. These results are of interest since students might have problems reconstructing the correct scientific understanding from the transformed school science knowledge as depicted within the high school textbooks. Implications for textbook writing as well as teaching are discussed in the paper.

Using the prisms of gender and rank to interpret research collaboration power dynamics.

PubMed

Gaughan, Monica; Bozeman, Barry

2016-08-01

Collaboration is central to modern scientific inquiry, and increasingly important to the professional experiences of academic scientists. While the effects of collaboration have been widely studied, much less is understood about the motivations to collaborate and collaboration dynamics that generate scientific outcomes. A particular interest of this study is to understand how collaboration experiences differ between women and men, and the attributions used to explain these differences. We use a multi-method study of university Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics faculty research collaborators. We employ 177 anonymous open-ended responses to a web-based survey, and 60 semi-structured interviews of academic scientists in US research universities. We find similarities and differences in collaborative activity between men and women. Open-ended qualitative textual analysis suggests that some of these differences are attributed to power dynamics - both general ones related to differences in organizational status, and in power dynamics related specifically to gender. In analysis of semi-structured interviews, we find that both status and gender were used as interpretive frames for collaborative behavior, with more emphasis placed on status than gender differences. Overall, the findings support that gender structures some part of the collaborative experience, but that status hierarchy exerts more clear effects.

Toward a Durable Prevalence of Scientific Conceptions: Tracking the Effects of Two Interfering Misconceptions about Buoyancy from Preschoolers to Science Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Potvin, Patrice; Cyr, Guillaume

2017-01-01

While the majority of published research on conceptual change has focused on how misconceptions can be abandoned or modified, some recent research findings support the hypothesis that acquired scientific knowledge does not necessarily erase or alter initial non-scientific knowledge but rather coexists with it. In keeping with this…

Re-Conceptualization of Scientific Literacy in South Korea for the 21st Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choi, Kyunghee; Lee, Hyunju; Shin, Namsoo; Kim, Sung-Won; Krajcik, Joseph

2011-01-01

As the context of human life expands from personal to global, a new vision of scientific literacy is needed. Based on a synthesis of the literature and the findings of an online survey of South Korean and US secondary science teachers, we developed a framework for scientific literacy for South Korea that includes five dimensions: content…

On the impoverishment of scientific education.

PubMed

Dougherty, Edward R

2013-11-11

Hannah Arendt, one of the foremost political philosophers of the twentieth century, has argued that it is the responsibility of educators not to leave children in their own world but instead to bring them into the adult world so that, as adults, they can carry civilization forward to whatever challenges it will face by bringing to bear the learning of the past. In the same collection of essays, she discusses the recognition by modern science that Nature is inconceivable in terms of ordinary human conceptual categories - as she writes, 'unthinkable in terms of pure reason'. Together, these views on scientific education lead to an educational process that transforms children into adults, with a scientific adult being one who has the ability to conceptualize scientific systems independent of ordinary physical intuition. This article begins with Arendt's basic educational and scientific points and develops from them a critique of current scientific education in conjunction with an appeal to educate young scientists in a manner that allows them to fulfill their potential 'on the shoulders of giants'. While the article takes a general philosophical perspective, its specifics tend to be directed at biomedical education, in particular, how such education pertains to translational science.

On the impovesrishment of scientific education

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Hannah Arendt, one of the foremost political philosophers of the twentieth century, has argued that it is the responsibility of educators not to leave children in their own world but instead to bring them into the adult world so that, as adults, they can carry civilization forward to whatever challenges it will face by bringing to bear the learning of the past. In the same collection of essays, she discusses the recognition by modern science that Nature is inconceivable in terms of ordinary human conceptual categories - as she writes, ‘unthinkable in terms of pure reason’. Together, these views on scientific education lead to an educational process that transforms children into adults, with a scientific adult being one who has the ability to conceptualize scientific systems independent of ordinary physical intuition. This article begins with Arendt’s basic educational and scientific points and develops from them a critique of current scientific education in conjunction with an appeal to educate young scientists in a manner that allows them to fulfill their potential ‘on the shoulders of giants’. While the article takes a general philosophical perspective, its specifics tend to be directed at biomedical education, in particular, how such education pertains to translational science. PMID:24215841

Collaborative explanation, explanatory roles, and scientific explaining in practice.

PubMed

Love, Alan C

2015-08-01

Scientific explanation is a perennial topic in philosophy of science, but the literature has fragmented into specialized discussions in different scientific disciplines. An increasing attention to scientific practice by philosophers is (in part) responsible for this fragmentation and has put pressure on criteria of adequacy for philosophical accounts of explanation, usually demanding some form of pluralism. This commentary examines the arguments offered by Fagan and Woody with respect to explanation and understanding in scientific practice. I begin by scrutinizing Fagan's concept of collaborative explanation, highlighting its distinctive advantages and expressing concern about several of its assumptions. Then I analyze Woody's attempt to reorient discussions of scientific explanation around functional considerations, elaborating on the wider implications of this methodological recommendation. I conclude with reflections on synergies and tensions that emerge when the two papers are juxtaposed and how these draw attention to critical issues that confront ongoing philosophical analyses of scientific explanation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Understanding Possibilities and Limitations of Abstract Chemical Representations for Achieving Conceptual Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corradi, David M. J.; Elen, Jan; Schraepen, Beno; Clarebout, Geraldine

2014-01-01

When learning with abstract and scientific multiple external representations (MERs), low prior knowledge learners are said to have difficulties in using these MERs to achieve conceptual understanding. Yet little is known about what these limitations precisely entail. In order to understand this, we presented 101 learners with low prior knowledge…

Adding to the Toolkit: Three Conceptual Tradeoffs

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-02

Greek philosophers Parmenides and Heraclites. In his essay titled, “Design and the Prospects of a Military Renaissance,” Paparone described the world...viewed by Parmenides as the objective world of scientific reproducibility, ruled by concrete knowledge and nomotheticism, or the philosophy of seeking...subjective world of uniqueness, locality, novelty, and conceptualism. Parmenides

Remediating High School Students' Misconceptions Concerning Diffusion and Osmosis through Concept Mapping and Conceptual Change Text.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tekkaya, Ceren

2003-01-01

Investigates the effectiveness of combining conceptual change text and concept mapping strategies on students' understanding of diffusion and osmosis. Results indicate that while the average percentage of students in the experimental group holding a scientifically correct view rose, the percentage of correct responses in the control group…

Conceptual Variation in the Depiction of Gene Function in Upper Secondary School Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gericke, Niklas Markus; Hagberg, Mariana

2010-01-01

This paper explores conceptual variation in the depiction of gene function in upper secondary school textbooks. Historically, concepts in genetics have developed in various scientific frameworks, which has led to a level of incommensurability as concepts have changed over time within their respective frameworks. Since students may have…

Textbook Presentations of Weight: Conceptual Difficulties and Language Ambiguities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taibu, Rex; Rudge, David; Schuster, David

2015-01-01

The term "weight" has multiple related meanings in both scientific and everyday usage. Even among experts and in textbooks, weight is ambiguously defined as either the gravitational force on an object or operationally as the magnitude of the force an object exerts on a measuring scale. This poses both conceptual and language difficulties…

Fostering Conceptual Change and Critical Reasoning About HIV and AIDS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keselman, Alla; Kaufman, David R.; Kramer, Sharon; Patel, Vimla L.

2007-01-01

One of the challenges of science education is for students to develop scientific knowledge that is personally meaningful and applicable to real-life issues. This article describes a middle-school science intervention fostering adolescents' critical reasoning in the context of HIV by strengthening their conceptual understanding of HIV biology. The…

A Conceptual Model of the World of Work.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

VanRooy, William H.

The conceptual model described in this paper resulted from the need to organize a body of knowledge related to the world of work which would enable curriculum developers to prepare accurate, realistic instructional materials. The world of work is described by applying Malinowski's scientific study of the structural components of culture. It is…

Virtual Partnerships in Research and Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Payne, Deborah A.; Keating, Kelly A.; Myers, James D.

The William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Washington) is a collaborative user facility with many unique scientific capabilities. The EMSL expects to support many of its remote users and collaborators by electronic means and is creating a collaborative environment for this…

Analysis of Scientific Production in Food Science from 2003 to 2013.

PubMed

Guerrero-Bote, Vicente P; Moya-Anegón, Félix

2015-12-01

Food Science is an active discipline in scientific research. The improvements in Food Technology constitute a challenge for society to eradicate hunger, while achieving food safety. This work analyses the scientific production in Food Science of the 25 countries with the greatest output in this subject area in the period 2003 to 2013. The growth of China's production was striking, with the country becoming top-ranked by the end of the period. Some developing countries (such as Nigeria) achieved a major increase in production but reducing their proportion of scientific collaboration and their works' impact. There appear to be 2 international collaboration networks that get good results--one European and the other Pacific. © 2015 Institute of Food Technologists®

Creating a lab to facilitate high school student engagement in authentic paleoclimate science practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maloney, A.; Walsh, E.

2012-12-01

A solid understanding of timescales is crucial for any climate change discussion. This hands-on lab was designed as part of a dual-credit climate change course in which high school students can receive college credit. Using homemade ice cores, students have the opportunity to participate in scientific practices associated with collecting, processing, and interpreting temperature and CO2 data. Exploring millennial-scale cycles in ice core data and extending the CO2 record to the present allows students to discover timescales from an investigators perspective. The Ice Core Lab has been piloted in two high school classrooms and student engagement, and epistemological and conceptual understanding was evaluated using quantitative pre and post assessment surveys. The process of creating this lab involved a partnership between an education assessment professional, high school teachers, and University of Washington professors and graduate students in Oceanography, Earth and Space Sciences, Atmospheric Sciences and the Learning Sciences as part of the NASA Global Climate Change University of Washington in the High School program. This interdisciplinary collaboration led to the inception of the lab and was necessary to ensure that the lesson plan was pedagogically appropriate and scientifically accurate. The lab fits into a unit about natural variability and is paired with additional hands-on activities created by other graduate students that explore short-timescale temperature variations, Milankovitch cycles, isotopes, and other proxies. While the Ice Core Lab is intended to follow units that review the scientific process, global energy budget, and transport, it can be modified to fit any teaching platform.

Life In a large scientific collaboration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pravahan, Rishiraj

2011-03-01

I will be talking about life in a large scientific collaboration. The dynamics of dealing with many groups, collaborating with people from various linguistic and cultural origins can be a daunting experience. However, it is exactly this diversity of culture and learning that can make it an invigorating journey. You need to find your place in terms of professional contribution as well as personal liaisons to be productive and innovative in a large work culture. Scientific problems today are not solved by one person hunched over an old notebook. It is solved by sharing computer codes, experimental infrastructure and your questions over coffee with your colleagues. An affinity to take in and impart healthy criticism is a must for productive throughput of work. I will discuss all these aspects as well as issues that may arise from adjusting to a new country, customs, food, transportation or health-care system. The purpose of the talk is to familiarize you with what I have learned through my past five years of stay at CERN and working in the ATLAS collaboration.

Models as Relational Categories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kokkonen, Tommi

2017-01-01

Model-based learning (MBL) has an established position within science education. It has been found to enhance conceptual understanding and provide a way for engaging students in authentic scientific activity. Despite ample research, few studies have examined the cognitive processes regarding learning scientific concepts within MBL. On the other…

On Discerning Critical Elements, Relationships and Shifts in Attaining Scientific Terms: The Challenge of Polysemy/Homonymy and Reference

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strömdahl, Helge R.

2012-01-01

Words with well-known meaning in colloquial language often make up an educational challenge when introduced as terms with formal scientific meaning. New connections must be established between the word, already constrained by existing meaning and reference, and the intended formal scientific meaning and reference. A two-dimensional semantic/semiotic analysing schema (acronym 2-D SAS) has been developed to clarify a given word/term in a structured mode both according to non-formal senses and referents and formal scientific meaning and referents. The schema is constructed on ideas from semantics, semiotics and history and philosophy of science. The approach is supposed to be a contribution to make a fine-gained analysis of the structure and dynamics of conceptual change. The role of referents and referent change in conceptual change is highlighted by analysing the character of the recurrent mix-up of the terms heat and temperature among students at different educational levels.

Factors influencing perceived sustainability of Dutch community health programs.

