Medical student hand preference, perceived dexterity, and impact of handedness on training.

PubMed

Callahan, Devon; de Virgilio, Christian; Tillou, Areti; DeUgarte, Daniel A

2016-07-01

The ubiquity of right-handed instruments and a predominance of right-handed surgical faculty present a challenge to left-handed trainees. Little is known about hand preference and its impact on specialty selection. We sought to evaluate hand preference, perceived dexterity, and impact of handedness on training among medical students. A survey was distributed to third and fourth year medical students. Hand preference was queried for various activities. A Likert scale was used to assess perceived dexterity and impact of handedness on training. Fisher's exact test was used to compare groups. Of those queried, 131 (37%) responded. Handedness was defined by writing preference: right (80%), left (18%), other (2%). Left-handed students were more likely to perceive themselves to be ambidextrous (50% versus 15%; P < 0.001) and prefer their contralateral hand for at least one other activity (50% versus 4%; P < 0.001). Left-handed students were significantly more likely to report that handedness affected their specialty selection (33% versus 10%; P < 0.01) and training (58% versus 6%; P < 0.001). In addition, they reported that they would benefit from additional training with right-handed instruments (61% versus 31%; P < 0.01), availability of left-handed instruments (63% versus 8%; P < 0.001), and trainers who adapted to their handedness (70% versus 14%; P < 0.001). Left-handed medical students reported greater ambidexterity and adverse impact of handedness on training. These results provide a contemporary snapshot of hand preference in medical students and an argument for improving and adapting surgical training for left-handed individuals. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Process and Learning Outcomes from Remotely-Operated, Simulated, and Hands-on Student Laboratories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corter, James E.; Esche, Sven K.; Chassapis, Constantin; Ma, Jing; Nickerson, Jeffrey V.

2011-01-01

A large-scale, multi-year, randomized study compared learning activities and outcomes for hands-on, remotely-operated, and simulation-based educational laboratories in an undergraduate engineering course. Students (N = 458) worked in small-group lab teams to perform two experiments involving stress on a cantilever beam. Each team conducted the…

The impact of a hands-on approach to learning visible spectrometry upon students' performance, motivation, and attitudes.

PubMed

Vrtacnik, Margareta; Gros, Natasa

2013-01-01

In this paper, the effect of introducing visible spectrometry concepts through hands-on laboratory work upon student learning within four vocational programs are discussed. All together, 118 students, average 18.6 years old, participated in the study. The results showed no correlation between students' motivational components (intrinsic, regulated, and controlled), chemistry self-concept and their achievement on an experiential knowledge test and knowledge gained from this hands-on approach. Statistically significant differences were found for academic achievement among students in a biotechnology technical program (School 1), food processing program (School 2), laboratory biomedicine program (School 3), and a biotechnology general program (School 4). Differences in academic achievement are further reflected in students' perception of particular knowledge gained through their hands-on experiences and in their expressed attitude toward different didactical characteristics. All students, regardless of their study program, highly evaluated the relaxed atmosphere that contributed to their self-confidence in completing their laboratory activities.

Becoming Familiar with other Disciplines Through Hands-on Experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bremner, P. M.

2014-12-01

Transitioning to a new discipline can be challenging because of the need to quickly assimilate new skills and knowledge that others brought up in the field took years to develop. While reading and taking classes help to add knowledge, hands-on experience is key to developing your new skill set. Fieldwork is one obvious way to gain experience. Fieldwork provides intimate knowledge of your new found discipline, which is one component of your skill set. However, fieldwork is normally for a short period of time and very focused, which does not quickly provide the second component of your skill set, that is, insight into how your discipline fits in the big picture of solving problems. Academic workshops and internships can help provide the additional experience to bring any young researcher into this higher level of understanding. As a specific example, I'll talk about a summer workshop I recently attended called CIDER (Cooperative Institute for Dynamic Earth Research), which is open for students to apply for every year. This workshop provided the opportunity to learn a working knowledge of other disciplines in geology, and helped to expand my view of geophysics' place in solving real problems. The workshop is a month long, the first two weeks of which were lectures and tutorials of every discipline represented. The second two weeks consisted of new research on projects that were proposed by the attendees. The attendees select which of those projects to participate in, and join a team to work vigorously for two weeks. Teams may continue work after the CIDER workshop for presentations at AGU (as in my case) and has potential for publication later. Why this workshop succeeds in advancing young researchers' understanding is that different disciplines work side by side on their research project. Students need to be made aware of this workshop, and other workshops and internships like it, to provide this added hands-on experience.

Teaching chemistry and other sciences to blind and low-vision students through hands-on learning experiences in high school science laboratories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Supalo, Cary Alan

2010-11-01

Students with blindness and low vision (BLV) have traditionally been underrepresented in the sciences as a result of technological and attitudinal barriers to equal access in science laboratory classrooms. The Independent Laboratory Access for the Blind (ILAB) project developed and evaluated a suite of talking and audible hardware/software tools to empower students with BLV to have multisensory, hands-on laboratory learning experiences. This dissertation focuses on the first year of ILAB tool testing in mainstream science laboratory classrooms, and comprises a detailed multi-case study of four students with BLV who were enrolled in high school science classes during 2007--08 alongside sighted students. Participants attended different schools; curricula included chemistry, AP chemistry, and AP physics. The ILAB tools were designed to provide multisensory means for students with BLV to make observations and collect data during standard laboratory lessons on an equivalent basis with their sighted peers. Various qualitative and quantitative data collection instruments were used to determine whether the hands-on experiences facilitated by the ILAB tools had led to increased involvement in laboratory-goal-directed actions, greater peer acceptance in the students' lab groups, improved attitudes toward science, and increased interest in science. Premier among the ILAB tools was the JAWS/Logger Pro software interface, which made audible all information gathered through standard Vernier laboratory probes and visually displayed through Logger Pro. ILAB tools also included a talking balance, a submersible audible light sensor, a scientific talking stopwatch, and a variety of other high-tech and low-tech devices and techniques. While results were mixed, all four participating BLV students seemed to have experienced at least some benefit, with the effect being stronger for some than for others. Not all of the data collection instruments were found to reveal improvements for all

Hands-on Herps.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Science Activities, 1987

1987-01-01

Presents a hands-on activity to help primary, intermediate, and advanced students learn about and compare the general characteristics of reptiles and amphibians. Suggests "herp stations" to provide experiences. Details materials, background and procedures necessary for using this activity. (CW)

Engaging First-Year Undergraduates in Hands-On Research Experiences: The Upper Green River Barcode of Life Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marcus, Jeffrey M.; Hughes, Tia M.; McElroy, Douglas M.; Wyatt, Robert E.

2010-01-01

To improve retention and engagement, first-year college science majors enrolled in University Experience orientation courses participated in a hands-on laboratory research experience: a DNA barcoding project to facilitate species identification. Students collected arthropods and hypothesized morphology-based species identifications. Then they…

Development of Accessible Laboratory Experiments for Students with Visual Impairments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kroes, KC; Lefler, Daniel; Schmitt, Aaron; Supalo, Cary A.

2016-01-01

The hands-on laboratory experiments are frequently what spark students' interest in science. Students who are blind or have low vision (BLV) typically do not get the same experience while participating in hands-on activities due to accessibility. Over the course of approximately nine months, common chemistry laboratory experiments were adapted and…

Introducing Graduate Students to High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS) Using a Hands-On Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stock, Naomi L.

2017-01-01

High-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) features both high resolution and high mass accuracy and is a powerful tool for the analysis and quantitation of compounds, determination of elemental compositions, and identification of unknowns. A hands-on laboratory experiment for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students to investigate HRMS is…

Effectiveness of Hands-on and Minds-on Activities on Students' Achievement and Attitudes towards Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ates, Ozlem; Eryilmaz, Ali

2011-01-01

This research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of hands-on and minds-on activities on ninth grade students' achievement in and attitudes towards simple electric circuits. The study was conducted with 130 students, 70 of which were assigned as experimental group and instructed by hands-on/minds-on activities, while the 60 were assigned as…

Hands-On Science, 680 Hands at a Time: Shrinking the Large Lecture with a Collapsing Can Experiment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shipman, Harry L.

2001-01-01

Explains how hands-on science activities can be done in a class designed as a lecture setting. Uses the collapsing can activity to demonstrate the birth of a black hole. Evaluates student responses to the hands-on approach. (YDS)

Enhancing the Programming Experience for First-Year Engineering Students through Hands-On Integrated Computer Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canfield, Stephen L.; Ghafoor, Sheikh; Abdelrahman, Mohamed

2012-01-01

This paper describes the redesign and implementation of the course, "Introduction to Programming for Engineers" using microcontroller (MCU) hardware as the programming target. The objective of this effort is to improve the programming competency for engineering students by more closely relating the initial programming experience to the student's…

Enhancing Lean Manufacturing Learning Experience through Hands-On Simulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elbadawi, Isam; McWilliams, Douglas L.; Tetteh, Edem G.

2010-01-01

Finding appropriate interactive exercises to increase students' learning in technical topic courses is always challenging to educators. In this study, several paper plane hands-on simulation exercises were developed, used, and tested in a lean manufacturing course for beginning college students. A pretest and posttest was used to assess the…

The Influence of Hands On Physics Experiments on Scientific Process Skills According to Prospective Teachers' Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hirça, Necati

2013-01-01

In this study, relationship between prospective science and technology teachers' experiences in conducting Hands on physics experiments and their physics lab I achievement was investigated. Survey model was utilized and the study was carried out in the 2012 spring semester. Seven Hands on physics experiments were conducted with 28 prospective…

Incorporation of Hands-On Sterile Technique Instruction in an Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience

PubMed Central

Cruthirds, Danielle; Coward, Lori

2015-01-01

Objective. To examine sterile technique and basic sterile compounding procedures among third-year pharmacy students. Design. Third year pharmacy students participating in an introductory pharmacy practice experience (IPPE) in 2012 (n=126) and 2013 (n=119) performed a modified low-risk compounded sterile product (CSP) media fill challenge test, then prepared a 5 mg/mL vancomycin solution that was subsequently analyzed for accuracy. Assessment. To identify deficiencies in sterile procedures, students were observed while performing a modified low-risk CSP media fill challenge test. In the first year of conducting the challenge test (2012), 3 deficiencies were identified: hand washing before compounding, cleaning items with alcohol prior to start, and cleaning work area upon completion. In 2013, significant improvements were observed in these 3 areas after students watched a demonstration video. Examination of CSPs revealed less than 1% contamination in both years. Analysis of compounded vancomycin solutions showed that 84% and 71% of students prepared solutions in 2012 and 2013, respectively, were within 10% of the targeted final concentration. Conclusion. Hands-on sterile compounding exercises are typically delivered early in the pharmacy professional curriculum with minimal reinforcement in subsequent years. Providing opportunities for advanced pharmacy students to refresh and practice sterile compounding procedures allows students to refine their skills before entering pharmacy practice. PMID:25861109

Students' Design of Experiments: An Inquiry Module on the Conduction of Heat

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hatzikraniotis, E.; Kallery, M.; Molohidis, A.; Psillos, D.

2010-01-01

This article examines secondary students' design of experiments after engagement in an innovative and inquiry-oriented module on heat transfer. The module consists of an integration of hands-on experiments, simulated experiments and microscopic model simulations, includes a structured series of guided investigative tasks and was implemented for a…

Does the Lack of Hands-On Experience in a Remotely Delivered Laboratory Course Affect Student Learning?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abdel-Salam, Tarek; Kauffman, Paul J.; Crossman, Gary

2006-01-01

Educators question whether performing a laboratory experiment as an observer (non-hands-on), such as conducted in a distance education context, can be as effective a learning tool as personally performing the experiment in a laboratory environment. The present paper investigates this issue by comparing the performance of distance education…

Access to waterless hand sanitizer improves student hand hygiene behavior in primary schools in Nairobi, Kenya.

PubMed

Pickering, Amy J; Davis, Jennifer; Blum, Annalise G; Scalmanini, Jenna; Oyier, Beryl; Okoth, George; Breiman, Robert F; Ram, Pavani K

2013-09-01

Handwashing is difficult in settings with limited resources and water access. In primary schools within urban Kibera, Kenya, we investigated the impact of providing waterless hand sanitizer on student hand hygiene behavior. Two schools received a waterless hand sanitizer intervention, two schools received a handwashing with soap intervention, and two schools received no intervention. Hand cleaning behavior after toilet use was monitored for 2 months using structured observation. Hand cleaning after toileting was 82% at sanitizer schools (N = 2,507 toileting events), 38% at soap schools (N = 3,429), and 37% at control schools (N = 2,797). Students at sanitizer schools were 23% less likely to have observed rhinorrhea than control students (P = 0.02); reductions in student-reported gastrointestinal and respiratory illness symptoms were not statistically significant. Providing waterless hand sanitizer markedly increased student hand cleaning after toilet use, whereas the soap intervention did not. Waterless hand sanitizer may be a promising option to improve student hand cleansing behavior, particularly in schools with limited water access.

Withholding answers during hands-on scientific investigations? Comparing effects on developing students' scientific knowledge, reasoning, and application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Lin

2018-03-01

As more concerns have been raised about withholding answers during science teaching, this article argues for a need to detach 'withholding answers' from 'hands-on' investigation tasks. The present study examined students' learning of light-related content through three conditions: 'hands-on' + no 'withholding' (hands-on only: HO), 'hands-on' + 'withholding' (hands-on investigation with answers withheld: HOW), and no 'hands-on' + no 'withholding' (direction instruction: DI). Students were assessed in terms of how well they (1) knew the content taught in class; (2) reasoned with the learned content; and (3) applied the learned content to real-life situations. Nine classes of students at 4th and 5th grades, N = 136 in total, were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions. ANCOVA results showed that students in the hands-on only condition reasoned significantly better than those in the other two conditions. Students in this condition also seemed to know the content fairly better although the advance was not significant. Students in all three conditions did not show a statistically significant difference in their ability to apply the learned content to real-life situations. The findings from this study provide important contributions regarding issues relating to withholding answers during guided scientific inquiry.

Application of hands-on simulation games to improve classroom experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamzeh, Farook; Theokaris, Christina; Rouhana, Carel; Abbas, Yara

2017-09-01

While many construction companies claim substantial productivity and profit gains when applying lean construction principles, it remains a challenge to teach these principles in a classroom. Lean construction emphasises collaborative processes and integrated delivery practices. Consequently, new teaching methods that nurture such values should form the basis of lean construction education. One of the proposed methods is 'hands-on team simulation games' which can be employed to replicate various real-life processes, projects, or systems for the purpose of teaching, analysing, and understanding. This study aims at assessing this simulation games and understanding their impact on students' learning and satisfaction. Surveys and tests are administered to assess changes in student's perception of their learning styles and their understanding of key lean construction concepts. Results show a positive student reaction to hands-on simulation games, provide pedagogical insights, and highlight suggestions for improvement.

Access to Waterless Hand Sanitizer Improves Student Hand Hygiene Behavior in Primary Schools in Nairobi, Kenya

PubMed Central

Pickering, Amy J.; Davis, Jennifer; Blum, Annalise G.; Scalmanini, Jenna; Oyier, Beryl; Okoth, George; Breiman, Robert F.; Ram, Pavani K.

2013-01-01

Handwashing is difficult in settings with limited resources and water access. In primary schools within urban Kibera, Kenya, we investigated the impact of providing waterless hand sanitizer on student hand hygiene behavior. Two schools received a waterless hand sanitizer intervention, two schools received a handwashing with soap intervention, and two schools received no intervention. Hand cleaning behavior after toilet use was monitored for 2 months using structured observation. Hand cleaning after toileting was 82% at sanitizer schools (N = 2,507 toileting events), 38% at soap schools (N = 3,429), and 37% at control schools (N = 2,797). Students at sanitizer schools were 23% less likely to have observed rhinorrhea than control students (P = 0.02); reductions in student-reported gastrointestinal and respiratory illness symptoms were not statistically significant. Providing waterless hand sanitizer markedly increased student hand cleaning after toilet use, whereas the soap intervention did not. Waterless hand sanitizer may be a promising option to improve student hand cleansing behavior, particularly in schools with limited water access. PMID:23836575

The effectiveness of using computer simulated experiments on junior high students' understanding of the volume displacement concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Byung-Soon; Gennaro, Eugene

Several researchers have suggested that the computer holds much promise as a tool for science teachers for use in their classrooms (Bork, 1979, Lunetta & Hofstein, 1981). It also has been said that there needs to be more research in determining the effectiveness of computer software (Tinker, 1983).This study compared the effectiveness of microcomputer simulated experiences with that of parallel instruction involving hands-on laboratory experiences for teaching the concept of volume displacement to junior high school students. This study also assessed the differential effect on students' understanding of the volume displacement concept using sex of the students as another independent variable. In addition, it compared the degree of retention, after 45 days, of both treatment groups.It was found that computer simulated experiences were as effective as hands-on laboratory experiences, and that males, having had hands-on laboratory experiences, performed better on the posttest than females having had the hands-on laboratory experiences. There were no significant differences in performance when comparing males with females using the computer simulation in the learning of the displacement concept. This study also showed that there were no significant differences in the retention levels when the retention scores of the computer simulation groups were compared to those that had the hands-on laboratory experiences. However, an ANOVA of the retention test scores revealed that males in both treatment conditions retained knowledge of volume displacement better than females.

Hands-on optics and photonics outreach in Riga

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lesina, Natalija; Spigulis, Janis

2014-07-01

A long-term exposition focused on optics and photonics was created in Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy at University of Latvia in 2010. Considering unpopularity of science in Latvia and lack of broadly accessible hands-on outreach activities for school children, as well as rapid development of advanced photonic technologies, this exposition was meant to involve more students to the natural sciences and modern technologies. Exposition covers 10 topics of optics - colors, diffraction, interference, polarization, reflection, liquid crystals, gas discharge, lasers, fluorescence, infrared and ultraviolet radiation. Students' visits are organized as an exciting adventure, which differs from ordinary school lessons. The visit mainly includes own actions with hands-on exhibits, lecturer's explanations about the most difficult topics and some demonstrations shown by the lecturer. The main accent is made on hands-on experiments due to the fact that students, who had performed hands-on experiments, will be emboldened to choose their career in the field of science and technologies. The exposition now is running and is part of Riga Photonics Center. Nearly 300 students from the 8th till 12th grades visited it during academic years 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 and their generally positive feedback has been analyzed.

STS-29 crewmembers receive briefing on Student Experiment (SE) 83-9

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

STS-29 Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103, crewmembers receive briefing on Student Experiment (SE) 83-9 Chicken Embryo Development in Space or 'Chix in Space' from student experimenter John C. Vellinger and sponsor Mark S. Deusser. Vellinger (right) explains operation of an incubator used in his experiment to crewmembers, seated around table, and other support personnel in audience. Clockwise from Mission Specialist (MS) Robert C. Springer (hands together at left) are MS James F. Buchli (glasses), Commander Michael L. Coats, Pilot John E. Blaha, MS James P. Bagian, Vellinger, and Deusser. The student's sponsor is Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).

Hands-On and Minds-On Modeling Activities to Improve Students' Conceptions of Microscopic Friction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corpuz, Edgar G.; Rebello, N. Sanjay

2007-11-01

In this paper we discuss the development and validation of hands-on and minds-on modeling activities geared towards improving students' understanding of microscopic friction. We will also present our investigation on the relative effectiveness of the use of the developed instructional material with two lecture formats—traditional and videotaped lectures. Results imply that through a series of carefully designed hands-on and minds-on modeling activities, it is possible to facilitate the refinement of students' ideas of microscopic friction.

Using videos, apps and hands-on experience in undergraduate hydrology teaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van Loon, Anne

2016-04-01

Hydrological sciences teaching always needs to make a link between the classroom and the outside world. This can be done with fieldwork and excursions, but the increasing availability of open educational resources gives more-and-more other options to make theory more understandable and applicable. In the undergraduate teaching of hydrology at the University of Birmingham we make use of a number of tools to enhance the hydrology 'experience' of students. Firstly, we add hydrological science videos available in the public domain to our explanations of theory. These are both visualisations of concepts and recorded demonstrations in the field or the lab. One example is the concept of catchments and travel times which has been excellently visualised by MetEd. Secondly, we use a number of mobile phone apps, which provide virtual reality information and real-time monitoring information. We use the MySoil App (by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), British Geological Survey (BGS) and Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH)) and iGeology / iGeology3D (by BGS) to let students explore soil properties and hydrogeology of an area of interest. And we use the River Levels App (by OGL based on Environment Agency real time data) for exploring real time river levels and investigating spatial variability. Finally, we developed small hands-on projects for students to apply the theory outside the classroom. We for instance let them do simple infiltration experiments and ask them to them design a measurement plan. Evaluations have shown that students enjoy these activities and that it helps their learning. In this presentation we hope to share our experience so that the options for using open (educational) resources for hydrology teaching become more used in linking the classroom to the outside world.

Polymer Day: Outreach Experiments for High School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ting, Jeffrey M.; Ricarte, Ralm G.; Schneiderman, Deborah K.; Saba, Stacey A.; Jiang, Yaming; Hillmyer, Marc A.; Bates, Frank S.; Reineke, Theresa M.; Macosko, Christopher W.; Lodge, Timothy P.

2017-01-01

We present a collection of hands-on experiments that collectively teach precollege students fundamental concepts of polymer synthesis and characterization. These interactive experiments are performed annually as part of an all-day outreach event for high school students that can inform the development of ongoing polymer education efforts in a…

The Molecular Boat: A Hands-On Experiment to Demonstrate the Forces Applied to Self-Assembled Monolayers at Interfaces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chan, Charlene J.; Salaita, Khalid

2012-01-01

Demonstrating how surface chemistry and self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) control the macroscopic properties of materials is challenging as it often necessitates the use of specialized instrumentation. In this hands-on experiment, students directly measure a macroscopic property, the floatation of glass coverslips on water as a function of…

Hands-On versus Teacher-Centred Experiments in Soil Ecology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Randler, Christoph; Hulde, Madeleine

2007-01-01

This study focused on differences between teacher-centred and learner-centred experiments in soil ecology. After a pilot study, we selected three experiments simple enough to be carried out by pupils even with little experience in self-determined learning and hands-on practice. The sample comprised 123 fifth and sixth graders from a middle school…

Teaching radio astrophysics the hand-on way

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joshi, Bhal Chandra

Astronomy and space sciences have always been instrumental in attracting young students to physical sciences. While the lectures/demonstrations and exhibitions pertaining to space sci-ences capture the imagination of young students, these alone are not sufficient to induce them to join scientific research. In countries like India, where a large number of students take to physical sciences for under-graduate education, complex sociological factors are key issues in translating this large body of students to potential researchers. While lectures and exhibition lead to an increase in scientific awareness for these students, these do not give a feel for scien-tific research and bridge the gap between high school/college science education and high end research. In this context, a hands-on approach to astronomy education, in science research environments or closely connected to scientific institutions, offers a promising alternative. This approach has been used in optical astronomy, where inexpensive small telescopes are available, often coupling a vast network of amateur astronomy clubs to leading astronomy institutes. The non-visual and relatively more technical nature of radio astronomy has limited a similar approach in past for connecting students to space sciences using radio waveband. The tech-nological explosion in communication industry and radio connectivity in the last decade along with an expansion in engineering education makes this possible now using a hands-on approach in teaching radio astrophysics. In this presentation, the sociological factors affecting the student choice are discussed followed by a review of the efforts to bridge the above mentioned gap by various groups in the world in the last decade with a view to enumerate the best practices in a hands-on approach. A program using this approach at National Center for Radio Astrophysics is described, where the students are exposed to simple hands-on radio astronomy experiments such as spectral line

Student Content Knowledge Increases after Participation in a Hands-on Biotechnology Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bigler, Amber M.; Hanegan, Nikki L.

2011-01-01

Implementing biotechnology education through hands-on teaching methods should be considered by secondary biology teachers. This study is an experimental research design to examine increased student content knowledge in biotechnology after a hands-on biotechnology intervention. The teachers from both school groups participated in, Project Crawfish,…

Hands-On Experiments in the Interactive Physics Laboratory: Students' Intrinsic Motivation and Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snetinová, Marie; Kácovský, Petr; Machalická, Jana

2018-01-01

Experiments in different forms can certainly be suitable tools for increasing student interest in physics. However, educators continuously discuss which forms of experimenting (if any) are the most beneficial for these purposes. At the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague, two different forms of physics experiments are…

Remote atomic force microscopy of microscopic organisms: Technological innovations for hands-on science with middle and high school students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, M. G.; Andre, T.; Kubasko, D.; Bokinsky, A.; Tretter, T.; Negishi, A.; Taylor, R.; Superfine, R.

2004-01-01

This study examined hands-on experiences in the context of an investigation of viruses and explored how and why hands-on experiences may be effective. We sought to understand whether or not touching and manipulating materials and objects could lead to a deeper, more effective type of knowing than that we obtain from sight or sound alone. Four classes of high school biology students and four classes of seventh graders participated in the study that examined students' use of remote microscopy with a new scientific tool called the nanoManipulator, which enabled them to reach out and touch live viruses inside an atomic force microscope. Half of the students received full haptic (tactile and kinesthetic) feedback from a haptic joystick, whereas half of the students were able to use the haptic joystick to manipulate viruses but the tactile feedback was blocked. Results showed that there were significant gains from pre- to postinstruction across treatment groups for knowledge and attitudes. Students in both treatment groups developed conceptual models of viruses that were more consistent with current scientific research, including a move from a two-dimensional to a three-dimensional understanding of virus morphology. There were significant changes in students' understandings of scale; after instruction, students were more likely to identify examples of nanosized objects and be able to describe the degree to which a human would have to be shrunk to reach the size of a virus. Students who received full-haptic feedback had significantly better attitudes suggesting that the increased sensory feedback and stimulation may have made the experience more engaging and motivating to students.

A Hands-On Approach to Maglev for Gifted Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Budd, Raymond T.

2003-01-01

This article discusses how Magnetic Levitation (Maglev) can be taught to gifted students in grades 4-9 using hands-on activities that align to the National Science Standards. Principles of magnetic levitation, advantages of magnetic levitation, construction of a Maglev project, testing and evaluation of vehicles, and presentation of the unit are…

Impact of Hands-On Research Experience on Students' Learning in an Introductory Management Information System Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Yun; Sankar, Chetan S.

2013-01-01

Although students in Introductory Information Systems courses are taught new technology concepts, the complexity and constantly changing nature of these technologies makes it challenging to deliver the concepts effectively. Aiming to improve students' learning experiences, this research utilized the five phases of design science methodology to…

Chemistry Science Investigation: Dognapping Workshop, an Outreach Program Designed to Introduce Students to Science through a Hands-On Mystery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyle, Timothy J.; Sears, Jeremiah M.; Hernandez-Sanchez, Bernadette A.; Casillas, Maddison R.; Nguyen, Thao H.

2017-01-01

The Chemistry Science Investigation: Dognapping Workshop was designed to (i) target and inspire fourth grade students to view themselves as "Junior Scientists" before their career decisions are solidified; (ii) enable hands-on experience in fundamental scientific concepts; (iii) increase public interaction with science, technology,…

The Paper Beam: Hands-On Design for Team Work Experience of Freshman in Engineering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalkani, Efrossini C.; Boussiakou, Iris K.; Boussiakou, Leda G.

2005-01-01

The present research refers to the assigning of a hands-on group project to freshman engineering students, evaluating their performance, and deriving conclusions on student benefits and educational advances. The research procedure included action plans for the instructor and the students, instructions to the students on performing the work,…

Explaining Away the Body: Experiences of Supernaturally Caused Touch and Touch on Non-Hand Objects within the Rubber Hand Illusion

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background In rubber hand illusions and full body illusions, touch sensations are projected to non-body objects such as rubber hands, dolls or virtual bodies. The robustness, limits and further perceptual consequences of such illusions are not yet fully explored or understood. A number of experiments are reported that test the limits of a variant of the rubber hand illusion. Methodology/Principal Findings A variant of the rubber hand illusion is explored, in which the real and foreign hands are aligned in personal space. The presence of the illusion is ascertained with participants' scores and temperature changes of the real arm. This generates a basic illusion of touch projected to a foreign arm. Participants are presented with further, unusual visuotactile stimuli subsequent to onset of the basic illusion. Such further visuotactile stimulation is found to generate very unusual experiences of supernatural touch and touch on a non-hand object. The finding of touch on a non-hand object conflicts with prior findings, and to resolve this conflict a further hypothesis is successfully tested: that without prior onset of the basic illusion this unusual experience does not occur. Conclusions/Significance A rubber hand illusion is found that can arise when the real and the foreign arm are aligned in personal space. This illusion persists through periods of no tactile stimulation and is strong enough to allow very unusual experiences of touch felt on a cardboard box and experiences of touch produced at a distance, as if by supernatural causation. These findings suggest that one's visual body image is explained away during experience of the illusion and they may be of further importance to understanding the role of experience in delusion formation. The findings of touch on non-hand objects may help reconcile conflicting results in this area of research. In addition, new evidence is provided that relates to the recently discovered psychologically induced temperature changes

Hands-on Experiments on Predatory Behaviour with Antlion Larvae

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klokocovnik, Vesna; Šorgo, Andrej; Devetak, Dušan

2016-01-01

One of the innovations in the Slovenian school system has been the introduction of elective subjects in the curricula of primary and secondary schools, thus there is a lack of teaching manuals for practical exercises and hands-on classroom experience. This situation is reflected in the Ethology classroom and for that purpose we prepared…

Energy Experiments for STEM Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fanchi, John

2011-03-01

Texas Christian University (TCU) is developing an undergraduate program that prepares students to become engineers with an emphasis in energy systems. One of the courses in the program is a technical overview of traditional energy (coal, oil and gas), nuclear energy, and renewable energy that requires as a pre-requisite two semesters of calculus-based physics. Energy experiments are being developed that will facilitate student involvement and provide hands-on learning opportunities. Students participating in the course will improve their understanding of energy systems; be introduced to outstanding scientific and engineering problems; learn about the role of energy in a global and societal context; and evaluate contemporary issues associated with energy. This talk will present the status of experiments being developed for the technical energy survey course.