PubMed

Vermeer, A J M; Van Assema, P; Hesdahl, B; Harting, J; De Vries, N K

2015-09-01

We assessed the perceived sustainability of community health programs organized by local intersectoral coalitions, as well as the factors that collaborating partners think might influence sustainability. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among 31 collaborating partners of 5 community health programs in deprived neighborhoods in the southern part of the Netherlands. The interview guide was based on a conceptual framework that includes factors related to the context, the leading organization, leadership, the coalition, collaborating partners, interventions and outcomes. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and content analyzed using NVivo 8.0. Participants in each of the programs varied in their perceptions of the sustainability of the program, but those people collaborating in pre-existing neighborhood structures expressed relatively high faith in their continuation. The participating citizens in particular believed that these structures would continue to address the health of the community in the future. We found factors from all categories of the conceptual framework that were perceived to influence sustainability. The program leaders appeared to be crucial to the programs, as they were frequently mentioned in close interaction with other factors. Program leaders should use a motivating and supportive leadership style and should act as 'program champions'. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Characterizing Distributed Concurrent Engineering Teams: A Descriptive Framework for Aerospace Concurrent Engineering Design Teams

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chattopadhyay, Debarati; Hihn, Jairus; Warfield, Keith

2011-01-01

As aerospace missions grow larger and more technically complex in the face of ever tighter budgets, it will become increasingly important to use concurrent engineering methods in the development of early conceptual designs because of their ability to facilitate rapid assessments and trades in a cost-efficient manner. To successfully accomplish these complex missions with limited funding, it is also essential to effectively leverage the strengths of individuals and teams across government, industry, academia, and international agencies by increased cooperation between organizations. As a result, the existing concurrent engineering teams will need to increasingly engage in distributed collaborative concurrent design. This paper is an extension of a recent white paper written by the Concurrent Engineering Working Group, which details the unique challenges of distributed collaborative concurrent engineering. This paper includes a short history of aerospace concurrent engineering, and defines the terms 'concurrent', 'collaborative' and 'distributed' in the context of aerospace concurrent engineering. In addition, a model for the levels of complexity of concurrent engineering teams is presented to provide a way to conceptualize information and data flow within these types of teams.

Identifying Strategic Scientific Opportunities

Cancer.gov

As NCI's central scientific strategy office, CRS collaborates with the institute's divisions, offices, and centers to identify research opportunities to advance NCI's vision for the future of cancer research.

A Survey of the Collaboration Rate of Authors in the E-Learning Subject Area over a 10-Year Period (2005-2014) Using Web of Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mohammadi, Aeen; Asadzandi, Shadi; Malgard, Shiva

2017-01-01

Partnership is one of the mechanisms of scientific development, and scientific collaboration or co-authorship is considered a key element in the progress of science. This study is a survey with a scientometric approach focusing on the field of e-learning products over 10 years. In an Advanced Search of the Web of Science, the following search…

Latin American scientific contribution to ecology.

PubMed

Wojciechowski, Juliana; Ceschin, Fernanda; Pereto, Suelen C A S; Ribas, Luiz G S; Bezerra, Luis A V; Dittrich, Jaqueline; Siqueira, Tadeu; Padial, André A

2017-01-01

Latin America embodies countries of special interest for ecological studies, given that areas with great value for biodiversity are located within their territories. This highlights the importance of an evaluation of ecological research in the Latin America region. We assessed the scientific participation of Latin American researchers in ecological journals, patterns of international collaboration, and defined the main characteristics of the articles. Although Latin American publications have increased in fourteen years, they accounted up to 9% of publications in Ecology. Brazil leaded the scientific production in Latin America, followed by Argentina and Mexico. In general, Latin American articles represented a low percentage of most journals total publication, with particularly low expression in high impact-factor journals. A half of the Latin American publications had international collaboration. Articles with more than five authors and with international collaboration were the most cited. Descriptive studies, mainly based in old theories, are still majority, suggesting that Ecology is in a developing stage in Latin America.

Building place-based collaborations to develop high school students' groundwater systems knowledge and decision-making capacity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Podrasky, A.; Covitt, B. A.; Woessner, W.

2017-12-01

The availability of clean water to support human uses and ecological integrity has become an urgent interest for many scientists, decision makers and citizens. Likewise, as computational capabilities increasingly revolutionize and become integral to the practice of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines, the STEM+ Computing (STEM+C) Partnerships program seeks to integrate the use of computational approaches in K-12 STEM teaching and learning. The Comp Hydro project, funded by a STEM+C grant from the National Science Foundation, brings together a diverse team of scientists, educators, professionals and citizens at sites in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland and Montana to foster water literacy, as well as computational science literacy, by integrating authentic, place- and data- based learning using physical, mathematical, computational and conceptual models. This multi-state project is currently engaging four teams of six teachers who work during two academic years with educators and scientists at each site. Teams work to develop instructional units specific to their region that integrate hydrologic science and computational modeling. The units, currently being piloted in high school earth and environmental science classes, provide a classroom context to investigate student understanding of how computation is used in Earth systems science. To develop effective science instruction that is rich in place- and data- based learning, effective collaborations between researchers, educators, scientists, professionals and citizens are crucial. In this poster, we focus on project implementation in Montana, where an instructional unit has been developed and is being tested through collaboration among University scientists, researchers and educators, high school teachers and agency and industry scientists and engineers. In particular, we discuss three characteristics of effective collaborative science education design for developing and implementing place- and data- based science education to support students in developing socio-scientific and computational literacy sufficient for making decisions about real world issues such as groundwater contamination. These characteristics include that science education experiences are real, responsive/accessible and rigorous.

Children's Learning in Scientific Thinking: Instructional Approaches and Roles of Variable Identification and Executive Function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blums, Angela

The present study examines instructional approaches and cognitive factors involved in elementary school children's thinking and learning the Control of Variables Strategy (CVS), a critical aspect of scientific reasoning. Previous research has identified several features related to effective instruction of CVS, including using a guided learning approach, the use of self-reflective questions, and learning in individual and group contexts. The current study examined the roles of procedural and conceptual instruction in learning CVS and investigated the role of executive function in the learning process. Additionally, this study examined how learning to identify variables is a part of the CVS process. In two studies (individual and classroom experiments), 139 third, fourth, and fifth grade students participated in hands-on and paper and pencil CVS learning activities and, in each study, were assigned to either a procedural instruction, conceptual instruction, or control (no instruction) group. Participants also completed a series of executive function tasks. The study was carried out with two parts--Study 1 used an individual context and Study 2 was carried out in a group setting. Results indicated that procedural and conceptual instruction were more effective than no instruction, and the ability to identify variables was identified as a key piece to the CVS process. Executive function predicted ability to identify variables and predicted success on CVS tasks. Developmental differences were present, in that older children outperformed younger children on CVS tasks, and that conceptual instruction was slightly more effective for older children. Some differences between individual and group instruction were found, with those in the individual context showing some advantage over the those in the group setting in learning CVS concepts. Conceptual implications about scientific thinking and practical implications in science education are discussed.

Brain Tumor Trials Collaborative | Center for Cancer Research

Cancer.gov

Brain Tumor Trials Collaborative In Pursuit of a Cure The mission of the BTTC is to develop and perform state-of-the-art clinical trials in a collaborative and collegial environment, advancing treatments for patients with brain tumors, merging good scientific method with concern for patient well-being and outcome.

Thinking Aloud Together: A Test of an Intervention To Foster Students' Collaborative Scientific Reasoning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hogan, Kathleen

1999-01-01

Describes the use of an intervention stressing the metacognitive, regulatory, and strategic aspects of knowledge co-construction. Finds that eighth grade students who received the intervention gained in metacognitive knowledge about collaborative reasoning and ability to articulate their collaborative reasoning processes compared to students in…

Civil Protection issues in urban management of natural hazards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bostenaru, Maria; Georgescu, Sever; Goretti, Agostino; Markus, Michael

2010-05-01

This paper reviews different approaches of collaboration with the Civil Protection across Europe, from the experience of the author. The first contact came working as a research assistant at the Universität Karlsruhe (TH), Germany, in frame of the SFB (Collaborative Research Centre) 461 "Strong earthquakes", which featured a collaboration Germany-Romania. The subproject C7, where involved, about Novel Rescue technologies was a collaboration between the Institute for Technology and Management in Construction, formerly Institute for Construction Management and Machinery, and the Romanian Civil Protection. The scientific results of the project were to be lated implemented by the Civil Protection. In course of the work contacts were done also through the work of the research associate, sub-project leader, in the THW (German Technical Assistance). Later on work continued at the same institute but in frame of the Research Training Network "Natural Disasters" when also contacts with the Romanian representative to the European Earthquake Engineering Association, were established. Working further in the same field of Natural Disasters, especially seismic risk, brought the author to the ROSE School in Pavia, Italy, researches of which closely collaborate with the EUCENTRE, founded, among other institutions, by the Italian Civil Protection. Particularly the collaboration with specialists from the Italian Civil Protection resulted in several initiatives, such as: - paper contribution to a special issue edited by the author, - organisation of EGU sessions on the topic of "Natural Hazards' Impact on Urban Areas and Infrastructure", - invited review of papers, - attendance of short course coordinated at the ROSE School on post-earthquake safety assessment, - ellaboration of scientific projects submitted for funding on the topic of earthquake hazard impact at various geographic scales, - further publication collaborations are in work, - it is intended to improve the collaboration between urban planning specialists and specialists in vulnerability studies at the Civil Protection in order to enhance the role of urban planning in disaster mitigation, - collaboration of the Italian Civil Protection with Romania with the National Institute for Building Research, the scientific director and EAEE representative, within the STEP project, on post-earthquake safety assessment, in l'Aquila, before and after the earthquake. This collaboration continued with invitation to the Global Earthquake Model Outreach Meeting of the Scientific Director, supported by the Italian Civil Protection as public participant, and to which we hope to be able to contribute, given the background in socio-economic aspects of the author (research topics in Karlsruhe) and the possibilities of dissemination of results on risks. More recently a training school in the framework of the COST action TU0801 "Semantic enrichment of 3D city models for sustainable urban development" on 3D for natural disaster management brought the author in contact with similar authorities from the Netherlands. More even, she has information first hand about the training held by the Hungarian Civil Protection with school children, where a further collaboration is envisaged. The lessons learned from these experiences are important because recently the author was invited to collaborate with the Centre for Emergency Architecture of the "Ion Mincu" University of Architecture and Urbanism. Emergency interventions are the field where collaboration with the Civil protection is required. In frame of the collaboration she is co-teaching a course on "Risks", from both natural and anthropic hazards. Especially the inclusion of the lessons from l'Aquila was discussed with the specialists mentioned above, but also the way the risk mapping can be done. Thus the lessons from scientific collaboration can be included in the teaching process.

A Multi-Year Program Developing an Explicit Reflective Pedagogy for Teaching Pre-service Teachers the Nature of Science by Ostention

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Mike U.; Scharmann, Lawrence

2008-02-01

This investigation delineates a multi-year action research agenda designed to develop an instructional model for teaching the nature of science (NOS) to preservice science teachers. Our past research strongly supports the use of explicit reflective instructional methods, which includes Thomas Kuhn’s notion of learning by ostention and treating science as a continuum (i.e., comparing fields of study to one another for relative placement as less to more scientific). Instruction based on conceptual change precepts, however, also exhibits promise. Thus, the investigators sought to ascertain the degree to which conceptual change took place among students (n = 15) participating in the NOS instructional model. Three case studies are presented to illustrate successful conceptual changes that took place as a result of the NOS instructional model. All three cases represent students who claim a very conservative Christian heritage and for whom evolution was not considered a legitimate scientific theory prior to participating in the NOS instructional model. All three case study individuals, along with their twelve classmates, placed evolution as most scientific when compared to intelligent design and a fictional field of study called “Umbrellaology.”

The Space Apps Challenge: Using Open Innovation Competitions to Engage The Public in the Scientific Process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, S. S.

2016-12-01

NASA's Space Apps Challenge encourages innovation, creativity and collaborative problem solving by gathering coders, builders, artists, designers, and storytellers in a 48-hour hackathon. Open Innovation competitions such as the Space Apps Challenge bring the scientific world to members of the public, regardless of age, experience, credentials, or expertise. In the past five years, this model of public engagement has been widely employed by government, nonprofit and academic institutions, allowing the building of partnerships between the scientific community and the individuals and communities they serve. Furthermore, advances in technology and challenge models have lowered the barriers and costs to scientific collaboration with and for the public. NASA's Space Apps Challenge, structured as a competition seeking solutions from the public to posed problems, brings together teams and forges collaborations between individuals and groups who would otherwise have never worked together for a short but high intensity problem solving session, Space Apps has has created a pathway to public engagement and innovation that is often faster, cheaper, and more impactful than traditional approaches.

Organization of Biomedical Data for Collaborative Scientific Research: A Research Information Management System

PubMed Central

Myneni, Sahiti; Patel, Vimla L.