Fifth graders' science inquiry abilities: A comparative study of students in hands-on and textbook curricula

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pine, Jerome; Aschbacher, Pamela; Roth, Ellen; Jones, Melanie; McPhee, Cameron; Martin, Catherine; Phelps, Scott; Kyle, Tara; Foley, Brian

2006-05-01

A large number of American elementary school students are now studying science using the hands-on inquiry curricula developed in the 1990s: Insights; Full Option Science System (FOSS); and Science and Technology for Children (STC). A goal of these programs, echoed in the National Science Education Standards, is that children should gain abilities to do scientific inquiry and understanding about scientific inquiry. We have studied the degree to which students can do inquiries by using four hands-on performance assessments, which required one or three class periods. To be fair, the assessments avoided content that is studied in depth in the hands-on programs. For a sample of about 1000 fifth grade students, we compared the performance of students in hands-on curricula with an equal number of students with textbook curricula. The students were from 41 classrooms in nine school districts. The results show little or no curricular effect. There was a strong dependence on students' cognitive ability, as measured with a standard multiple-choice instrument. There was no significant difference between boys and girls. Also, there was no difference on a multiple-choice test, which used items released from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). It is not completely clear whether the lack of difference on the performance assessments was a consequence of the assessments, the curricula, and/or the teaching.

What's the Matter with Food?: A Hands-On Action Research Study on the Effect of Using Food Preparation To Teach Students with Autism about the Three States of Matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diller, Nicole

This investigation studied the effectiveness of using food preparation to teach students with Autism about the three states of matter. A hands-on learning approach was used within the home and careers classroom. One class of five students, three boys and two girls, all diagnosed with Autism, participated in a five day academic unit about the three phases of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. The class received hands-on learning science instruction using food through various differentiated activities. Results indicate that students express focus when using food to learn. In addition, this study acknowledges that hands-on learning in science enhances the learning process of students with Autism. One of the main reasons is that students enjoy learning when this teaching style is used in the classroom, and students that enjoy what they are learning are more likely to be engaged and motivated to learn. After using this approach, all the students in the study increased their scores from the pre-assessments to the post-assessments. Students expressed through actions and words that they enjoyed using hands-on experiences to learn in the classroom. Implications for practice indicate that a variety of manipulatives are needed to teach students with Autism. Future research would help uncover additional information about student motivation and learning in the home and careers classroom.

Multidisciplinary Graduate Training in Social Research Methodology and Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis: A Hands-On/Hands-Off Course Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bourque, Claude Julie; Bourdon, Sylvain

2017-01-01

Drawing on the experience of training graduate students and researchers in qualitative and mixed-methods analysis since the mid-1990s, the authors reflect on the evolution of a multidisciplinary graduate course developed in a Canadian university since 2007. The hands-on/hands-off course design based on the use of NVivo was developed in parallel…

A qualitative analysis of the experience and impact of killing in hand-to-hand combat.

PubMed

Jensen, Peter R; Simpson, Duncan

2014-08-01

A growing body of research suggests that killing during military combat is closely associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as a number of other adverse mental health related conditions (e.g., dissociative experiences, violent behavior, functional impairment). This article provides first-person perspectives on the experiences and impact of killing by service members with the goal of expanding our understanding of the impact of taking a life during war. In audio-recorded phenomenological interviews, 9 service members described their experiences and the subsequent impact of killing during hand-to-hand combat. A description, supported by participant quotations, was constructed to represent the participants' experiences. Results suggest the experience and aftermath of taking a life in hand-to-hand combat was disturbing, psychologically stressful, and necessitated some form of coping after the event. Service members who killed in hand-to-hand combat viewed their actions as necessary to preserve their life and that killing in hand-to-hand combat was more emotionally taxing than killing by shooting. Our findings may help to improve providers' understanding of service members' first-person experiences of killing in hand-to-hand combat and thus provide the basis for the development of a connected and genuine relationship with such military clients. Copyright © 2014 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.

Evaluating Interactive Transect Area Assessments Hands-On Instruction for Natural Resource Undergraduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Unger, Daniel; Schwab, Sarah; Jacques, Ryan; Zhang, Yanli; Hung, I-Kuai; Kulhavy, David

2016-01-01

Undergraduate students pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Spatial Science degree at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) receive instruction in the spatial sciences with a focus on hands-on applications. All undergraduate students take the course Introduction to Spatial Science which includes a comprehensive overview of spatial science…

Defining the Engaging Learning Experience from the Athletic Training Student Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mazerolle, Stephanie M.; Bowman, Thomas G.; Benes, Sarah S.

2014-01-01

Context: Clinical experiences are an integral part of athletic training education and are where students gain the hands-on, practical knowledge and skills necessary to provide quality patient care in the field. However, some clinical education experiences may not allow athletic training students to become clinically integrated. Objective: To…

Survey of attitudes and practices of Irish nursing students towards hand hygiene, including handrubbing with alcohol-based hand rub.

PubMed

Kingston, Liz M; O'Connell, Nuala H; Dunne, Colum P

2017-05-01

Hand hygiene is widely recognised as the most important measure a healthcare worker can take in preventing the spread of healthcare associated infections. As a member of the healthcare team, nursing students have direct patient contact during clinical practice; hence, good hand hygiene practice among nursing students is essential. Low to moderate levels of hand hygiene knowledge and poor attitudes and practices are reported among nursing students. However, less is known about their attitudes and practices of handrubbing with ABHR, even though handrubbing is the recommended optimum practice in most situations. The aim of this study was to explore attitudes and practices of hand hygiene, in particular handrubbing with alcohol-based hand rub, among nursing students in Ireland. This survey employed a descriptive, self-report design using a questionnaire to gather data. It was administered electronically to all undergraduate nursing students (n=342) in the Department of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Limerick, Ireland in March and April 2015. Response rate was 66%. Attitudes towards hand hygiene were generally positive. Compliance with hand hygiene after contact with body fluid was high (99.5%) and before a clean or aseptic procedure (98.5%). However, suboptimal practices emerged, before touching a patient (85%), after touching a patient (87%) and after touching patients' surroundings (61%), with first year students more compliant than fourth year students. 16% of students were not aware of the clinical contraindications for using alcohol-based hand rub and 9% did not know when to use soap and water and when to use alcohol-based hand rub. Educators and practitioners play an important role in ensuring that nursing students develop appropriate attitudes towards hand hygiene and engage in optimal handrubbing practices. Raising awareness among nursing students of their responsibility in preventing the occurrence and reducing the transmission of HCAI as an on

Obtaining and Investigating Amphoteric Properties of Aluminum Oxide in a Hands-On Laboratory Experiment for High School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Orwat, Kinga; Bernard, Pawel; Migdal-Mikuli, Anna

2016-01-01

The aim of this laboratory exercise is to present a high school hands-on laboratory experiment, focused on obtaining and investigating the properties of various polymorphic forms of aluminum oxide. Amphoterism plays a key role when discussing the law of periodicity and periodic changes of acid-base properties of elements and their compounds. In…

Hands on CERN: A Well-Used Physics Education Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johansson, K. E.

2006-01-01

The "Hands on CERN" education project makes it possible for students and teachers to get close to the forefront of scientific research. The project confronts the students with contemporary physics at its most fundamental level with the help of particle collisions from the DELPHI particle physics experiment at CERN. It now exists in 14 languages…

Diving into Science. Hands-On Water-Related Experiments. Grades 2-4.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perdue, Peggy K.

This book contains hands-on ocean-related laboratory activities. Major chapter hearings are: (1) "Water Experiments" (dealing with the physical nature of water and listing 10 activities); (2) "Ocean-Going Vessels" (studying the principles of boats, with three experiments); (3) "Experiments Using Shells" (containing four activities); (4) "Sand…

Barriers and Solutions to Fieldwork Education in Hand Therapy.

PubMed

Short, Nathan; Sample, Shelby; Murphy, Malachi; Austin, Brittany; Glass, Jillian

2017-08-09

Survey. Fieldwork education is a vital component of training the next generation of CHTs. Barriers and solutions to fieldwork rotations in hand therapy are examined, as well as proposed solutions, including recommendations for student preparation. This descriptive study examined barriers for certified hand therapist clinicians to accept students for clinical rotations and clinicians' preferences for student preparation before a rotation in a hand setting. A survey was developed, peer reviewed, and distributed using the electronic mailing list of the Hand Therapy Certification Commission via SurveyMonkey. Aggregate responses were analyzed to identify trends including barriers to student clinical rotations and recommendations for students to prepare for hand rotations. A total of 2080 participants responded to the survey, representing a 37% response rate. Common logistical barriers were identified for accepting students such as limited clinical time and space. Many clinicians (32% agree and 8% strongly agree) also felt that the students lack the clinical knowledge to be successful. Areas of knowledge, skill set, and experience were surveyed for development before a clinical rotation in a hand setting. Most respondents (74%) reported increased likelihood of accepting a student with the recommended preparation. Novel qualitative responses to improve clinical experiences are presented as well. Student preparation before a clinical rotation in a hand setting appears to be a significant barrier based on the survey results. Areas of recommended knowledge, skill set, and experience may serve to guide both formal and informal methods of student preparation before a hand-specific clinical rotation to facilitate knowledge translation from experienced certified hand therapists to the next generation. Although logistical barriers may be difficult to overcome, hand-specific preparation based on clinician' recommendations may facilitate student acceptance and success in hand

Hands-on earth science with students at schools for the Deaf

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cooke, M. L.

2011-12-01

Earth science teachers at schools for the Deaf face a variety of challenges. This community of students has a wide range of language skills, teaching resources can be limited and often teachers are not trained in geosciences. An NSF CAREER grant provided an opportunity to make a difference to this community and foster earth science learning at 8 schools for the Deaf around the country. We designed hands-on deformational sandboxes for the teachers and provided accompanying curriculum materials. The sandbox is a physical model of crustal deformation that students can manipulate to test hypotheses. The visual nature of the sandbox was well-suited for the spatial grammar of American Sign Language used by these students. Furthermore, language skills were enhanced by scaffolded observation, sketch, annotation, discussion, interpretation assignments. Geoscience training of teachers was strengthened with workshops and three 5-day field trips for teachers and selected students to Utah, western New England and southern California. The field trips provided opportunity for students to work as geoscientists observing, interpreting, discussing and presenting their investigations. Between field trips, we set up videoconferences from the UMass experimental lab with the high school earth science classrooms. These sessions facilitated dialog between students and researchers at UMass. While the project set out to provide geoscience learning opportunities for students at Schools for the Deaf, the long lasting impact was the improved geoscience training of teachers, most of whom had limited post-secondary earth science training. The success of the project also rested on the dedication of the teachers to their students and their willingness to try new approaches and experiences. By tapping into a community of 6 teachers, who already shared curriculum and had fantastic leadership, the project was able to have significant impact and exceed the initial goals. The project has led to a

Fostering Reciprocity in Global Health Partnerships Through a Structured, Hands-On Experience for Visiting Postgraduate Medical Trainees

PubMed Central

Umoren, Rachel A.; Einterz, Robert M.; Litzelman, Debra K.; Pettigrew, Ronald K.; Ayaya, Samuel O.; Liechty, Edward A.

2014-01-01

Background Global health programs that allow international experiences for US learners should also enable reciprocal learning experiences for international learners, particularly if that is a need identified by the partner institution. Methods A partnership between Indiana University and Moi University, Kenya, has successfully hosted 41 visiting Kenyan internal medicine and pediatrics registrars at Indiana University since 2006. The program's logistics, curriculum, and evaluation are described. Results The registrars rotated through nephrology, cardiology, hematology and oncology, infectious diseases, and intensive care, as well as related ambulatory experiences, functioning on a level comparable to fourth-year medical students. They showed significant improvement in pretest and posttest scores on a standardized National Board of Medical Examiners examination (P  =  .048). International learners experienced culture shock, yet they felt the Indiana University elective was helpful and would recommend it to future participants. Conclusions Global health programs can reciprocate the benefits derived for US students and residents by offering learning experiences to international learners if that is an expressed need from the international partner. Barriers to those experiences can be overcome, and the hands-on, elective experience has the potential to positively affect the knowledge and attitudes of participants as well as the home nation. PMID:24949140

Discover science: Hands-on science workshops for elementary teachers and summer science camps for elementary students

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

Gotlib, L.; Bibby, E.; Cullen, B.

1994-12-31

Teams of local mentor teachers (assisted by college students in the NC Teaching Fellows Program) run week-long workshops for elementary teachers (at four sites in 1993, six in 1994). Major funding for the camps is provided through The Glaxo Foundation, supplemented with local funds. The workshops focus on hands-on science (using inexpensive materials) and provide familiarity and experience with the new NC science curriculum and assessment program. The use of local resources is stressed (including visiting scientists and readily available store-bought materials). Each camp has its own theme and provides teachers with a variety of resources to be used withmore » students of all abilities. The mentor teachers then run week-long, all expense paid, non-residential science camps for elementary students (open to all students, but with females and minorities as target groups). Students take part in long-and short-term projects, working individually and in groups. Pre and post participation surveys of all participants were conducted and analyzed, with favorable results for both the student and teacher weeks. Additional activities include parent nights, and follow-up workshops. Eighty-nine teachers and 208 students participated in 1993.« less

Hands-on Experiments on Glycemia Regulation and Type 1 Diabetes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mingueneau, M.; Chaix, A.; Scotti, N.; Chaix, J.; Reynders, A.; Hammond, C.; Thimonier, J.

2015-01-01

In the present article, we describe a 3-day experimental workshop on glycemia regulation and type 1 diabetes that engages students in open-ended investigations and guided experiments leading to results that are not already known to them. After an initial questioning phase during which students observe PowerPoint slides depicting the glycemia…

Hands-on curriculum teaches biomedical engineering concepts to home-schooled students.

PubMed

Sagstetter, Ann M; Nimunkar, Amit J; Tompkins, Willis J

2009-01-01

University level outreach has increased over the last decade to stimulate K-12 student interest in engineering related fields. Home schooling students are one of the groups that are valued for engineering admissions due to diligent study habits and high achievement scores. However, home schooled students have inadequate access to science, math, and engineering related resources, which precludes the development of interdisciplinary teaching methods. To address this problem, we have developed a hands-on, STEM based curriculum as a safe and comprehensive supplement to current home schooling curricula. The ultimate goal is to stimulate university-student relations and subsequently increase engineering recruitment opportunities. Our pre and post workshop survey comparisons demonstrate that integrating disciplines, via the manner presented in this study, provides a K-12 student-friendly engineering learning method.

Dental hygiene student experiences in external placements in Australia.

PubMed

Taylor, Jane A; Hayes, Melanie J; Wallace, Linda

2012-05-01

While placements in external locations are being increasingly used in dental education globally, few studies have explored the student learning experience at such placements. The purpose of this study was to investigate student experiences while on external placement in a baccalaureate dental hygiene program. A self-reporting questionnaire was distributed to final-year dental hygiene students (n=77) at the University of Newcastle, Australia, in 2010. The questionnaire included questions regarding the type of placement, experiences offered, supervision, resources available, and lasting impressions. Responding students were generally positive about their external placement experience and indicated that the majority of facilities provided them with the opportunity to provide direct patient care and perform clinical tasks typical of a practicing hygienist. However, there was a statistically significant difference in their opinions about discipline-focused and community placements. Students indicated that their external placement experience provided opportunities to learn more about time and patient management, including hands-on experience with specific clinical tasks. Ongoing evaluations are necessary to ensure that external placements meet both student needs and intended learning outcomes within dental hygiene programs.

HANDS-ON, Career Exploration for Bright Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stovall, Betty J.; And Others

Produced as part of a 5 week workshop on career explorations for 51 bright, middle grade students and 20 teachers, the curriculum guide discusses career education, outlines the workshop experiences, considers the inquiry process, and outlines 60 units on non baccalaureate careers in 15 career clusters. A lack of career education programs with…

Hands-on Science. Exploring Magnification.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kepler, Lynne

1993-01-01

Presents hands-on science activities using inexpensive, hand-held microscopes and slides made from simple, readily available materials. The article describes how to introduce students to microscopes and presents directions for using the microscopes and making slides. A student page investigates fingerprints with microscopes. (SM)

Student experiments on Skylab

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Floyd, H. B.

1974-01-01

Review of the background and experimental results of the Skylab student project, and assessment of its overall benefits. Virtually all of the objectives of the experiments adopted from student proposals were met. NASA benefited from the program by learning that meaningful experiments could be incorporated into a carry-on or suitcase concept at low cost and within very short time periods. The students benefited greatly from their association with the Skylab program by being afforded a learning opportunity and contact with the real world of research, normally beyond their reach. In addition, hometowns, states, and regions developed a close identification with space exploration.

Real Experiments versus Phet Simulations for Better High-School Students' Understanding of Electrostatic Charging

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ajredini, Fadil; Izairi, Neset; Zajkov, Oliver

2014-01-01

This research investigates the influence of computer simulations (virtual experiments) on one hand and real experiments on the other hand on the conceptual understanding of electrical charging. The investigated sample consists of students in the second year (10th grade) of three gymnasiums in Macedonia. There were two experimental groups and one…

Understanding Integrated STEM Science Instruction through Experiences of Teachers and Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gardner, Margery

2017-01-01

Integrated STEM education comprises an exploration of the interconnections between science, technology, engineering and mathematics in order to reflect on how each discipline operates within real world contexts. Students benefit from the integrated STEM approach because it values students' real-life experiences and hands-on applications that…

Hands-on Humidity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pankiewicz, Philip R.

1992-01-01

Presents five hands-on activities that allow students to detect, measure, reduce, and eliminate moisture. Students make a humidity detector and a hygrometer, examine the effects of moisture on different substances, calculate the percent of water in a given food, and examine the absorption potential of different desiccants. (MDH)

Twenty-first century skills for students: hands-on learning after school builds school and life success.

PubMed

Cabral, Leide

2006-01-01

At the core of the movement for twenty-first century skills are students. The growing efforts to increase programs leveraging out-of-school time are focused on giving American youth everything they need to compete in this increasingly complex world. The author is one of many students who have been well served by initiatives imparting twenty-first century skills during after-school hours. Now a senior at Boston Latin School, the author has been helped along the way by Citizen Schools, an after-school education program focused on hands-on learning apprenticeships and homework help. While enrolled in the program as a middle school student, the author took part in projects that exemplified hands-on, inquiry-based learning that helped her develop twenty-first century skills. For example, along with dozens of other students, she advanced her data analysis skills by analyzing statistics about Boston Public high schools, which also helped her select and enroll in one of the city's premier exam schools. Also, she and her peers worked with corporate attorneys who served as writing coaches and whose expertise the author drew from in producing a published essay and greatly improving her writing skills. The author now finds that the public speaking, leadership, organizational, social, and management abilities she built through her participation in Citizen Schools are a great asset to her in high school. The confidence with which she tackles her responsibilities can also be traced back to her experiences in the program. As she looks toward college, the author reflects and realizes that being actively involved in a quality after-school program put her on track for a successful future.

Enhancing the Student Learning Experience in Software Engineering Project Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marques, Maira; Ochoa, Sergio F.; Bastarrica, Maria Cecilia; Gutierrez, Francisco J.

2018-01-01

Carrying out real-world software projects in their academic studies helps students to understand what they will face in industry, and to experience first-hand the challenges involved when working collaboratively. Most of the instructional strategies used to help students take advantage of these activities focus on supporting agile programming,…

Actigraphic investigations on the activity-rest behavior of right- and left-handed students.

PubMed

Lehnkering, Hanna; Strauss, Andreas; Wegner, Brigitte; Siegmund, Renate

2006-01-01

The aim of this study was to explore differences between left-and right-handed subjects in sleep duration. Sleep and activity patterns were continuously registered for 12 days using actometers on 20 left-handed and 20 right-handed medical students in Berlin. Handedness was determined by a modified version of the Edinburgh handedness inventory. Each participant wore one actometer on each wrist. Actiwatch Sleep Analysis Software (CNT, UK) was used to evaluate the data, and statistical calculations were performed with a non-parametric variance analysis. A significant difference in mean sleep duration between left-handers (7.9 h) and right-handers (7.3 h) was determined (p=0.025 for measurement made on the dominant hand and p=0.013 for ones made on the non-dominant hand). In contrast, the maximal phase of daily activity (acrophase) did not show any difference between the two groups. The difference in sleep duration might be caused by either the greater effort required for left-handers to cope in a right-handed world or by structural brain differences.

An Enterprise Opportunity for Entrepreneurial Students: Student Enterprise Development and Experience Assessed through the Student Voice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bell, Robin; Bell, Heather

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of an experiential learning approach, available to students in all disciplines that combined a hands-on entrepreneurial and enterprise experience with professional consultant mentoring by using a competition to win business start-up funding. Design/methodology/approach:…

Knowledge Retention for Computer Simulations: A study comparing virtual and hands-on laboratories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Croom, John R., III

The use of virtual laboratories has the potential to change physics education. These low-cost, interactive computer activities interest students, allow for easy setup, and give educators a way to teach laboratory based online classes. This study investigated whether virtual laboratories could replace traditional hands-on laboratories and whether students could retain the same long-term knowledge in virtual laboratories as compared to hands-on laboratories. This study is a quantitative quasi-experiment that used a multiple posttest design to determine if students using virtual laboratories would retain the same knowledge as students who performed hands-on laboratories after 9 weeks. The study was composed of 336 students from 14 school districts. Students had their performances on the laboratories and their retention of the laboratories compared to a series of factors that might have affected their retention using a pretest and two posttests, which were compared using a t test. The results showed no significant difference in short-term learning between the hands-on laboratory groups and virtual laboratory groups. There was, however, a significant difference (p = .005) between the groups in long-term retention; students in the hands-on laboratory groups retained more information than those in the virtual laboratory groups. These results suggest that long-term learning is enhanced when a laboratory contains a hands-on component. Finally, the results showed that both groups of students felt their particular laboratory style was superior to the alternative method. The findings of this study can be used to improve the integration of virtual laboratories into science curriculum.

Alignment of Hands-On STEM Engagement Activities with Positive STEM Dispositions in Secondary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christensen, Rhonda; Knezek, Gerald; Tyler-Wood, Tandra

2015-01-01

This study examines positive dispositions reported by middle school and high school students participating in programs that feature STEM-related activities. Middle school students participating in school-to-home hands-on energy monitoring activities are compared to middle school and high school students in a different project taking part in…

The Art and Science Connection. Hands-On Activities for Primary Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tolley, Kimberley

Most people think that the artist and the scientist live in two totally different worlds. However, art and science are only two different ways of understanding and knowing the world. To help primary students make a connection between art and science, a collection of hands-on activities have been developed. By engaging in these activities that…

The Art and Science Connection: Hands-on Activities for Intermediate Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tolley, Kimberley

Most people think that the artist and the scientist live in two totally different worlds. However, art and science are only two different ways of understanding and knowing the world. To help intermediate students make a connection between art and science, a collection of hands-on activities have been developed. By engaging in these activities that…

Retaining Underrepresented Minority Undergraduates in STEM through Hands-on Internship Experiences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bamzai, A.; Mcpherson, R. A.; DeLong, K. L.; Rivera-Monroy, V. H.; Zak, J.; Earl, J.; Owens, K.; Wilson, D.

2015-12-01

The U.S. Department of the Interior's South Central Climate Science Center (SCCSC) hosts an annual 3-week summer internship opportunity for undergraduate students of underrepresented minorities interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Internship participants travel across the south-central U.S. to visit university campuses and field locations. The students interact with faculty conducting cutting edge research and with resource managers facing decision-making under uncertainty. This internship format allows the participants to see the direct impacts of climate variability and change on the Texas Hill Country, prairie and forest ecosystems and tribal cultures in Oklahoma, and the bayous, delta and coastline of Louisiana. Immersive experiences are key for exposing students to academic research and providing them with the skills and experiences needed to continue on in their professional careers. The SCCSC's program introduces students to how research is conducted, gives them a broad perspective on how collaborations form, and starts each student on the path to building a large and diverse professional network. By providing participants with a "buffet" of options, our internship serves as a launching pad from which each student can move forward towards experiences such as participating in a Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, gaining employment in a STEM-related career path, and being accepted into a graduate degree program. This presentation will describe the components of the SCCSC's internship program and provide a summary of post-internship student successes.

How Do Learning Outcomes, Assessments and Student Engagement in a Fully Online Geoscience Laboratory Compare to Those Of The Original Hands-on Exercise?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, F. M.

2015-12-01

In a third year geoscience elective for BSc majors, we adapted several active f2f learning strategies for an equivalent fully online version of the course. In particular, we converted a hands-on laboratory including analysis and interpretation of hand-specimens, sketching results and peer-to-peer discussion of scientific implications. This study compares learning outcomes in both formats and describes resources that make engaging, effective and efficient learning experiences for large classes in an asynchronous online environment. Our two hypotheses are: 1) a hands-on geology lab exercise can be converted for efficient fully online use without sacrificing feedback and assessment opportunities; 2) students find either the f2f or DE versions equally effective and enjoyable as learning experiences. Key components are an authentic context, interactive resources including sketching, strategies that enable efficient assessment and feedback on solo and group work, and asynchronous yet productive interaction with peers. Students in the f2f class handle real rock and fossil specimens, work with peers in the lab and classroom, and deliver most results including annotated figures on paper. DE students complete identical tasks using interactive high resolution figures and videos of specimens. Solo work is first delivered for automated assessment and feedback, then students engage asynchronously in small groups to improve results and discuss implications. Chronostratigraphy and other interpretations are sketched on prepared template images using a simple open-source sketching app that ensures equal access and consistent results that are efficient to assess by peers and instructors. Learning outcomes based on subsequent quizzes, sketches, and lab results (paper for f2f students and automated data entry for DE students), show that f2f and online students demonstrate knowledge and scientific interpretations of comparable quality. Effective engagement and group work are

[HAND HYGIENE BELIEFS AND PERCEPTIONS OF NURSING STUDENTS].

PubMed

Hernández-García, Ignacio; Cardoso-Muñoz, Antonio Manuel

2016-05-01

A key element to promote the compliance of hand hygiene (HH) among health care workers (HCWs) is to analyze their perceptions of it. Our objective was to evaluate the beliefs and perceptions that nursing students have on HH. A cross-sectional study was performed during the 2011-2012 school year. It included all enrolled nursing students from a Spanish University. The information was obtained by a self-administered questionnaire, which assessed the importance of HH to control nosocomial infections (NI), beliefs (by Hand Hygiene Beliefs Scale-HHBS) and perceptions of the importance given to HH in the curriculum (by Hand Hygiene Importance Scale-HHIS). Associations were analyzed using logistic regression. 146 students of the 270 (54.1%) completed the questionnaire. Assessing the importance of HH as NI control measure ranged from 4 to 10 points (median = 9). The more agreement HHIS item was to consider HH as an important part of the curriculum (76.1%), while HHBS item was to believe that hands washing after going to the toilet reduces the transmission of infectious diseases (100%). Importance of HH to control NI valued with > 9 points was associated with the agreement to consider it as an relevant part of the curriculum (OR:2.5), and to believe that HCWs play an important role in preventing NI (OR: 4.3). HH was rated as an important NI control measure. Educational programs should be carried out at universities to students do HH, whether they observe poor compliance among HCWs in their practices.

Hands-on Summer Camp to Attract K-12 Students to Engineering Fields

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yilmaz, Muhittin; Ren, Jianhong; Custer, Sheryl; Coleman, Joyce

2010-01-01

This paper explains the organization and execution of a summer engineering outreach camp designed to attract and motivate high school students as well as increase their awareness of various engineering fields. The camp curriculum included hands-on, competitive design-oriented engineering projects from several disciplines: the electrical,…

Hand hygiene knowledge and practices of nursing students in Singapore.

PubMed

Nasirudeen, A M A; Koh, Josephine W N; Lau, Adeline Lee Chin; Li, Wenjie; Lim, Lay Seng; Ow, Cynthia Yi Xuan

2012-10-01

Hand hygiene is an important means of preventing nosocomial infections. Studies have shown a <50% compliance rate for hand hygiene among health care workers. A hand hygiene survey was administered to nursing students in a tertiary institution in Singapore. The results of this survey strongly indicate that nursing students understand the importance of hand hygiene compliance and perceive clinical internship programs and practical laboratory sessions to be effective methods of hand hygiene education. Copyright © 2012 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Students Who Demonstrate Strong Talent and Interest in STEM Are Initially Attracted to STEM through Extracurricular Experiences

PubMed Central

Frankenfeld, Cara L.; Bases, Jessica; Espina, Virginia; Liotta, Lance A.

2014-01-01

What early experiences attract students to pursue an education and career in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)? Does hands-on research influence them to persevere and complete a major course of academic study in STEM? We evaluated survey responses from 149 high school and undergraduate students who gained hands-on research experience in the 2007–2013 Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Programs (ASSIP) at George Mason University. Participants demonstrated their strong interest in STEM by volunteering to participate in ASSIP and completing 300 h of summer research. The survey queried extracurricular experiences, classroom factors, and hands-on projects that first cultivated students’ interest in the STEM fields, and separately evaluated experiences that sustained their interest in pursuing a STEM degree. The majority of students (65.5%, p < 0.0001) reported extracurricular encounters, such as the influence of a relative or family member and childhood experiences, as the most significant factors that initially ignited their interest in STEM, while hands-on lab work was stated as sustaining their interest in STEM (92.6%). Based on these findings collected from a cohort of students who demonstrated a strong talent and interest in STEM, community-based programs that create awareness about STEM for both children and their family members may be key components for igniting long-term academic interest in STEM. PMID:25452491

Effects of Combined Hands-on Laboratory and Computer Modeling on Student Learning of Gas Laws: A Quasi-Experimental Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Xiufeng

2006-01-01

Based on current theories of chemistry learning, this study intends to test a hypothesis that computer modeling enhanced hands-on chemistry laboratories are more effective than hands-on laboratories or computer modeling laboratories alone in facilitating high school students' understanding of chemistry concepts. Thirty-three high school chemistry…

Research Experiences for Science Teachers: The Impact On Their Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dubner, J.

2005-12-01

Deficiencies in science preparedness of United States high school students were recognized more than two decades ago, as were some of their underlying causes. Among the primary causes are the remoteness of the language, tools, and concepts of science from the daily experiences of teachers and students, and the long-standing national shortage of appropriately prepared science teachers. Secondary school science teachers are challenged each school year by constantly changing content, new technologies, and increasing demands for standards-based instruction. A major deficiency in the education of science teachers was their lack of experience with the practice of science, and with practicing scientists. Providing teachers with opportunities to gain hands-on experience with the tools and materials of science under the guidance and mentorship of leading scientists in an environment attuned to professional development, would have many beneficial effects. They would improve teachers' understanding of science and their ability to develop and lead inquiry- and standards-based science classes and laboratories. They would enable them to communicate the vitality and dynamism of science to their students and to other teachers. They would enhance their ability to motivate and guide students. From its inception, Columbia University's Summer Research Program for Science Teacher's goal has been to enhance interest and improve performance in science of students in New York City area schools. The program seeks to achieve this goal by increasing the professional competence of teachers. Our ongoing program evaluation shows that following completion of the program, the teachers implement more inquiry-based classroom and laboratory exercises, increase utilization of Internet resources, motivate students to participate in after school science clubs and Intel-type science projects; and create opportunities for students to investigate an area of science in greater depth and for longer periods

Understanding the Effects of Cognitive Dissonance during Interpretation: Implications for "Hands-On" Programming.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morgan, Mark

1996-01-01

Describes a field experiment that was designed to test the effects of three different interpretive programs on students' attitudes toward live, nonpoisonous snakes. One of the treatments measured the effectiveness of using "hands-on" interpretive techniques. Direct contact with snakes improved students' attitudes but only slightly. Females'…

Stimulating Participation and Learning in Microbiology: Presence and Identification of Bacteria from Student's Hands

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Antunes, Patrícia

2016-01-01

We proposed in the Basic Microbiology Subject for food science and nutrition students, a "hands-on" activity consisting on sampling student's hands for bacterial presence and identification. This is a project to be implemented in multiple laboratory classes throughout the semester, allowing students to learn, and apply general…

Enhancing the Student Experience of Laboratory Practicals through Digital Video Guides

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Croker, Karen; Andersson, Holger; Lush, David; Prince, Rob; Gomez, Stephen

2010-01-01

Laboratory-based learning allows students to experience bioscience principles first hand. In our experience, practical content and equipment may have changed over time, but teaching methods largely remain the same, typically involving; whole class introduction with a demonstration, students emulating the demonstration in small groups, gathering…

The Opinions about Relationship between Students and Teachers in the Class of Hands-on

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pigultong, M.