2010-01-01

Biomedical researchers often work with massive, detailed and heterogeneous datasets. These datasets raise new challenges of information organization and management for scientific interpretation, as they demand much of the researchers’ time and attention. The current study investigated the nature of the problems that researchers face when dealing with such data. Four major problems identified with existing biomedical scientific information management methods were related to data organization, data sharing, collaboration, and publications. Therefore, there is a compelling need to develop an efficient and user-friendly information management system to handle the biomedical research data. This study evaluated the implementation of an information management system, which was introduced as part of the collaborative research to increase scientific productivity in a research laboratory. Laboratory members seemed to exhibit frustration during the implementation process. However, empirical findings revealed that they gained new knowledge and completed specified tasks while working together with the new system. Hence, researchers are urged to persist and persevere when dealing with any new technology, including an information management system in a research laboratory environment. PMID:20543892

Organization of Biomedical Data for Collaborative Scientific Research: A Research Information Management System.

PubMed

Myneni, Sahiti; Patel, Vimla L

2010-06-01

Biomedical researchers often work with massive, detailed and heterogeneous datasets. These datasets raise new challenges of information organization and management for scientific interpretation, as they demand much of the researchers' time and attention. The current study investigated the nature of the problems that researchers face when dealing with such data. Four major problems identified with existing biomedical scientific information management methods were related to data organization, data sharing, collaboration, and publications. Therefore, there is a compelling need to develop an efficient and user-friendly information management system to handle the biomedical research data. This study evaluated the implementation of an information management system, which was introduced as part of the collaborative research to increase scientific productivity in a research laboratory. Laboratory members seemed to exhibit frustration during the implementation process. However, empirical findings revealed that they gained new knowledge and completed specified tasks while working together with the new system. Hence, researchers are urged to persist and persevere when dealing with any new technology, including an information management system in a research laboratory environment.

Conceptual model for partnership and sustainability in global health.

PubMed

Leffers, Jeanne; Mitchell, Emma

2011-01-01

Although nursing has a long history of service to the global community, the profession lacks a theoretical and empirical base for nurses to frame their global practice. A study using grounded theory methodology to investigate partnership and sustainability for global health led to the development of a conceptual model. Interviews were conducted with 13 global health nurse experts. Themes from the interviews were: components for engagement, mutual goal setting, cultural bridging, collaboration, capacity building, leadership, partnership, ownership, and sustainability. Next, the identified themes were reviewed in the literature in order to evaluate their conceptual relationships. Finally, careful comparison of the interview transcripts and the supporting literature led to the Conceptual Framework for Partnership and Sustainability in Global Health Nursing. The model posits that engagement and partnership must precede any planning and intervention in order to create sustainable interventions. This conceptual framework will offer nurses important guidance for global health nursing practice. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Learner factors associated with radical conceptual change among undergraduates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olson, Joanne Kay

Students frequently enter learning situations with knowledge inconsistent with scientific views. One goal of science instruction is to enable students to construct scientifically accepted ideas while rejecting inaccurate constructs. This process is called conceptual change. This study examined factors associated with students at three levels of conceptual change to elucidate possible influences on the conceptual change process. Factors studied included motivation (including utility value, interest, attainment value, mood, self efficacy, and task difficulty), prior experiences with science, perceptions of the nature of science, connections to objects or events outside the classroom, and specific activities that helped students learn. Four science classes for undergraduate preservice elementary teachers participated in the study, conducted during a three week unit on electricity. Data sources included concept maps, drawings, reflective journal entries, quizzes, a science autobiography assignment, and interviews. Concept maps, drawings, and quizzes were analyzed, and students were placed into high, moderate, and low conceptual change groups. Of the ninety-eight students in the study, fifty-seven were interviewed. Perhaps the most important finding of this study relates to the assessment of conceptual change. Interviews were conducted two months after the unit, and many items on the concept maps had decayed from students' memories. This indicates that time is an important factor. In addition, interview-derived data demonstrated conceptual change levels; concept maps were insufficient to indicate the depth of students' understanding. Factors associated with conceptual change include self efficacy and interest in topic. In addition, moderate conceptual change students cited specific activities as having helped them learn. Low and high students focused on the method of instruction rather than specific activities. Factors not found to be associated with conceptual change include: utility value, mood, task difficulty, and prior experiences with science, and connections to objects and events outside the classroom. Attainment value, perceptions of the nature of science, and mood cannot be ruled out as possible factors due to the problematic nature of assessing them within the context of this study.

The Effects of Scientific Representations on Primary Students' Development of Scientific Discourse and Conceptual Understandings during Cooperative Contemporary Inquiry-Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gillies, Robyn M.; Nichols, Kim; Khan, Asaduzzaman

2015-01-01

Teaching students to use and interpret representations in science is critically important if they are to become scientifically literate and learn how to communicate their understandings and learning in science. This study involved 248 students (119 boys and 129 girls) from 26 grade 6 teachers' classes in nine primary schools in Brisbane,…

Modeling and Simulation in Healthcare Future Directions

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-07-13

Collaborate Evidence Based Medicine is . . . The Scientific Method as Applied to Medicine The Evidence IS the Science In order to accept evidence ... based medicine . . . we must accept the current method in Science The Scientific Method is Dead Scientific Method . . . . . . is DEAD? Not necessarily

Terms vs. Concepts--The Case of Weight

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taibu, Rex

2017-01-01

Terminological and conceptual issues surrounding the definition of scientific terms have bothered teachers and students for many years. Some terms such as "energy" are not even usually defined, although they appear in different contexts of scientific communication, and others such as "weight" have debatable definitions, and for…

Poster Presentations: Conceptualizing, Constructing and Critiquing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newbrey, Michael G.; Baltezore, Joan M.

2006-01-01

Posters are commonly used as tools for disseminating information at scientific meetings, but many students lack an understanding of "good" poster characteristics. We present a set of characteristics for use in constructing posters for scientific meetings and classroom presentations along with tips on critiquing posters to enhance their…

Community‐Academic Partnerships: A Systematic Review of the State of the Literature and Recommendations for Future Research

PubMed Central

MEZA, ROSEMARY D.; BRIKHO, BRIGITTE; NAAF, MEGHAN; ESTABILLO, JASPER A.; GOMEZ, EMILY D.; VEJNOSKA, SARAH F.; DUFEK, SARAH; STAHMER, AUBYN C.; AARONS, GREGORY A.

2016-01-01

Policy Points: Communities, funding agencies, and institutions are increasingly involving community stakeholders as partners in research, to provide firsthand knowledge and insight.Based on our systematic review of major literature databases, we recommend using a single term, community‐academic partnership (CAP), and a conceptual definition to unite multiple research disciplines and strengthen the field.Interpersonal and operational factors that facilitate or hinder the collaborative process have been consistently identified, including “trust among partners” and “respect among partners” (facilitating interpersonal factors) and “excessive time commitment” (hindering operational factor).Once CAP processes and characteristics are better understood, the effectiveness of collaborative partner involvement can be tested. Context Communities, funding agencies, and institutions are increasingly involving community stakeholders as partners in research. Community stakeholders can provide firsthand knowledge and insight, thereby increasing research relevance and feasibility. Despite the greater emphasis and use of community‐academic partnerships (CAP) across multiple disciplines, definitions of partnerships and methodologies vary greatly, and no systematic reviews consolidating this literature have been published. The purpose of this article, then, is to facilitate the continued growth of this field by examining the characteristics of CAPs and the current state of the science, identifying the facilitating and hindering influences on the collaborative process, and developing a common term and conceptual definition for use across disciplines. Methods Our systematic search of 6 major literature databases generated 1,332 unique articles, 50 of which met our criteria for inclusion and provided data on 54 unique CAPs. We then analyzed studies to describe CAP characteristics and to identify the terms and methods used, as well as the common influences on the CAP process and distal outcomes. Findings CAP research spans disciplines, involves a variety of community stakeholders, and focuses on a large range of study topics. CAP research articles, however, rarely report characteristics such as membership numbers or duration. Most studies involved case studies using qualitative methods to collect data on the collaborative process. Although various terms were used to describe collaborative partnerships, few studies provided conceptual definitions. Twenty‐three facilitating and hindering factors influencing the CAP collaboration process emerged from the literature. Outcomes from the CAPs most often included developing or refining tangible products. Conclusions Based on our systematic review, we recommend using a single term, community‐academic partnership, as well as a conceptual definition to unite multiple research disciplines. In addition, CAP characteristics and methods should be reported more systematically to advance the field (eg, to develop CAP evaluation tools). We have identified the most common influences that facilitate and hinder CAPs, which in turn should guide their development and sustainment. PMID:26994713

A scoping review of interdisciplinary collaboration in addictions education and training.

PubMed

Broyles, Lauren M; Conley, James W; Harding, John D; Gordon, Adam J

2013-01-01

Developing a workforce of multidisciplinary healthcare professionals equipped with the knowledge and skills to collaboratively address the public health crisis of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use is critical for effectively identifying, preventing, and managing AOD conditions and their sequelae. Despite general enthusiasm for interdisciplinary education and training, little is known overall about the nature and outcomes of interdisciplinary collaboration in addictions education and training. We conducted a five-stage scoping review of the literature to provide an eight domain overview of the state of interdisciplinary collaboration in addictions education (ICAE). In our final review of 30 articles, we identified a lack of conceptual and terminological clarity around ICAE but a wide range of learners and professional collaborators in ICAE initiatives, which focused on a variety of AOD topics and used a constellation of didactic, interactive, and service-learning teaching strategies and formats. Although we found limited substantive educational or practice-oriented outcomes available for ICAE initiatives, learner and faculty feedback reflected high enthusiasm for ICAE and widespread perceptions of benefit for improved clinical care. Facilitators and barriers to the implementation of ICAE initiatives occurred at the level of the individual and the institution and ranged from pragmatic to conceptual. Emerging trends in ICAE initiatives included increased application of learning and implementation theory and extension of ICAE into research training. We conclude with recommendations to support ICAE as a new paradigm for addictions education for all health professionals.

Designing Science Learning in the First Years of Schooling. An intervention study with sequenced learning material on the topic of `floating and sinking'

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leuchter, Miriam; Saalbach, Henrik; Hardy, Ilonca

2014-07-01

Research on learning and instruction of science has shown that learning environments applied in preschool and primary school rarely makes use of structured learning materials in problem-based environments although these are decisive quality features for promoting conceptual change and scientific reasoning within early science learning. We thus developed and implemented a science learning environment for children in the first years of schooling which contains structured learning materials with the goal of supporting conceptual change concerning the understanding of the floating and sinking of objects and fostering students' scientific reasoning skills. In the present implementation study, we aim to provide a best-practice example of early science learning. The study was conducted with a sample of 15 classes of the first years of schooling and a total of 244 children. Tests were constructed to measure children's conceptual understanding before and after the implementation. Our results reveal a decrease in children's misconceptions from pretest to posttest. After the curriculum, the children were able to produce significantly more correct predictions about the sinking or floating of objects than before the curriculum and also relative to a control group. Moreover, due to the intervention, the explanations given for their predictions implied a more elaborated concept of material kinds. All in all, a well-structured curriculum promoting comparison and scientific reasoning by means of inquiry learning was shown to support children's conceptual change.

The Early Scientific Contributions of J. Robert Oppenheimer: Why Did the Scientific Community Miss the Black Hole Opportunity?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ortega-Rodríguez, M.; Solís-Sánchez, H.; Boza-Oviedo, E.; Chaves-Cruz, K.; Guevara-Bertsch, M.; Quirós-Rojas, M.; Vargas-Hernández, S.; Venegas-Li, A.

2017-04-01

We assess the scientific value of Oppenheimer's research on black holes in order to explain its neglect by the scientific community, and even by Oppenheimer himself. Looking closely at the scientific culture and conceptual belief system of the 1930s, the present article seeks to supplement the existing literature by enriching the explanations and complicating the guiding questions. We suggest a rereading of Oppenheimer as a figure both more intriguing for the history of astrophysics and further ahead of his time than is commonly supposed.

Problematizing as a scientific endeavor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phillips, Anna McLean; Watkins, Jessica; Hammer, David

2017-12-01

The work of physics learners at all levels revolves around problems. Physics education research has inspired attention to the forms of these problems, whether conceptual or algorithmic, closed or open response, well or ill structured. Meanwhile, it has been the work of curriculum developers and instructors to develop these problems. Physics education research has supported these efforts with studies of students problem solving and the effects of different kinds of problems on learning. In this article we argue, first, that developing problems is central to the discipline of physics. It involves noticing a gap of understanding, identifying and articulating its precise nature, and motivating a community of its existence and significance. We refer to this activity as problematizing, and we show its importance by drawing from writings in physics and philosophy of science. Second, we argue that students, from elementary age to adults, can problematize as part of their engaging in scientific inquiry. We present four cases, drawing from episodes vetted by a panel of collaborating faculty in science departments as clear instances of students doing science. Although neither we nor the scientists had problematizing in mind when screening cases, we found it across the episodes. We close with implications for instruction, including the value of helping students recognize and manage the situation of being confused but not yet having a clear question, and implications for research, including the need to build problematizing into our models of learning.