2018-02-01

This research has the purpose to study on 1) Relationship between Students and Teachers in the Class of Hands - on and 2) Class Management at Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi. The research consists of collecting information from 400 students who have valid student status in 2016 at Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi. This research uses content analysis technique, Average (-X) and Standard Deviation to interpret the information. The results of the research focus on 2 topics 1) The Human relationship between Students and Teachers. The samples group had high expectations of human relationship (x=3.87). 2) Class Management. The samples group had high expectations of Class Management (x=3.88).

Students Who Demonstrate Strong Talent and Interest in STEM Are Initially Attracted to STEM through Extracurricular Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

VanMeter-Adams, Amy; Frankenfeld, Cara L.; Bases, Jessica; Espina, Virginia; Liotta, Lance A.

2014-01-01

What early experiences attract students to pursue an education and career in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)? Does hands-on research influence them to persevere and complete a major course of academic study in STEM? We evaluated survey responses from 149 high school and undergraduate students who gained hands-on research…

Hand hygiene knowledge and practice among university students: evidence from Private Universities of Bangladesh

PubMed Central

Sultana, Marufa; Mahumud, Rashidul Alam; Sarker, Abdur Razzaque; Hossain, Sarder Mahmud

2016-01-01

Hand hygiene has achieved the reputation of being a convenient means of preventing communicable diseases. Although causal links between hand hygiene and rates of infectious disease have also been established earlier, studies focusing on hand hygiene among university-going students are not adequate in number. This study evaluated handwashing knowledge, practice, and other related factors among the selected university students in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 undergraduate students from four selected universities. A pretested, semistructured questionnaire, that included a checklist associated with handwashing practice, was applied to capture all relevant data. The mean (± SD) age of the participants was 20.4 (±1.8) years. The majority of the students washed their hands with water, but only 22.5% washed their hands effectively by maintaining the correct steps and frequency of handwashing with water, and soap or hand sanitizer. The mean (± SD) score of the participants’ hand hygiene practice was 50.81 (±4.79), while the total score with all perfect answers was considered as 66. Regression coefficient demonstrated that age has a negative influence on hand hygiene practice, as older students have lower scores compared to the younger ones (P<0.01). However, the unmarried students were a significant predictor for influencing the incensement of handwashing practice compared to the married ones (P<0.01). Findings of this study designate widespread insufficient hand hygiene practice in the university-going students and indicate a need for an extensive public health education program on this topic. Furthermore, availability of soap and sufficient water supply is needed within the university setting to facilitate handwashing. Therefore, supporting quantity and quality of available campus-based public health education programs along with providing health-washing equipment is suggested. PMID:26929673

Hand hygiene knowledge and practice among university students: evidence from Private Universities of Bangladesh.

PubMed

Sultana, Marufa; Mahumud, Rashidul Alam; Sarker, Abdur Razzaque; Hossain, Sarder Mahmud

2016-01-01

Hand hygiene has achieved the reputation of being a convenient means of preventing communicable diseases. Although causal links between hand hygiene and rates of infectious disease have also been established earlier, studies focusing on hand hygiene among university-going students are not adequate in number. This study evaluated handwashing knowledge, practice, and other related factors among the selected university students in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 undergraduate students from four selected universities. A pretested, semistructured questionnaire, that included a checklist associated with handwashing practice, was applied to capture all relevant data. The mean (± SD) age of the participants was 20.4 (±1.8) years. The majority of the students washed their hands with water, but only 22.5% washed their hands effectively by maintaining the correct steps and frequency of handwashing with water, and soap or hand sanitizer. The mean (± SD) score of the participants' hand hygiene practice was 50.81 (±4.79), while the total score with all perfect answers was considered as 66. Regression coefficient demonstrated that age has a negative influence on hand hygiene practice, as older students have lower scores compared to the younger ones (P<0.01). However, the unmarried students were a significant predictor for influencing the incensement of handwashing practice compared to the married ones (P<0.01). Findings of this study designate widespread insufficient hand hygiene practice in the university-going students and indicate a need for an extensive public health education program on this topic. Furthermore, availability of soap and sufficient water supply is needed within the university setting to facilitate handwashing. Therefore, supporting quantity and quality of available campus-based public health education programs along with providing health-washing equipment is suggested.

Inexpensive Electrooptic Experiments on Liquid Crystal Displays.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ciferno, Thomas M.; And Others

1995-01-01

Describes the construction and use of an electrooptic apparatus that can be incorporated into the classroom to test liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and introduce students to experiments of an applied physics nature with very practical implications. Presents experiments that give students hands-on experience with technologies of current interest to…

Students teaching students: evaluation of a "near-peer" teaching experience.

PubMed

Naeger, David M; Conrad, Miles; Nguyen, Janet; Kohi, Maureen P; Webb, Emily M

2013-09-01

Teaching is an important skill. Academic physicians teach on a daily basis, and nearly all physicians occasionally teach colleagues and patients. There are generally few opportunities for medical students to learn teaching skills. We developed a novel "near-peer" teaching program in which fourth-year students cotaught first-year students. Eighteen fourth-year students enrolled in our institution's primary senior radiology elective learned the basics of ultrasound through a series of lectures and hands-on scanning sessions. Each fourth-year student, paired with a radiology resident or attending, then cotaught a first-year anatomy small group session. After instruction, voluntary surveys were administered to assess the perceived value of the "near-peer" teaching experience. Seventeen of 18 (94%) and 104 of 120 (87%) administered surveys were returned by fourth- and first-year students, respectively. Sixteen (94%) and 99 (95%) of the fourth- and first-year students reported they "enjoyed" or "really enjoyed" the near-peer teaching experience. Fourteen (82%) of the fourth years perceived improvement in their teaching skills and an increase in their knowledge. Only 8 (47%) of the fourth years thought they were "helpful" or "very helpful," though 92 (88%) of the first years identified their fourth-year co-instructors as "helpful" or "very helpful." We piloted a novel "near-peer" program. Both senior and freshman students enjoyed the experience, and fourth years thought the session was educational for them as well. Although most fourth years did not judge themselves as helpful, first-year students overwhelmingly considered them a useful addition to the session. Copyright © 2013 AUR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Effectiveness of Hands-on Health Informatics Skills Exercises in the Multidisciplinary Smart Home Healthcare and Health Informatics Training Laboratories.

PubMed

Sapci, A H; Sapci, H A

2017-10-01

This article aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of newly established innovative smart home healthcare and health informatics laboratories, and a novel laboratory course that focuses on experiential health informatics training, and determine students' self-confidence to operate wireless home health monitoring devices before and after the hands-on laboratory course. Two web-based pretraining and posttraining questionnaires were sent to 64 students who received hands-on training with wireless remote patient monitoring devices in smart home healthcare and health informatics laboratories. All 64 students completed the pretraining survey (100% response rate), and 49 students completed the posttraining survey (76% response rate). The quantitative data analysis showed that 95% of students had an interest in taking more hands-on laboratory courses. Sixty-seven percent of students had no prior experience with medical image, physiological data acquisition, storage, and transmission protocols. After the hands-on training session, 75.51% of students expressed improved confidence about training patients to measure blood pressure monitor using wireless devices. Ninety percent of students preferred to use a similar experiential approach in their future learning experience. Additionally, the qualitative data analysis demonstrated that students were expecting to have more courses with hands-on exercises and integration of technology-enabled delivery and patient monitoring concepts into the curriculum. This study demonstrated that the multidisciplinary smart home healthcare and health informatics training laboratories and the hands-on exercises improved students' technology adoption rates and their self-confidence in using wireless patient monitoring devices. Schattauer GmbH Stuttgart.

A Hands-on Exercise in Building Darcy Tubes to Improve Student Understanding of Groundwater Flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, J. A.

2012-12-01

Teaching undergraduate students about sustainability typically includes discussions of water resources and the flow of groundwater in aquifers. Understanding the flow of groundwater is a fundamental step for students, but one that can easily get mired in equations (e.g., Darcy's Law). In an effort to transform Darcy's Law, which describes flow of fluid through a porous medium, from an abstract concept to a hands-on experiment, I had undergraduate students build working "Darcy tubes" and calculate hydraulic conductivity during a three-hour lab period. At the beginning of the lab period, I presented the students with the materials: three pairs of plastic soda bottles with straight sides, glass tubing, pantyhose (for screens), rubber hosing, sieved sand in three grain sizes (1-2 mm, 0.5-1.0 mm, and 0.25-0.5 mm), and various types of tape and adhesive. After we discussed the basic design of a Darcy tube (inlet and outlet, with two piezometers), the students went to work. Real-time problem-solving was an integral (and exciting) part of the exercise. Within two hours, they had built three Darcy tubes, each filled with a different sand size. The students determined the cross-sectional area of each tube (A) and the distance between the two piezometers (L). We then ran the experiments, using tinted water so that we could more easily tell when the sand in the tubes was saturated. We measured discharge (Q) through the tube and marked the height of the water in each piezometer to calculate difference in hydraulic head (Δh). With the data we had collected, the students were able to calculate hydraulic conductivity (K) using a simple form of Darcy's Law: Q = -KA (Δh/L). Despite the simplicity of the Darcy tubes, the students' K values were reasonable for the sediment types that we used. Student comments on the Darcy tube exercise were overwhelmingly positive. The Darcy tubes could be used in a subsequent lab period for exploration of more advanced concepts, such as

The Citizen Science Program "H2O SOS: Help Heal the Ocean—Student Operated Solutions: Operation Climate Change" teaches middle and high school students about ocean threats related to climate change through hands-on activities and learning experiences in the field. This is a continuation of the Program presented last year at the Poster Session.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weiss, N. K.; Wood, J. H.

2017-12-01

TThe Citizen Science Program H2O SOS: Help Heal the Ocean—Student Operated Solutions: Operation Climate Change, teaches middle and high school students about ocean threats related to climate change through hands-on activities and learning experiences in the field. During each session (in-class or after-school as a club), students build an understanding about how climate change impacts our oceans using resources provided by ExplorOcean (hands-on activities, presentations, multi-media). Through a student leadership model, students present lessons to each other, interweaving a deep learning of science, 21st century technology, communication skills, and leadership. After participating in learning experiences and activities related to 6 key climate change concepts: 1) Introduction to climate change, 2) Increased sea temperatures, 3) Ocean acidification, 4) Sea level rise, 5) Feedback mechanisms, and 6) Innovative solutions. H2O SOS- Operation Climate change participants select one focus issue and use it to design a multi-pronged campaign to increase awareness about this issue in their local community. The campaign includes social media, an interactive activity, and a visual component. All participating clubs that meet participation and action goals earn a field trip to Ocean Quest where they dive deeper into their selected issue through hands-on activities, real-world investigations, and interviews or presentations with experts. In addition to self-selected opportunities to showcase their focus issue, teams will participate in one of several key events identified by Ocean Quest.

Assessing the impact of representational and contextual problem features on student use of right-hand rules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kustusch, Mary Bridget

2016-06-01

Students in introductory physics struggle with vector algebra and these challenges are often associated with contextual and representational features of the problems. Performance on problems about cross product direction is particularly poor and some research suggests that this may be primarily due to misapplied right-hand rules. However, few studies have had the resolution to explore student use of right-hand rules in detail. This study reviews literature in several disciplines, including spatial cognition, to identify ten contextual and representational problem features that are most likely to influence performance on problems requiring a right-hand rule. Two quantitative measures of performance (correctness and response time) and two qualitative measures (methods used and type of errors made) were used to explore the impact of these problem features on student performance. Quantitative results are consistent with expectations from the literature, but reveal that some features (such as the type of reasoning required and the physical awkwardness of using a right-hand rule) have a greater impact than others (such as whether the vectors are placed together or separate). Additional insight is gained by the qualitative analysis, including identifying sources of difficulty not previously discussed in the literature and revealing that the use of supplemental methods, such as physically rotating the paper, can mitigate errors associated with certain features.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Self-Created Student Screencasts as a Tool to Increase Student Learning Outcomes in a Hands-On Computer Programming Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powell, Loreen M.; Wimmer, Hayden

2015-01-01

Computer programming is challenging to teach and difficult for students to learn. Instructors have searched for ways to improve student learning in programming courses. In an attempt to foster hands-on learning and to increase student learning outcomes in a programming course, the authors conducted an exploratory study to examine student created…

Synthesis of 10-Ethyl Flavin: A Multistep Synthesis Organic Chemistry Laboratory Experiment for Upper-Division Undergraduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sichula, Vincent A.

2015-01-01

A multistep synthesis of 10-ethyl flavin was developed as an organic chemistry laboratory experiment for upper-division undergraduate students. Students synthesize 10-ethyl flavin as a bright yellow solid via a five-step sequence. The experiment introduces students to various hands-on experimental organic synthetic techniques, such as column…

Dr. Ray Gause examines student Skylab experiment ED-52 Web Formation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

Dr. Ray Gause of the NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) places dinner, in the form of a housefly, in the web of Arabella - the prime spider for the ED-52 Web Formation Experiment. Arabella can be delineated near the end of the black pen in Dr. Gause's hand. The experiment is one of 25 student experiments accepted for the Skylab program and will be performed during the Skylab 3 mission. Judy Miles, a 17-year-old high school student from Lexington, Massachusetts, is the student experimenter and Dr. Gause is the NASA student advisor.

A Gram Stain Hands-On Workshop Enhances First Year Medical Students' Technique Competency in Comprehension and Memorization.

PubMed

Delfiner, Matthew S; Martinez, Luis R; Pavia, Charles S

2016-01-01

Laboratory diagnostic tests have an essential role in patient care, and the increasing number of medical and health professions schools focusing on teaching laboratory medicine to pre-clinical students reflects this importance. However, data validating the pedagogical methods that best influence students' comprehension and interpretation of diagnostic tests have not been well described. The Gram stain is a simple yet significant and frequently used diagnostic test in the clinical setting that helps classify bacteria into two major groups, Gram positive and negative, based on their cell wall structure. We used this technique to assess which educational strategies may improve students' learning and competency in medical diagnostic techniques. Hence, in this randomized controlled study, we compared the effectiveness of several educational strategies (e.g. workshop, discussion, or lecture) in first year medical students' competency in comprehension and interpretation of the Gram stain procedure. We demonstrated that a hands-on practical workshop significantly enhances students' competency in memorization and overall comprehension of the technique. Interestingly, most students irrespective of their cohort showed difficulty in answering Gram stain-related analytical questions, suggesting that more emphasis should be allocated by the instructors to clearly explain the interpretation of the diagnostic test results to students in medical and health professional schools. This proof of principle study highlights the need of practical experiences on laboratory medical techniques during pre-clinical training to facilitate future medical doctors' and healthcare professionals' basic understanding and competency in diagnostic testing for better patient care.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory`s (ORNL) ecological and physical science study center: A hands-on science program for K-12 students

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

Bradshaw, S.P.

1994-12-31

In our tenth year of educational service and outreach, Oak Ridge National Laboratory`s Ecological and Physical Science Study Center (EPSSC) provides hands-on, inquiry-based science activities for area students and teachers. Established in 1984, the EPSSC now hosts over 20,000 student visits. Designed to foster a positive attitude towards science, each unit includes activities which reinforce the science concept being explored. Outdoor science units provide field experience at the Department of Energy`s Oak Ridge National Environmental Research Park and outreach programs are offered on-site in area schools. Other programs are offered as extensions of the EPSSC core programs, including on-site studentmore » science camps, all-girl programs, outreach science camps, student competitions, teacher in-service presentations and teacher workshops.« less

Hands-On Experiences of Undergraduate Students in Automatics and Robotics Using a Virtual and Remote Laboratory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jara, Carlos A.; Candelas, Francisco A.; Puente, Santiago T.; Torres, Fernando

2011-01-01

Automatics and Robotics subjects are always greatly improved when classroom teaching is supported by adequate laboratory courses and experiments following the "learning by doing" paradigm, which provides students a deep understanding of theoretical lessons. However, expensive equipment and limited time prevent teachers having sufficient…

PULSE@Parkes, Engaging Students through Hands-On Radio Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hollow, Robert; Hobbs, George; Shannon, Ryan M.; Kerr, Matthew

2015-08-01

PULSE@Parkes is an innovative, free educational program run by CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science (CASS) in which high school students use the 64m Parkes radio telescope remotely in real time to observe pulsars then analyse their data. The program caters for a range of student ability and introduces students to hands-on observing and radio astronomy. Students are guided by professional astronomers, educators and PhD students during an observing session. They have ample time to interact with the scientists and discuss astronomy, careers and general scientific questions. Students use a web-based module to analyse pulsar properties. All data from the program are streamed via a web browser and are freely available from the online archive and may be used for open-ended student investigations. The data are also used by the team for ongoing pulsar studies with two scientific papers published to date.Over 100 sessions have been held so far. Most sessions are held at CASS headquarters in Sydney, Australia but other sessions are regularly held in other states with partner institutions. The flexibility of the program means that it is also possible to run sessions in other countries. This aspect of the program is useful for demonstrating capability, engaging students in diverse settings and fostering collaborations. The use of Twitter (@pulseatparkes) during allows followers worldwide to participate and ask questions.Two tours of Japan plus sessions in the UK, Netherlands and Canada have reached a wide audience. Plans for collaborations in China are well underway with the possibility of use with other countries also being explored. The program has also been successfully used in helping to train international graduate students via the International Pulsar Timing Array Schools. We have identified strong demand and need for programs such as this for training undergraduate students in Asia and the North America in observing and data analysis techniques so one area of planned

Student-led intervention to inNOvate hand hygiene practice in Auckland Region's medical students (the No HHARMS study).

PubMed

Lucas, Nathanael Cc; Hume, Carl G; Al-Chanati, Abdal; Diprose, William; Roberts, Sally; Freeman, Josh; Mogol, Vernon; Hoskins, David; Hamblin, Richard; Frampton, Chris; Bagg, Warwick; Merry, Alan F

2017-01-13

Hand hygiene is important in reducing healthcare-associated infections. The World Health Organization has defined 'five moments' when hand hygiene compliance is required. During 2013, New Zealand national data showed poor compliance with these moments by medical students. To improve medical students' compliance with the five moments. In this prospective student-led quality improvement initiative, student investigators developed, implemented and evaluated a multi-modal intervention comprising a three-month social media campaign, a competition and an entertaining educational video. Data on individual patient-medical student interactions were collected covertly by observers at baseline and at one week, six weeks and three months after initiation of the intervention. During the campaign, compliance improved in moment 2, but not significantly in moments 1, 3, 4 or 5. Statistical analysis of amalgamated data was limited by non-independent data points-a consideration apparently not always addressed in previous studies. The initiative produced improvements in compliance by medical students with one hand hygiene moment. Statistical analysis of amalgamated data for all five moments should allow for the non-independence of each occasion in which clinicians interact with a patient. More work is needed to ensure excellent hand hygiene practices of future doctors.

Introducing Chemical Reactions Concepts in K-6 through a Hands-On Food Spherification and Spaghetti-Fication Experiment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gupta, Anju; Hill, Nicole; Valenzuela, Patricia; Johnson, Eric

2017-01-01

Recruiting students in STEM majors to fill the gap in STEM workforce is a continued challenge, which can be addressed by introducing scientific principles through hand-on activities to the students at an early stage. This paper presents the design, implementation and assessment of a chemistry-related workshop for sixth grade students that were…

The effect of hand hygiene on illness rate among students in university residence halls.

PubMed

White, Cindy; Kolble, Robin; Carlson, Rebecca; Lipson, Natasha; Dolan, Mike; Ali, Yusuf; Cline, Mojee

2003-10-01

Several studies have indicated a connection between hand sanitization and infection control in numerous settings such as extended care facilities, schools, and hospitals. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of both a hand-hygiene message campaign and the use of an alcohol gel hand sanitizer in decreasing the incidence of upper-respiratory illness among students living in university residence halls. This study involved a total of 430 students recruited from 4 residence halls during the fall semester at the University of Colorado at the Boulder campus. Dormitories were paired into control and product groups. In the product groups, alcohol gel hand-sanitizer dispensers were installed in every room, bathroom, and dining hall. The data were statistically analyzed for the differences between product and control groups in reported symptoms, illness rates, and absenteeism from classes. The overall increase in hand-hygiene behavior and reduction in symptoms, illness rates, and absenteeism between the product group and control group was statistically significant. Reductions in upper respiratory-illness symptoms ranged from 14.8% to 39.9%. Total improvement in illness rate was 20%. The product group had 43% less missed school/work days. Hand-hygiene practices were improved with increased frequency of handwashing through increasing awareness of the importance of hand hygiene, and the use of alcohol gel hand sanitizer in university dormitories. This resulted in fewer upper respiratory-illness symptoms, lower illness rates, and lower absenteeism.

Could hands-on activities and smartphone in science CLIL teaching foster motivation and positive attitudes in students?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ercolino, Immacolata; Maraffi, Sabina; Sacerdoti, Francesco M.

2016-04-01

Motivating students is one of the most challenging things we do as educators. We know that students need to be engaged to fully appreciate and learn what has been taught; the secret consists in nurturing student engagement. One of the newer ways to involve students and foster motivation in their Science learning consists in focusing on their usage and on applying knowledge and skills in their real-life. Students usually are engaged in authentic teaching pathway. Learning focusing on the experience helps teachers to improve classroom management by gathering students around a common organized activity. Hands-on activities support problem-based approaches to learning by focusing on the experience and process of investigating, proposing and creating solutions developing critical thinking skills and enlarge student's scientific glossary. We utilized in our classroom some lab activities that we learned at an ESA/GTTP Teacher training Workshop 2014 program at the Lorentz Center Leiden, Netherlands. "Cooking a comet - Ingredients for life" "Demonstration of the second Kepler's law using marbles" New media equipment, as student's own smartphones, can increase the teaching impact speaking the same language used by the students every day. They can measure magnetic fields, their GPS coordinates (longitude and latitude), and so on. In this way we can measure distances as parallax using mobile devices and simulating distance measurements in the classroom, on the school campus. The smartphone is the device with which the students answer questions, take decisions, and solve quests. Students infact can observe the Universe from their classroom and scientifically they can watch the Sun with "Google sky map" or "Star walk" are excellent tools to learn your way around the night sky .As teachers we used these apps in the classroom when Sun goes through the constellations so our students don't believe in horoscopes. This paper is focused on hands on activities and the effects of the

Hand-Held Sunphotometers for High School Student Construction and Measuring Aerosol Optical Thickness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Almonor, Linda; Baldwin, C.; Craig, R.; Johnson, L. P.

2000-01-01

Science education is taking the teaching of science from a traditional (lecture) approach to a multidimensional sense-making approach which allows teachers to support students by providing exploratory experiences. Using projects is one way of providing students with opportunities to observe and participate in sense-making activity. We created a learning environment that fostered inquiry-based learning. Students were engaged in a variety of Inquiry activities that enabled them to work in cooperative planning teams where respect for each other was encouraged and their ability to grasp, transform and transfer information was enhanced. Summer, 1998: An air pollution workshop was conducted for high school students in the Medgar Evers College/Middle College High School Liberty Partnership Summer Program. Students learned the basics of meteorology: structure and composition of the atmosphere and the processes that cause weather. The highlight of this workshop was the building of hand-held sunphotometers, which measure the intensity of the sunlight striking the Earth. Summer, 1999: high school students conducted a research project which measured the mass and size of ambient particulates and enhanced our ability to observe through land based measurements changes in the optical depth of ambient aerosols over Brooklyn. Students used hand held Sunphotometers to collect data over a two week period and entered it into the NASA GISS database by way of the internet.

Mature students' experiences of undergraduate nurse education programmes: the Irish experience.

PubMed

O'Brien, Frances; Keogh, Brian; Neenan, Kathleen

2009-08-01

In recent years mature students have been encouraged into nurse education for the valuable qualities they are known to possess, along with their ability to assist in providing a sustainable solution to the current health care crisis. Unfortunately corresponding resources and support structures have not accompanied this widening of access and mature students are expected to fit into structures that already exist, structures that were formulated with eighteen year olds in mind. This qualitative study explores the experiences of mature students in nurse education. Three discipline specific focus group interviews were used as a means of gathering data from 28 mature students. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis as described by Burnard [Burnard, P., 1991. A method of analysing interview transcripts in qualitative research. Nurse Education Today 11, 461-466]. Findings revealed that students continue to struggle with the academic component of the course. They also found it difficult to balance the home and university divide. Greater challenges were identified by female participants as they maintained their previous roles. Males on the other hand were provided with greater freedom to pursue their studies. There is a need for curricular changes to be implemented in order to provide a greater flexibility and supportive experience for mature students. Further research is advocated in this area.

Students who demonstrate strong talent and interest in STEM are initially attracted to STEM through extracurricular experiences.

PubMed

VanMeter-Adams, Amy; Frankenfeld, Cara L; Bases, Jessica; Espina, Virginia; Liotta, Lance A

2014-01-01

What early experiences attract students to pursue an education and career in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)? Does hands-on research influence them to persevere and complete a major course of academic study in STEM? We evaluated survey responses from 149 high school and undergraduate students who gained hands-on research experience in the 2007-2013 Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Programs (ASSIP) at George Mason University. Participants demonstrated their strong interest in STEM by volunteering to participate in ASSIP and completing 300 h of summer research. The survey queried extracurricular experiences, classroom factors, and hands-on projects that first cultivated students' interest in the STEM fields, and separately evaluated experiences that sustained their interest in pursuing a STEM degree. The majority of students (65.5%, p < 0.0001) reported extracurricular encounters, such as the influence of a relative or family member and childhood experiences, as the most significant factors that initially ignited their interest in STEM, while hands-on lab work was stated as sustaining their interest in STEM (92.6%). Based on these findings collected from a cohort of students who demonstrated a strong talent and interest in STEM, community-based programs that create awareness about STEM for both children and their family members may be key components for igniting long-term academic interest in STEM. © 2014 A. VanMeter-Adams et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2014 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

What Students Learn from Hands-On Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwichow, Martin; Zimmerman, Corinne; Croker, Steve; Härtig, Hendrik

2016-01-01

The ability to design and interpret controlled experiments is an important scientific process skill and a common objective of science standards. Numerous intervention studies have investigated how the control-of-variables-strategy (CVS) can be introduced to students. However, a meta-analysis of 72 intervention studies found that the opportunity to…

At-risk children's use of reflection and revision in hands-on experimental activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrosino, Anthony J., Jr.

The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of incorporating opportunities for reflection and revision in hands-on science instruction which emphasized experimentation using model rockets. The participants were low achieving sixth grade summer school students (n = 23) designated as at-risk for school failure by their district. The group was asked a series of interview questions based on work by Schauble et al. (1995) relating to experimentation. The interviews took place over three distinct time points corresponding to a "hands-on only" condition, a "hands-on with reflection and revision" condition and a "hands-on with repeated reflection and revision" condition. A Friedman's Two-Way Analysis of Variance by Ranks indicate students score low at first with traditional hands-on instruction but improve significantly with opportunities to reflect and revise their experiments. In addition, a sociocultural analysis was conducted during the summer school session to assess the model rocket activity as an apprenticeship, as guided participation and as participatory appropriation using a framework established by Rogoff (1994). Finally, a survey (the Classroom Environment Survey) was administered to the students measuring five constructs consistent with a constructivist classroom: participation, autonomy, relevance, commitment to learning and disruptions to learning. Analysis indicate students in the summer school model rocket intervention experienced a greater sense of constructivist principles during the activity than a similar comparison group utilizing reform minded instruction but not including opportunities for reflection and revision cycles. This research provides important evidence that, like scientists, students in school can learn effectively from extended practice in a varied context. Importantly, the data indicate that hands-on instruction is best utilized when opportunities for reflection and revision are made explicit. Implications are discussed related

A comparison of hands-on inquiry instruction to lectureinstruction with special needs high school biology students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jensen-Ruopp, Helga Spitko

A comparison of hands-on inquiry instruction with lecture instruction was presented to 134 Patterns and Process Biology students. Students participated in seven biology lessons that were selected from Biology Survey of Living Things (1992). A pre and post paper and pencil assessment was used as the data collecting instrument. The treatment group was taught using hands-on inquiry strategies while the non-treatment group was taught in the lecture method of instruction. The team teaching model was used as the mode of presentation to the treatment group and the non-treatment group. Achievement levels using specific criterion; novice (0% to 50%), developing proficiency (51% to 69%), accomplished (70% to 84) and exceptional or mastery level (85% to 100%) were used as a guideline to tabulate the results of the pre and post assessment. Rubric tabulation was done to interpret the testing results. The raw data was plotted using percentage change in test score totals versus reading level score by gender as well as percentage change in test score totals versus auditory vocabulary score by gender. Box Whisker plot comparative descriptive of individual pre and post test scores for the treatment and non-treatment group was performed. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) using MINITAB Statistical Software version 14.11 was run on data of the seven lessons, as well as on gender (male results individual and combined, and female results individual and combined) results. Normal Probability Plots for total scores as well as individual test scores were performed. The results suggest that hands-on inquiry based instruction when presented to special needs students including; at-risk; English as a second language limited, English proficiency and special education inclusive students' learning may enhance individual student achievement.

Students' clinical experience on outreach placements.

PubMed

Smith, M; Lennon, M A; Robinson, P G

2010-02-01

Primary care outreach placements increasingly feature in UK undergraduate dental curricula. The profile of clinical work undertaken on placement may differ from traditional hospital-based programmes and between outreach settings. An appreciation of any differences could inform curriculum development. To compare the profiles of clinical work experienced on a traditional hospital-based programme and outreach placements in different settings. One dental hospital and eight existing primary care block placements in England. Subjects were four cohorts of senior dental students in one UK dental school. Departmental records provided data on students' clinical experience in different settings and their achievement of placement learning objectives. Descriptive statistics for groups were compared. (1) Counts of patients encountered and of clinical procedures completed in the following categories: simple plastic restorations, endodontics, cast restorations, dentures, extractions and children's dentistry. (2) Student perceptions of placement learning reported via Likert scales. Outreach students encountered twice as many patients and typically completed about three times as much clinical work as students in the hospital, e.g. 44 cf 16 simple plastic restorations, seven cf two endodontic procedures. There were variations in profiles by setting. For example, amalgam being more likely to be used on outreach especially in the General Dental Service; more children's dentistry in community services and more extractions in Dental Access Centres. Students reported learning outcomes generally being achieved (average 94%) although with some variation by setting. Dental outreach training greatly increases the quantity of students' clinical experience in everyday dentistry compared to a hospital-based programme. Placements also increase awareness of service delivery and develop clinical skills. There are appreciable variations between outreach settings possibly reflecting their purposes

Laterality and body ownership: Effect of handedness on experience of the rubber hand illusion.

PubMed

Smit, M; Kooistra, D I; van der Ham, I J M; Dijkerman, H C

2017-11-01

Body ownership has mainly been linked to the right hemisphere and larger interhemispheric connectivity has been shown to be associated with greater right hemispheric activation. Mixed-handed participants tend to have more interhemispheric connectivity compared to extreme handed participants. The aim of this study was to examine whether feelings of ownership as assessed with the rubber hand illusion (RHI) are differentiated by handedness and differed between the left and right hand. Sinistrals-, dextrals-, and mixed-handed individuals (n = 63) were subjected to the RHI. Stroking was synchronously and asynchronously performed on both the participant's hand and a rubber hand. Outcome measures were an embodiment questionnaire and proprioceptive drift. In contrast to our hypotheses we show a similar experience of ownership for all groups, which may indicate no hemispheric specialization for the illusion. In addition, plasticity of ownership and body ownership are similar for the left hand and right hand in all participants, which suggests similar representations for both hands in the brain. This might be useful to maintain a coherent sense of the body in space.

Alignment of Hands-on STEM Engagement Activities with Positive STEM Dispositions in Secondary School Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christensen, Rhonda; Knezek, Gerald; Tyler-Wood, Tandra

2015-12-01

This study examines positive dispositions reported by middle school and high school students participating in programs that feature STEM-related activities. Middle school students participating in school-to-home hands-on energy monitoring activities are compared to middle school and high school students in a different project taking part in activities such as an after-school robotics program. Both groups are compared and contrasted with a third group of high school students admitted at the eleventh grade to an academy of mathematics and science. All students were assessed using the same science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) dispositions instrument. Findings indicate that the after-school group whose participants self-selected STEM engagement activities, and the self-selected academy of mathematics and science group, each had highly positive STEM dispositions comparable to those of STEM professionals, while a subset of the middle school whole-classroom energy monitoring group that reported high interest in STEM as a career, also possessed highly positive STEM dispositions comparable to the STEM Professionals group. The authors conclude that several different kinds of hands-on STEM engagement activities are likely to foster or maintain positive STEM dispositions at the middle school and high school levels, and that these highly positive levels of dispositions can be viewed as a target toward which projects seeking to interest mainstream secondary students in STEM majors in college and STEM careers, can hope to aspire. Gender findings regarding STEM dispositions are also reported for these groups.

Influencing factors on hand hygiene behavior of nursing students based on theory of planned behavior: A descriptive survey study.

PubMed

Jeong, Sun Young; Kim, Kyung Mi

2016-01-01

Hand hygiene is the single most important measure to prevent transmission of infection, but the compliance rate of healthcare workers is relatively low. This study was conducted to identify the knowledge, beliefs, behavior, and affecting factors about hand hygiene among nursing students. A descriptive survey study. The study was carried out in two South Korean nursing schools. A total 208 nursing students participated in this study. Questionnaires were used to collect data. The percentage of correct answers in the survey section concerning hand hygiene knowledge was 68.1%. No significant difference in the knowledge, behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, or control beliefs data was found related to general characteristics. Behavioral beliefs correlated with normative beliefs (r=.25, p<.001) and hand hygiene behavior (r=.17, p=.017), and control beliefs correlated with hand hygiene behavior (r=.18, p=.010). The results suggest that knowledge is not enough to change the beliefs related to hand hygiene; positive behavioral beliefs and strong control beliefs are also needed to increase hand hygiene compliance. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lab-in-a-box @ school: Exiting hands-on experiments in soft matter physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobs, Karin; Brinkmann, Martin; Müller, Frank

2015-03-01

Soft materials like liquids and polymers are part of everyday life, yet at school, this topic is rarely touched. Within the priority program SPP 1064 'Nano- and Microfluidics' of the German Science Foundation, we designed an outreach project that allows pupils (age 14 to 18) to perform hands-on experiments (www.labinabox.de). The experiments allow them e.g. to feel viscosity and viscoelasticity, experience surface tension or see structure formation. We call the modus operandi 'subjective experiments' to contrast them with the scientifically objective experiments, which pupils often describe as being boring. Over a dozen different experiments under the topic 'physics of fluids' are collected in a big box that travels to the school. Three other topics of boxes are available, 'physics of light, 'physics of liquid crystals', and 'physics of adhesion and friction'. Each experiment can be performed by 1-3 pupils within 10 - 20 min. That way, each scholar can perform 6 to 8 different small experiments within one topic. 'Subjective experiments' especially catch the attention of girls without disadvantaging boys. Both are fascinated by the hands-on physics experience and are therefore eager to perform also 'boring' objective experiments. Morover, before/after polls reveal that their interest in physics has greatly advanced. The project can easily be taken over and/or adapted to other topics in the natural sciences. Financial support of the German Science Foundation DFG is acknowledged.

Hands-on-Science: Using Education Research to Construct Learner-Centered Classes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ludwig, R. R.; Chimonidou, A.; Kopp, S.

2014-07-01

Research into the process of learning, and learning astronomy, can be informative for the development of a course. Students are better able to incorporate and make sense of new ideas when they are aware of their own prior knowledge (Resnick et al. 1989; Confrey 1990), have the opportunity to develop explanations from their own experience in their own words (McDermott 1991; Prather et al. 2004), and benefit from peer instruction (Mazur 1997; Green 2003). Students in astronomy courses often have difficulty understanding many different concepts as a result of difficulties with spatial reasoning and a sense of scale. The Hands-on-Science program at UT Austin incorporates these research-based results into four guided-inquiry, integrated science courses (50 students each). They are aimed at pre-service K-5 teachers but are open to other majors as well. We find that Hands-on-Science students not only attain more favorable changes in attitude towards science, but they also outperform students in traditional lecture courses in content gains. Workshop Outcomes: Participants experienced a research-based, guided-inquiry lesson about the motion of objects in the sky and discussed the research methodology for assessing students in such a course.

Variability in Resident Operative Hand Experience by Specialty.

PubMed

Silvestre, Jason; Lin, Ines C; Levin, L Scott; Chang, Benjamin

2018-01-01

Recent attention has sought to standardize hand surgery training in the United States. This study analyzes the variability in operative hand experience for orthopedic and general surgery residents. Case logs for orthopedic and general surgery residency graduates were obtained from the American Council of Graduate Medical Education (2006-2007 to 2014-2015). Plastic surgery case logs were not available for comparison. Hand surgery case volumes were compared between specialties with parametric tests. Intraspecialty variation in orthopedic surgery was assessed between the bottom and top 10th percentiles in procedure categories. Case logs for 9605 general surgery residents and 5911 orthopedic surgery residents were analyzed. Orthopedic surgery residents performed a greater number of hand surgery cases than general surgery residents ( P < .001). Mean total hand experience ranged from 2.5 ± 4 to 2.8 ± 5 procedures for general surgery residents with no reported cases of soft tissue repairs, vascular repairs, and replants. Significant intraspecialty variation existed in orthopedic surgery for all hand procedure categories (range, 3.3-15.0). As the model for hand surgery training evolves, general surgeons may represent an underutilized talent pool to meet the critical demand for hand surgeon specialists. Future research is needed to determine acceptable levels of training variability in hand surgery.

High school student physics research experience yields positive results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Podolak, K. R.; Walters, M. J.

2016-03-01

All high school students that wish to continue onto college are seeking opportunities to be competitive in the college market. They participate in extra-curricular activities which are seen to foster creativity and the skills necessary to do well in the college environment. In the case of students with an interest in physics, participating in a small scale research project while in high school gives them the hands on experience and ultimately prepares them more for the college experience. SUNY Plattsburgh’s Physics department started a five-week summer program for high school students in 2012. This program has proved not only beneficial for students while in the program, but also as they continue on in their development as scientists/engineers. Independent research, such as that offered by SUNY Plattsburgh’s five-week summer program, offers students a feel and taste of the culture of doing research, and life as a scientist. It is a short-term, risk free way to investigate whether a career in research or a particular scientific field is a good fit.

A Study of High School Students' Performance of a Chemistry Experiment within the Virtual World of Second Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winkelmann, Kurt; Scott, Matthew; Wong, Deborah

2014-01-01

A small group of high school students performed a virtual laboratory experiment in Second Life that mimicked a real experiment in both its appearance and procedure. Lab report grades were equivalent to report grades for hands-on experiments, and the quality of students' results was similar. Results of an attitudinal survey show that students…

Teachers' Perspectives on Online Virtual Labs vs. Hands-On Labs in High School Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bohr, Teresa M.

This study of online science teachers' opinions addressed the use of virtual labs in online courses. A growing number of schools use virtual labs that must meet mandated laboratory standards to ensure they provide learning experiences comparable to hands-on labs, which are an integral part of science curricula. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine teachers' perceptions of the quality and effectiveness of high school virtual labs. The theoretical foundation was constructivism, as labs provide student-centered activities for problem solving, inquiry, and exploration of phenomena. The research questions focused on experienced teachers' perceptions of the quality of virtual vs. hands-on labs. Data were collected through survey questions derived from the lab objectives of The Next Generation Science Standards . Eighteen teachers rated the degree of importance of each objective and also rated how they felt virtual labs met these objectives; these ratings were reported using descriptive statistics. Responses to open-ended questions were few and served to illustrate the numerical results. Many teachers stated that virtual labs are valuable supplements but could not completely replace hands-on experiences. Studies on the quality and effectiveness of high school virtual labs are limited despite widespread use. Comprehensive studies will ensure that online students have equal access to quality labs. School districts need to define lab requirements, and colleges need to specify the lab experience they require. This study has potential to inspire positive social change by assisting science educators, including those in the local school district, in evaluating and selecting courseware designed to promote higher order thinking skills, real-world problem solving, and development of strong inquiry skills, thereby improving science instruction for all high school students.

Meaningful Watershed Experiences for Middle and High School Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Landry, Melinda; Smith, Cynthia; Greene, Joy

2014-05-01

Prince William County Public Schools and George Mason University in Virginia, USA, partnered to provide Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) for over 25,000 middle and high school students (11-18 year olds) across 34 schools. This school district, situated in a rapidly growing region 55 km southwest of Washington DC, has over 82,000 K-12 students. As native forest cover has been replaced with farming and urbanization, water quality has significantly degraded in the 166,534 km2 Chesapeake Bay watershed. This project was designed to increase student awareness of their impact on the land and waters of the largest estuary in the United States. MWEE is a long-term comprehensive project that incorporates a classroom preparation phase, a hands-on outdoor field investigation, and a reflection and data-sharing component. Training and technical assistance enhances the capacity of teachers of 6th grade, high school Earth Science and Environmental Science to deliver MWEEs which includes schoolyard stewardship, inquiry driven field study, use of hand-held technology and computer based mapping and analysis, project sharing and outreach. George Mason University researchers worked closely with K-12 science educators to create a comprehensive watershed-focused curriculum. Graduate and undergraduate students with strong interests in environmental science and education were trained to deliver the field investigation component of the MWEE. Representative teachers from each school were provided 3 days of professional development and were responsible for the training of their school's science education team. A comprehensive curriculum provided teachers with activities and tools designed to enhance students' mastery of state science objectives. Watershed concepts were used as the unifying theme to support student understanding of curriculum and STEM objectives including: scientific investigation, data collection and communication, chemistry, energy, erosion, human

Historical Experiments in Students' Hands: Unfragmenting Science through Action and History

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cavicchi, Elizabeth Mary

2008-08-01

Two students, meeting together with a teacher, redid historical experiments. Unlike conventional instruction where science topics and practices often fragment, they experienced interrelatedness among phenomena, participants’ actions, and history. This study narrates actions that fostered an interrelated view. One action involved opening up historical telephones to examine interior circuitry. Another made sound visible in a transparent air column filled with Styrofoam bits and through Lissajous figures produced by reflecting light off orthogonal nineteenth century tuning forks crafted by Koenig and Kohl. Another involved orienting magnetic compasses to reveal the magnetism of conducting wires, historically investigated by Oersted and Schweigger. Replicating Homberg’s triboluminescent compound elicited students’ reflective awareness of history. These actions bore pedagogical value in recovering some of the interrelatedness inherent in the history and reintroducing the wonder of science phenomena to students today.

Learning "Hands On."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ritter, Janice T.

2001-01-01

Discusses a computer teacher's incorporation of hand-held computer technology into her third- and fifth-grade students' study of acid rain. The project successfully brought two grade levels together for cross-grade research, provided an opportunity for classroom teachers and technology specialists to work collaboratively, and enhanced students'…

Differential Peer Effects, Student Achievement, and Student Absenteeism: Evidence From a Large-Scale Randomized Experiment.

PubMed

Eren, Ozkan

2017-04-01

Using data from a well-executed randomized experiment, I examine the effects of gender composition and peer achievement on high school students' outcomes in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Results show that having a higher proportion of female peers in the classroom improves girls' math test scores only in less-advanced courses. For male students, the estimated gender peer effects are positive but less precisely estimated. I also find no effect of average classroom achievement on female math test scores. Males, on the other hand, seem to benefit from a higher-achieving classroom. I propose mechanisms relating to lower gender stereotype influences and gender-specific attitudes toward competition as potential explanations for peer effects findings. Finally, having a higher proportion of female students in the classroom decreases student absenteeism among male students but has no impact on female attendance.

Hands on Education Through Student-Industry Partnerships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, J.; Wolfson, M.; Morris, K.

2013-09-01

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company has invested in the future generation of engineers by partially funding and mentoring CubeSat projects around the country. One CubeSat in particular, ALL-STAR, has shown how this industry/university partnership benefits both the students and their mentors. Students gain valuable insight into aspects of spacecraft design that aren't taught in classes. They also start learning about industry processes for designing, building, and testing satellites before ever working in that environment. Because of this experience, industry is getting more qualified engineers starting fresh out of college. In addition Lockheed Martin's partnership with the university will allow them to use the students to help build affordable CubeSats for internal and customer's research and development projects. The mentoring also challenges the engineers to think differently about similar problems they face every day with their larger programs in order to make the solution simple and affordable.

Mentorship for operational research capacity building: hands-on or hands-off?

PubMed

Harries, A D; Marais, B; Kool, B; Ram, S; Kumar, A M V; Gounder, S; Viney, K; Brostrom, R; Roseveare, C; Bissell, K; Reid, A J; Zachariah, R; Hill, P C

2014-06-21

Mentorship is a key feature of operational research training courses run by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease and Médecins Sans Frontières. During the recent South Pacific paper writing module, the faculty discussed 'hands-on' mentorship (direct technical assistance) vs. 'hands-off' mentorship (technical advice). This article explores the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. Our collective experience indicates that 'hands-on' mentorship is a valuable learning experience for the participant and a rewarding experience for the mentor. This approach increases the likelihood of successful course completion, including publishing a well written paper. However, mentors must allow participants to lead and take ownership of the paper, in keeping with a first author position.

Hand hygiene technique quality evaluation in nursing and medicine students of two academic courses 1

PubMed Central

Škodová, Manuela; Gimeno-Benítez, Alfredo; Martínez-Redondo, Elena; Morán-Cortés, Juan Francisco; Jiménez-Romano, Ramona; Gimeno-Ortiz, Alfredo

2015-01-01

Abstract Objective: because they are health professionals, nursing and medical students' hands during internships can function as a transmission vehicle for hospital-acquired infections. Method: a descriptive study with nursing and medical degree students on the quality of the hand hygiene technique, which was assessed via a visual test using a hydroalcoholic solution marked with fluorescence and an ultraviolet lamp. Results: 546 students were assessed, 73.8% from medicine and 26.2% from nursing. The area of the hand with a proper antiseptic distribution was the palm (92.9%); areas not properly scrubbed were the thumbs (55.1%). 24.7% was very good in both hands, 29.8% was good, 25.1% was fair, and 20.3% was poor. The worst assessed were the male, nursing and first year students. There were no significant differences in the age groups. Conclusions: hand hygiene technique is not applied efficiently. Education plays a key role in setting a good practice base in hand hygiene, theoretical knowledge, and in skill development, as well as good practice reinforcement. PMID:26444174

Student responses to a hands-on kinesthetic lecture activity for learning about the oxygen carrying capacity of blood.

PubMed

Breckler, Jennifer; Yu, Justin R

2011-03-01

This article describes a new hands-on, or "kinesthetic," activity for use in a physiology lecture hall to help students comprehend an important concept in cardiopulmonary physiology known as oxygen carrying capacity. One impetus for designing this activity was to address the needs of students who have a preference for kinesthetic learning and to help increase their understanding and engagement during lecture. This activity uses simple inexpensive materials, provides an effective model for demonstrating related pathophysiology, and helps promote active learning. The activity protocol and its implementation are described here in detail. We also report data obtained from student surveys and assessment tools to determine the effectiveness of the activity on student conceptual learning and perceptions. A brief multiple-choice pretest showed that although students had already been introduced to the relevant concepts in lecture, they had not yet mastered these concepts before performing the activity. Two postactivity assessments showed that student performance was significantly improved on the posttest compared with the pretest and that information was largely retained at the end of the course. Survey data showed that one-half of the students stated kinesthetic learning as among their learning preferences, yet nearly all students enjoyed and were engaged in this hands-on kinesthetic activity regardless of their preferences. Most students would recommend it to their peers and expressed a desire for more kinesthetic learning opportunities in the lecture curriculum.

Pick a Hand, Any Hand: Mixed-Handedness and Night-Sky Watching in a College Student Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, William E.

2009-01-01

This study explored the relationship between handedness and interest in night-sky watching. University students (N= 128) completed the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (Oldfield, 1971) and the Noctcaelador Inventory (Kelly, 2004). The findings indicated that mixed-handed participants scored highest on noctcaelador relative to those classified as…

Global Health Professions Student Survey--Turkey: second-hand smoke exposure and opinions of medical students on anti-tobacco law.

PubMed

Inandi, Tacettin; Caman, Ozge Karadag; Aydin, Neriman; Onal, Ayşe Emel; Kaypmaz, Ayşe; Turhan, Ebru; Erguder, Toker; Warren, Wick C

2013-09-01

This study, as a part of "the Global Health Professions Student Survey" (GHPSS), aimed to assess medical students' tobacco use, exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke (SHS), and opinions as well as smoking policies at medical faculties in Turkey. The study was conducted in 2010 as a school-based survey of third-year students in 12 medical schools. GHPSS uses a standardised methodology for selecting schools (probability proportional to student enrolment size) and data processing. In total, data from 1,217 of third year medical students were analysed. Prevalence of current tobacco use among participating students was 28.5%. Exposure to SHS in the last seven days was 46.9% at home, and 42.2% in other places. Among smokers, over 7 in 10 students reported smoking on medical school premises during the past 30 days and the past year. Medical students' exposure to SHS is common and smoking on medical school premises/buildings constitutes a problem. Turkey passed an anti-tobacco law in 2008, yet enforcement of the law must be stronger. In addition, medical schools must evaluate, and likely revise their education curricula to better prepare medical students to advocate tobacco control.

The influence of gender, athletic events, and athletic experience on the subjective dominant hand and the determination of the dominant hand based on the laterality quotient (LQ) and the validity of the LQ.

PubMed

Demura, Shinichi; Tada, Nobuhiko; Matsuzawa, Jinzaburo; Mikami, Hajime; Ohuchi, Tetsuhiko; Shirane, Hiroya; Nagasawa, Yoshinori; Uchiyama, Masanobu

2006-09-01

This study aimed to reveal the influence of gender, athletic events and athletic experience on the subjective dominant hand and the dominant hand based on the laterality quotient (LQ). It also aimed to examine the validity of the Edinburgh Inventory (Oldfield, 1971). Males and females (n=3,726) living in 7 prefectures in Japan (age: 16-45 yrs) participated in this survey. Analysis was performed on 3,557 separate datasets with high reliability. The reliability of the survey was examined using a test-retest method consisting of 100 people selected randomly from all participants. All participants provided the same answers for each question. The influence of gender, event and experience was examined for the subjective and LQ-based dominant hands. In addition, concordance rates of the subjective dominant hand and the LQ-based dominant hand and both dominant hands were examined. Differences of concordance rates between hands used in the 10 movement questions of the Inventory and the subjective dominant hand were tested using the chi(2) test. The frequency differences among items were tested using Ryan's method (multiple comparisons). Significant gender differences were found between rates of the LQ-based dominant hand (males: 94.4%; females: 96.6%) and the subjective dominant hand (males: 91.6%; females: 94.0%), but the degree was only 2.0-4.0%. Insignificant differences were found among athletic events, two groups of different athletic experience, and gender according to each athletic event. The subjective dominant hand almost always agreed with the LQ-based dominant hand (complete concordance rate=0.96, kappa=0.67). Of the 10 question items, inexperienced answers were found only in the item "Knife (without fork)". The "Toothbrush", "Broom (upper hand)", and "Opening box (lid)" items had significantly lower correspondence with the subjective dominant hand (79.7-87.0%) than the other items (92.1-95.7%). In conclusion, athletic experience appears to have little influence

"SP.ACE" 2013-2015: ASGARD Balloon and BIFROST Parabolic Flights: Latest Developments in Hands-On Space Education Projects for Secondary School Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Schrijver, E.; Chameleva, H.; Degroote, C.; D'Haese, Z.; Paice, C.; Plas, H.; Van den Bossche, A.; Vander Donckt, L.; Vander Vost, J.

2015-09-01

Flight opportunities on high-altitude ASGARD balloons offered to secondary schools worldwide since 20 1 1 have led to an ever more rapidly increasing number of project proposals. The introduction of beginners' and ‘advanced classes of experiments is hoped to draw in even larger numbers of interested school teams. Furthermore, and in cooperation with ESERO (European Space Education Resources Office), workshops and documentation are being prepared to introduce teachers and students alike to the world of microcontrollers and sensors. A student parabolic flight programme called BIFROST (Brussels' Initiative to provide Flight Research Opportunities to STudents) was initiated to meet the rising demand for hands-on space education projects and the desire to cover the widest possible range of scientific and/or technical domains, which essentially calls for a variety of flight platforms: cansats, balloons and parabolic flight.

Monitoring Pharmacy Student Adherence to World Health Organization Hand Hygiene Indications Using Radio Frequency Identification.

PubMed

Decker, Andrew S; Cipriano, Gabriela C; Tsouri, Gill; Lavigne, Jill E

2016-04-25

Objective. To assess and improve student adherence to hand hygiene indications using radio frequency identification (RFID) enabled hand hygiene stations and performance report cards. Design. Students volunteered to wear RFID-enabled hospital employee nametags to monitor their adherence to hand-hygiene indications. After training in World Health Organization (WHO) hand hygiene methods and indications, student were instructed to treat the classroom as a patient care area. Report cards illustrating individual performance were distributed via e-mail to students at the middle and end of each 5-day observation period. Students were eligible for individual and team prizes consisting of Starbucks gift cards in $5 increments. Assessment. A hand hygiene station with an RFID reader and dispensing sensor recorded the nametag nearest to the station at the time of use. Mean frequency of use per student was 5.41 (range: 2-10). Distance between the student's seat and the dispenser was the only variable significantly associated with adherence. Student satisfaction with the system was assessed by a self-administered survey at the end of the study. Most students reported that the system increased their motivation to perform hand hygiene as indicated. Conclusion. The RFID-enabled hand hygiene system and benchmarking reports with performance incentives was feasible, reliable, and affordable. Future studies should record video to monitor adherence to the WHO 8-step technique.

Implementation of an intraoperative clinical experience for senior level baccalaureate nursing students.

PubMed

Mott, Jason

2012-04-01

Perioperative nursing is a specialty that has been eliminated from many nursing education programs. With the loss of perioperative clinical experiences, the number of students pursuing a career in perioperative nursing after graduation has declined. A faculty member at one Midwestern school of nursing developed and implemented a perioperative clinical experience for senior-level baccalaureate nursing students in a critical care nursing course. This program, developed with the assistance of four local hospitals and the college of nursing, included an eight-hour OR orientation and 56 clinical hours. Students were placed in the OR under preceptor guidance and supervision. Feedback from evaluations was positive and provided recommendations for improving the program, in particular, to allow more clinical hours and more hands-on experience for the students. Copyright © 2012 AORN, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Do Predators Always Win? Starfish versus Limpets: A Hands-On Activity Examining Predator-Prey Interactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faria, Claudia; Boaventura, Diana; Galvao, Cecilia; Chagas, Isabel

2011-01-01

In this article we propose a hands-on experimental activity about predator-prey interactions that can be performed both in a research laboratory and in the classroom. The activity, which engages students in a real scientific experiment, can be explored not only to improve students' understanding about the diversity of anti-predator behaviors but…

Embedding Hands-On Mini Laboratory Experiences in a Core Undergraduate Fluid Mechanics Course: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Han, Duanduan; Ugaz, Victor

2017-01-01

Three self-contained mini-labs were integrated into a core undergraduate fluid mechanics course, with the goal of delivering hands-on content in a manner scalable to large class sizes. These mini-labs supported learning objectives involving friction loss in pipes, flow measurement, and centrifugal pump analysis. The hands-on experiments were…

Midwifery students' experiences of simulation- and skills training.

PubMed

Lendahls, Lena; Oscarsson, Marie G

2017-03-01

In Sweden, simulation- and skills training are implemented in midwifery education in order to prepare students for clinical practice. Research regarding the use of both low to high levels of fidelity in simulation in midwifery programme is limited. The aim of this study was to explore midwifery students' experiences of simulation- and skills training. Midwifery students (n=61), at advanced level, were interviewed in 13 group interviews from 2011 to 2105. A semi-structured interview guide was used, and data were analysed by content analysis. The results are presented in four main categories: develops hands on skills and communication, power of collaborative learning, highly valued learning environment and facilitates clinical practice. The majority of students felt that the simulation- and skills training were necessary to become familiar with hands on skills. Having repetitive practices in a safe and secure environment was viewed as important, and students highly valued that mistakes could be made without fear of comprising patient safety. Student's collaboration, reflections and critical thinking increased learning ability. Simulation- and skills training created links between theory and practice, and the lecturer had an important role in providing instructions and feedback. Students felt prepared and confident before their clinical practice, and simulation- and skills training increased safety for all involved, resulting in students being more confident, as patients in clinical practice became less exposed. Furthermore, mentors were satisfied with students' basic skills. Simulation- and skills training support the development of midwifery skills. It creates links between theory and practice, which facilitates students' learning ability. Training needs to include reflections and critical thinking in order to develop their learning. The lecturer has an important role in encouraging time for reflections and creating safe environment during the skills and simulation

Teacher at Sea: Bringing Hands-on Experience to the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2007

2007-01-01

Since its inception in 1990, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Teacher at Sea program has enabled more than 460 teachers to gain first-hand experience of science and life at sea. By participating in this program, it becomes possible for teachers to enrich their classroom curricula with a depth of understanding made possible…

Hands on + hands free: simulated on-call interaction.

PubMed

Fisher, James; Martin, Richard; Tate, David

2014-10-01

In hospital, doctors and nurses frequently discuss acutely unwell patients via the telephone. Telephone communication can be challenging, yet medical students receive little training in how to conduct such interactions. We aimed to provide a simple, innovative, simulation session to address this learning need for third-year medical students at Newcastle University. Groups of students were given a pager and a supervising tutor. Students responded to a 'bleep' from a nurse practitioner in a different room, who role-played a ward nurse concerned about a patient. Speakerphones were used, allowing the entire conversation to be audible. After the call, a student-led debriefing session took place. After the debriefing another student 'held' the bleep and a different scenario ensued. Following a resuscitation scenario, students made telephone contact with the medical registrar to hand over information pertaining to the case. Before and after the session, students rated their confidence in telephone interaction and handover using a 10-point Likert scale. Students also completed a feedback questionnaire. Fifty-four students attended the session. A statistically significant improvement in student confidence in telephone communication and handover was seen after the session. Free-text feedback highlighted that students had not received teaching on this previously, and that they welcomed opportunities to practise such skills within a controlled, safe environment. Simulation training can be costly, but speakerphones are cheap and readily available. Given the frequency of telephone interaction in hospital, we believe all medical students should receive telephone communication training. Locally, our department has now incorporated these teaching methods into simulation sessions elsewhere in the curriculum. Medical students receive little training in how to conduct [telephone] interactions. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A gaming approach to learning medical microbiology: students' experiences of flow.

PubMed

Beylefeld, Adriana A; Struwig, Magdalena C

2007-11-01

There is a growing awareness in medical education of general skills(1) required for lifelong learning. Such skills are best achieved when students experience positive affective states while they are learning, as put forth by the Csikszentmihalyian theory of flow. This study describes how a quiz-type board game was used in the School of Medicine of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State to address students' negativity towards medical microbiology. The study population consisted of third-year medical students who had recently completed the Infections module of the undergraduate Learning Programme for Professional Medicine. Data gathered by means of two questionnaire surveys and direct observation showed that the game impacted positively on students' perceptions of and attitudes towards medical microbiology as a subject. A high perceived probability of the game contributing to the acquisition of general skills was recorded, since the experience of positive affect during the process of informal learning went hand-in-hand with heightened team effort and spontaneous communication. This article may be of value to health educators who wish to supplement formal teaching with informal learning so as to enhance not only the recall of factual knowledge, but also the advancement of general skills.

Designing a Hands-On Brain Computer Interface Laboratory Course

PubMed Central

Khalighinejad, Bahar; Long, Laura Kathleen; Mesgarani, Nima

2017-01-01

Devices and systems that interact with the brain have become a growing field of research and development in recent years. Engineering students are well positioned to contribute to both hardware development and signal analysis techniques in this field. However, this area has been left out of most engineering curricula. We developed an electroencephalography (EEG) based brain computer interface (BCI) laboratory course to educate students through hands-on experiments. The course is offered jointly by the Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Computer Science Departments of Columbia University in the City of New York and is open to senior undergraduate and graduate students. The course provides an effective introduction to the experimental design, neuroscience concepts, data analysis techniques, and technical skills required in the field of BCI. PMID:28268946

Designing a hands-on brain computer interface laboratory course.