Interdisciplinary mixed methods research with structurally vulnerable populations: case studies of injection drug users in San Francisco.

PubMed

Lopez, Andrea M; Bourgois, Philippe; Wenger, Lynn D; Lorvick, Jennifer; Martinez, Alexis N; Kral, Alex H

2013-03-01

Research with injection drug users (IDUs) benefits from interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological innovation because drug use is illegal, socially sanctioned and often hidden. Despite the increasing visibility of interdisciplinary, mixed methods research projects with IDUs, qualitative components are often subordinated to quantitative approaches and page restrictions in top addiction journals limit detailed reports of complex data collection and analysis logistics, thus minimizing the fuller scientific potential of genuine mixed methods. We present the methodological logistics and conceptual approaches of four mixed-methods research projects that our interdisciplinary team conducted in San Francisco with IDUs over the past two decades. These projects include combinations of participant-observation ethnography, in-depth qualitative interviewing, epidemiological surveys, photo-documentation, and geographic mapping. We adapted Greene et al.'s framework for combining methods in a single research project through: data triangulation, methodological complementarity, methodological initiation, and methodological expansion. We argue that: (1) flexible and self-reflexive methodological procedures allowed us to seize strategic opportunities to document unexpected and sometimes contradictory findings as they emerged to generate new research questions, (2) iteratively mixing methods increased the scope, reliability, and generalizability of our data, and (3) interdisciplinary collaboration contributed to a scientific "value added" that allowed for more robust theoretical and practical findings about drug use and risk-taking. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Interdisciplinary Mixed Methods Research with Structurally Vulnerable Populations: Case Studies of Injection Drug Users in San Francisco

PubMed Central

Lopez, Andrea; Bourgois, Philippe; Wenger, Lynn; Lorvick, Jennifer; Martinez, Alexis; Kral, Alex H.

2013-01-01

Research with injection drug users (IDUs) benefits from interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological innovation because drug use is illegal, socially sanctioned and often hidden. Despite the increasing visibility of interdisciplinary, mixed methods research projects with IDUs, qualitative components are often subordinated to quantitative approaches and page restrictions in top addiction journals limit detailed reports of complex data collection and analysis logistics, thus minimizing the fuller scientific potential of genuine mixed methods. We present the methodological logistics and conceptual approaches of four mixed-methods research projects that our interdisciplinary team conducted in San Francisco with IDUs over the past two decades. These projects include combinations of participant-observation ethnography, in-depth qualitative interviewing, epidemiological surveys, photo-documentation, and geographic mapping. We adapted Greene et al.’s framework for combining methods in a single research project through: data triangulation, methodological complementarity, methodological initiation, and methodological expansion. We argue that: (1) flexible and self-reflexive methodological procedures allowed us to seize strategic opportunities to document unexpected and sometimes contradictory findings as they emerged to generate new research questions, (2) iteratively mixing methods increased the scope, reliability, and generalizability of our data, and (3) interdisciplinary collaboration contributed to a scientific “value added” that allowed for more robust theoretical and practical findings about drug use and risk-taking. PMID:23312109

New observations of (4179) Toutatis from the Chang'e-2 flyby mission and future Chinese missions to asteroids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, J.

2014-07-01

Primitive asteroids are remnant building blocks in the Solar System formation. They provide key clues for us to reach in-depth understanding of the process of planetary formation, the complex environment of early Solar nebula, and even the occurrence of life on the Earth. On 13 December 2012, Chang'e-2 completed a successful flyby of the near-Earth asteroid (4179) Toutatis at a closest distance of 770 meters from the asteroid's surface. The observations show that Toutatis has an irregular surface and its shape resembles a ginger-root with a smaller lobe (head) and a larger lobe (body). Such bifurcated configuration is indicative of a contact binary origin for Toutatis. In addition, the images with a 3-m resolution or higher provide a number of new discoveries about this asteroid, such as an 800-meter basin at the end of the large lobe, a sharply perpendicular silhouette near the neck region, and direct evidence of boulders and regolith, indicating that Toutatis is probably a rubble-pile asteroid. The Chang'e-2 observations have provided significant new insights into the geological features and the formation and evolution of this asteroid. Moreover, a conceptual introduction to future Chinese missions to asteroids, such as the major scientific objectives, scientific payloads, and potential targets, will be briefly given. The proposed mission will benefit a lot from potential international collaboration in the future.

The Oregon Health and Science University-Oregon State Hospital Collaboration: Reflections on an Evolving Public-Academic Partnership.

PubMed

Chien, Joseph; Novosad, David; Mobbs, Karl E

2016-03-01

This column describes the conceptualization and implementation of an innovative collaboration between Oregon State Hospital and Oregon Health and Science University that was created to address understaffing and improve the quality of care. The hospital created a forensic evaluation rotation to address the growing population of forensic patients, which created a valuable recruiting tool for the hospital. One of the authors, a recent recruit, provides a first-person account of his experience working within the collaboration. The model could be emulated by other public-sector facilities facing similar challenges with psychiatrist recruitment and retention.

The Journey to Interprofessional Collaborative Practice: Are We There Yet?

PubMed

Golom, Frank D; Schreck, Janet Simon

2018-02-01

Interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) is a service delivery approach that seeks to improve health care outcomes and the patient experience while simultaneously decreasing health care costs. The current article reviews the core competencies and current trends associated with IPCP, including challenges faced by health care practitioners when working on interprofessional teams. Several conceptual frameworks and empirically supported interventions from the fields of organizational psychology and organization development are presented to assist health care professionals in transitioning their teams to a more interprofessionally collaborative, team-based model of practice. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Exploration of Korean Students' Scientific Imagination Using the Scientific Imagination Inventory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mun, Jiyeong; Mun, Kongju; Kim, Sung-Won

2015-09-01

This article reports on the study of the components of scientific imagination and describes the scales used to measure scientific imagination in Korean elementary and secondary students. In this study, we developed an inventory, which we call the Scientific Imagination Inventory (SII), in order to examine aspects of scientific imagination. We identified three conceptual components of scientific imagination, which were composed of (1) scientific sensitivity, (2) scientific creativity, and (3) scientific productivity. We administered SII to 662 students (4th-8th grades) and confirmed validity and reliability using exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach α coefficient. The characteristics of Korean elementary and secondary students' overall scientific imagination and difference across gender and grade level are discussed in the results section.

Modeling Scientific Processes with Mathematics Equations Enhances Student Qualitative Conceptual Understanding and Quantitative Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schuchardt, Anita M.; Schunn, Christian D.

2016-01-01

Amid calls for integrating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (iSTEM) in K-12 education, there is a pressing need to uncover productive methods of integration. Prior research has shown that increasing contextual linkages between science and mathematics is associated with student problem solving and conceptual understanding. However,…

The Coexistence Claim and Its Possible Implications for Success in Teaching for Conceptual "Change"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Potvin, Patrice

2017-01-01

This article presents recent research results in mental chronometry and neuroimaging that support the coexistence of multiple conceptions. It then presents and elaborates on six possible implications for an adherence to the coexistence claim within the context of scientific conceptual learning: (1) stop the war on misconceptions; (2) use a…

Conceptual Resources for Constructing the Concepts of Electricity: The Role of Models, Analogies and Imagination

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taber, Keith S.; de Trafford, Tom; Quail, Teresa

2006-01-01

The topic of electricity offers considerable challenge for the teacher hoping to provide students with an insight into scientific ways of thinking about circuits. The concepts used to make sense of electric circuits are abstract and students are expected to develop conceptual models of the relationship between non-observable qualities (current,…

Student Learning of Complex Earth Systems: Conceptual Frameworks of Earth Systems and Instructional Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scherer, Hannah H.; Holder, Lauren; Herbert, Bruce

2017-01-01

Engaging students in authentic problem solving concerning environmental issues in near-surface complex Earth systems involves both developing student conceptualization of Earth as a system and applying that scientific knowledge using techniques that model those used by professionals. In this first paper of a two-part series, we review the state of…

Understanding the Conceptual and Language Challenges Encountered by Grade 4 Students When Writing Scientific Explanations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seah, Lay Hoon

2016-01-01

This study is an attempt to examine the use of linguistic resources by primary science students so as to understand the conceptual and language demands encountered by them when constructing written explanations. The students' written explanations and the instructional language (whole-class discussion and textbook) employed over the topic, the life…

Conceptual Variation or Incoherence? Textbook Discourse on Genes in Six Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gericke, Niklas M.; Hagberg, Mariana; dos Santos, Vanessa Carvalho; Joaquim, Leyla Mariane; El-Hani, Charbel N.

2014-01-01

The aim of this paper is to investigate in a systematic and comparative way previous results of independent studies on the treatment of genes and gene function in high school textbooks from six different countries. We analyze how the conceptual variation within the scientific domain of Genetics regarding gene function models and gene concepts is…

Conceptual Tutoring Software for Promoting Deep Learning: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stott, Angela; Hattingh, Annemarie

2015-01-01

The paper presents a case study of the use of conceptual tutoring software to promote deep learning of the scientific concept of density among 50 final year pre-service student teachers in a natural sciences course in a South African university. Individually-paced electronic tutoring is potentially an effective way of meeting the students' varied…

Toward a Script Theory of Guidance in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning

PubMed Central

Fischer, Frank; Kollar, Ingo; Stegmann, Karsten; Wecker, Christof

2013-01-01

This article presents an outline of a script theory of guidance for computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). With its 4 types of components of internal and external scripts (play, scene, role, and scriptlet) and 7 principles, this theory addresses the question of how CSCL practices are shaped by dynamically reconfigured internal collaboration scripts of the participating learners. Furthermore, it explains how internal collaboration scripts develop through participation in CSCL practices. It emphasizes the importance of active application of subject matter knowledge in CSCL practices, and it prioritizes transactive over nontransactive forms of knowledge application in order to facilitate learning. Further, the theory explains how external collaboration scripts modify CSCL practices and how they influence the development of internal collaboration scripts. The principles specify an optimal scaffolding level for external collaboration scripts and allow for the formulation of hypotheses about the fading of external collaboration scripts. Finally, the article points toward conceptual challenges and future research questions. PMID:23378679

Seeking an Expanded, Multidimensional Conceptual Approach to Health Literacy and Health Disparities Research.

PubMed

Logan, Robert A

2017-01-01

This chapter compares the conceptual foundations of health literacy and health disparities. It details some of the conceptual differences between health literacy and health disparities and explains some similarities that suggest the need for increased research collaboration. The chapter is among the first to address the structural and social determinants of health together and explain that future research needs to assess their interactions. Overall, the chapter creates a conceptual foundation as well as challenges future scholars/practitioners to take more multidimensional approaches to assess health's determinants. The chapter also attempts to demonstrate there is nothing more practical than good theory, or clear conceptual foundations. The chapter is divided into four sections that address the following topics: three conceptual frameworks about the determinants of health; opportunities in health disparities and health literacy research; seeking an expanded, multidimensional conceptual approach to health literacy and health disparities research; as well as a conclusion. The chapter suggests there are vacuums in current research knowledge that need future attention - especially regarding the integration of health literacy and health disparities research.

Impact of a Scientist-Teacher Collaborative Model on Students, Teachers, and Scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shein, Paichi Pat; Tsai, Chun-Yen

2015-09-01

Collaborations between the K-12 teachers and higher education or professional scientists have become a widespread approach to science education reform. Educational funding and efforts have been invested to establish these cross-institutional collaborations in many countries. Since 2006, Taiwan initiated the High Scope Program, a high school science curriculum reform to promote scientific innovation and inquiry through an integration of advanced science and technology in high school science curricula through partnership between high school teachers and higher education scientists and science educators. This study, as part of this governmental effort, a scientist-teacher collaborative model (STCM) was constructed by 8 scientists and 4 teachers to drive an 18-week high school science curriculum reform on environmental education in a public high school. Partnerships between scientists and teachers offer opportunities to strengthen the elements of effective science teaching identified by Shulman and ultimately affect students' learning. Mixed methods research was used for this study. Qualitative methods of interviews were used to understand the impact on the teachers' and scientists' science teaching. A quasi-experimental design was used to understand the impact on students' scientific competency and scientific interest. The findings in this study suggest that the use of the STCM had a medium effect on students' scientific competency and a large effect on students' scientific individual and situational interests. In the interviews, the teachers indicated how the STCM allowed them to improve their content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and the scientists indicated an increased knowledge of learners, knowledge of curriculum, and PCK.

The Collaboration Readiness of Transdisciplinary Research Teams and Centers

PubMed Central

Hall, Kara L.; Stokols, Daniel; Moser, Richard P.; Taylor, Brandie K.; Thornquist, Mark D.; Nebeling, Linda C.; Ehret, Carolyn C.; Barnett, Matthew J.; McTiernan, Anne; Berger, Nathan A.; Goran, Michael I.; Jeffery, Robert W.

2009-01-01

Growing interest in promoting cross-disciplinary collaboration among health scientists has prompted several federal agencies, including the NIH, to establish large, multicenter initiatives intended to foster collaborative research and training. In order to assess whether these initiatives are effective in promoting scientific collaboration that ultimately results in public health improvements, it is necessary to develop new strategies for evaluating research processes and products as well as the longer-term societal outcomes associated with these programs. Ideally, evaluative measures should be administered over the entire course of large initiatives, including their near-term and later phases. The present study focuses on the development of new tools for assessing the readiness for collaboration among health scientists at the outset (during Year One) of their participation in the National Cancer Institute’s Transdisciplinary Research on Energetics and Cancer (TREC) initiative. Indexes of collaborative readiness, along with additional measures of near-term collaborative processes, were administered as part of the TREC Year-One evaluation survey. Additionally, early progress toward scientific collaboration and integration was assessed, using a protocol for evaluating written research products. Results from the Year-One survey and the ratings of written products provide evidence of cross-disciplinary collaboration among participants during the first year of the initiative, and also reveal opportunities for enhancing collaborative processes and outcomes during subsequent phases of the project. The implications of these findings for future evaluations of team science initiatives are discussed. PMID:18619396

Worldviews: A New Paradigm for Astronomy Education Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wallace, Colin Scott; Prather, E. E.; Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars CATS

2012-01-01

Much of astronomy education research focuses on improving students’ conceptual understandings of key astronomy topics. But are we missing something important if we restrict our efforts to conceptual change? In this talk, we argue that we also need to shape our instruction such that it affects students’ worldviews. By worldview, we mean a set of (often implicit and often non-rational) beliefs, presuppositions, and assumptions about reality that affect our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, and determine what constitutes valid and important knowledge about the world. Prior science education research has shown that a students’ worldview plays a fundamental role in his or her acceptance or rejection of science. We believe that our instruction must be informed by the interplay between students’ worldviews and the worldview of science if we want our students to become advocates for science. By advocates for science, we mean they feel motivated and obliged to communicate science to those around them, and they recognize the importance of science for their society, especially as evidenced by the amount of funding they are willing to support for scientific research. This material is based in part upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 0715517, a CCLI Phase III Grant for the Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars (CATS). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Pioneering the Transdisciplinary Team Science Approach: Lessons Learned from National Cancer Institute Grantees

PubMed Central

Vogel, Amanda L; Stipelman, Brooke A; Hall, Kara L; Nebeling, Linda; Stokols, Daniel; Spruijt-Metz, Donna

2014-01-01

The National Cancer Institute has been a leader in supporting transdisciplinary (TD) team science. From 2005-2010, the NCI supported Transdisciplinary Research on Energetic and Cancer I (TREC I), a center initiative fostering the TD integration of social, behavioral, and biological sciences to examine the relationships among obesity, nutrition, physical activity and cancer. In the final year of TREC I, we conducted qualitative in-depth-interviews with 31 participating investigators and trainees to learn more about their experiences with TD team science, including challenges, facilitating factors, strategies for success, and impacts. Five main challenges emerged: (1) limited published guidance for how to engage in TD team science, when TREC I was implemented; (2) conceptual and scientific challenges inherent to efforts to achieve TD integration; (3) discipline-based differences in values, terminology, methods, and work styles; (4) project management challenges involved in TD team science; and (5) traditional incentive and reward systems that do not recognize or reward TD team science. Four main facilitating factors and strategies for success emerged: (1) beneficial attitudes and beliefs about TD research and team science; (2) effective team processes; (3) brokering and bridge-building activities by individuals holding particular roles in a research center; and (4) funding initiative characteristics that support TD team science. Broad impacts of participating in TD team science in the context of TREC I included: (1) new positive attitudes about TD research and team science; (2) new boundary-crossing collaborations; (3) scientific advances related to research approaches, findings, and dissemination; (4) institutional culture change and resource creation in support of TD team science; and (5) career advancement. Funding agencies, academic institutions, and scholarly journals can help to foster TD team science through funding opportunities, institutional policies on extra-departmental and cross-school collaboration, promotion and tenure policies, and publishing opportunities for TD research. PMID:25554748

Co-production of knowledge: An Inuit Indigenous Knowledge perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daniel, R.; Behe, C.

2017-12-01

A "co-production of knowledge" approach brings together different knowledge systems while building equitable and collaborative partnerships from `different ways of knowing.' Inuit Indigenous Knowledge is a systematic way of thinking applied to phenomena across biological, physical, cultural and spiritual systems; rooted with a holistic understanding of ecosystems (ICC Alaska 2016). A holistic image of Arctic environmental change is attained by bringing Indigenous Knowledge (IK) holders and scientists together through a co-production of knowledge framework. Experts from IK and science should be involved together from the inception of a project. IK should be respected as its own knowledge system and should not be translated into science. A co-production of knowledge approach is important in developing adaptation policies and practices, for sustainability and to address biodiversity conservation (Daniel et al. 2016). Co-production of knowledge is increasingly being recognized by the scientific community at-large. However, in many instances the concept is being incorrectly applied. This talk will build on the important components of co-production of knowledge from an Inuit perspective and specifically IK. In this presentation we will differentiate the co-production of knowledge from a multi-disciplinary approach or multi-evidence based decision-making. We underscore the role and value of different knowledge systems with different methodologies and the need for collaborative approaches in identifying research questions. We will also provide examples from our experiences with Indigenous communities and scientists in the Arctic. References: Inuit Circumpolar Council of Alaska. 2016. Alaskan Inuit Food Security Conceptual Framework: How to Assess the Arctic From An Inuit Perspective, 201pp. Daniel, R., C. Behe, J. Raymond-Yakoubian, E. Krummel, and S. Gearhead. Arctic Observing Summit White Paper Synthesis, Theme 6: Interfacing Indigenous Knowledge, Community-based Monitoring and Scientific Methods for Sustained Arctic Observations. http://www.arcticobservingsummit.org/sites/arcticobservingsummit.org/files/Daniel_Laing_Kielsen%20Holm_et_al-AOS2016-Theme-6-IK-CBM-Synthesis-updated-2016-04.pdf

Exploring teachers' beliefs and knowledge about scientific inquiry and the nature of science: A collaborative action research project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fazio, Xavier Eric

Science curriculum reform goals espouse the need to foster and support the development of scientific literacy in students. Two critical goals of scientific literacy are students' engagement in, and developing more realistic conceptions about scientific inquiry (SI) and the nature of science (NOS). In order to promote the learning of these curriculum emphases, teachers themselves must possess beliefs and knowledge supportive of them. Collaborative action research is a viable form of curriculum and teacher development that can be used to support teachers in developing the requisite beliefs and knowledge that can promote these scientific literacy goals. This research study used a collective case study methodology to describe and interpret the views and actions of four teachers participating in a collaborative action research project. I explored the teachers' SI and NOS views throughout the project as they investigated ideas and theories, critically examined their current curricular practice, and implemented and reflected on these modified curricular practices. By the end of the research study, all participants had uniquely augmented their understanding of SI and NOS. The participants were better able to provide explanatory depth to some SI and NOS ideas; however, specific belief revision with respect to SI and NOS ideas was nominal. Furthermore, their idealized action research plans were not implemented to the extent that they were planned. Explanations for these findings include: impact of significant past educational experiences, prior understanding of SI and NOS, depth of content and pedagogical content knowledge of the discipline, and institutional and instructional constraints. Nonetheless, through participation in the collaborative action research process, the teachers developed professionally, personally, and socially. They identified many positive outcomes from participating in a collaborative action research project; however, they espoused constraints to implementing innovative actions. Indeed, local school cultures were barriers to the participants' development. A model of teacher development embracing all the developmental areas is presented---an integration of social, personal, and professional development. Implications and recommendations for future research on teachers' beliefs and knowledge, as well as the viability of collaborative action research to facilitate teacher and curriculum development are presented.

Scientific Reasoning Abilities of Nonscience Majors in Physics-Based Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, J. Christopher; Rubbo, Louis J.

2012-01-01

We have found that non-STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) majors taking either a conceptual physics or astronomy course at two regional comprehensive institutions score significantly lower preinstruction on the Lawson's Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning (LCTSR) in comparison to national average STEM majors. Based on…

What Makes a Scientific Research Question Worth Investigating? Students' Epistemic Criteria and Considerations of Contribution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berson, Eric Bruckner

2012-01-01

This dissertation introduces the construct of "worthwhileness" as an important aspect of students' "practical" epistemologies of science (Sandoval, 2005). Specifically, it examines how students conceptualize what makes a scientific research question worthwhile, through a close analysis of the criteria they use for…

Inquiry through Modeling: Exploring the Tensions between Natural & Sexual Selection Using Crickets

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bouwma-Gearhart, Jana; Bouwma, Andrew

2015-01-01

The "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States, 2013) recommend that science courses engage communities of students in scientific practices that include building accurate conceptual models of phenomena central to the understanding of scientific disciplines. We offer a set of activities, implemented successfully at both the…

An Investigation on the Scientific Thinking Ability of Fourth Year University Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boo, Hong-Kwen; Toh, Kok-Aun

1998-01-01

Fourth-year university students (n=12) in a secondary-science-education degree program in Singapore were interviewed after demonstrations of five familiar chemical reactions. The majority of interviewees used perceptually-dominated rather than conceptually-dominated thinking and were unable to use scientific concepts consistently across the five…

Staying in Science: Can Understanding of the Disciplinary Connectedness of Science Help?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mooed, Azra; Kaiser, Susan

2018-01-01

Most international curricula require students to develop conceptual and procedural understandings along with developing an understanding about the nature of science. Moreover, science education endeavours to produce scientifically literate citizens capable of making informed decisions about the social-scientific issues in their everyday lives;…

Research in Special Education: Scientific Methods and Evidence-Based Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Odom, Samuel L.; Brantlinger, Ellen; Gersten, Russell; Horner, Robert H.; Thompson, Bruce; Harris, Karen R.

2005-01-01

This article sets the context for the development of research quality indicators and guidelines for evidence of effective practices provided by different methodologies. The current conceptualization of scientific research in education and the complexity of conducting research in special education settings underlie the development of quality…

Science Camps in Europe--Collaboration with Companies and School, Implications and Results on Scientific Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindner, M.; Kubat, C.

2014-01-01

The paper informs on the characteristics of a Comenius Network of seven organizations, who are collaborating in exchanging best practice on science camps. This exchange includes evaluation results on more science camps of European organizations, which will deliver information on organization, collaboration with companies, pedagogical aspects, as…

Collaborative-Group Testing Improves Learning and Knowledge Retention of Human Physiology Topics in Second-Year Medical Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vázquez-García, Mario

2018-01-01

The present study examined the relationship between second-year medical students' group performance and individual performance in a collaborative-learning environment. In recent decades, university professors in the scientific and humanistic disciplines have successfully put into practice different modalities of collaborative approaches to…

Technology-Supported Formative and Summative Assessment of Collaborative Scientific Inquiry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hickey, Daniel T.; DeCuir, Jessica; Hand, Bryon; Kyser, Brandon; Laprocina, Simona; Mordica, Joy

This study defined and validated a new set of dimensions, new anchoring descriptions, and a new rubric format for assessing participation in collaboration. One strand of the research explored the use of analog video-technology to conduct summative assessment of collaborative inquiry. The second strand of the research explored the use of video…

Communicating Climate Change: Lessons Learned from a Researcher-Museum Collaboration †

PubMed Central

Parker, Christopher T.; Cockerham, Debbie; Foss, Ann W.

2018-01-01

The need for science education and outreach is great. However, despite the ever-growing body of available scientific information, facts are often misrepresented to or misunderstood by the general public. This can result in uninformed decisions that negatively impact society at both individual and community levels. One solution to this problem is to make scientific information more available to the public through outreach programs. Most outreach programs, however, focus on health initiatives, STEM programs, or young audiences exclusively. This article describes a collaboration between the Research and Learning Center at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex area. The collaboration was a pilot effort of a science communication fellowship and was designed to train researchers to effectively convey current science information to the public with a focus on lifelong learning. We focus on the broader idea of a university-museum collaboration that bridges the science communication gap as we outline the process of forming this collaboration, lessons we learned from the process, and directions that can support future collaborations. PMID:29904536

TCGA Third Annual Scientific Symposium - TCGA

Cancer.gov

Monday, May 12 - Tuesday, May 13, 2014 National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. This open scientific meeting will consist of collaborative workshops, poster sessions, and plenary sessions. Registration is now open.