PubMed

Khalighinejad, Bahar; Long, Laura Kathleen; Mesgarani, Nima

2016-08-01

Devices and systems that interact with the brain have become a growing field of research and development in recent years. Engineering students are well positioned to contribute to both hardware development and signal analysis techniques in this field. However, this area has been left out of most engineering curricula. We developed an electroencephalography (EEG) based brain computer interface (BCI) laboratory course to educate students through hands-on experiments. The course is offered jointly by the Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Computer Science Departments of Columbia University in the City of New York and is open to senior undergraduate and graduate students. The course provides an effective introduction to the experimental design, neuroscience concepts, data analysis techniques, and technical skills required in the field of BCI.

International Space Station: 6-8 Hands-on Science and Math Lesson Plans.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Armstrong, Pat

These lesson plans, designed for grades 6-8, have been developed to provide a guide to hands-on experience in science and math. They focus on an International Space Station and are designed for use with students working in groups. The three lesson plans highlighting the importance of the scientific method are: (1) International Space Station…

Monitoring Pharmacy Student Adherence to World Health Organization Hand Hygiene Indications Using Radio Frequency Identification

PubMed Central

Decker, Andrew S.; Cipriano, Gabriela C.; Tsouri, Gill

2016-01-01

Objective. To assess and improve student adherence to hand hygiene indications using radio frequency identification (RFID) enabled hand hygiene stations and performance report cards. Design. Students volunteered to wear RFID-enabled hospital employee nametags to monitor their adherence to hand-hygiene indications. After training in World Health Organization (WHO) hand hygiene methods and indications, student were instructed to treat the classroom as a patient care area. Report cards illustrating individual performance were distributed via e-mail to students at the middle and end of each 5-day observation period. Students were eligible for individual and team prizes consisting of Starbucks gift cards in $5 increments. Assessment. A hand hygiene station with an RFID reader and dispensing sensor recorded the nametag nearest to the station at the time of use. Mean frequency of use per student was 5.41 (range: 2-10). Distance between the student’s seat and the dispenser was the only variable significantly associated with adherence. Student satisfaction with the system was assessed by a self-administered survey at the end of the study. Most students reported that the system increased their motivation to perform hand hygiene as indicated. Conclusion. The RFID-enabled hand hygiene system and benchmarking reports with performance incentives was feasible, reliable, and affordable. Future studies should record video to monitor adherence to the WHO 8-step technique. PMID:27170822

Introducing Computational Thinking through Hands-on Projects Using R with Applications to Calculus, Probability and Data Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benakli, Nadia; Kostadinov, Boyan; Satyanarayana, Ashwin; Singh, Satyanand

2017-01-01

The goal of this paper is to promote computational thinking among mathematics, engineering, science and technology students, through hands-on computer experiments. These activities have the potential to empower students to learn, create and invent with technology, and they engage computational thinking through simulations, visualizations and data…

Student Responses to a Hands-On Kinesthetic Lecture Activity for Learning about the Oxygen Carrying Capacity of Blood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Breckler, Jennifer; Yu, Justin R.

2011-01-01

This article describes a new hands-on, or "kinesthetic," activity for use in a physiology lecture hall to help students comprehend an important concept in cardiopulmonary physiology known as oxygen carrying capacity. One impetus for designing this activity was to address the needs of students who have a preference for kinesthetic…

Student Achievement and Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior: Hand Raising.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Michael Bryan; Bushell, Donald, Jr.

1987-01-01

Assessed reading achievement of five second-grade girls under two contingencies: (1) teacher contacts were made during on-task behavior; and (2) differential reinforcement of an incompatible behavior (DRI) with teacher contacts contingent on students' hand-raising behavior. Reading achievement and time on task were greater under the on-task…

Adapting a successful inquiry-based immersion program to create an Authentic, Hands- on, Field based Curriculum in Environmental Science at Barnard College

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kenna, T. C.; Pfirman, S.; Mailloux, B. J.; Martin, S.; Kelsey, R.; Bower, P.

2008-12-01

Adapting a successful inquiry-based immersion program to create an Authentic, Hands-on, Field based Curriculum in Environmental Science at Barnard College T. C. Kenna, S. Pfirman, B. J. Mailloux, M. Stute, R. Kelsey, and P. Bower By adapting a successful inquiry-based immersion program (SEA semester) to the typical college format of classes, we are improving the technical and quantitative skills of undergraduate women and minorities in environmental science and improving their critical thinking and problem-solving by exposing our students to open-ended real-world environmental issues. Our approach uses the Hudson River Estuary as a natural laboratory. In a series of hands-on inquiry-based activities, students use advanced equipment to collect data and samples. Each class session introduces new analytical and data analysis techniques. All classes have the connecting theme of the river. Working with real data is open-ended. Our major findings as indicated by surveys as well as journaling throughout the semester are that the field- based experience significantly contributed to student learning and engagement. Journaling responses indicated that nearly all students discussed the importance and excitement of an authentic research experience. Some students were frustrated with data irregularities, uncertainty in methods and data, and the general challenge of a curriculum with inherent ambiguity. The majority were satisfied with the aims of the course to provide an integrative experience. All students demonstrated transfer of learned skills. This project has had a significant impact on our undergraduate female students: several students have pursued senior thesis projects stemming from grant activities, stating that the field activities were the highlight of their semester. Some students love the experience and want more. Others decide that they want to pursue a different career. All learn how science is conducted and have a better foundation to understand concepts such

Research experience in Maine leads to teacher and student success in Texas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slade-Redden, D.; Incze, L.; Census Of Marine Life-Maine

2010-12-01

As a High School science teacher it is my responsibility to present curriculum, to create enthusiasm for science, and to instill a passion and love for science in my students. Through a research experience as an ARMADA master teacher my passion and enthusiasm for the ocean was rekindled in the Gulf of Maine. Topics I had taught for years came alive in front of my eyes, and I was able to experience science to its fullest. I brought home many photographs, valuable information, and new enthusiasm to my students. I began a program called S.A.N.D. (Students As Nature Directors). In this program my students teach 3rd graders about the oceans and its many wonders. Also, I have incorporated hands-on research based projects. The research experience has enabled my students to become more scientifically literate and capable of sharing scientific knowledge with others. This presentation will show how research/teacher partnerships benefit students as well as teachers and how my students and district have benefited from my experience as an ARMADA master teacher. Author: Debra Slade-Redden Author #2: Lew Incze

Differences in students' perceived classroom experiences by instructor gender, student gender, and persistence in STEM courses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fowlkes, Carol

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are growing and have lucrative job opportunities for college graduates. However, the number of students in STEM majors and the number of those who persist in those majors is declining; there is also a growing gender gap in STEM graduates. This study investigated three perceived classroom experiences in STEM courses and the nature of differences in these experiences by student gender, instructor gender, and by those who persisted or did not persist in STEM majors. A factorial MANOVA was the statistical method by which the differences were explored. The statistical analysis revealed non-significant mean differences in three-way interaction, all two-way interactions, and all main effects. There were not gendered differences in students' perceptions of the opportunities for hands-on learning, the instructor cares about students' success, and the instructor encourages students' contributions. Further research is proposed to continue examination of this topic with a larger data set that is consistent with the literature regarding the population of STEM students and the number of STEM persisters, and the male-gendered nature of STEM fields.

A Graduate Student's Experience and Perspective on a Student-Teacher-Researcher Partnership

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bostic, J.; Stylinski, C.; Doty, C.

2017-12-01

Teachers and their K-12 students lack firsthand experience in science research and often harbor misconceptions about science practices and the nature of science. To address this challenge, the NOAA-funded Student-Teacher-Researcher (STAR) partnership that provides rural high school students with authentic research experiences investigating the amount and sources of nitrate in schoolyard runoff. Teachers received training, guiding curricular materials aligned with NGSS and in-classroom support. With a focus on evidence-based reasoning skills, students actively participate in the research process through sample collection, data analysis, and an in-person discussion of conclusions and implications with our scientist team. As a member of this team, I assisted with refining the study design, analyzing nitrate isotope runoff samples, and sharing insights and feedback with students during the in-person discussion session. Assessment results indicate student gained an understanding of nitrate pollution and of science practices. As a graduate student, young scientist, and possessor of a B.S. in Science Education, I already recognized the value of involving K-12 students and teachers in authentic research experiences, as these experiences expose students to the nature of science while also improving content knowledge. During the STAR partnership, I learned firsthand some of the obstacles presented during outreach involving partnerships between a research institution and schools, such as inflexibility of school scheduling and the need for flexibility with research questions requiring complex lab analysis. Additionally, I discovered the challenge of working systemically across a school district, which can have broad impact but limit student experiences. Highlights of my experience included interactions with students and teachers, especially when students have unexpected answers to my questions, providing novel explanations for patterns observed in the data. Despite the

Impact of hand dominance, gender, and experience with computer games on performance in virtual reality laparoscopy.

PubMed

Grantcharov, T P; Bardram, L; Funch-Jensen, P; Rosenberg, J

2003-07-01

The impact of gender and hand dominance on operative performance may be a subject of prejudice among surgeons, reportedly leading to discrimination and lack of professional promotion. However, very little objective evidence is available yet on the matter. This study was conducted to identify factors that influence surgeons' performance, as measured by a virtual reality computer simulator for laparoscopic surgery. This study included 25 surgical residents who had limited experience with laparoscopic surgery, having performed fewer than 10 laparoscopic cholecystectomies. The participants were registered according to their gender, hand dominance, and experience with computer games. All of the participants performed 10 repetitions of the six tasks on the Minimally Invasive Surgical Trainer-Virtual Reality (MIST-VR) within 1 month. Assessment of laparoscopic skills was based on three parameters measured by the simulator: time, errors, and economy of hand movement. Differences in performance existed between the compared groups. Men completed the tasks in less time than women ( p = 0.01, Mann-Whitney test), but there was no statistical difference between the genders in the number of errors and unnecessary movements. Individuals with right hand dominance performed fewer unnecessary movements ( p = 0.045, Mann-Whitney test), and there was a trend toward better results in terms of time and errors among the residence with right hand dominance than among those with left dominance. Users of computer games made fewer errors than nonusers ( p = 0.035, Mann-Whitney test). The study provides objective evidence of a difference in laparoscopic skills between surgeons differing gender, hand dominance, and computer experience. These results may influence the future development of training program for laparoscopic surgery. They also pose a challenge to individuals responsible for the selection and training of the residents.

Hands On Earth Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weisgarber, Sherry L.; Van Doren, Lisa; Hackathorn, Merrianne; Hannibal, Joseph T.; Hansgen, Richard

This publication is a collection of 13 hands-on activities that focus on earth science-related activities and involve students in learning about growing crystals, tectonics, fossils, rock and minerals, modeling Ohio geology, geologic time, determining true north, and constructing scale-models of the Earth-moon system. Each activity contains…

Dental students' perceptions about the endodontic treatments performed using NiTi rotary instruments and hand stainless steel files.

PubMed

Martins, Renata Castro; Seijo, Marília Oliveira Saraiva; Ferreira, Efigênia Ferreira; Paiva, Saul Martins; Ribeiro Sobrinho, Antônio Paulino

2012-01-01

This study evaluated the perceptions of Brazilian undergraduate dental students about the endodontic treatments performed using NiTi rotary instruments and hand stainless steel. Data were collected using a questionnaire administered to undergraduate dental students enrolled in endodontic disciplines. The students were divided into 3 groups: G1, students who had treated straight canals with SS hand instruments; G2, students who had treated curved canals with SS hand instruments; and G3, students who had treated both straight and curved canals with NiTi rotary instruments. The number of endodontic treatments performed, types of treated teeth, students' learning, time spent, encountered difficulties, quality of endodontic treatment and characteristics of the employed technique were analyzed. There was a 91.3% rate of return for the questionnaires. Mandibular molars were the most frequently treated teeth, followed by maxillary incisors. The Kruskal-Wallis test showed no differences in learning (p=0.528) or in the characteristics of the technique employed (p=0.560) among the three groups. G3 students performed a greater number of endodontic treatments (p<0.001) in a smaller time (p<0.001) than did G1 and G2 students. Difficulties were reported primarily by students in G2 and G3 compared with G1 (p=0.048). The quality of endodontic treatments differed only between G1 and G2 (p=0.045). The use of NiTi rotary instruments should be included in undergraduate dental curriculum, contributing to the increase of patients assisted and consequently to improve the clinical experience of the students.

Instant Read on Reading, in Palms of Their Hands

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olson, Lynn

2007-01-01

This article discusses teachers' use of hand-held computers in a rural New Mexico district to assess student's reading progress. With the help of a federal Reading First grant, the district began using the DIBELS assessments across its elementary schools along with the mCLASS: DIBELS assessment and reporting system. The district's experience helps…

Students on Ice: International Polar Year Expeditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Green, G.

2006-12-01

The Students on Ice program has been introducing and connecting the next generation of Polar researchers and scientists to the Arctic and Antarctic Regions since 1999. To date, approximately 600 international high school and university students have participated on these powerful and award-winning educational expeditions. Traveling through the Antarctic and Arctic on ice-class vessels, the students connect with an international educational team, consisting of Polar scientists, educators, researchers and lecturers, and gain valuable first hand information through a variety of different educational formats. Students participate in lectures, seminars, group discussions, `hands-on' science experiments, and experience once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to view rare wildlife, and to visit remote locations of historic, cultural, and scientific significance. In celebration of the upcoming International Polar Years (IPY), Students on Ice is launching nine unique IPY youth expeditions between 2007 and 2009. Intended for high school students, university students, and interested educators, these expeditions are officially endorsed by the International Polar Year Joint Committee. The goals of the SOI-IPY youth expeditions, include raising awareness and understanding about Polar and environmental issues, development of Polar curriculum and resources, inspiring the next generation of scientists and researchers, and promoting the IPY to millions of youth around through outreach, media and partnership activities.

A 2200-Year Old Inquiry-Based, Hands-On Experiment in Today's Science Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sotiriou, S.; Bogner, F. X.

2015-01-01

The ancient Eratosthenes experiment concerning the earth's circumference offers the opportunity of an inquiry-based revival in today's science classrooms: A multinational European science education initiative (acronym: OSR) introduced this experiment as a hands-on basis to extract the required variables and to exchange results with classroom peers…

The OpenPicoAmp: an open-source planar lipid bilayer amplifier for hands-on learning of neuroscience.

PubMed

Shlyonsky, Vadim; Dupuis, Freddy; Gall, David

2014-01-01

Understanding the electrical biophysical properties of the cell membrane can be difficult for neuroscience students as it relies solely on lectures of theoretical models without practical hands on experiments. To address this issue, we developed an open-source lipid bilayer amplifier, the OpenPicoAmp, which is appropriate for use in introductory courses in biophysics or neurosciences at the undergraduate level, dealing with the electrical properties of the cell membrane. The amplifier is designed using the common lithographic printed circuit board fabrication process and off-the-shelf electronic components. In addition, we propose a specific design for experimental chambers allowing the insertion of a commercially available polytetrafluoroethylene film. We provide a complete documentation allowing to build the amplifier and the experimental chamber. The students hand-out giving step-by step instructions to perform a recording is also included. Our experimental setup can be used in basic experiments in which students monitor the bilayer formation by capacitance measurement and record unitary currents produced by ionic channels like gramicidin A dimers. Used in combination with a low-cost data acquisition board this system provides a complete solution for hands-on lessons, therefore improving the effectiveness in teaching basic neurosciences or biophysics.

International Space Station: K-5 Hands-on Science and Math Lesson Plans.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boeing Co., Huntsville, AL.

The Space Station is already capturing the imaginations of American students, encouraging them to pursue careers in the sciences. The idea of living and working in space continues to spark this renewed interest. The material in this guide was developed to provide hands-on experiences in science and math in the context of an International Space…

Programming of left hand exploits task set but that of right hand depends on recent history.

PubMed

Tang, Rixin; Zhu, Hong

2017-07-01

There are many differences between the left hand and the right hand. But it is not clear if there is a difference in programming between left hand and right hand when the hands perform the same movement. In current study, we carried out two experiments to investigate whether the programming of two hands was equivalent or they exploited different strategies. In the first experiment, participants were required to use one hand to grasp an object with visual feedback or to point to the center of one object without visual feedback on alternate trials, or to grasp an object without visual feedback and to point the center of one object with visual feedback on alternating trials. They then performed the tasks with the other hand. The result was that previous pointing task affected current grasping when it was performed by the left hand, but not the right hand. In experiment 2, we studied if the programming of the left (or right) hand would be affected by the pointing task performed on the previous trial not only by the same hand, but also by the right (or left) hand. Participants pointed and grasped the objects alternately with two hands. The result was similar with Experiment 1, i.e., left-hand grasping was affected by right-hand pointing, whereas right-hand grasping was immune from the interference from left hand. Taken together, the results suggest that when open- and closed-loop trials are interleaved, motor programming of grasping with the right hand was affected by the nature of the online feedback on the previous trial only if it was a grasping trial, suggesting that the trial-to-trial transfer depends on sensorimotor memory and not on task set. In contrast, motor programming of grasping with the left hand can use information about the nature of the online feedback on the previous trial to specify the parameters of the movement, even when the type of movement that occurred was quite different (i.e., pointing) and was performed with the right hand. This suggests that

NASA launches student experiments from Wallops

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-08-12

NASA launched a Terrier-Improved Malemute suborbital sounding rocket carrying the RockSat-X payload with university and community college student experiments at 6:04 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Aug. 12, from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facilityin Virginia. More than 60 students and instructors from across the continental United States, Hawaii and Puerto Rico were on hand to witness the launch of their experiments. The payload flew to an altitude of about 97 miles and descended via parachute into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Wallops. Payload recovery operations began after lift-off. Developed by students from seven higher education programs, the experiments flew through the RockSat-X program in conjunction with the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. Participating institutions in this flight are the University of Colorado, Boulder; Northwest Nazarene University, Nampa, Idaho; the University of Puerto Rico; the University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg; Capitol Technology University, Laurel, Maryland; and University of Hawai'i Community Colleges at the Honolulu, Kapi'olani, Kaua'i, and Windward campuses. The next launch scheduled from Wallops is a NASA Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket carrying several technology development instruments. The launch is scheduled between 7 and 7:41 p.m. Sept. 29. The backup launch days are Sept. 30 through Oct. 12. NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Identifying and Reaching the Hands-On Learner

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brackett, Gary

2006-01-01

The following research is the result of frustrations involving teaching carpentry students who display little interest in learning within a classroom environment; however, often the same students excel in a laboratory (kinesthetic/hands-on) situation. Learning style surveys were given and nearly ninety percent of the students within this program…

Chinese students' science-related experiences: Comparison of the ROSE study in Xinjiang and Shanghai

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeung, Yau-yuen; Li, Yufeng

2015-05-01

Background: Students' daily-life experiences may render favorable effects on the students' affective domain like interest, enthusiasm, motivation, joy, curiosity, awareness, and eagerness to learn science as not commonly found in the classroom environment. However, no rigorous research has been reported on those aspects in Mainland China despite many recent studies done in various Western countries. Purpose: This paper aims to report and compare the science-related experiences of ninth-graders from two places (in Urumqi City of Xinjiang province and Shanghai) in China through a large-scale survey of their junior secondary three students. Sample: The sample consists of 4115 students in Urumqi City (from 28 schools) and Shanghai (from 25 schools). Design and methods: This study adopted a Likert scale questionnaire instrument, as translated from the international Relevance Of Science Education (ROSE) Project. From a confirmatory factor analysis of the data, we identify and focus on six factors which are directly correlated with students' science-related experiences outside school environment in Xinjiang and Shanghai and employ relevant factor scores to compare the gender, regional, and socioeconomic effects. Results: As revealed by the t-test, gender and regional differences were statistically significant in affecting (1) students' outdoor living experience, (2) hands-on experience of transportation, and (3) their daily-life experience with do-it-yourself tools and models. In all three aspects, boys and Xinjiang students possessed richer experiences than girls and Shanghai students, respectively. Conclusions: Based on ANOVA tests, Shanghai students' out-of-school science-related experiences were more often significantly affected by various socioeconomic variables (including their parents' education and occupation and their family income) than Xinjiang students. From cross-regional comparison, Chinese students had much fewer science-related experiences than those of

Assessing the Impact of Representational and Contextual Problem Features on Student Use of Right-Hand Rules

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kustusch, Mary Bridget

2016-01-01

Students in introductory physics struggle with vector algebra and these challenges are often associated with contextual and representational features of the problems. Performance on problems about cross product direction is particularly poor and some research suggests that this may be primarily due to misapplied right-hand rules. However, few…

Microwave experiments with left-handed materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shelby, Richard Allen

It has previously been predicted that materials that have a simultaneous negative permittivity and negative permeability, called left-handed materials (LHM), will possess very unusual properties, such as negative refraction, inverse Doppler effect, and reversed Cherenkov radiation. In this dissertation I present results from microwave experiments designed to confirm that LHMs will exhibit negative refraction. I also present a discussion about the LHM design, and numerical, electromagnetic simulations. The experiments presented here include transmission experiments, refraction experiments, and surface plasmon experiments. The refraction experiments in Chapter 4 directly observe negative refraction for the first time. The results from the other experiments are consistent with theoretical models and support the claim that negative refraction has been observed. The materials used in the experiments presented here are fabricated, structured materials that contain fiberglass and copper with unit cell parameters on the order of millimeters. Metamaterials have been defined as being composite materials whose bulk properties are different than those of the constituent materials. By this definition, the LHMs used here are metamaterials, so long as the wavelength of the electromagnetic waves being used to probe the LHM are longer than the unit cell parameter.

Student perspectives on their recent dental outreach placement experiences.

PubMed

Smith, M; Lennon, M A; Brook, A H; Ritucci, L; Robinson, P G

2006-05-01

Dental schools are developing new curricula, with outreach placements enhancing the hospital-based training. To assess the students' experience of outreach as one component of determining the value and feasibility of outreach placements. Six-week block placements for 10 undergraduates and 3 weeks for 11 hygiene and hygiene and therapy students in existing primary care clinics, in areas of need, to work supervised by local dentists. Semi-structured interviews with 20 students by staff independent of the course team. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and content analysed before being verified by a second observer. Findings were triangulated against a peer-run focus group and students' clinical records. Students were very positive about their experience and the potential role of outreach training in dental education. They described: gaining greater experience of new types of patients and their communities; learning from broader clinical experience, alternative approaches and practicing or observing dentistry in different settings; the benefits of team working; and, acquiring a more holistic and pragmatic view of health care. Many students reported gaining greater confidence, wider awareness of potential careers in dentistry and a greater sense of realism in their experience. Some reflected on their own training needs. Students also discussed the importance of preparation for the placements and the merits of different styles of supervision. Dental outreach training can provide students with valuable learning experience in a range of areas. It requires careful management to ensure those experiences match individuals' needs and the programme's purposes.

Hands-on Science. Why Do Mittens Work?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kepler, Lynne

1996-01-01

This article presents hands-on, experiential science activities that use mittens to teach elementary students about classification and insulation. The first involves children sorting mittens. The second has them find out for themselves why mittens keep their hands warm. Across-the-curriculum activities are also described. (SM)

Remote Atomic Force Microscopy of Microscopic Organisms: Technological Innovations for Hands-On Science with Middle and High School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, M. G.; Andre, T.; Kubasko, D.; Bokinsky, A.; Tretter, T.; Negishi, A.; Taylor, R.; Superfine, R.

2004-01-01

This study examined hands-on experiences in the context of an investigation of viruses and explored how and why hands-on experiences may be effective. We sought to understand whether or not touching and manipulating materials and objects could lead to a deeper, more effective type of knowing than that we obtain from sight or sound alone. Four…

The Impact of Student Response Systems on the Learning Experience of Undergraduate Psychology Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walklet, Elaine; Davis, Sarah; Farrelly, Daniel; Muse, Kate

2016-01-01

Student response systems (SRS) are hand-held devices or mobile phone polling systems which collate real-time, individual responses to on-screen questions. Previous research examining their role in higher education has highlighted both advantages and disadvantages of their use. This paper explores how different SRS influence the learning experience…

Antibacterial Efficacy of Several Surgical Hand Preparation Products Used by Veterinary Students.

PubMed

Chou, Po-Yen; Doyle, Aimie J; Arai, Shiori; Burke, Pierre J; Bailey, Trina R

2016-05-01

To compare the antibacterial efficacy of different surgical hand antisepsis protocols used by veterinary students. Prospective, randomized, controlled study. Third year veterinary students (n=45). The participants were randomly assigned to 4 of the following 12 hand preparation product/time combinations: nonabrasive hand scrub method with 4% chlorhexidine gluconate (CH); hand rub with a mixture of 30% 1-propanol and 45% 2-propanol solution (MPS), 70% 2-propanol solution (IPS), or 61% ethanol solution with 1% chlorhexidine gluconate (ES/CH), with a contact time of 1.5, 3, or 5 minutes. Antibacterial efficacy was assessed after surgical hand preparation and at the end of surgery. Log reductions of total bacterial colony forming unit (CFU)/mL and positive aerobic culture rates were compared using multivariable analysis of variance and multivariable logistic regression, respectively. After surgical hand preparation, CH and ES/CH provided significantly higher log CFU reduction and lower positive culture rate for Gram-positive and spore-forming bacteria compared to MPS and IPS. Increase in contact time did not provide significant improvement in bacterial reduction. At the end of surgery, ES/CH provided significantly higher log CFU reduction compared to IPS and lower positive culture rate for Gram-positive bacteria compared to CH, MPS, and IPS. Increase in contact time significantly improved log CFU reduction in ES/CH and MPS groups. In our population of veterinary students ES/CH hand rubs or CH scrubs were more effective in reducing bacterial CFU during surgical hand preparation than MPS or IPS. © Copyright 2016 by The American College of Veterinary Surgeons.

Effects of Mood on Students' Metacognitive Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Efklides, Anastasia; Petkaki, Chryssoula

2005-01-01

This study investigated the relations of induced mood with mathematical ability and self-concept in maths as well as the effect of induced mood on maths performance and on metacognitive experiences (ME). Ninety students, out of 246, of the 5th grade--45 students of low and 45 of high maths ability--were distributed into three equal in number…

Teaching with Socio-Scientific Issues in Physical Science: Teacher and Students' Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Talens, Joy

2016-01-01

Socio-scientific issues (SSI) are recommended by many science educators worldwide for learners to acquire first hand experience to apply what they learned in class. This investigated experiences of teacher-researcher and students in using SSI in Physical Science, Second Semester, School Year 2012-2013. Latest and controversial news articles on…

What Do Students' Explanations Look Like When They Use Second-Hand Data?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Delen, Ibrahim; Krajcik, Joseph

2015-01-01

Explanation studies underlined the importance of using evidence in support of claims. However, few studies have focused on students' use of others' data (second-hand data) in this process. In this study, students collected data from a local water source and then took all the data back to the classroom to create scientific explanations by using…

Hands-on-Entropy, Energy Balance with Biological Relevance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reeves, Mark

2015-03-01

Entropy changes underlie the physics that dominates biological interactions. Indeed, introductory biology courses often begin with an exploration of the qualities of water that are important to living systems. However, one idea that is not explicitly addressed in most introductory physics or biology textbooks is important contribution of the entropy in driving fundamental biological processes towards equilibrium. From diffusion to cell-membrane formation, to electrostatic binding in protein folding, to the functioning of nerve cells, entropic effects often act to counterbalance deterministic forces such as electrostatic attraction and in so doing, allow for effective molecular signaling. A small group of biology, biophysics and computer science faculty have worked together for the past five years to develop curricular modules (based on SCALEUP pedagogy). This has enabled students to create models of stochastic and deterministic processes. Our students are first-year engineering and science students in the calculus-based physics course and they are not expected to know biology beyond the high-school level. In our class, they learn to reduce complex biological processes and structures in order model them mathematically to account for both deterministic and probabilistic processes. The students test these models in simulations and in laboratory experiments that are biologically relevant such as diffusion, ionic transport, and ligand-receptor binding. Moreover, the students confront random forces and traditional forces in problems, simulations, and in laboratory exploration throughout the year-long course as they move from traditional kinematics through thermodynamics to electrostatic interactions. This talk will present a number of these exercises, with particular focus on the hands-on experiments done by the students, and will give examples of the tangible material that our students work with throughout the two-semester sequence of their course on introductory

Early Career Summer Interdisciplinary Team Experiences and Student Persistence in STEM Fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cadavid, A. C.; Pedone, V. A.; Horn, W.; Rich, H.

2015-12-01

STEPS (Students Targeting Engineering and Physical Science) is an NSF-funded program designed to increase the number of California State University Northridge students getting bachelor's degrees in the natural sciences, mathematics, engineering and computer science. The greatest loss of STEM majors occurs between sophomore and junior- years, so we designed Summer Interdisciplinary Team Experience (SITE) as an early career program for these students. Students work closely with a faculty mentor in teams of ten to investigate regionally relevant problems, many of which relate to sustainability efforts on campus or the community. The projects emphasize hands-on activities and team-based learning and decision making. We report data for five years of projects, qualitative assessment through entrance and exit surveys and student interviews, and in initial impact on retention of the participants.

Using a Hands-On Hydrogen Peroxide Decomposition Activity to Teach Catalysis Concepts to K-12 Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cybulskis, Viktor J.; Ribeiro, Fabio H.; Gounder, Rajamani

2016-01-01

A versatile and transportable laboratory apparatus was developed for middle and high school (6th-12th grade) students as part of a hands-on outreach activity to estimate catalytic rates of hydrogen peroxide decomposition from oxygen evolution rates measured by using a volumetric displacement method. The apparatus was constructed with inherent…

Students' experiences of learning manual clinical skills through simulation.

PubMed

Johannesson, Eva; Silén, Charlotte; Kvist, Joanna; Hult, Håkan

2013-03-01

Learning manual skills is a fundamental part of health care education, and motor, sensory and cognitive learning processes are essential aspects of professional development. Simulator training has been shown to enhance factors that facilitate motor and cognitive learning. The present study aimed to investigate the students' experiences and thoughts about their learning through simulation skills training. The study was designed for an educational setting at a clinical skills centre. Ten third-year undergraduate nursing students performed urethral catheterisation, using the virtual reality simulator UrecathVision™, which has haptic properties. The students practised in pairs. Each session was videotaped and the video was used to stimulate recall in subsequent interviews. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The analysis from interviews resulted in three themes: what the students learn, how the students learn, and the simulator's contribution to the students' learning. Students learned manual skills, how to perform the procedure, and professional behaviour. They learned by preparing, watching, practising and reflecting. The simulator contributed by providing opportunities for students to prepare for the skills training, to see anatomical structures, to feel resistance, and to become aware of their own performance ability. The findings show that the students related the task to previous experiences, used sensory information, tested themselves and practised techniques in a hands-on fashion, and reflected in and on action. The simulator was seen as a facilitator to learning the manual skills. The study design, with students working in pairs combined with video recording, was found to enhance opportunities for reflection.

Use of a simulation intervention to examine differences in nursing students' hand hygiene knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors.

PubMed

Konicki, Tara; Miller, Elaine

2016-10-01

Although hand hygiene remains an essential aspect of quality care, adherence to best patient safety practices continues to pose major challenges. The objectives of this study are to examine hand hygiene knowledge, beliefs, practices, perceived importance and behaviors using Social Cognitive Theory and simulation-based intervention. Participants were taken from a convenience sample of 131 undergraduate nursing students enrolled in a nursing fundamentals course at an urban university in the midwestern United States, and then randomly assigned to their respective groups. Using an experimental pretest-posttest design, control and intervention groups received the same lecture pertaining to hand hygiene and 3 data collection points where van de Mortel's Hand Hygiene Questionnaire (HHQ) was administered. In addition, the intervention group viewed a 6.5min video related to healthcare acquired infection and participated in 4 simulated situations requiring hand hygiene, based on World Health Organization guidelines. For all students, the hand hygiene technique was assessed through the use of Glo Germ, followed by handwashing and photography under ultraviolet light (posttest only). Image illumination was analyzed using image processing software. Microbiological sampling plates (pretest-posttest) were assessed quantitatively by colony counting. Study findings did not support differences in the intervention group for the 5 hypothesized relationships. Social desirability responding and negative item confusion were found to occur with the HHQ in the student population. There was a significant difference in the UV hand photographs, with students in the afternoon having lower values than students in the morning. Given the study results, there were no definitive educational recommendations to teach hand hygiene to nursing students. Future research should continue to further examine multi-focal modalities to enhance adherence to hand hygiene practices, as well as control for

Enhancing the Connection to Undergraduate Engineering Students: A Hands-On and Team-Based Approach to Fluid Mechanics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wei, Tie; Ford, Julie

2015-01-01

This article provides information about the integration of innovative hands-on activities within a sophomore-level Fluid Mechanics course at New Mexico Tech. The course introduces students to the fundamentals of fluid mechanics with emphasis on teaching key equations and methods of analysis for solving real-world problems. Strategies and examples…

The OpenPicoAmp: An Open-Source Planar Lipid Bilayer Amplifier for Hands-On Learning of Neuroscience

PubMed Central

Shlyonsky, Vadim; Dupuis, Freddy; Gall, David

2014-01-01

Understanding the electrical biophysical properties of the cell membrane can be difficult for neuroscience students as it relies solely on lectures of theoretical models without practical hands on experiments. To address this issue, we developed an open-source lipid bilayer amplifier, the OpenPicoAmp, which is appropriate for use in introductory courses in biophysics or neurosciences at the undergraduate level, dealing with the electrical properties of the cell membrane. The amplifier is designed using the common lithographic printed circuit board fabrication process and off-the-shelf electronic components. In addition, we propose a specific design for experimental chambers allowing the insertion of a commercially available polytetrafluoroethylene film. We provide a complete documentation allowing to build the amplifier and the experimental chamber. The students hand-out giving step-by step instructions to perform a recording is also included. Our experimental setup can be used in basic experiments in which students monitor the bilayer formation by capacitance measurement and record unitary currents produced by ionic channels like gramicidin A dimers. Used in combination with a low-cost data acquisition board this system provides a complete solution for hands-on lessons, therefore improving the effectiveness in teaching basic neurosciences or biophysics. PMID:25251830

Hands-On Optics science camps and clubs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walker, Constance E.; Sparks, Robert T.; Pompea, Stephen M.

2007-06-01

Hands-On Optics (HOO) is a National Science Foundation funded program to bring optics education to traditionally underserved middle school students. We have developed six modules that teach students optics concepts through hands-on, inquiry-based activities. The modules have been used extensively in after-school and non-school settings such as in the Boys and Girls Clubs in South Tucson, Arizona and the Boys and Girls Club in Sells, Arizona on the Tohono O'odham reservation. We will describe these programs and the lessons learned in these settings. These modules also form the basis for a week-long optics camp that provides students with approximately 40 hours of instruction time in optics. We will provide an outline of the activities and concepts covered in the camp. These camps provide an ideal way to encourage interest in optics before career choices are developed.

Interprofessional student experiences on the HAVEN free clinic leadership board.

PubMed

Scott, Elizabeth Anne; Swartz, Martha K

2015-01-01

In this study, we examined the experiences of students serving on the leadership board of HAVEN - the student-run free clinic of the Yale University health professional schools. Open-ended responses were collected from 18 of the 28 members of the 2011-2012 leadership board through an online survey. Students reported an overall positive experience participating on the board and valued the opportunity to be part of a committed community creating change. The majority of students reported that their time as a board member had improved their attitude towards interprofessional collaboration (78%) and had also fostered their leadership skills (67%). Around two thirds (67%) reported that their experience had positively impacted their future career plans, either reinforcing their desire to work with underserved populations or encouraging them to pursue leadership roles. Based on these data, it is suggested that the HAVEN Free Clinic offers a useful opportunity for students to experience the demands of clinical care leadership while working together in an interprofessional context.

Impact of hybrid delivery of education on student academic performance and the student experience.

PubMed

Congdon, Heather Brennan; Nutter, Douglas A; Charneski, Lisa; Butko, Peter

2009-11-12

To compare student academic performance and the student experience in the first-year doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) program between the main and newly opened satellite campuses of the University of Maryland. Student performance indicators including graded assessments, course averages, cumulative first-year grade point average (GPA), and introductory pharmacy practice experience (IPPE) evaluations were analyzed retrospectively. Student experience indicators were obtained via an online survey instrument and included involvement in student organizations; time-budgeting practices; and stress levels and their perceived effect on performance. Graded assessments, course averages, GPA, and IPPE evaluations were indistinguishable between campuses. Students' time allocation was not different between campuses, except for time spent attending class and watching lecture videos. There was no difference between students' stress levels at each campus. The implementation of a satellite campus to expand pharmacy education yielded academic performance and student engagement comparable to those from traditional delivery methods.

Investigating Affective Experiences in the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory: Students' Perceptions of Control and Responsibility

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galloway, Kelli R.; Malakpa, Zoebedeh; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2016-01-01

Meaningful learning requires the integration of cognitive and affective learning with the psychomotor, i.e., hands-on learning. The undergraduate chemistry laboratory is an ideal place for meaningful learning to occur. However, accurately characterizing students' affective experiences in the chemistry laboratory can be a very difficult task. While…

Educational Experiences in Oceanography through Hands-On Involvement with Surface Drifters: an Introduction to Ocean Currents, Engineering, Data Collection, and Computer Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, T.

2015-12-01

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center's (NEFSC) Student Drifters Program is providing education opportunities for students of all ages. Using GPS-tracked ocean drifters, various educational institutions can provide students with hands-on experience in physical oceanography, engineering, and computer science. In building drifters many high school and undergraduate students may focus on drifter construction, sometimes designing their own drifter or attempting to improve current NEFSC models. While learning basic oceanography younger students can build drifters with the help of an educator and directions available on the studentdrifters.org website. Once drifters are deployed, often by a local mariner or oceanographic partner, drifter tracks can be visualised on maps provided at http://nefsc.noaa.gov/drifter. With the lesson plans available for those interested in computer science, students may download, process, and plot the drifter position data with basic Python code provided. Drifter tracks help students to visualize ocean currents, and also allow them to understand real particle tracking applications such as in search and rescue, oil spill dispersion, larval transport, and the movement of injured sea animals. Additionally, ocean circulation modelers can use student drifter paths to validate their models. The Student Drifters Program has worked with over 100 schools, several of them having deployed drifters on the West Coast. Funding for the program often comes from individual schools and small grants but in the future will preferably come from larger government grants. NSF, Sea-Grant, NOAA, and EPA are all possible sources of funding, especially with the support of multiple schools and large marine education associations. The Student Drifters Program is a unique resource for educators, students, and scientists alike.

Nursing faculty teaching a module in clinical skills to medical students: a Lebanese experience.

PubMed

Abdallah, Bahia; Irani, Jihad; Sailian, Silva Dakessian; Gebran, Vicky George; Rizk, Ursula

2014-01-01

Nursing faculty teaching medical students a module in clinical skills is a relatively new trend. Collaboration in education among medical and nursing professions can improve students' performance in clinical skills and consequently positively impact the quality of care delivery. In 2011, the Faculty of Medicine in collaboration with the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Balamand, Beirut, Lebanon, launched a module in clinical skills as part of clinical skills teaching to first-year medical students. The module is prepared and delivered by nursing faculty in a laboratory setting. It consists of informative lectures as well as hands-on clinical practice. The clinical competencies taught are hand-washing, medication administration, intravenous initiation and removal, and nasogastric tube insertion and removal. Around sixty-five medical students attend this module every year. A Likert scale-based questionnaire is used to evaluate their experience. Medical students agree that the module provides adequate opportunities to enhance clinical skills and knowledge and favor cross-professional education between nursing and medical disciplines. Most of the respondents report that this experience prepares them better for clinical rotations while increasing their confidence and decreasing anxiety level. Medical students highly appreciate the nursing faculties' expertise and perceive them as knowledgeable and resourceful. Nursing faculty participating in medical students' skills teaching is well perceived, has a positive impact, and shows nurses are proficient teachers to medical students. Cross professional education is an attractive model when it comes to teaching clinical skills in medical school.

SEAS (Student Experiments At Sea): Helping Teachers Foster Authentic Student Inquiry in the Science Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goehring, L.; Kelsey, K.; Carlson, J.

2005-12-01

Teacher professional development designed to promote authentic research in the classroom is ultimately aimed at improving student scientific literacy. In addition to providing teachers with opportunities to improve their understanding of science through research experiences, we need to help facilitate similar learning in students. This is the focus of the SEAS (Student Experiments At Sea) program: to help students learn science by doing science. SEAS offers teachers tools and a framework to help foster authentic student inquiry in the classroom. SEAS uses the excitement of deep-sea research, as well as the research facilities and human resources that comprise the deep-sea scientific community, to engage student learners. Through SEAS, students have the opportunity to practice inquiry skills and participate in research projects along side scientists. SEAS is a pilot program funded by NSF and sponsored by the Ridge 2000 research community. The pilot includes inquiry-based curricular materials, facilitated interaction with scientists, opportunities to engage students in research projects, and teacher training. SEAS offers a framework of resources designed to help translate inquiry skills and approaches to the classroom environment, recognizing the need to move students along the continuum of scientific inquiry skills. This framework includes hands-on classroom lessons, Classroom to Sea labs where students compare their investigations with at-sea investigations, and a student experiment competition. The program also uses the Web to create a virtual ``scientific community'' including students. Lessons learned from this two year pilot emphasize the importance of helping teachers feel knowledgeable and experienced in the process of scientific inquiry as well as in the subject. Teachers with experience in scientific research were better able to utilize the program. Providing teachers with access to scientists as a resource was also important, particularly given the

Impact of Hybrid Delivery of Education on Student Academic Performance and the Student Experience

PubMed Central

Nutter, Douglas A.; Charneski, Lisa; Butko, Peter

2009-01-01

Objectives To compare student academic performance and the student experience in the first-year doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) program between the main and newly opened satellite campuses of the University of Maryland. Methods Student performance indicators including graded assessments, course averages, cumulative first-year grade point average (GPA), and introductory pharmacy practice experience (IPPE) evaluations were analyzed retrospectively. Student experience indicators were obtained via an online survey instrument and included involvement in student organizations; time-budgeting practices; and stress levels and their perceived effect on performance. Results Graded assessments, course averages, GPA, and IPPE evaluations were indistinguishable between campuses. Students' time allocation was not different between campuses, except for time spent attending class and watching lecture videos. There was no difference between students' stress levels at each campus. Conclusions The implementation of a satellite campus to expand pharmacy education yielded academic performance and student engagement comparable to those from traditional delivery methods. PMID:19960080

Introducing Hands-on, Experiential Learning Experiences in an Urban Environmental Science Program at a Minority Serving Institution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duzgoren-Aydin, N. S.; Freile, D.

2013-12-01

several laboratory facilities. Furthermore, authors have applied to the NSF-TUES grant program to purchase a particle size analyzer. Currently, the grant is pending. We have defined 4 curricular goals to enhance student learning by providing hands-on, inquiry-based learning and research experiences. 1- Develop technical/analytical knowledge and skills by using advanced analytical instrumentation; 2- Improve quantitative reasoning skills to assess the quality of data; 3- Have comprehensive educational training to improve problem solving skills; and 4- use their quantitative reasoning (Goal # 2) and problem solving skills (Goal #3) to evaluate real-world geological and environmental problems. We also give special emphasis to expected measurable outcomes for individual courses. An external evaluator will assess the effectiveness of integrating advance instrumentation into the Earth and Environmental Science curricula. We will work closely with the evaluator to ensure successful implementation of the learning objectives. Examples from the impacted courses will be presented.

Physiotherapy students' experiences of bullying on clinical internships: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Whiteside, Diana; Stubbs, Brendon; Soundy, Andy

2014-03-01

To consider the experiences of final-year physiotherapy students who have experienced workplace bullying on a clinical internship. Qualitative methodology using individual semi-structured interviews. A university in the Midlands region of the UK. Eight undergraduate physiotherapy students who had experienced one incident of bullying on a clinical internship. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews. Four main themes were identified: (1) external and situational influences of bullying; (2) students' reactions to the experience of bullying; (3) inability to reveal the experience; and (4) overcoming problems. Bullying had a range of adverse effects on the students, with many expressing self-doubt in their competence and viewing their supervisor as unapproachable and unsupportive. Five students were not initially able to recognise the experience as bullying. In addition, students did not feel able to report the experience and use the support mechanisms in place. This may have been a result of having concerns that the problem would escalate if they reported the experience and, as a consequence, have a negative effect on their grade. Students were keen to offer a range of strategies for clinical practice in order to prevent bullying for future generations of students. Students' health, security and confidence in their ability as a physiotherapist can be at great risk from bullying. Steps are needed to ensure that students are better protected from bullying, and feel more able to address bullying behaviour during clinical internships. Copyright © 2013 Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Examination of Hand-Held Computer-Assisted Instruction on Subtraction Skills for Second Grade Students with Learning and Behavioral Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nordness, Philip D.; Haverkost, Ann; Volberding, Annette

2011-01-01

The effect of a mathematic flashcard application on a hand-held computing device was examined across three individual second grade students with learning and behavioral disabilities. All of the students improved their subtraction scores by an average of 17% as measured by the district-created, curriculum-based assessment. The results of this study…

Dialect and Influences on the Academic Experiences of College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunstan, Stephany Brett; Jaeger, Audrey J.

2015-01-01

The dialects that college students speak represent a type of diversity that can influence many elements of their experiences in college, including academic experiences. In this study, we examined the influence of speaking a stigmatized dialect on academic experiences for White and African American students (both male and female) from rural…

Gaining Insight on the Experiences of Reinstated Undergraduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osborne, Jennifer Ames

2013-01-01

Students who have achieved academic success after reinstatement are largely overlooked in higher education. Studies on academic success and the experiences of reinstated students are fewer and less informative compared with the studies of students on academic probation and those at-risk. This study explored, through the use of a qualitative…

Utilising the Hand Model to promote a culturally safe environment for international nursing students.

PubMed

Mackay, Bev; Harding, Thomas; Jurlina, Lou; Scobie, Norma; Khan, Ruelle

2011-04-01

The rising number of international students studying outside their own country poses challenges for nursing education. Numbers are predicted to grow and economic factors are placing increasing pressure on tertiary institutions to accept these students. In adapting to a foreign learning environment international students must not only adapt to the academic culture but also to the socio-cultural context. The most significant acculturation issues for students are English as a second language, differences in education pedagogy and social integration and connectedness. Students studying in New Zealand need to work with Maori, the indigenous people, and assimilate and practice the unique aspects of cultural safety, which has evolved in nursing as part of the response to the principles underpinning the Treaty of Waitangi. The Hand Model offers the potential to support international students in a culturally safe manner across all aspects of acculturation including those aspects of cultural safety unique to New Zealand. The model was originally developed by Lou Jurlina, a nursing teacher, to assist her to teach cultural safety and support her students in practising cultural safety in nursing. The thumb, represents 'awareness', with the other four digits signifying 'connection" 'communication', 'negotiation' and 'advocacy' respectively. Each digit is connected to the palm where the ultimate evaluation of the Hand Model in promoting cultural safety culminates in the clasping and shaking of hands: the moment of shared meaning. It promotes a sense of self worth and identity in students and a safe environment in which they can learn.

Access to Space: Hands on flight instrument experience for sophomores at UW

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holzworth, R. H.; Harnett, E. M.; Winglee, R. M.; Chinowsky, T. M.; McCarthy, M. P.

2003-12-01

Students at the college sophomore level, with no science or technical prerequisites, form teams to design and fabricate sounding balloon payloads. This 200 level class promotes interest in research and involves a mixture of lectures about the upper atmosphere and space environment coupled with an intense laboratory experience. Students are taught rudimentary electronics and fabrication techniques, culminating after just 4 weeks of the flight of a CricketSat instrument (single, thermistor-controlled tone telemetry modulation; kit by Bob Twiggs at Stanford) on a sounding balloon. Following this appetite whetting, student teams design, test, calibrate and interface an instrument of their own choosing to a telemetry system for sounding balloon flight. During Spring 2003 student built payloads included devices to measure direct and reflected solar radiation, magnetic field variations, temperature and pressure, and even a small 'biosphere' with crickets which actually survived flight to near 30km altitude! Students go on a one day field trip to launch the sounding balloons and attempt recovery. This is followed by the last two weeks of data analysis and final report writing.

Practice Perspectives of Left-Handed Clinical Dental Students in India

PubMed Central

Puranik, Manjunath P; Uma, SR

2016-01-01

Introduction Handedness becomes important for students during their training period. Limited literature is available regarding the same. Aim The purpose of this study was to assess the dental practice perspectives and determine the hand preference and discomfort level among the Left-Handed (LH) clinical dental students. Materials and Methods A 30-item survey tool was used to conduct a cross-sectional survey among four successive LH cohorts (third and final year undergraduates, dental interns and postgraduates) in all the dental colleges of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, during the year 2014. Results A total of 84 students completed the survey, response rate being 100%. About one-third (37%) reported that their institution was not properly equipped to accommodate LH students. Majority felt that LH dentists were at a higher risk of developing musculoskeletal complications. Mouth mirror handling showed equal distribution for handedness as compared to the other dental activities, whereas discomfort levels were negligible (“without any difficulty”). Dental practice perspective scores significantly correlated with the difficulty levels (r=-0.333, p<0.001). Conclusion Overall, the left-handers had a right dental practice perspective and their responses indicate a need to address their issues empathetically. PMID:27891465

The impact of international experience on student nurses' personal and professional development.

PubMed

Lee, N-J

2004-06-01

Many student nurses undertake international clinical experience during their education programmes, which raises the question 'How do these experiences impact on students nurses' personal and professional development?' A case study was conducted in one School of Nursing in the United Kingdom. Student nurses participating in a new module, International Nursing and Health Care, which included clinical experience overseas, gave qualitative accounts of their international experiences and subsequent learning. Their accounts were also compared with the perceptions and expectations of the module facilitators. While there were some similarities in student experience and facilitator expectations, there were also notable differences. The students believed that their international experiences had a deep impact on their personal development, helping them make the transition from student to qualified nurse. The case study raised further questions about the acquisition of cultural knowledge and the facilitation and provision of learning from experience.

Commercial Instrumentation Technology Associates' Biomedical Experiments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

Experiments to seek solutions for a range of biomedical issues are at the heart of several investigations that will be hosted by the Commercial Instrumentation Technology Associates (ITA), Inc. Biomedical Experiments (CIBX-2) payload. CIBX-2 is unique, encompassing more than 20 separate experiments including cancer research, commercial experiments, and student hands-on experiments from 10 schools as part of ITA's ongoing University Among the Stars program. Student Marnix Aklian and ITA's Mark Bem prepare biological samples for flight as part of ITA's hands-on student outreach program on STS-95. Similar activities are a part of the CIBX-2 payload. The experiments are sponsored by NASA's Space Product Development Program (SPD).

Effects of Hand-over-Hand Physical Guidance and Tracing on Prewriting Skills of Preschool-Aged Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Josie; McLaughlin, T. F.; Derby, K. Mark; Conley, Diane

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to increase the formation of the pre-handwriting skill of imitating lines and circles with two 2-year-old preschool students using a hand-over-hand prompting procedure. Both students attended a preschool special education classroom in a rural school district. During baseline, line and circle imitation for both…

Engaging Students in Early Exploration of Nanoscience Topics Using Hands-On Activities and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Furlan, Ping Y.

2009-01-01

This manuscript reports on efforts to introduce beginning college students to the modern nanoscience field. These include: implementing selected experiments into sequencing core first-year and second-year chemistry laboratory courses; providing students with a first research experience; and engaging them in service learning and outreach programs…

Art, Meet Chemistry; Chemistry, Meet Art: Case Studies, Current Literature, and Instrumental Methods Combined to Create a Hands-On Experience for Nonmajors and Instrumental Analysis Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nivens, Delana A.; Padgett, Clifford W.; Chase, Jeffery M.; Verges, Katie J.; Jamieson, Deborah S.

2010-01-01

Case studies and current literature are combined with spectroscopic analysis to provide a unique chemistry experience for art history students and to provide a unique inquiry-based laboratory experiment for analytical chemistry students. The XRF analysis method was used to demonstrate to nonscience majors (art history students) a powerful…

Social Media and Student Engagement in a Microgravity Planetary Science Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lane, S. S.; Lai, K.; Hoover, B.; Whitaker, A.; Tiller, C.; Benjamin, S.; Dove, A.; Colwell, J. E.

2014-12-01

The Collisional Accretion Experiment (CATE) is a planetary science experiment funded by NASA's Undergraduate Instrumentation Program (USIP). CATE is a microgravity experiment to study low-velocity collisions between cm-sized particles and 0.1-1.0 mm-sized particles in vacuum to better understand the conditions for accretion in the protoplanetary disk as well as collisions in planetary ring systems. CATE flew on three parabolic airplane flights in July, 2014, using NASA's "Weightless Wonder VI" aircraft. A significant part of the project was documenting the experience of designing, building, testing, and flying spaceflight hardware from the perspective of the undergraduates working on the experiment. The outreach effort was aimed at providing high schools students interested in STEM careers with a first-person view of hands-on student research at the university level. We also targeted undergraduates at the University of Central Florida to make them aware of space research on campus. The CATE team pursued multiple outlets, from social media to presentations at local schools, to connect with the public and with younger students. We created a website which hosted a blog, links to media publications that ran our story, videos, and galleries of images from work in the lab throughout the year. In addition the project had Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. These social media outlets had much more traffic than the website except during the flight week when photos posted on the blog generated significant traffic. The most effective means of communicating the project to the target audience, however, was through face-to-face presentations in classrooms. We saw a large increase in followers on Twitter and Instagram as the flight campaign got closer and while we were there. The main source of followers came after we presented to local high school students. These presentations were made by the undergraduate student team and the faculty mentors (Colwell and Dove).

The healthy heart race: a short-duration, hands-on activity in cardiovascular physiology for museums and science festivals.

PubMed

Pressley, Thomas A; Limson, Melvin; Byse, Miranda; Matyas, Marsha Lakes

2011-09-01

The "Healthy Heart Race" activity provides a hands-on demonstration of cardiovascular function suitable for lay audiences. It was field tested during the United States of America Science and Engineering Festival held in Washington, DC, in October 2010. The basic equipment for the activity consisted of lengths of plastic tubing, a hand pump, collection containers, clamps, and simulated blood prepared by tinting water with red food coloring. Student participants were first asked to experience the effort required to pump through an unaltered tube. A presenter then applied a strong clamp that pinched each tube downstream from the pump, and students were asked to pump against the increased resistance. The students' observations were then used as the basis for discussions of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease with the presenters. Distribution of informative postcards during the 2 days of the festival indicated that at least 2,500 students completed the Healthy Heart Race activity. Our experiences to date suggest that the Healthy Heart Race activity can be accomplished effectively in the high-volume, high-distraction environment of a science fair or museum.

The Classroom Manager. Hands-on Multimedia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaplan, Nancy; And Others

1992-01-01

Four teachers discuss how they help students create hands-on, multimedia reports and presentations. Ideas include using hypertext programs on classroom computers to make computerized notecards of data on study topics, using CD-ROM disks for research, creating storyboards of videotaped reports, and setting up schedules for videotaping. (SM)

The interdisciplinary effect of hands-on science as measured by the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cherry, Elvis H.

This study examined the difference in scale scores from Tennessee's standardized test the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP). Archival data from the years 2002 and 2005 were compared using ANOVA tests at < .01 and < .05 levels. TCAP/NCE Scale Scores for academic subjects of Science, Math, Social Studies and Reading were used. 3922 student test results were divided into groups based on the number of years the student had a trained hands-on science teacher. Trained hands-on science teachers were identified from Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Science Department inservice records, which gave information on the teacher's participation in The Hands-on Science Initiative, Biology Gateway and Physical Science training. This information included not only that the teacher had be trained but also the dates of training. The study revealed 1600 students who attended MNPS between the years 2002 and 2005; in grades five through seven that never had a hands-on science trained teacher. About 1600 students in those same years had a hands-on science teacher for only one year, and 588 students had a hands-on science teacher for two of the three years. Lastly of the 3922 students in the study there were 44 students who had a hands-on science teacher for all three years. The results of the ANOVA test showed statistically significant gains in science, math and social studies but not in reading for students who had trained hands-on science teachers for at least one year.

Hands-On Calculus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sutherland, Melissa

2006-01-01

In this paper we discuss manipulatives and hands-on investigations for Calculus involving volume, arc length, and surface area to motivate and develop formulae which can then be verified using techniques of integration. Pre-service teachers in calculus courses using these activities experience a classroom in which active learning is encouraged and…

Utilising the Hand Model to promote a culturally safe environment for international nursing students.

PubMed

Mackay, Bev; Harding, Thomas; Jurlina, Lou; Scobie, Norma; Khan, Ruelle

2012-03-01

The rising number of international students studying outside their own country poses challenges for nursing education. Numbers are predicted to grow and economic factors are placing increasing pressure on tertiary institutions to accept these students. In adapting to a foreign learning environment international students must not only adapt to the academic culture but also to the social cultural context. The most significant acculturation issues for students are English as a second language, differences in education pedagogy and social integration and connectedness. Students studying in New Zealand need to work with Māori, the indigenous people, and assimilate and practice the unique aspects of cultural safety, which has evolved in nursing as part of the response to the principles underpinning the Treaty of Waitangi. The Hand Model offers the potential to support international nursing students in a culturally safe manner across all aspects of acculturation including those aspects of cultural safety unique to New Zealand. The model was originally developed by Lou Jurlina, a nursing teacher, to assist her to teach cultural safety and support her students in practising cultural safety in nursing. The thumb, represents 'awareness', with the other four digits signifying 'connection', 'communication', 'negotiation' and 'advocacy' respectively. Each digit is connected to the palm where the ultimate evaluation of The Hand Model in promoting cultural safety culminates in the clasping and shaking of hands: the moment of shared meaning. It promotes a sense of self worth and identity in students and a safe environment in which they can learn. Copyright © 2011 Nursing Praxis in New Zealand. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Transculturality on Student Experience of Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Heidi A.; Segbers, Teresa

2018-01-01

Background: Higher education outdoor studies programs retain a critical interest in student experiences as they seek to prepare citizens in a globalized, yet simultaneously neo-nationalist, world. Purpose: This research explored the impact of transculturality on the student experience of outdoor studies in the Transcultural European Outdoor…

Interprofessional Graduate Students' Perspectives on Caring for Vulnerable Populations.

PubMed

Wright, Patricia Moyle; Hanson, Mary Jane S

The purpose of this focus group study was to explore graduate students' clinical experiences with vulnerable populations, perceived barriers to care, and ethical issues related to caring for disenfranchised groups. Furthermore, based on their experiences, the students were asked to share suggestions for curricular changes that could enhance care for vulnerable populations through interdisciplinary collaboration and multidisciplinary projects. The responses of the participants add to what is known about the care of vulnerable populations, offering a first-hand description of students' preparation for work with vulnerable populations and the interdisciplinary team.

Mentorship for operational research capacity building: hands-on or hands-off?

PubMed Central

Marais, B.; Kool, B.; Ram, S.; Kumar, A. M. V.; Gounder, S.; Viney, K.; Brostrom, R.; Roseveare, C.; Bissell, K.; Reid, A. J.; Zachariah, R.; Hill, P. C.

2014-01-01

Mentorship is a key feature of operational research training courses run by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease and Médecins Sans Frontières. During the recent South Pacific paper writing module, the faculty discussed ‘hands-on’ mentorship (direct technical assistance) vs. ‘hands-off’ mentorship (technical advice). This article explores the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. Our collective experience indicates that ‘hands-on’ mentorship is a valuable learning experience for the participant and a rewarding experience for the mentor. This approach increases the likelihood of successful course completion, including publishing a well written paper. However, mentors must allow participants to lead and take ownership of the paper, in keeping with a first author position. PMID:26477290

International academic service learning: lessons learned from students' travel experiences of diverse cultural and health care practices in morocco.

PubMed

Kaddoura, Mahmoud; Puri, Aditi; Dominick, Christine A

2014-01-01

Academic service learning (ASL) is an active teaching-learning approach to engage students in meaningful hands-on activities to serve community-based needs. Nine health professions students from a private college and a private university in the northeastern United States volunteered to participate in an ASL trip to Morocco. The participants were interviewed to reflect on their experiences. This article discusses the lessons learned from students' ASL experiences regarding integrating ASL into educational programs. The authors recommend a paradigm shift in nursing and dental hygiene curricula to appreciate diversity and promote cultural competency, multidisciplinary teamwork, and ethics-based education. Copyright 2014, SLACK Incorporated.

Recognizing the Operating Hand and the Hand-Changing Process for User Interface Adjustment on Smartphones.