The Redistribution of Reproductive Responsibility: On the Epigenetics of "Environment" in Prenatal Interventions.

PubMed

Valdez, Natali

2018-02-01

The rapidly shifting field of epigenetics has expanded scientific understanding of how environmental conditions affect gene expression and development. This article focuses on two ongoing clinical trials-one in the United States and one in the United Kingdom-that have used epigenetics as the conceptual basis for testing the relationship between nutrition and obesity during pregnancy. Drawing on ethnographic research, I highlight the different ways that clinical scientists interpret epigenetics to target particular domains of the environment for prenatal intervention. Here I examine three environmental domains: the pregnant body, the home, and everyday experiences. In so doing, I show how different scientific approaches to epigenetics multiply concepts of "the environment," while also individualizing responsibility onto pregnant bodies. Ultimately, I argue that how the environment is conceptualized in epigenetics is both a scientific and a political project that opens up questions of reproductive responsibility. © 2018 by the American Anthropological Association.

Sensemaking: Conceptualizing and Coding for “Good” Student Reasoning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elby, Andrew; Scherr, R.; Bing, T.

2006-12-01

Physics instructors’ goals often go beyond improving students’ conceptual understanding and problem solving. Instructors also want students to engage in inquiry, become scientific/critical thinkers, understand the scientific process, and so on. We see two problems with these “non-content” goals. First, notions such as inquiry and scientific thinking are often defined vaguely or inconsistently across the literature. Second, even when like-minded instructors share a vision of what we’d love to see our students do, descriptions of that vision are often too squishy to communicate, debate, or assess: “We know it when we see it!” In this talk and poster, we address these problems by introducing sensemaking vs. answermaking, two mindsets with which students can approach physics. Our definitions of those notions benefit from a theoretical base, and our coding scheme for sensemaking vs. answermaking displays high interrater reliability and rests upon a list of specific indicators.

A Drupal-Based Collaborative Framework for Science Workflows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinheiro da Silva, P.; Gandara, A.

2010-12-01

Cyber-infrastructure is built from utilizing technical infrastructure to support organizational practices and social norms to provide support for scientific teams working together or dependent on each other to conduct scientific research. Such cyber-infrastructure enables the sharing of information and data so that scientists can leverage knowledge and expertise through automation. Scientific workflow systems have been used to build automated scientific systems used by scientists to conduct scientific research and, as a result, create artifacts in support of scientific discoveries. These complex systems are often developed by teams of scientists who are located in different places, e.g., scientists working in distinct buildings, and sometimes in different time zones, e.g., scientist working in distinct national laboratories. The sharing of these specifications is currently supported by the use of version control systems such as CVS or Subversion. Discussions about the design, improvement, and testing of these specifications, however, often happen elsewhere, e.g., through the exchange of email messages and IM chatting. Carrying on a discussion about these specifications is challenging because comments and specifications are not necessarily connected. For instance, the person reading a comment about a given workflow specification may not be able to see the workflow and even if the person can see the workflow, the person may not specifically know to which part of the workflow a given comments applies to. In this paper, we discuss the design, implementation and use of CI-Server, a Drupal-based infrastructure, to support the collaboration of both local and distributed teams of scientists using scientific workflows. CI-Server has three primary goals: to enable information sharing by providing tools that scientists can use within their scientific research to process data, publish and share artifacts; to build community by providing tools that support discussions between scientists about artifacts used or created through scientific processes; and to leverage the knowledge collected within the artifacts and scientific collaborations to support scientific discoveries.

Apprenticeships, Collaboration and Scientific Discovery in Academic Field Studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Madden, Derek Scott; Grayson, Diane J.; Madden, Erinn H.; Milewski, Antoni V.; Snyder, Cathy Ann

2012-11-01

Teachers may use apprenticeships and collaboration as instructional strategies that help students to make authentic scientific discoveries as they work as amateur researchers in academic field studies. This concept was examined with 643 students, ages 14-72, who became proficient at field research through cognitive apprenticeships with the Smithsonian Institute, School for Field Studies and Earthwatch. Control student teams worked from single research goals and sets of methods, while experimental teams varied goals, methods, and collaborative activities in Kenya, Costa Rica, Panama, and Ecuador. Results from studies indicate that students who conducted local pilot studies, collaborative symposia, and ongoing, long-term fieldwork generated significantly more data than did control groups. Research reports of the experimental groups were ranked highest by experts, and contributed the most data to international science journals. Data and anecdotal information in this report indicate that structured collaboration in local long-term studies using apprenticeships may increase the potential for students' academic field studies contribution of new information to science.

Enhancing Science Education Instruction: A Mixed-Methods Study on University and Middle School Collaborations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Owen-Stone, Deborah S.

The purpose of this concurrent mixed methods study was to examine the collaborative relationship between scientists and science teachers and to incorporate and advocate scientific literacy based on past and current educational theories such as inquiry based teaching. The scope of this study included archived student standardized test scores, semi-structured interviews, and a Likert scale survey to include open-ended comments. The methodology was based on the guiding research question: To what extent and in what ways does the collaboration and inquiry methodology, with GTF and PT teams, serve toward contributing to a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of this predicting relationship between student PASS scores, inquiry skills, and increased scientific literacy for GTF's, PT's, and students via an integrative mixed methods analysis? The data analysis considerations were derived from the qualitative data collected from the three GTF/PT teams by the use of recorded interviews and text answered survey comments. The quantitative data of archived student Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (PASS) scores on scientific literacy and inquiry tests and the Likert-scale portion of the survey were support data to the aforementioned qualitative data findings. Limitations of the study were (1) the population of only the GK-12 teachers and their students versus the inclusion of participants that did not experience the GK-12 Fellow partnerships within their classrooms, should they be considered as participants, (2) involved the researcher as a participant for two years of the program and objectivity remained through interpretation and well documented personal reflections and experiences to inform accuracy, and (3) cultural diversity contributed to the relationship formed between the research Fellow and science educator and communication and scientific language did form a barrier between the Fellow, educator, and student rapport within the classroom. This study's contribution benefits science education, scientists, university science education, and future collaborations. Key Terms: mixed methods, GK-12, scientific literacy, inquiry, collaboration.

Adults' Decision-Making about the Electronic Waste Issue: The Role of the Nature of Science Conceptualizations and Moral Concerns in Socio-Scientific Decision-Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yu, Yuqing

2010-01-01

Socio-scientific issues have become increasingly important in Science-Technology-Society (STS) education as a means to make science learning more relevant to students' lives. This study used the e-waste issue as a context to investigate two aspects of socio-scientific decision-making: (1) the relationship between the nature of science (NOS)…

Socioscientific Issues: A Path Towards Advanced Scientific Literacy and Improved Conceptual Understanding of Socially Controversial Scientific Theories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinzino, Dean William

This thesis investigates the use of socioscientific issues (SSI) in the high school science classroom as an introduction to argumentation and socioscientific reasoning, with the goal of improving students' scientific literacy (SL). Current research is reviewed that supports the likelihood of students developing a greater conceptual understanding of scientific theories as well as a deeper understanding of the nature of science (NOS), through participation in informal and formal forms of argumentation in the context of SSI. Significant gains in such understanding may improve a student's ability to recognize the rigor, legitimacy, and veracity of scientific claims and better discern science from pseudoscience. Furthermore, students that participate in significant SSI instruction by negotiating a range of science-related social issues can make significant gains in content knowledge and develop the life-long skills of argumentation and evidence-based reasoning, goals not possible in traditional lecture-based science instruction. SSI-based instruction may therefore help students become responsible citizens. This synthesis also suggests that that the improvements in science literacy and NOS understanding that develop from sustained engagement in SSI-based instruction will better prepare students to examine and scrutinize socially controversial scientific theories (i.e., evolution, global warming, and the Big Bang).

Mapping the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's Global Impact

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Chaomei; Zhang, Jian; Vogeley, Michael S.

2009-07-01

The scientific capacity of a country is essential in todayâ's increasingly globalized science and technology ecosystem. Scientific capacity has four increasingly advanced levels of capabilities: absorbing, applying, creating, and retaining scientific knowledge. Moving to a advanced level requires additional skills and training. For example, it requires more specialized skills to apply scientific knowledge than to absorb knowledge. Similarly, making new discoveries requires more knowledge than applying existing procedures. Research has shown the importance of addressing specific, local problems while tapping into globally available expertise and resources. Accessing scientific knowledge is the first step towards absorbing knowledge. Low-income countries have increased their access to scientific literature on the Internet, but to what extent has this access led to more advanced levels of scientific capacity? Interdisciplinary and international collaboration may hold the key to creating and retaining knowledge. For example, creative ideas tend to be associated with inspirations originated from a diverse range of perspectives On the other hand, not all collaborations are productive. Assessing global science and technology needs to address both successes and failures and reasons behind them.

Collaborative research, knowledge and emergence.

PubMed

Zittoun, Tania; Baucal, Aleksandar; Cornish, Flora; Gillespie, Alex

2007-06-01

We use the notion of emergence to consider the sorts of knowledge that can be produced in a collaborative research project. The notion invites us to see collaborative work as a developmental dynamic system in which various changes constantly occur. Among these we examine two sorts of knowledge that can be produced: scientific knowledge, and collaborative knowledge. We argue that collaborative knowledge can enable researchers to reflectively monitor their collaborative project, so as to encourage its most productive changes. On the basis of examples taken from this special issue, we highlight four modes of producing collaborative knowledge and discuss the possible uses of such knowledge.

The Gulf Cooperation Council.

PubMed

Tompkins, Olga

2012-06-01

The Gulf Cooperation Council was formed in 1981 to create economic, scientific, and business cooperation among its members. The opportunity exists for scientific collaboration on nursing education, practice, and research. Copyright 2012, SLACK Incorporated.

EPA-L'oreal Collaboration: Moving Chemical safety ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Presentation highlights the five-year collaboration between EPA and L'Oreal to develop predictive models for systemic toxicity. presention at L'Oreal hosted scientific press conference on the Exposome in Paris, France on June 22.

An expanded conceptual framework for solution-focused management of chemical pollution in European waters.

PubMed

Munthe, John; Brorström-Lundén, Eva; Rahmberg, Magnus; Posthuma, Leo; Altenburger, Rolf; Brack, Werner; Bunke, Dirk; Engelen, Guy; Gawlik, Bernd Manfred; van Gils, Jos; Herráez, David López; Rydberg, Tomas; Slobodnik, Jaroslav; van Wezel, Annemarie

2017-01-01

This paper describes a conceptual framework for solutions-focused management of chemical contaminants built on novel and systematic approaches for identifying, quantifying and reducing risks of these substances. The conceptual framework was developed in interaction with stakeholders representing relevant authorities and organisations responsible for managing environmental quality of water bodies. Stakeholder needs were compiled via a survey and dialogue. The content of the conceptual framework was thereafter developed with inputs from relevant scientific disciplines. The conceptual framework consists of four access points: Chemicals, Environment, Abatement and Society, representing different aspects and approaches to engaging in the issue of chemical contamination of surface waters. It widens the scope for assessment and management of chemicals in comparison to a traditional (mostly) perchemical risk assessment approaches by including abatement- and societal approaches as optional solutions. The solution-focused approach implies an identification of abatement- and policy options upfront in the risk assessment process. The conceptual framework was designed for use in current and future chemical pollution assessments for the aquatic environment, including the specific challenges encountered in prioritising individual chemicals and mixtures, and is applicable for the development of approaches for safe chemical management in a broader sense. The four access points of the conceptual framework are interlinked by four key topics representing the main scientific challenges that need to be addressed, i.e.: identifying and prioritising hazardous chemicals at different scales; selecting relevant and efficient abatement options; providing regulatory support for chemicals management; predicting and prioritising future chemical risks. The conceptual framework aligns current challenges in the safe production and use of chemicals. The current state of knowledge and implementation of these challenges is described. The use of the conceptual framework, and addressing the challenges, is intended to support: (1) forwarding sustainable use of chemicals, (2) identification of pollutants of priority concern for cost-effective management, (3) the selection of optimal abatement options and (4) the development and use of optimised legal and policy instruments.

Human Health and Climate Change: Leverage Points for Adaptation in Urban Environments

PubMed Central

Proust, Katrina; Newell, Barry; Brown, Helen; Capon, Anthony; Browne, Chris; Burton, Anthony; Dixon, Jane; Mu, Lisa; Zarafu, Monica

2012-01-01

The design of adaptation strategies that promote urban health and well-being in the face of climate change requires an understanding of the feedback interactions that take place between the dynamical state of a city, the health of its people, and the state of the planet. Complexity, contingency and uncertainty combine to impede the growth of such systemic understandings. In this paper we suggest that the collaborative development of conceptual models can help a group to identify potential leverage points for effective adaptation. We describe a three-step procedure that leads from the development of a high-level system template, through the selection of a problem space that contains one or more of the group’s adaptive challenges, to a specific conceptual model of a sub-system of importance to the group. This procedure is illustrated by a case study of urban dwellers’ maladaptive dependence on private motor vehicles. We conclude that a system dynamics approach, revolving around the collaborative construction of a set of conceptual models, can help communities to improve their adaptive capacity, and so better meet the challenge of maintaining, and even improving, urban health in the face of climate change. PMID:22829795

How to Receive More Funding for Your Research? Get Connected to the Right People!

PubMed

Ebadi, Ashkan; Schiffauerova, Andrea

2015-01-01

Funding has been viewed in the literature as one of the main determinants of scientific activities. Also, at an individual level, securing funding is one of the most important factors for a researcher, enabling him/her to carry out research projects. However, not everyone is successful in obtaining the necessary funds. The main objective of this work is to measure the effect of several important factors such as past productivity, scientific collaboration or career age of researchers, on the amount of funding that is allocated to them. For this purpose, the paper estimates a temporal non-linear multiple regression model. According to the results, although past productivity of researchers positively affects the funding level, our findings highlight the significant role of networking and collaboration. It was observed that being a member of large scientific teams and getting connected to productive researchers who have also a good control over the collaboration network and the flow of information can increase the chances for securing more money. In fact, our results show that in the quest for the research money it is more important how researchers build their collaboration network than what publications they produce and whether they are cited.

How to Receive More Funding for Your Research? Get Connected to the Right People!

PubMed Central

Ebadi, Ashkan; Schiffauerova, Andrea

2015-01-01

Funding has been viewed in the literature as one of the main determinants of scientific activities. Also, at an individual level, securing funding is one of the most important factors for a researcher, enabling him/her to carry out research projects. However, not everyone is successful in obtaining the necessary funds. The main objective of this work is to measure the effect of several important factors such as past productivity, scientific collaboration or career age of researchers, on the amount of funding that is allocated to them. For this purpose, the paper estimates a temporal non-linear multiple regression model. According to the results, although past productivity of researchers positively affects the funding level, our findings highlight the significant role of networking and collaboration. It was observed that being a member of large scientific teams and getting connected to productive researchers who have also a good control over the collaboration network and the flow of information can increase the chances for securing more money. In fact, our results show that in the quest for the research money it is more important how researchers build their collaboration network than what publications they produce and whether they are cited. PMID:26222598

Understanding the Conceptual and Language Challenges Encountered by Grade 4 Students When Writing Scientific Explanations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seah, Lay Hoon

2016-06-01

This study is an attempt to examine the use of linguistic resources by primary science students so as to understand the conceptual and language demands encountered by them when constructing written explanations. The students' written explanations and the instructional language (whole-class discussion and textbook) employed over the topic, the life cycle of plants, in four grade 4 classrooms (age 10) taught by three teachers constitute the data for this study. Students' written explanations were subjected to a combination of content and linguistic analysis. The linguistic analysis was conducted using selected analytical tools from the systemic functional linguistics framework. A diversity of linguistic resources and meanings were identified from the students' explanations, which reveal the extent to which the students were able to employ linguistic resources to construct written scientific explanations and the challenges involved. Both content and linguistic analyses also illuminate patterns of language use that are significant for realising scientific meanings. Finally, a comparison is made in the use of linguistic resources between the students' explanations and the instructional language to highlight possible links. This comparison reveals that the teachers' expectations of the students' written explanations were seldom reflected in their oral questioning or made explicit during the instruction. The findings of this study suggest that a focus on conceptual development is not sufficient in itself to foster students' ability to construct explanations. Pedagogical implications involving the support needed by primary students to construct scientific explanations are discussed.

Helping physics teacher-candidates develop questioning skills through innovative technology use

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milner-Bolotin, Marina

2015-12-01

Peer Instruction has been used successfully in undergraduate classrooms for decades. Its success depends largely on the quality of multiple-choice questions. Yet it is still rare in secondary schools because of teachers' lack of experience in designing, evaluating, and implementing conceptual questions. Research-based multiple-choice conceptual questions are also underutilized in physics teacher education. This study explores the implementation of Peer Instruction enhanced by PeerWise collaborative online system, in a physics methods course in a physics teacher education program.

Fiia: A Model-Based Approach to Engineering Collaborative Augmented Reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wolfe, Christopher; Smith, J. David; Phillips, W. Greg; Graham, T. C. Nicholas

Augmented reality systems often involve collaboration among groups of people. While there are numerous toolkits that aid the development of such augmented reality groupware systems (e.g., ARToolkit and Groupkit), there remains an enormous gap between the specification of an AR groupware application and its implementation. In this chapter, we present Fiia, a toolkit which simplifies the development of collaborative AR applications. Developers specify the structure of their applications using the Fiia modeling language, which abstracts details of networking and provides high-level support for specifying adapters between the physical and virtual world. The Fiia.Net runtime system then maps this conceptual model to a runtime implementation. We illustrate Fiia via Raptor, an augmented reality application used to help small groups collaboratively prototype video games.

Collaboration or negotiation: two ways of interacting suggest how shared thinking develops.

PubMed

Mejía-Arauz, Rebeca; Rogoff, Barbara; Dayton, Andrew; Henne-Ochoa, Richard

2018-03-09

This paper contrasts two ways that shared thinking can be conceptualized: as negotiation, where individuals join their separate ideas, or collaboration, as people mutually engage together in a unified process, as an ensemble. We argue that these paradigms are culturally based, with the negotiation model fitting within an assumption system of separate entities-an assumption system we believe to be common in psychology and in middle-class European American society-and the collaboration model fitting within a holistic worldview that appears to be common in Indigenous-heritage communities of the Americas. We discuss cultural differences in children's interactions-as negotiation or collaboration-that suggest how these distinct paradigms develop. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Psychiatry in Portugal: Key actors and conceptual history (1884-1924).

PubMed

Morgado Pereira, José

2018-06-01

The aim of this article is the study of psychiatry in Portugal between 1884 and 1924, the period when it became institutionalized, and when works that marked its scientific evolution were published. This paper summarizes the various historiographical approaches, and its approach to the subject is closest to the conceptual history carried out by German Berrios in Cambridge. The study attempts to correlate the key actors and their works with the history of different scientific ideas, its differences, and the influences of foreign authors. The diseases, syndromes, symptoms and pathologizations in this historical period were also studied, justifying a constructionist perspective. Finally, the various therapies are discussed, from institutional to pharmacological and psychotherapeutical.

Progress in the RAMI analysis of a conceptual LHCD system for DEMO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirizzi, F.

2014-02-01

Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Inspectability (RAMI) concepts and techniques, that acquired great importance during the first manned space missions, have been progressively extended to industrial, scientific and consumer equipments to assure them satisfactory performances and lifetimes. In the design of experimental facilities, like tokamaks, mainly aimed at demonstrating validity and feasibility of scientific theories, RAMI analysis has been often left aside. DEMO, the future prototype fusion reactors, will be instead designed for steadily delivering electrical energy to commercial grids, so that the RAMI aspects will assume an absolute relevance since their initial design phases. A preliminary RAMI analysis of the LHCD system for the conceptual EU DEMO reactor is given in the paper.

Contesting nonfiction: Fourth graders making sense of words and images in science information book discussions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belfatti, Monica A.

Recently developed common core standards echo calls by educators for ensuring that upper elementary students become proficient readers of informational texts. Informational texts have been theorized as causing difficulty for students because they contain linguistic and visual features different from more familiar narrative genres (Lemke, 2004). It has been argued that learning to read informational texts, particularly those with science subject matter, requires making sense of words, images, and the relationships among them (Pappas, 2006). Yet, conspicuously absent in the research are empirical studies documenting ways students make use of textual resources to build textual and conceptual understandings during classroom literacy instruction. This 10-month practitioner research study was designed to investigate the ways a group of ethnically and linguistically diverse fourth graders in one metropolitan school made sense of science information books during dialogically organized literature discussions. In this nontraditional instructional context, I wondered whether and how young students might make use of science informational text features, both words and images, in the midst of collaborative textual and conceptual inquiry. Drawing on methods of constructivist grounded theory and classroom discourse analysis, I analyzed student and teacher talk in 25 discussions of earth and life science books. Digital voice recordings and transcriptions served as the main data sources for this study. I found that, without teacher prompts or mandates to do so, fourth graders raised a wide range of textual and conceptual inquiries about words, images, scientific figures, and phenomena. In addition, my analysis yielded a typology of ways students constructed relationships between words and images within and across page openings of the information books read for their sense-making endeavors. The diversity of constructed word-image relationships aided students in raising, exploring, and contesting textual and conceptual ideas. Moreover, through their joint inquiries, students marshaled and evaluated a rich array of resources. Students' sense-making of information books was not contained by the words and images alone; it involved a situated, complex process of making sense of multiple texts, discourses, and epistemologies. These findings suggest educators, theorists, and policy makers reconsider acontextual, linear, hierarchical models for developing elementary students as sense-makers of nonfiction.

A Conceptual Overview of the Role of Beauty and Aesthetics in Science and Science Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Girod, Mark

2007-01-01

Conversations on the connection of art, beauty, and the aesthetic experience in science are gaining a voice in the science education community. This article provides a conceptual overview of the role of beauty and aesthetics in science and science education. It focuses on a discussion of four themes exploring beauty in scientific ideas and…

The Conceptual Design of the Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buscher, D. F.; Creech-Eakman, M.; Farris, A.; Haniff, C. A.; Young, J. S.

We describe the scientific motivation for and conceptual design of the Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer, an imaging interferometer designed to operate at visible and near-infrared wavelengths. The rationale for the major technical decisions in the interferometer design is discussed, the success of the concept is appraised, and the implications of this analysis for the design of future arrays are drawn out.

Identifying Students' Mental Models of Sound Propagation: The Role of Conceptual Blending in Understanding Conceptual Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hrepic, Zdeslav; Zollman, Dean A.; Rebello, N. Sanjay

2010-01-01

We investigated introductory physics students' mental models of sound propagation. We used a phenomenographic method to analyze the data in the study. In addition to the scientifically accepted Wave model, students used the "Entity" model to describe the propagation of sound. In this latter model sound is a self-standing entity,…

First-Year Medical Students' Conceptual Understanding of and Resistance to Conceptual Change Concerning the Central Cardiovascular System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mikkila-Erdmann, Mirjamaija; Sodervik, Ilona; Vilppu, Henna; Kaapa, Pekka; Olkinuora, Erkki

2012-01-01

Medical students often have initial understanding concerning medical domains, such as the central cardiovascular system (CCVS), when they enter the study programme. These notions may to some extent be in conflict with scientific understanding, which can be seen as a challenge for medical teaching. Hence, the purpose of this study was to analyse…

The Impact of a Classroom Intervention on Grade 10 Students' Argumentation Skills, Informal Reasoning, and Conceptual Understanding of Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Venville, Grady J.; Dawson, Vaille M.

2010-01-01

The literature provides confounding information with regard to questions about whether students in high school can engage in meaningful argumentation about socio-scientific issues and whether this process improves their conceptual understanding of science. The purpose of this research was to explore the impact of classroom-based argumentation on…

"Science Capital": A Conceptual, Methodological, and Empirical Argument for Extending Bourdieusian Notions of Capital beyond the Arts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Archer, Louise; Dawson, Emily; DeWitt, Jennifer; Seakins, Amy; Wong, Billy

2015-01-01

This paper sets out an argument and approach for moving beyond a primarily arts-based conceptualization of cultural capital, as has been the tendency within Bourdieusian approaches to date. We advance the notion that, in contemporary society, scientific forms of cultural and social capital can command a high symbolic and exchange value. Our…

Macroergomonics' contribution to the effectiveness of collaborative supply chains.

PubMed

Herrera, Sandra Mejias; Huatuco, Luisa Huaccho

2012-01-01

This article presents a conceptual model that combines Macroergonomics and Supply chain. The authors combine their expertise on these individual topics, building on their previous research. The argument of the paper is that human factors are key to achieve effective supplier-customer collaboration. A conceptual model is presented, its elements and their interactions are explained. The Content-Context-Process is applied as a departing point to this model. Macroergonomics aspects considered are: a systemic approach, participatory ergonomics, formation of ergonomics teams and evaluation of ergonomics projects. The expected outcomes are: (a) improvement of production and productivity levels, (b) improvement of the product quality, (c) Reduction of absenteeism, (d) Improvement in the quality of work life (from the employees' perspective), and (e) increase in the employees' contribution rate of ideas for improvement. A case study was carried out at a vitroplant production organisation incorporating environmental aspects to obtain sustainable benefits.