PubMed

Guo, Hansong; Huang, He; Huang, Liusheng; Sun, Yu-E

2016-08-20

As the size of smartphone touchscreens has become larger and larger in recent years, operability with a single hand is getting worse, especially for female users. We envision that user experience can be significantly improved if smartphones are able to recognize the current operating hand, detect the hand-changing process and then adjust the user interfaces subsequently. In this paper, we proposed, implemented and evaluated two novel systems. The first one leverages the user-generated touchscreen traces to recognize the current operating hand, and the second one utilizes the accelerometer and gyroscope data of all kinds of activities in the user's daily life to detect the hand-changing process. These two systems are based on two supervised classifiers constructed from a series of refined touchscreen trace, accelerometer and gyroscope features. As opposed to existing solutions that all require users to select the current operating hand or confirm the hand-changing process manually, our systems follow much more convenient and practical methods and allow users to change the operating hand frequently without any harm to the user experience. We conduct extensive experiments on Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones, and the evaluation results demonstrate that our proposed systems can recognize the current operating hand and detect the hand-changing process with 94.1% and 93.9% precision and 94.1% and 93.7% True Positive Rates (TPR) respectively, when deciding with a single touchscreen trace or accelerometer-gyroscope data segment, and the False Positive Rates (FPR) are as low as 2.6% and 0.7% accordingly. These two systems can either work completely independently and achieve pretty high accuracies or work jointly to further improve the recognition accuracy.

Student Reflection Papers on a Global Clinical Experience: A Qualitative Study.

PubMed

Margolis, Carmi Z; Rohrbaugh, Robert M; Tsang, Luisa; Fleischer, Jennifer; Graham, Mark J; Kellett, Anne; Hafler, Janet P

Many of the 70,000 graduating US medical students [per year] have reported participating in a global health activity at some stage of medical school. This case study design provided a method for understanding the student's experience that included student's learning about culture, health disparities, exposure and reaction to a range of diseases actually encountered. The broad diversity of themes among students indicated that the GCE provided a flexible, personalized experience. We need to understand the student's experience in order to help design appropriate curricular experiences [and valid student assessment]. Our research aim was to analyze medical student reflection papers to understand how they viewed their Global Clinical Experience (GCE). A qualitative case study design was used to analyze student reflection papers. All 28 students who participated in a GCE from 2008-2010 and in 2014-2015 and submitted a reflection paper on completion of the GCE were eligible to participate in the study. One student did not submit a reflection paper and was not included in the study. All 27 papers were coded by paragraph for reflection and for themes. System of Care/Range of Care was mentioned most often, Aids to Adjustment Process was mentioned least. The theme, "Diseases," referred to any mention of a disease in the reflection papers, and 44 diseases were mentioned in the papers. The analysis for depth of reflection yielded the following data: Observation, 81/248 paragraphs; Observation and Interpretation, 130/248 paragraphs; and Observation, Interpretation, and Suggestions for change, 36/248 paragraphs; 9 reflection papers contained 27 separate accounts of a transformational experience. This study provided a method for understanding the student's experience that included student's learning about culture, health disparities, and exposure and reaction to a range of diseases actually encountered. The broad diversity of themes among students indicated that the GCE provided a

Alexithymia modulates the experience of the rubber hand illusion

PubMed Central

Grynberg, Delphine; Pollatos, Olga

2015-01-01

Alexithymia is associated with lower awareness of emotional and non-emotional internal bodily signals. However, evidence suggesting that alexithymia modulates body awareness at an external level is scarce. This study aimed to investigate whether alexithymia is associated with disrupted multisensory integration by using the rubber hand illusion task. Fifty healthy individuals completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and underwent the rubber hand illusion measure. In this measure, one watches a rubber hand being stroked synchronously or asynchronously with one’s own hand, which is hidden from view. Compared to the asynchronous stimulation, the synchronous stimulation results in the illusion that the rubber hand and the participant’s hand are closer together than they really are and that the rubber hand belongs to them. Results revealed that higher levels of alexithymia are associated with a lower ownership illusion over the rubber hand. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that high alexithymia scorers integrate two simultaneous sensory and proprioceptive events into a single experience (lower multisensory integration) to a lesser extent than low alexithymia scorers. Higher susceptibility to the illusion in high alexithymia scorers may indicate that alexithymia is associated with an abnormal focus of one’s own body. PMID:26150779

Students' educational experiences and interaction with residents on night shifts.

PubMed

Schiller, Jocelyn; Sokoloff, Max; Tendhar, Chosang; Schmidt, John; Christner, Jennifer

2017-08-01

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate whether increased night shifts for students on paediatric rotations had any negative impact on their overall quality of educational experiences in light of the implementation of duty-hour restrictions. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 30 students on paediatric rotations during the academic year 2011/12. Students completed two questionnaires, one in response to their experiences during the day shifts and another in response to their experiences during the night shifts. Only 25 cases were retained for the final analyses. The non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to analyse the quantitative data, and constant comparative thematic analyses, as described by Creswell, were used to analyse the qualitative data. [Do] increased nights shifts for students … [have] any negative impact on their overall quality of educational experiences[?] RESULTS: The results indicated that students' perceived quality of experiences during the night shifts was greater, compared with their day shifts. Students reported having more time to socialise during the night shifts. They further reported that informal ways of learning, such as impromptu teaching and spontaneous discussions on clinical problems, were more beneficial, and these often occurred in abundance during the night shifts as opposed to the scheduled didactic teaching sessions that occur during the day shifts. This study documented many unanticipated benefits of night shifts. The feeling of cohesiveness of the night team deserves further exploration, as this can be linked to better performance outcomes. More consideration should be given to implementing night shifts as a regular feature of clerkships. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education.

Effects of Neoprene Wrist/Hand Splints on Handwriting for Students with Joint Hypermobility Syndrome: A Single System Design Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frohlich, Lauren; Wesley, Alison; Wallen, Margaret; Bundy, Anita

2012-01-01

Purpose: Pain associated with hypermobility of wrist and hand joints can contribute to decreased handwriting output. This study examined the effectiveness of a neoprene wrist/hand splint in reducing pain and increasing handwriting speed and endurance for students with joint hypermobility syndrome. Methods: Multiple baseline, single system design…

Internship Experiences Contribute to Confident Career Decision Making for Doctoral Students in the Life Sciences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schnoes, Alexandra M.; Caliendo, Anne; Morand, Janice; Dillinger, Teresa; Naffziger-Hirsch, Michelle; Moses, Bruce; Gibeling, Jeffery C.; Yamamoto, Keith R.; Lindstaedt, Bill; McGee, Richard; O'Brien, Theresa C.

2018-01-01

The Graduate Student Internships for Career Exploration (GSICE) program at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), offers structured training and hands-on experience through internships for a broad range of PhD-level careers. The GSICE program model was successfully replicated at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). Here, we…

Small passive student experiments on G324 261 individual quests for student knowledge

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nicholson, James H.; Tempel, Carol A.; Ashcraft, Ruth; Rutherford, Robin

1995-01-01

The Charleston County School District CAN DO Project payload on STS-57 had a primary goal of photographing the Earth with the GeoCam camera system. In addition, the payload carried 261 passive student experiments representing the efforts of several thousand students throughout the district and in four other states. These experiments represented the individual concepts of teams ranging in age from pre-school to high school. Consequently, a tremendous variety of samples from collard green seeds to microscopic 'water bears' were flown. Each prospective team was provided a simple kit equipped with five vials. Each student team submitted five coded samples, one for space flight and four control samples. The control samples were exposed to radiation, cold and centrifugation respectively while one negative control sample was passively stored. The students received the samples back still coded so that they were unaware of which samples were flown. They then investigated their samples according to their individual research protocols. The results were presented in poster and platform form at a student research symposium. Space Trees grown from tree seeds flown in the payload have been planted at all district schools, and at many guest schools. These seeds represented another way in which to involve additional classes and students. Both the passive experiments and the space trees were housed in what otherwise would have been wasted space within the payload. They extended the GAS programs worthwhile ballast concept to another level. The opportunity to fly an experiment in space is too previous not to be extended to the greatest number of students possible.

Hands-On Whole Science. Pass the Beetles, Please.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kepler, Lynne

1992-01-01

Several hands-on whole science activities help elementary students learn about animals' diets and how they affect other animals. One activity involves identifying animals as carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores. Another has students construct food chains. Two across-the-curriculum ideas involve naming carnivores and preparing imaginary menus for…

Effect of Extramural Experiences on Dental Students' Attitudes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grantham, Emily V.; Block, Marvin J.

1983-01-01

A study designed to determine the effect of a set of community dentistry extramural experience on student attitudes is discussed. The experiences involved one or more of four underserved or special populations: the mentally retarded, the mentally ill, correctional center inmates, and indigent children. (Author/MLW)

Choices of Pre-Service Science Teachers Laboratory Environments: Hands-on or Hands-off?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kapici, Hasan Ozgur; Akcay, Hakan

2018-01-01

Learning in laboratories for students is not only crucial for conceptual understanding, but also contributes to gaining scientific reasoning skills. Following fast developments in technology, online laboratory environments have been improved considerably and nowadays form an attractive alternative for hands-on laboratories. The study was done in…

Hand Hygiene: Knowledge and Attitudes of Fourth-Year Clerkship Medical Students at Alfaisal University, College of Medicine, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Hamadah, Reem; Kharraz, Razan; Alshanqity, Airabab; AlFawaz, Danah; Eshaq, Abdulaziz M; Abu-Zaid, Ahmed

2015-08-24

Little is known about the clerkship (clinical) medical students' knowledge of hand hygiene as the single most important precautionary measure to reduce nosocomial healthcare-associated infections. The aim of this study is to explore the knowledge of, and attitudes towards, hand hygiene practices among fourth-year clerkship medical students at Alfaisal University, College of Medicine, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional, paper-based, Yes/No formatted questionnaire was administered to explore the students' knowledge of, and attitudes towards, hand hygiene practices. Data were decoded in Microsoft Excel sheet and presented as numbers and percentages. One hundred and eleven students (n=111/147) participated in the questionnaire (response rate: 76%). Although the majority of students had a fair knowledge of hand hygiene practices, a number of them had some misconceptions. Only 14% of students correctly agreed to the statement: "Traditional hand washing (water, plus regular soap) decreases the number of germs." Furthermore, only 32% of students correctly answered that "hand washing with a regular soap, instead of an antiseptic soap, is better in limiting the transmission of clostridium difficile infections". Almost all students (93%) agreed to the importance of hand hygiene education in medical curricula and its awareness in healthcare centers. Despite the importance of hand hygiene, only 13% of students reviewed the respective WHO and CDC guidelines before starting their clinical training in the teaching hospital. The students' inadequate knowledge about hand hygiene needs to be enriched by well-structured curricular and extra-curricular programs as well as more positive attitudes by healthcare workers.

Innovative Hands-on Activities for Middle School Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barry, Dana M.

This paper contains some hands-on activities that relate science to art and language arts. The focus is placed on middle schools and activities engage students in the discovery that chemicals are used to draw and color. Students also read and write poetry and literature that employ science-related topics. A number of spin-off activities are…

Laparoscopic hand-assisted pancreaticoduodenectomy: initial UK experience.

PubMed

Ammori, B J

2004-04-01

By and large, the limited world experience with laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) has been unfavorable, but the laparoscopic hand-assisted approach to PD has recently shown promising results. We report the first successful UK experience with laparoscopic hand-assisted PD (LHAPD). A 62-year-old man who presented with painless obstructive jaundice was found at endoscopy, to have an ampullary tumor. Preoperative biopsy specimens confirmed the diagnosis of an adenocarcinoma, and CT showed no evidence of either vascular involvement or metastatic disease. A staging laparoscopy showed no intraabdominal metastases, and an LHAPD was performed using a Gelport. The intraoperative course was uneventful. Two units of blood were transfused intraoperatively, but no postoperative blood transfusion was required. The operative time was 11 h (plus a 30-min break). The patients postoperative recovery was uneventful except for superficial pressure sores over the buttocks and elbows. The patient resumed oral fluid and dietary intake on the 1st and 3rd postoperative days, respectively, and was discharged from hospital on the 9th postoperative day. Histology demonstrated an ampullary adenocarcinoma with clear resection margins and involvement of two of the 13 lymph nodes examined. At 2-month follow-up, the patient remains well and is receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. LHAPD achieves good oncological clearance and can be performed safely in selected patients. The early promising results with this approach will undoubtedly encourage wider adoption of this procedure and are likely to widen the selection criteria.

Experiments and kinematics analysis of a hand rehabilitation exoskeleton with circuitous joints.

PubMed

Zhang, Fuhai; Fu, Yili; Zhang, Qinchao; Wang, Shuguo

2015-01-01

Aiming at the hand rehabilitation of stroke patients, a wearable hand exoskeleton with circuitous joint is proposed. The circuitous joint adopts the symmetric pinion and rack mechanism (SPRM) with the parallel mechanism. The exoskeleton finger is a serial mechanism composed of three closed-chain SPRM joints in series. The kinematic equations of the open chain of the finger and the closed chains of the SPRM joints were built to analyze the kinematics of the hand rehabilitation exoskeleton. The experimental setup of the hand rehabilitation exoskeleton was built and the continuous passive motion (CPM) rehabilitation experiment and the test of human-robot interaction force measurement were conducted. Experiment results show that the mechanical design of the hand rehabilitation robot is reasonable and that the kinematic analysis is correct, thus the exoskeleton can be used for the hand rehabilitation of stroke patients.

Student experience of school science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shirazi, Shaista

2017-09-01

This paper presents the findings of a two-phase mixed methods research study that explores the link between experiences of school science of post-16 students and their decisions to take up science for their higher studies. In the first phase, students aged 16-17 (n = 569) reflected on the past five years of their school science experience in a quasi-longitudinal approach to determine a typology of experiences. The second phase entailed data collection through interviews of a sample of these students (n = 55) to help triangulate and extend findings from the first phase. Students taking up science post-16 reported significantly more positive experiences of school science than students who had decided not to take science further. Of school-related factors influencing experiences of school science curriculum content was the most important followed by being interested and motivated in the subject. There is evidence that interest and motivation in science depend on teacher practice and the perception of science as a difficult subject.

Assessing United States Patient and Dermatologist Experiences with Severe Chronic Hand Eczema

PubMed Central

Baranowski, Eileen; Zelt, Susan; Reynolds, Maria; Sherrill, Beth

2015-01-01

Objective: Patients with severe chronic hand eczema often have persistent symptoms that interfere with daily activities, social functioning, and employment. Many patients are refractory to topical corticosteroids. This survey-based study was performed to characterize treatment experiences, impact on productivity, and quality of life of patients with severe chronic hand eczema; understand dermatologists’ severe chronic hand eczema treatment patterns. Design: A web-based survey in the United States queried pre-identified patients with severe chronic hand eczema regarding symptoms, treatment history, quality of life, work productivity, treatment satisfaction, and healthcare utilization. In a separate survey, dermatologists were asked about treatment patterns and satisfaction with currently available therapies. Results: The most commonly reported symptoms currently experienced by patients (n=163) were dryness/flaking (81%), itchiness (75%), and cracking/tearing of the skin (71%). Over the last three months, 84 percent of patients with severe chronic hand eczema self-reported using topical steroids, and 30 percent used systemic corticosteroids or retinoids. Approximately 30 percent reported impairment while working and productivity loss. Patient quality of life was negatively impacted. Dermatologists (n=125) reported most often treating severe chronic hand eczema with topical corticosteroids (99%), followed by topical immunomodulators (71%) and systemic treatments (70%). Only two percent were very satisfied with currently available products. Conclusion: Patients with severe chronic hand eczema experience symptoms that negatively impact work productivity and quality of life. Few dermatologists are very satisfied with currently available severe chronic hand eczema treatment options. PMID:26705436

Video surveillance captures student hand hygiene behavior, reactivity to observation, and peer influence in Kenyan primary schools.

PubMed

Pickering, Amy J; Blum, Annalise G; Breiman, Robert F; Ram, Pavani K; Davis, Jennifer

2014-01-01

In-person structured observation is considered the best approach for measuring hand hygiene behavior, yet is expensive, time consuming, and may alter behavior. Video surveillance could be a useful tool for objectively monitoring hand hygiene behavior if validated against current methods. Student hand cleaning behavior was monitored with video surveillance and in-person structured observation, both simultaneously and separately, at four primary schools in urban Kenya over a study period of 8 weeks. Video surveillance and in-person observation captured similar rates of hand cleaning (absolute difference <5%, p = 0.74). Video surveillance documented higher hand cleaning rates (71%) when at least one other person was present at the hand cleaning station, compared to when a student was alone (48%; rate ratio  = 1.14 [95% CI 1.01-1.28]). Students increased hand cleaning rates during simultaneous video and in-person monitoring as compared to single-method monitoring, suggesting reactivity to each method of monitoring. This trend was documented at schools receiving a handwashing with soap intervention, but not at schools receiving a sanitizer intervention. Video surveillance of hand hygiene behavior yields results comparable to in-person observation among schools in a resource-constrained setting. Video surveillance also has certain advantages over in-person observation, including rapid data processing and the capability to capture new behavioral insights. Peer influence can significantly improve student hand cleaning behavior and, when possible, should be exploited in the design and implementation of school hand hygiene programs.

Variable Operative Experience in Hand Surgery for Plastic Surgery Residents.

PubMed

Silvestre, Jason; Lin, Ines C; Levin, Lawrence Scott; Chang, Benjamin

Efforts to standardize hand surgery training during plastic surgery residency remain challenging. We analyze the variability of operative hand experience at U.S. plastic surgery residency programs. Operative case logs of chief residents in accredited U.S. plastic surgery residency programs were analyzed (2011-2015). Trends in fold differences of hand surgery case volume between the 10th and 90th percentiles of residents were assessed graphically. Percentile data were used to calculate the number of residents achieving case minimums in hand surgery for 2015. Case logs from 818 plastic surgery residents were analyzed of which a minority were from integrated (35.7%) versus independent/combined (64.3%) residents. Trend analysis of fold differences in case volume demonstrated decreasing variability among procedure categories over time. By 2015, fold differences for hand reconstruction, tendon cases, nerve cases, arthroplasty/arthrodesis, amputation, arterial repair, Dupuytren release, and neoplasm cases were below 10-fold. Congenital deformity cases among independent/combined residents was the sole category that exceeded 10-fold by 2015. Percentile data suggested that approximately 10% of independent/combined residents did not meet case minimums for arterial repair and congenital deformity in 2015. Variable operative experience during plastic surgery residency may limit adequate exposure to hand surgery for certain residents. Future studies should establish empiric case minimums for plastic surgery residents to ensure hand surgery competency upon graduation. Copyright © 2017 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Interplay of Students' Motivational Orientations, Their Chemistry Achievements and Their Perception of Learning within the Hands-On Approach to Visible Spectrometry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jurisevic, Mojca; Vrtacnik, Margareta; Kwiatkowski, Marek; Gros, Natasa

2012-01-01

The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between students' motivational orientations and their chemistry achievements and perception of learning within the original case of the hands-on approach to visible spectrometry. A total of 295 students from Polish and Slovenian vocational and technical high schools participated in the…

Increasing awareness about antibiotic use and resistance: a hands-on project for high school students.

PubMed

Fonseca, Maria João; Santos, Catarina L; Costa, Patrício; Lencastre, Leonor; Tavares, Fernando

2012-01-01

Health-promoting education is essential to foster an informed society able to make decisions about socio-scientific issues based on scientifically sustained criteria. Antibiotic resistance is currently a major public health issue. Considering that irrational antibiotic use has been associated with the development and widespread of antibiotic resistant bacteria, educational interventions to promote prudent antibiotic consumption are required. This study focuses on the outcomes of an interventional program implemented at the University of Porto, Portugal, to promote awareness about antibiotic resistance at high school levels (15-17 year old). The project Microbiology recipes: antibiotics à la carte articulates a set of wet and dry lab activities designed to promote the participants' understanding of concepts and processes underlying antibiotics' production and activity, such as the notion of mechanisms of action of antibiotics. Following a mix-method approach based on a pre-/post design, the effectiveness of this project was assessed by gathering data from surveys, direct observation and analysis of artifacts of 42 high school students (aged 15 and 16 years). The results indicate that the participants developed a more comprehensive picture of antibiotic resistance. The project was shown to promote more sophisticated conceptualizations of bacteria and antibiotics, increased awareness about the perils of antibiotic resistance, and enhanced consciousness towards measures that can be undertaken to mitigate the problem. The participants regarded their experiences as enjoyable and useful, and believed that the project contributed to improve their understanding and raise their interest about the issues discussed. Furthermore, there were also improvements in their procedural skills concerning the laboratory techniques performed. This study evidences the possibility of increasing high school students' awareness about the consequences of antibiotic resistance and the

Body painting to promote self-active learning of hand anatomy for preclinical medical students.

PubMed

Jariyapong, Pitchanee; Punsawad, Chuchard; Bunratsami, Suchirat; Kongthong, Paranyu

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to use the body painting method to teach hand anatomy to a group of preclinical medical students. Students reviewed hand anatomy using the traditional method and body painting exercise. Feedback and retention of the anatomy-related information were examined by a questionnaire and multiple-choice questions, respectively, immediately and 1 month after the painting exercise. Students agreed that the exercise was advantageous and helped facilitate self-active learning after in-class anatomy lessons. While there was no significant difference in knowledge retention between the control and experimental groups, the students appreciated the exercise in which they applied body paint to the human body to learn anatomy. The body painting was an efficient tool for aiding the interactive learning of medical students and increasing the understanding of gross anatomy.

Introducing StatHand: A Cross-Platform Mobile Application to Support Students' Statistical Decision Making.

PubMed

Allen, Peter J; Roberts, Lynne D; Baughman, Frank D; Loxton, Natalie J; Van Rooy, Dirk; Rock, Adam J; Finlay, James

2016-01-01

Although essential to professional competence in psychology, quantitative research methods are a known area of weakness for many undergraduate psychology students. Students find selecting appropriate statistical tests and procedures for different types of research questions, hypotheses and data types particularly challenging, and these skills are not often practiced in class. Decision trees (a type of graphic organizer) are known to facilitate this decision making process, but extant trees have a number of limitations. Furthermore, emerging research suggests that mobile technologies offer many possibilities for facilitating learning. It is within this context that we have developed StatHand, a free cross-platform application designed to support students' statistical decision making. Developed with the support of the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching, StatHand guides users through a series of simple, annotated questions to help them identify a statistical test or procedure appropriate to their circumstances. It further offers the guidance necessary to run these tests and procedures, then interpret and report their results. In this Technology Report we will overview the rationale behind StatHand, before describing the feature set of the application. We will then provide guidelines for integrating StatHand into the research methods curriculum, before concluding by outlining our road map for the ongoing development and evaluation of StatHand.

Assessment of individual hand performance in box trainers compared to virtual reality trainers.

PubMed

Madan, Atul K; Frantzides, Constantine T; Shervin, Nina; Tebbit, Christopher L

2003-12-01

Training residents in laparoscopic skills is ideally initiated in an inanimate laboratory with both box trainers and virtual reality trainers. Virtual reality trainers have the ability to score individual hand performance although they are expensive. Here we compared the ability to assess dominant and nondominant hand performance in box trainers with virtual reality trainers. Medical students without laparoscopic experience were utilized in this study (n = 16). Each student performed tasks on the LTS 2000, an inanimate box trainer (placing pegs with both hands and transferring pegs from one hand to another), as well as a task on the MIST-VR, a virtual reality trainer (grasping a virtual object and placing it in a virtual receptable with alternating hands). A surgeon scored students for the inanimate box trainer exercises (time and errors) while the MIST-VR scored students (time, economy of movements, and errors for each hand). Statistical analysis included Pearson correlations. Errors and time for the one-handed tasks on the box trainer did not correlate with errors, time, or economy measured for each hand by the MIST-VR (r = 0.01 to 0.30; P = NS). Total errors on the virtual reality trainer did correlate with errors on transferring pege (r = 0.61; P < 0.05). Economy and time of both dominant and nondominant hand from the MIST-VR correlated with time of transferring pegs in the box trainer (r = 0.53 to 0.77; P < 0.05). While individual hand assessment by the box trainer during 2-handed tasks was related to assessment by the virtual reality trainer, individual hand assessment during 1-handed tasks did not correlate with the virtual reality trainer. Virtual reality trainers, such as the MIST-VR, allow assessment of individual hand skills which may lead to improved laparoscopic skill acquisition. It is difficult to assess individual hand performance with box trainers alone.

Evaluation of a blended learning model in geriatric medicine: a successful learning experience for medical students.

PubMed

Duque, Gustavo; Demontiero, Oddom; Whereat, Sarah; Gunawardene, Piumali; Leung, Oliver; Webster, Peter; Sardinha, Luis; Boersma, Derek; Sharma, Anita

2013-06-01

Despite the increasingly ageing population, teaching geriatric medicine at medical schools is a challenge due to the particularities of this subspecialty and the lack of student interest in this subject. We assessed a blended system that combines e-learning and person-to-person interaction. Our program offered the students a hands-on learning experience based on self-reflection, access to technology, interactive learning, frequent interaction with the multidisciplinary team, more exposure to patients, and regular feedback. Our results indicate that the students appreciate this system as a rich and effective learning experience demonstrated by their positive feedback and by their significant improvement in knowledge assessed at the end of their rotation. Implementing an interactive blended system is a beneficial approach to teaching geriatric medicine in medical schools and to motivating medical students' interest in this important medical subspecialty. © 2012 The Authors. Australasian Journal on Ageing © 2012 ACOTA.

Magnetic levitation on a type-I superconductor as a practical demonstration experiment for students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Osorio, M. R.; Lahera, D. E.; Suderow, H.

2012-09-01

We describe and discuss an experimental set-up which allows undergraduate and graduate students to view and study magnetic levitation on a type-I superconductor. The demonstration can be repeated many times using one readily available 25 l liquid helium dewar. We study the equilibrium position of a magnet that levitates over a lead bowl immersed in a liquid hand-held helium cryostat. We combine the measurement of the position of the magnet with simple analytical calculations. This provides a vivid visualization of magnetic levitation from the balance between pure flux expulsion and gravitation. The experiment contrasts and illustrates the case of magnetic levitation with high temperature type-II superconductors using liquid nitrogen, where levitation results from partial flux expulsion and vortex physics.

Recognizing the Operating Hand and the Hand-Changing Process for User Interface Adjustment on Smartphones †

PubMed Central

Guo, Hansong; Huang, He; Huang, Liusheng; Sun, Yu-E

2016-01-01

As the size of smartphone touchscreens has become larger and larger in recent years, operability with a single hand is getting worse, especially for female users. We envision that user experience can be significantly improved if smartphones are able to recognize the current operating hand, detect the hand-changing process and then adjust the user interfaces subsequently. In this paper, we proposed, implemented and evaluated two novel systems. The first one leverages the user-generated touchscreen traces to recognize the current operating hand, and the second one utilizes the accelerometer and gyroscope data of all kinds of activities in the user’s daily life to detect the hand-changing process. These two systems are based on two supervised classifiers constructed from a series of refined touchscreen trace, accelerometer and gyroscope features. As opposed to existing solutions that all require users to select the current operating hand or confirm the hand-changing process manually, our systems follow much more convenient and practical methods and allow users to change the operating hand frequently without any harm to the user experience. We conduct extensive experiments on Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones, and the evaluation results demonstrate that our proposed systems can recognize the current operating hand and detect the hand-changing process with 94.1% and 93.9% precision and 94.1% and 93.7% True Positive Rates (TPR) respectively, when deciding with a single touchscreen trace or accelerometer-gyroscope data segment, and the False Positive Rates (FPR) are as low as 2.6% and 0.7% accordingly. These two systems can either work completely independently and achieve pretty high accuracies or work jointly to further improve the recognition accuracy. PMID:27556461

Multiracial College Students' Experiences with Multiracial Microaggressions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harris, Jessica C.

2017-01-01

While research on monoracial college students' experiences with racial microaggressions increases, minimal, if any, research focuses on multiracial college students' experiences with racial microaggressions. This manuscript addresses the gap in the literature by focusing on multiracial college students' experiences with multiracial…

Video Surveillance Captures Student Hand Hygiene Behavior, Reactivity to Observation, and Peer Influence in Kenyan Primary Schools

PubMed Central

Pickering, Amy J.; Blum, Annalise G.; Breiman, Robert F.; Ram, Pavani K.; Davis, Jennifer

2014-01-01

Background In-person structured observation is considered the best approach for measuring hand hygiene behavior, yet is expensive, time consuming, and may alter behavior. Video surveillance could be a useful tool for objectively monitoring hand hygiene behavior if validated against current methods. Methods Student hand cleaning behavior was monitored with video surveillance and in-person structured observation, both simultaneously and separately, at four primary schools in urban Kenya over a study period of 8 weeks. Findings Video surveillance and in-person observation captured similar rates of hand cleaning (absolute difference <5%, p = 0.74). Video surveillance documented higher hand cleaning rates (71%) when at least one other person was present at the hand cleaning station, compared to when a student was alone (48%; rate ratio  = 1.14 [95% CI 1.01–1.28]). Students increased hand cleaning rates during simultaneous video and in-person monitoring as compared to single-method monitoring, suggesting reactivity to each method of monitoring. This trend was documented at schools receiving a handwashing with soap intervention, but not at schools receiving a sanitizer intervention. Conclusion Video surveillance of hand hygiene behavior yields results comparable to in-person observation among schools in a resource-constrained setting. Video surveillance also has certain advantages over in-person observation, including rapid data processing and the capability to capture new behavioral insights. Peer influence can significantly improve student hand cleaning behavior and, when possible, should be exploited in the design and implementation of school hand hygiene programs. PMID:24676389

The effect of Ebola Virus Disease outbreak on hand washing among secondary school students in Ondo State Nigeria, October, 2014.

PubMed

Ilesanmi, Olayinka Stephen; Alele, Faith Osaretin

2015-01-01

Hand washing with soap and water is one of the cheapest, most effective ways of limiting the spread of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). Despite its importance the prevalence of hand washing was low before the EVD outbreak in Nigeria. This study aimed at determining the factors associated with improved hand washing practices following the EVD outbreak. A descriptive cross sectional study of 440 students from a secondary school in Owo, Ondo State was done. Data was collected in October 2014 when Nigeria was yet to be declared EVD free. Systematic random sampling was used. A semi-structured, interviewer administered questionnaire was used. Data was analysed with epi info version 7, descriptive statistics were done, Chi square test was used for the assessment of significant associations between proportions. Determinants of good hand washing practices was identified using logistics regression analysis at 5% level of significance. Of 440 respondents, mean age was 13.7±1.9 years. Females were 48.2%. Only 4.6% have never heard of Ebola Virus Disease.Level of hand washing with soap and water improved by62.6%. Significant improvement in hand washing was in 75.8% of those who heard through social media (p < 0.001), 70.5% of Newspaper readers(p < 0.001), 65.6% of radio listeners (p = 0.001), 75.4% of family members p < 0.001, 76.3% talk in church p < 0.001, 77.6% peers p = 0.02, 72.4% TV p < 0.001. Change in hand washing practices was associated with watching television (AOR: 2.2; CI 95%: 1.1-4.3) and listening to health education in church (AOR: 2.4; CI 95%: 1.2-4.7).Major reason for change in hand washing practices was because of EVD deadly nature, 170(40.5%). Watching health education messages on television and listening to it in church are the determinants of change in hand washing practices. Promotion of hand washing with soap and water needs to be sustained to prevent other diseases. Training of students on prevention of EVD was conducted in selected schools.