Argumentation as a Strategy for Conceptual Learning of Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eskin, Handan; Ogan-Bekiroglu, Feral

2013-10-01

Researchers have emphasized the importance of promoting argumentation in science classrooms for various reasons. However, the study of argumentation is still a young field and more research needs to be carried out on the tools and pedagogical strategies that can assist teachers and students in both the construction and evaluation of scientific arguments. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of argumentation on students' conceptual learning in dynamics. True-experimental design using quantitative research methods was carried out for the study. The participants of the study were tenth graders studying in two classes in an urban all-girls school. There were 26 female students in each class. Five argumentations promoted in the different contexts were embedded through the dynamics unit over a 10-week duration. The study concludes that engaging in the argumentative process that involves making claims, using data to support these claims, warranting the claims with scientific evidence, and using backings, rebuttals, and qualifiers to further support the reasoning, reinforces students' understanding of science, and promotes conceptual change. The results suggest that argumentation should be employed during instruction as a way to enable conceptual learning.

High School Intervention for Influenza Biology and Epidemics/Pandemics: Impact on Conceptual Understanding among Adolescents

PubMed Central

Hasni, Abdelkrim

2009-01-01

Understanding real-life issues such as influenza epidemiology may be of particular interest to the development of scientific knowledge and initiation of conceptual changes about viruses and their life cycles for high school students. The goal of this research project was to foster the development of adolescents' conceptual understanding of viruses and influenza biology. Thus, the project included two components: 1) pre- and posttests to determine students' conceptions about influenza biology, epidemics/pandemics, and vaccination; and 2) design an intervention that supports conceptual change to promote improvements in influenza knowledge based on these primary conceptions. Thirty-five female students from a high school biology class participated in a series of instructional activities and pre- and posttest assessments. Results from the pretest indicated that high school students exhibit a limited understanding of concepts related to viruses. Six weeks after an intervention that promoted active learning, results from a posttest showed that conceptions about influenza are more accurately related to the provided scientific knowledge. Although adolescents have nonscientific models to explain influenza biology, we showed that a carefully designed intervention can affect students' knowledge as well as influence the implementation of health education programs in secondary schools. PMID:19255137

Autonomous Mission Operations for Sensor Webs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Underbrink, A.; Witt, K.; Stanley, J.; Mandl, D.

2008-12-01

We present interim results of a 2005 ROSES AIST project entitled, "Using Intelligent Agents to Form a Sensor Web for Autonomous Mission Operations", or SWAMO. The goal of the SWAMO project is to shift the control of spacecraft missions from a ground-based, centrally controlled architecture to a collaborative, distributed set of intelligent agents. The network of intelligent agents intends to reduce management requirements by utilizing model-based system prediction and autonomic model/agent collaboration. SWAMO agents are distributed throughout the Sensor Web environment, which may include multiple spacecraft, aircraft, ground systems, and ocean systems, as well as manned operations centers. The agents monitor and manage sensor platforms, Earth sensing systems, and Earth sensing models and processes. The SWAMO agents form a Sensor Web of agents via peer-to-peer coordination. Some of the intelligent agents are mobile and able to traverse between on-orbit and ground-based systems. Other agents in the network are responsible for encapsulating system models to perform prediction of future behavior of the modeled subsystems and components to which they are assigned. The software agents use semantic web technologies to enable improved information sharing among the operational entities of the Sensor Web. The semantics include ontological conceptualizations of the Sensor Web environment, plus conceptualizations of the SWAMO agents themselves. By conceptualizations of the agents, we mean knowledge of their state, operational capabilities, current operational capacities, Web Service search and discovery results, agent collaboration rules, etc. The need for ontological conceptualizations over the agents is to enable autonomous and autonomic operations of the Sensor Web. The SWAMO ontology enables automated decision making and responses to the dynamic Sensor Web environment and to end user science requests. The current ontology is compatible with Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) Sensor Model Language (SensorML) concepts and structures. The agents are currently deployed on the U.S. Naval Academy MidSTAR-1 satellite and are actively managing the power subsystem on-orbit without the need for human intervention.

How research-prioritization exercises affect conservation policy.

PubMed

Rudd, Murray A

2011-10-01

Conservation scientists are concerned about the apparent lack of impact their research is having on policy. By better aligning research with policy needs, conservation science might become more relevant to policy and increase its real-world salience in the conservation of biological diversity. Consequently, some conservation scientists have embarked on a variety of exercises to identify research questions that, if answered, would provide the evidence base with which to develop and implement effective conservation policies. I synthesized two existing approaches to conceptualizing research impacts. One widely used approach classifies the impacts of research as conceptual, instrumental, and symbolic. Conceptual impacts occur when policy makers are sensitized to new issues and change their beliefs or thinking. Instrumental impacts arise when scientific research has a direct effect on policy decisions. The use of scientific research results to support established policy positions are symbolic impacts. The second approach classifies research issues according to whether scientific knowledge is developed fully and whether the policy issue has been articulated clearly. I believe exercises to identify important research questions have objectives of increasing the clarity of policy issues while strengthening science-policy interactions. This may facilitate the transmission of scientific knowledge to policy makers and, potentially, accelerate the development and implementation of effective conservation policy. Other, similar types of exercises might also be useful. For example, identification of visionary science questions independent of current policy needs, prioritization of best practices for transferring scientific knowledge to policy makers, and identification of questions about human values and their role in political processes could all help advance real-world conservation science. It is crucial for conservation scientists to understand the wide variety of ways in which their research can affect policy and be improved systematically. ©2011 Society for Conservation Biology.

National Collaboratories: Applying Information Technology for Scientific Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council, Washington, DC. Computer Science and Telecommunications Board.

The Committee on a National Collaboratory: Establishing the User-Developer Partnership was charged to study and report on the need for and potential of information technology to support collaboration in the conduct of scientific research. To do this, the committee focused on three discrete areas of scientific investigation: (1) oceanography, in…

Collaborative Course Design in Scientific Writing: Experimentation and Productive Failure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Combs, D. Shane; Frost, Erin A.; Eble, Michelle F.

2015-01-01

English 3820: Scientific Writing, a writing-intensive (WI) course offered by the Department of English at East Carolina University (ECU), serves primarily science majors. According to the course catalog, it provides students with "practice in assimilation and written presentation of scientific information." The course asks students to…

Improving Data Mobility & Management for International Cosmology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Borrill, Julian; Dart, Eli; Gore, Brooklin

In February 2015 the third workshop in the CrossConnects series, with a focus on Improving Data Mobility & Management for International Cosmology, was held at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Scientists from fields including astrophysics, cosmology, and astronomy collaborated with experts in computing and networking to outline strategic opportunities for enhancing scientific productivity and effectively managing the ever-increasing scale of scientific data. While each field has unique details which depend on the instruments employed, the type and scale of the data, and the structure of scientific collaborations, several important themes emerged from the workshop discussions. Findings, as well as a setmore » of recommendations, are contained in their respective sections in this report.« less

The science of team science: A review of the empirical evidence and research gaps on collaboration in science.

PubMed

Hall, Kara L; Vogel, Amanda L; Huang, Grace C; Serrano, Katrina J; Rice, Elise L; Tsakraklides, Sophia P; Fiore, Stephen M

2018-01-01

Collaborations among researchers and across disciplinary, organizational, and cultural boundaries are vital to address increasingly complex challenges and opportunities in science and society. In addition, unprecedented technological advances create new opportunities to capitalize on a broader range of expertise and information in scientific collaborations. Yet rapid increases in the demand for scientific collaborations have outpaced changes in the factors needed to support teams in science, such as institutional structures and policies, scientific culture, and funding opportunities. The Science of Team Science (SciTS) field arose with the goal of empirically addressing questions from funding agencies, administrators, and scientists regarding the value of team science (TS) and strategies for successfully leading, engaging in, facilitating, and supporting science teams. Closely related fields have rich histories studying teams, groups, organizations, and management and have built a body of evidence for effective teaming in contexts such as industry and the military. Yet few studies had focused on science teams. Unique contextual factors within the scientific enterprise create an imperative to study these teams in context, and provide opportunities to advance understanding of other complex forms of collaboration. This review summarizes the empirical findings from the SciTS literature, which center around five key themes: the value of TS, team composition and its influence on TS performance, formation of science teams, team processes central to effective team functioning, and institutional influences on TS. Cross-cutting issues are discussed in the context of new research opportunities to further advance SciTS evidence and better inform policies and practices for effective TS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Sustaining Broader Impacts through Researcher-Teacher Collaboration (A Model Based on Award Abstract #1334935: Collaborative Research: Investigating the Ecological Importance of Iron Storage in Diatoms.)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sutton, M.; Marchetti, A.

2016-02-01

Broader impacts have become a vital component of scientific research projects. A variety of outreach avenues are available to assist scientists in reaching larger audiences, however, the translation of cutting-edge scientific content and concepts can be challenging. Collaborating with educators is a viable option to assist researchers in fulfilling NSF's broader impact requirements. A broader impacts model based on collaborations between a teacher and 28 researchers from 14 institutions will demonstrate successful science outreach and engagement through interactions between teachers, researchers, students, and general audiences. Communication styles (i.e., blogs, social media) and outreach data incorporated by researchers and the teacher will be shared to illustrate the magnitude of the broader impacts achieved with this partnership. Inquiry-based investigations and activities developed to translate the science into the classroom will also be demonstrated, including the use of real scientific data collected during the research cruise. "Finding Microbe Needles in a Haystack of Oceans" provides an understanding of how remote sensing technology is used to locate specific ocean environments (e.g. High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll - HNLC) that support diverse microbial food webs. A board game ("Diatom Adventures©") designed to explore the physiology of microbial organisms and microscopic food webs will also be demonstrated. The tentative nature of science requires a constant vigil to stay abreast of the latest hypotheses and discoveries. Researcher/Teacher collaborations allow each professional to focus on his/her strengths while meeting broader impact requirements. These partnerships encourage lifelong learning as educators observe and work with scientists first-hand and then follow appropriate scope, sequence, and pedagogy to assist various audiences in understanding the innovative technologies being used to explore new scientific frontiers.

Alignment of process compliance and monitoring requirements in dynamic business collaborations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Comuzzi, Marco

2017-07-01

Dynamic business collaborations are intrinsically characterised by change because processes can be distributed or outsourced and partners may be substituted by new ones with enhanced or different capabilities. In this context, compliance requirements management becomes particularly challenging. Partners in a collaboration may join and leave dynamically and tasks over which compliance requirements are specified may be consequently distributed or delegated to new partners. This article considers the issue of aligning compliance requirements in a dynamic business collaboration with the monitoring requirements induced on the collaborating partners when change occurs. We first provide a conceptual model of business collaborations and their compliance requirements, introducing the concept of monitoring capabilities induced by compliance requirements. Then, we present a set of mechanisms to ensure consistency between monitoring and compliance requirements in the presence of change, e.g. when tasks are delegated or backsourced in-house. We also discuss a set of metrics to evaluate the status of a collaboration in respect of compliance monitorability. Finally, we discuss a prototype implementation of our framework.

CoMetaR: A Collaborative Metadata Repository for Biomedical Research Networks.

PubMed

Stöhr, Mark R; Helm, Gudrun; Majeed, Raphael W; Günther, Andreas

2017-01-01

The German Center for Lung Research (DZL) is a research network with the aim of researching respiratory diseases. To perform consortium-wide queries through one single interface, it requires a uniform conceptual structure. No single terminology covers all our concepts. To achieve a broadly accepted and complete ontology, we developed a platform for collaborative metadata management "CoMetaR". Anyone can browse and discuss the ontology while editing can be performed by authenticated users.

Before You Collaborate, You Should Partner with NCI TTC | Poster

Cancer.gov

By Karen Surabian, Thomas Stackhouse, and Jeffrey W. Thomas, Contributing Writers As the fall and winter seasons progress, you may be attending more scientific conferences, where you may find a number of opportunities for research collaborations. To assist your lab in reaching its research goals through collaborations, the staff of the National Cancer Institute Technology

Strengthening Statistics Graduate Programs with Statistical Collaboration--The Case of Hawassa University, Ethiopia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goshu, Ayele Taye

2016-01-01

This paper describes the experiences gained from the established statistical collaboration center at Hawassa University as part of LISA 2020 network. The center has got similar setup as LISA at Virginia Tech. Statisticians are trained on how to become more effective scientific collaborators with researchers. The services are being delivered since…

Putting together a scientific team: collaborative science.

PubMed

Adams, L Garry

2014-09-01

One of the most enjoyable parts of a science career is collaborative team experiences and developing life-long social networks. When the hypothesis being tested requires innovative efforts greater than any single laboratory, collaboration becomes an essential component for success - everyone is a stakeholder and trust is the driving force. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.