Hands-On Photovoltaic Experience | Photovoltaic Research | NREL

Science.gov Websites

a building. Pictured are doctoral students who participated at the 2017 HOPE event at NREL. The HOPE designed primarily for students, but also requires participation of the professors leading the research and overseeing each student's thesis. HOPE provides opportunities for professors and graduate students to

The Models and Hard Cores: Selective Acculturation and Racial Stratification in Chinese Students' School Experience in Malaysia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kee, Geok Hwa

2010-01-01

Are the academic and social experiences of Chinese Malaysian students as much an outcome of the selective acculturation strategy of their parents as the linguistic assimilation policy of the government? Driven by economic necessity on one hand and pressured by cultural preservation on the other, Chinese parents first send their sons and daughters…

LIB LAB the Library Laboratory: hands-on multimedia science communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fillo, Aaron; Niemeyer, Kyle

2017-11-01

Teaching scientific research topics to K-12 audiences in an engaging and meaningful way does not need to be hard; with the right insight and techniques it can be fun to encourage self-guided STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) exploration. LIB LAB, short for Library Laboratory, is an educational video series produced by Aaron J. Fillo at Oregon State University in partnership with the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library targeted at K-12 students. Each episode explores a variety of scientific fundamentals with playful experiments and demonstrations. The video lessons are developed using evidence-based practices such as dispelling misconceptions, and language immersion. Each video includes directions for a related experiment that young viewers can conduct at home. In addition, science kits for these at-home experiments are distributed for free to students through the public library network in Benton County, Oregon. This talk will focus on the development of multimedia science education tools and several techniques that scientists can use to engage with a broad audience more effectively. Using examples from the LIB LAB YouTube Channel and collection of hands-on science demonstrations and take-home kits, this talk will present STEAM education in action. Corvallis-Benton County Public Library.

NASA Successfully Launches Suborbital Rocket from Wallops with Student Experiments

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-06-25

NASA successfully launched a NASA Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital sounding rocket carrying student experiments with the RockOn/RockSat-C programs at 6 a.m., today More than 200 middle school and university students and instructors participating in Rocket Week at Wallops were on hand to witness the launch. Through RockOn and RockSat-C students are learning and applying skills required to develop experiments for suborbital rocket flight. In addition, middle school educators through the Wallops Rocket Academy for Teachers (WRATS) are learning about applying rocketry basics in their curriculum. The payload flew to an altitude of 71.4 miles and descended by parachute into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Wallops. Payload recovery is in progress. The next launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility is a Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket currently scheduled between 6 and 10 a.m., July 7. For more information on NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, visit: www.nasa.gov/wallops NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Assessing student clinical learning experiences.

PubMed

Nehyba, Katrine; Miller, Susan; Connaughton, Joanne; Singer, Barbara

2017-08-01

This article describes the use of an activity worksheet and questionnaire to investigate the learning experience of students on clinical placement. The worksheet measures the amount of time students spend in different learning activities, and the questionnaire explores student satisfaction and preferred learning activities. An activity worksheet and questionnaire … investigate[d] the learning experiences of students on clinical placement METHODS: The activity worksheet and questionnaire were used in a cohort pilot study of physiotherapy students on clinical placement. The activity worksheet provides details of the amount of time students engage in a range of clinical and non-clinical tasks while on placement, such as time spent treating patients, working individually, working with their peers and engaging in reflective practice. In combination with the questionnaire results, it allows clinicians to gain an understanding of the clinical learning environment experienced by their students. The data collected using these tools provide a description of the students' activities while undertaking the clinical placement. This information may guide the refinement of the clinical experience, and offers an opportunity to individualise learning activities to match students' needs and preferences. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education.

Body painting to promote self-active learning of hand anatomy for preclinical medical students.

PubMed

Jariyapong, Pitchanee; Punsawad, Chuchard; Bunratsami, Suchirat; Kongthong, Paranyu

2016-01-01

Background The purpose of this study was to use the body painting method to teach hand anatomy to a group of preclinical medical students. Methods Students reviewed hand anatomy using the traditional method and body painting exercise. Feedback and retention of the anatomy-related information were examined by a questionnaire and multiple-choice questions, respectively, immediately and 1 month after the painting exercise. Results Students agreed that the exercise was advantageous and helped facilitate self-active learning after in-class anatomy lessons. While there was no significant difference in knowledge retention between the control and experimental groups, the students appreciated the exercise in which they applied body paint to the human body to learn anatomy. Conclusion The body painting was an efficient tool for aiding the interactive learning of medical students and increasing the understanding of gross anatomy.

Improving the Student Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Staddon, Elizabeth; Standish, Paul

2012-01-01

Shifts in funding and a worldwide trend towards marketising higher education have led to a new emphasis on the quality of the student experience. In the UK this trend finds its strongest expression in recent policy proposals to simultaneously increase student fees and student choice so that students themselves become the drivers of higher…

Reflections on Transformative Experiences with Mathematical Inquiry: The Case of Christine

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flores, Alfinio; Phelps, Christine M.; Jansen, Amanda

2017-01-01

We present a first-hand, longer-term account of one student's (Christine's) experiences in and after a mathematics inquiry course. In this course, students actively posed problems, conducted their own mathematical explorations, and wrote journal entries about their experiences. During the course, Christine found that inquiry helped her develop…

Development of a Hands-On Survey Course in the Physics of Living Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matthews, Megan; Goldman, Daniel I.

Due to the widespread availability and technological capabilities of modern smartphones, many biophysical systems can be investigated using easily accessible, low-cost, and/or ``homemade'' equipment. Our survey course is structured to provide students with an overview of research in the physics of living systems, emphasizing the interplay between measurement, mechanism, and modeling required to understand principles at the intersection of physics and biology. The course proceeds through seven modules each consisting of one week of lectures and one week of hands-on experiments, called ``microlabs''. Using smartphones, Arduinos, and 3D printed materials students create their own laboratory equipment, including a 150X van Leeuwenhoek microscope, a shaking incubator, and an oscilloscope, and then use them to study biological systems ranging in length scales from nanometers to meters. These systems include population dynamics of rotifer/algae cultures, experimental evolution of multicellularity in budding yeast, and the bio- & neuromechanics involved in animal locomotion, among others. In each module, students are introduced to fundamental biological and physical concepts as well as theoretical and computational tools (nonlinear dynamics, molecular dynamics simulation, and statistical mechanics). At the end of the course, students apply these concepts and tools to the creation of their own microlab that integrates hands-on experimentation and modeling in the study of their chosen biophysical system.

A Hands-On Activity Incorporating the Threefold Representation on Limiting Reactant

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonza´lez-Sa´nchez, Ange´lica M.; Ortiz-Nieves, Edgardo L.; Medina, Zuleikra

2014-01-01

Many students share the common belief that the limiting reactant in a chemical reaction is the reactant in the smallest quantity of material. To help students overcome this difficulty a hands-on activity for the limiting reactant concept was developed. The activity incorporates the three levels of representation (macroscopic, submicroscopic, and…

Cognitive Achievement and Motivation in Hands-on and Teacher-Centred Science Classes: Does an additional hands-on consolidation phase (concept mapping) optimise cognitive learning at work stations?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerstner, Sabine; Bogner, Franz X.

2010-05-01

Our study monitored the cognitive and motivational effects within different educational instruction schemes: On the one hand, teacher-centred versus hands-on instruction; on the other hand, hands-on instruction with and without a knowledge consolidation phase (concept mapping). All the instructions dealt with the same content. For all participants, the hands-on approach as well as the concept mapping adaptation were totally new. Our hands-on approach followed instruction based on "learning at work stations". A total of 397 high-achieving fifth graders participated in our study. We used a pre-test, post-test, retention test design both to detect students' short-term learning success and long-term learning success, and to document their decrease rates of newly acquired knowledge. Additionally, we monitored intrinsic motivation. Although the teacher-centred approach provided higher short-term learning success, hands-on instruction resulted in relatively lower decrease rates. However, after six weeks, all students reached similar levels of newly acquired knowledge. Nevertheless, concept mapping as a knowledge consolidation phase positively affected short-term increase in knowledge. Regularly placed in instruction, it might increase long-term retention rates. Scores of interest, perceived competence and perceived choice were very high in all the instructional schemes.

Molecular dynamics characterization of the conformational landscape of small peptides: A series of hands-on collaborative practical sessions for undergraduate students.

PubMed

Rodrigues, João P G L M; Melquiond, Adrien S J; Bonvin, Alexandre M J J

2016-01-01

Molecular modelling and simulations are nowadays an integral part of research in areas ranging from physics to chemistry to structural biology, as well as pharmaceutical drug design. This popularity is due to the development of high-performance hardware and of accurate and efficient molecular mechanics algorithms by the scientific community. These improvements are also benefitting scientific education. Molecular simulations, their underlying theory, and their applications are particularly difficult to grasp for undergraduate students. Having hands-on experience with the methods contributes to a better understanding and solidification of the concepts taught during the lectures. To this end, we have created a computer practical class, which has been running for the past five years, composed of several sessions where students characterize the conformational landscape of small peptides using molecular dynamics simulations in order to gain insights on their binding to protein receptors. In this report, we detail the ingredients and recipe necessary to establish and carry out this practical, as well as some of the questions posed to the students and their expected results. Further, we cite some examples of the students' written reports, provide statistics, and share their feedbacks on the structure and execution of the sessions. These sessions were implemented alongside a theoretical molecular modelling course but have also been used successfully as a standalone tutorial during specialized workshops. The availability of the material on our web page also facilitates this integration and dissemination and lends strength to the thesis of open-source science and education. © 2016 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

How do clinical clerkship students experience simulator-based teaching? A qualitative analysis.

PubMed

Takayesu, James K; Farrell, Susan E; Evans, Adelaide J; Sullivan, John E; Pawlowski, John B; Gordon, James A

2006-01-01

To critically analyze the experience of clinical clerkship students exposed to simulator-based teaching, in order to better understand student perspectives on its utility. A convenience sample of clinical students (n = 95) rotating through an emergency medicine, surgery, or longitudinal patient-doctor clerkship voluntarily participated in a 2-hour simulator-based teaching session. Groups of 3-5 students managed acute scenarios including respiratory failure, myocardial infarction, or multisystem trauma. After the session, students completed a brief written evaluation asking for free text commentary on the strengths and weaknesses of the experience; they also provided simple satisfaction ratings. Using a qualitative research approach, the textual commentary was transcribed and parsed into fragments, coded for emergent themes, and tested for inter-rater agreement. Six major thematic categories emerged from the qualitative analysis: The "Knowledge & Curriculum" domain was described by 35% of respondents, who commented on the opportunity for self-assessment, recall and memory, basic and clinical science learning, and motivation. "Applied Cognition and Critical Thought" was highlighted by 53% of respondents, who commented on the value of decision-making, active thought, clinical integration, and the uniqueness of learning-by-doing. "Teamwork and Communication" and "Procedural/Hands-On Skills" were each mentioned by 12% of subjects. Observations on the "Teaching/Learning Environment" were offered by 80% of students, who commented on the realism, interactivity, safety, and emotionality of the experience; here they also offered feedback on format, logistics, and instructors. Finally, "Suggestions for Use/Place in Undergraduate Medical Education" were provided by 22% of subjects, who primarily recommended more exposure. On a simple rating scale, 94% of students rated the quality of the simulator session as "excellent," whereas 91% felt the exercises should be "mandatory

On the feasibility of interoperable schemes in hand biometrics.

PubMed

Morales, Aythami; González, Ester; Ferrer, Miguel A

2012-01-01

Personal recognition through hand-based biometrics has attracted the interest of many researchers in the last twenty years. A significant number of proposals based on different procedures and acquisition devices have been published in the literature. However, comparisons between devices and their interoperability have not been thoroughly studied. This paper tries to fill this gap by proposing procedures to improve the interoperability among different hand biometric schemes. The experiments were conducted on a database made up of 8,320 hand images acquired from six different hand biometric schemes, including a flat scanner, webcams at different wavelengths, high quality cameras, and contactless devices. Acquisitions on both sides of the hand were included. Our experiment includes four feature extraction methods which determine the best performance among the different scenarios for two of the most popular hand biometrics: hand shape and palm print. We propose smoothing techniques at the image and feature levels to reduce interdevice variability. Results suggest that comparative hand shape offers better performance in terms of interoperability than palm prints, but palm prints can be more effective when using similar sensors.

On the Feasibility of Interoperable Schemes in Hand Biometrics

PubMed Central

Morales, Aythami; González, Ester; Ferrer, Miguel A.

2012-01-01

Personal recognition through hand-based biometrics has attracted the interest of many researchers in the last twenty years. A significant number of proposals based on different procedures and acquisition devices have been published in the literature. However, comparisons between devices and their interoperability have not been thoroughly studied. This paper tries to fill this gap by proposing procedures to improve the interoperability among different hand biometric schemes. The experiments were conducted on a database made up of 8,320 hand images acquired from six different hand biometric schemes, including a flat scanner, webcams at different wavelengths, high quality cameras, and contactless devices. Acquisitions on both sides of the hand were included. Our experiment includes four feature extraction methods which determine the best performance among the different scenarios for two of the most popular hand biometrics: hand shape and palm print. We propose smoothing techniques at the image and feature levels to reduce interdevice variability. Results suggest that comparative hand shape offers better performance in terms of interoperability than palm prints, but palm prints can be more effective when using similar sensors. PMID:22438714

A Summer at the University: A twenty five years experience with High School Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zamorano, Nelson

2014-03-01

After running a summer school for enthusiastic high school students for 25 years, we reached the point where three of my colleagues at the physics department, are exstudents from two physics courses offered (more than ten years ago) within our program. There are also graduates in some others Faculties in different universities. Here we would like to describe the evolution of this project since its beginning, with 60 students in an introductory physics class to the 3000 now attending (January 2014) the around 60 courses offered in almost all areas of knowledge, from theater to Biotechnology. Lately, as we became aware of the relevance of teaching sciences to young kids in elementary school, we started a winter section addressing this group of students. The courses are mainly a hands on experience. In this talk we will comment about our learning experience working on this kind of projects and our projections for the future. Partial travel support from Escuela de Verano.

An analysis of high school students' perceptions and academic performance in laboratory experiences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirchin, Robert Douglas

This research study is an investigation of student-laboratory (i.e., lab) learning based on students' perceptions of experiences using questionnaire data and evidence of their science-laboratory performance based on paper-and-pencil assessments using Maryland-mandated criteria, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) criteria, and published laboratory questions. A 20-item questionnaire consisting of 18 Likert-scale items and 2 open-ended items that addressed what students liked most and least about lab was administered to students before labs were observed. A pre-test and post-test assessing laboratory achievement were administered before and after the laboratory experiences. The three labs observed were: soda distillation, stoichiometry, and separation of a mixture. Five significant results or correlations were found. For soda distillation, there were two positive correlations. Student preference for analyzing data was positively correlated with achievement on the data analysis dimension of the lab rubric. A student preference for using numbers and graphs to analyze data was positively correlated with achievement on the analysis dimension of the lab rubric. For the separating a mixture lab data the following pairs of correlations were significant. Student preference for doing chemistry labs where numbers and graphs were used to analyze data had a positive correlation with writing a correctly worded hypothesis. Student responses that lab experiences help them learn science positively correlated with achievement on the data dimension of the lab rubric. The only negative correlation found related to the first result where students' preference for computers was inversely correlated to their performance on analyzing data on their lab report. Other findings included the following: students like actual experimental work most and the write-up and analysis of a lab the least. It is recommended that lab science instruction be inquiry-based, hands-on, and that students be

Broaden Engineering Technology students' knowledge through hands-on with motion robotics

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The skills and knowledge that employers value most are not always well-aligned with undergraduate engineering technology programs. With the support of a federal grant, we identify and propose to broaden the undergraduate student experience to include training in transferable skills with agricultura...

Teacher research experiences, epistemology, and student attitudes toward science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Payne, Diana L.

This concurrent mixed methods research study examined the impact of a Teacher Research Experience (TRE) on science teacher beliefs about science, scientific research, science teaching, and student attitudes toward science. Surveys, interviews, reflective journals, and classroom observations of six teachers involved in a TRE were utilized to examine changes in beliefs as a result of participation in the TRE. Student attitudes were measured with a pre and post survey. An analysis of qualitative data from the teachers' interviews, journals, and pre and post TRE surveys indicated that some change occurred in their beliefs about science and scientists for all six teachers, and that teachers' beliefs about science teaching were affected in a variety of ways after participating in the TRE. The quantitative results of the study using Science Teachers' Beliefs About Science (STBAS) instrument suggest that the change from the beginning to the end of the school year, if any, was minimal. However, interviews with and observations of teachers identified valuable components of the TRE, such as the advanced resources (e.g., DVD, samples), a feeling of rejuvenation in teaching, a new perspective on science and scientific research, and first hand experiences in science. Results from the classroom observations using the Science Classroom Practice Record (SCPR) were mixed. Some differences may be explained, however, as relating to content taught in the pre and post classes observed or simply to inherent differences in student dynamics and behavior from class to class. There were no significant differences from pre to post TRE regarding student attitudes toward science as measured by paired samples t-tests on the modified Attitudes Toward Science (mATSI) instrument. Attitudes and beliefs are not easily changed, and change is more likely to result from direct experience and education rather than an indirect experience. Although the results are generalizable only to the participants in

Are all hands-on activities equally effective? Effect of using plastic models, organ dissections, and virtual dissections on student learning and perceptions.

PubMed

Lombardi, Sara A; Hicks, Reimi E; Thompson, Katerina V; Marbach-Ad, Gili

2014-03-01

This study investigated the impact of three commonly used cardiovascular model-assisted activities on student learning and student attitudes and perspectives about science. College students enrolled in a Human Anatomy and Physiology course were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups (organ dissections, virtual dissections, or plastic models). Each group received a 15-min lecture followed by a 45-min activity with one of the treatments. Immediately after the lesson and then 2 mo later, students were tested on anatomy and physiology knowledge and completed an attitude survey. Students who used plastic models achieved significantly higher overall scores on both the initial and followup exams than students who performed organ or virtual dissections. On the initial exam, students in the plastic model and organ dissection treatments scored higher on anatomy questions than students who performed virtual dissections. Students in the plastic model group scored higher than students who performed organ dissections on physiology questions. On the followup exam, when asked anatomy questions, students in the plastic model group scored higher than dissection students and virtual dissection students. On attitude surveys, organ dissections had higher perceived value and were requested for inclusion in curricula twice as often as any other activity. Students who performed organ dissections were more likely than the other treatment groups to agree with the statement that "science is fun," suggesting that organ dissections may promote positive attitudes toward science. The findings of this study provide evidence for the importance of multiple types of hands-on activities in anatomy laboratory courses.

Impact of Pre-Pharmacy Work Experience on Development of Professional Identity in Student Pharmacists.

PubMed

Bloom, Timothy J; Smith, Jennifer D; Rich, Wesley

2017-12-01

Objective. To determine the benefit of pharmacy work experience on the development of student pharmacists' professional identity. Methods. Students in all four professional years were surveyed using a validated Professional Self-identity Questionnaire (PSIQ). They were also asked about pharmacy experience prior to matriculation and their performance on Drug Information tests given midway through the P1 year and at the beginning of the P3 year. PSIQ responses and test results were compared based on pharmacy experience. Results. The PSIQ was completed by 293 student pharmacists, for a 67% response rate, with 76% of respondents reporting pharmacy experience prior to matriculation. Statistically higher scores on responses to 6 of the 9 PSIQ Likert-type items were observed from students in the first professional year for those with pharmacy experience; however, only one item in the second year showed differences with none in the third and fourth years. No impact of experience was observed on Top 100 or Top 300 grades. Conclusion. Pre-matriculation pharmacy experience may increase development of professional identity early in the student experience but may have little impact on academic readiness. Schools and colleges of pharmacy hoping to recruit students with an early sense of professional identity should consider adding such experience to their admissions requirements.

Introducing computational thinking through hands-on projects using R with applications to calculus, probability and data analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benakli, Nadia; Kostadinov, Boyan; Satyanarayana, Ashwin; Singh, Satyanand

2017-04-01

The goal of this paper is to promote computational thinking among mathematics, engineering, science and technology students, through hands-on computer experiments. These activities have the potential to empower students to learn, create and invent with technology, and they engage computational thinking through simulations, visualizations and data analysis. We present nine computer experiments and suggest a few more, with applications to calculus, probability and data analysis, which engage computational thinking through simulations, visualizations and data analysis. We are using the free (open-source) statistical programming language R. Our goal is to give a taste of what R offers rather than to present a comprehensive tutorial on the R language. In our experience, these kinds of interactive computer activities can be easily integrated into a smart classroom. Furthermore, these activities do tend to keep students motivated and actively engaged in the process of learning, problem solving and developing a better intuition for understanding complex mathematical concepts.

Hands-On Nuclear Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whittaker, Jeff

2013-01-01

Nuclear science is an important topic in terms of its application to power generation, medical diagnostics and treatment, and national defense. Unfortunately, the subatomic domain is far removed from daily experience, and few learning aids are available to teachers. What follows describes a low-tech, hands-on method to teach important concepts in…

The Role of Student Support Services in Encouraging Student Involvement and Its Impact on Student Perceptions and Academic Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelley-Hall, Caren

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of Student Support Services (SSS) in encouraging student involvement and its impact on student perceptions and academic experiences in three technical colleges in upstate South Carolina. By examining Alexander Astin's theory of student involvement in the services provided by the program, a better…

Effects of neoprene wrist/hand splints on handwriting for students with joint hypermobility syndrome: a single system design study.

PubMed

Frohlich, Lauren; Wesley, Alison; Wallen, Margaret; Bundy, Anita

2012-08-01

Pain associated with hypermobility of wrist and hand joints can contribute to decreased handwriting output. This study examined the effectiveness of a neoprene wrist/hand splint in reducing pain and increasing handwriting speed and endurance for students with joint hypermobility syndrome. Multiple baseline, single system design (SSD) methodology was used. Four ninth grade students with handwriting difficulties because of joint hypermobility syndrome participated in this study. Visual and statistical (two standard deviation band method) analyses indicated a significant decrease in handwriting speed when using the splint for three out of four participants. No significant change in pain or endurance was noted during intervention. There was a significant decrease in pain following withdrawal of the splint for three participants. Evidence from this study does not support use of this particular splint for decreasing pain and increasing handwriting speed and endurance for ninth grade students with joint hypermobility syndrome.

Initial experience in setting up a medical student first responder scheme in South Central England.

PubMed

Seligman, William H; Ganatra, Sameer; England, David; Black, John J M

2016-02-01

Prehospital emergency medicine (PHEM) is a recently recognised subspecialty of emergency medicine, and anaesthetics, intensive care and acute medicine, in the UK, and yet it receives little to no mention in many undergraduate medical curricula. However, there is growing interest in PHEM among medical students and junior doctors. Several programmes are in existence across the UK that serve to provide teaching and exposure of prehospital care to medical students and junior doctors. However, relatively few students are able to gain significant first-hand experience of treating patients in the prehospital phase. In this short report, we discuss our experience of launching the student first responder (SFR) scheme across three counties in the Thames Valley. Medical students are trained by the regional ambulance service and respond to life-threatening medical emergencies in an ambulance response vehicle. The scheme is likely to benefit the ambulance service by providing a wider pool of trained volunteer first responders able to attend to emergency calls, to benefit patients by providing a quick response at their time of need, and to benefit medical students by providing first-hand experience of medical emergencies in the community. In its first 15 months of operation, SFRs were dispatched to 343 incidents. This scheme can serve as a training model for other ambulance services and medical schools across the UK. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Hands-on optics: an informal science education initiative

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Anthony M.; Pompea, Stephen M.; Arthurs, Eugene G.; Walker, Constance E.; Sparks, Robert T.

2007-09-01

The project is collaboration between two scientific societies, the Optical Society of America (OSA) and SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). The program is designed to bring science education enrichment to thousands of underrepresented middle school students in more than ten states, including female and minority students, who typically have not been the beneficiaries of science and engineering resources and investments. HOO provides each teacher with up to six activity modules, each containing enough materials for up to 30 students to participate in 6-8 hours of hands-on optics-related activities. Sample activities, developed by education specialists at NOAO, include building kaleidoscopes and telescopes, communicating with a beam of light, and a hit-the-target laser beam challenge. Teachers engage in two days of training and, where possible, are partnered with a local optics professional (drawn from the local rosters of SPIE and OSA members) who volunteers to spend time with the teacher and students as they explore the module activities. Through these activities, students gain experience and understanding of optics principles, as well as learning the basics of inquiry, critical thinking, and problem solving skills involving optics, and how optics interfaces with other disciplines. While the modules were designed for use in informal after- school or weekend sessions, the number of venues has expanded to large and small science centers, Boys and Girls Clubs, Girl Scouts, summer camps, family workshops, and use in the classroom.

Establishing CAD/CAM in Preclinical Dental Education: Evaluation of a Hands-On Module.

PubMed

Schwindling, Franz Sebastian; Deisenhofer, Ulrich Karl; Porsche, Monika; Rammelsberg, Peter; Kappel, Stefanie; Stober, Thomas

2015-10-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate a hands-on computer-assisted design/computer-assisted manufacture (CAD/CAM) module in a preclinical dental course in restorative dentistry. A controlled trial was conducted by dividing a class of 56 third-year dental students in Germany into study and control groups; allocation to the two groups depended on student schedules. Prior information about CAD/CAM-based restorations was provided for all students by means of lectures, preparation exercises, and production of gypsum casts of prepared resin teeth. The study group (32 students) then participated in a hands-on CAD/CAM module in small groups, digitizing their casts and designing zirconia frameworks for single crowns. The digitization process was introduced to the control group (24 students) solely by means of a video-supported lecture. To assess the knowledge gained, a 20-question written examination was administered; 48 students took the exam. The results were analyzed with Student's t-tests at a significance level of 0.05. The results on the examination showed a significant difference between the two groups: the mean scores were 16.8 (SD 1.7, range 13-19) for the study group and 12.5 (SD 3, range 4-18) for the control group. After the control group had also experienced the hands-on module, a total of 48 students from both groups completed a questionnaire with 13 rating-scale and three open-ended questions evaluating the module. Those results showed that the module was highly regarded by the students. This study supports the idea that small-group hands-on courses are helpful for instruction in digital restoration design. These students' knowledge gained and satisfaction seemed to justify the time, effort, and equipment needed.

Middle school students' experiences on a science museum field trip as Preparation for Future Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watson, William A.

Exhibits in informal science institutions, like science centers and museums, are often designed to help people learn, but research showing the immediate impact of experiences with exhibits on understanding is limited. This dissertation tested the hypothesis that the value of first-hand experience with an exhibit is not necessarily in its immediate impact on understanding the topic it addresses, but rather in providing the foundation for understanding in the future. The study was guided by the Preparation for Future Learning (PFL) framework (Bransford & Schwartz, 1999), which was applied to a sixth grade class field trip to a science museum (N = 243). A goal of the field trip was to learn about mechanical advantage by engaging with a Giant Lever exhibit. The PFL framework predicted that students who noticed differences in contrasting cases of mechanical advantage at the exhibit and then attempted to explain the reason for the differences would learn better from an expert explanation heard later in school than their peers who engaged with the exhibit in different ways. A quasi-experimental 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design allowed the effects of three independent variables to be examined: first, kinesthetic vs. observation activity as the mechanism to notice the contrast; second, attempting to explain differences vs. not making the attempt; third, hearing an expert explanation in school vs. not hearing it. The dependent variable was conceptual understanding. Results indicated, unexpectedly, that kinesthetic experience and observation of peers were equally effective in helping students to notice differences in mechanical advantage among several lever configurations. As expected, producing a response to explain the differences predicted understanding only for students who subsequently heard the expert explanation at school the following day. Likewise, hearing the explanation only predicted understanding for students who had attempted to explain the phenomenon beforehand. The

Hand Washing

MedlinePlus

... study, only 58% of female and 48% of male middle- and high-school students washed their hands after using the bathroom. Yuck! How to Wash Your Hands Correctly There's a right way to wash your hands. Follow these simple ...

Effect of hand sanitizer use on elementary school absenteeism.

PubMed

Hammond, B; Ali, Y; Fendler, E; Dolan, M; Donovan, S

2000-10-01

Several studies have indicated a connection between handwashing and illness-related absenteeism in school settings. The difficulty of ensuring consistent and effective handwashing among student populations has also been noted. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the use of an alcohol gel hand sanitizer in the classroom to help decrease the illness-related absentee rate for elementary school students. This study involved 5 individual school districts, 16 individual schools, and more than 6000 students in Delaware, Ohio, Tennessee, and California. Individual schools in each district were paired into product and control groups. In the product group schools, an alcohol gel hand sanitizer was used by the students and staff when entering and leaving the classroom. Absenteeism due to infection was recorded, and the data were statistically analyzed. The overall reduction in absenteeism due to infection in the schools included in this study was 19.8% for schools that used an alcohol gel hand sanitizer compared with the control schools (P <.05). Data from the school system with the largest teacher population (n = 246) showed that teacher absenteeism decreased 10.1% (trend) in the schools where sanitizer was used. Elementary school absenteeism due to infection is significantly reduced when an alcohol gel hand sanitizer is used in the classroom as part of a hand hygiene program.

Hands-On Classroom Photolithography Laboratory Module to Explore Nanotechnology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stelick, Scott J.; Alger, William H.; Laufer, Jesse S.; Waldron, Anna M.; Batt, Carl A.

2005-01-01

Nanotechnology is an area of significant interest and can be used as a motivator for students in subject areas including physics, chemistry, and life sciences. A 5X reducer system and associated lesson plan was used to provide students a hands-on exposure to the basic principles of photolithography and microscale circuit fabrication.

Positive Affect Relevant to Epistemic Curiosity to Reflect Continuance Intention to Join a Hands-On Making Contest

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hong, Jon-Chao; Hwang, Ming-Yueh; Szeto, Elson; Tai, Kai-Hsin; Tsai, Chi-Ruei

2016-01-01

Hands-on making (e.g., "Maker") has become prevalent in current educational settings. To understand the role that students' epistemic curiosity plays in hands-on making contests, this study explored its correlation to students' positive affect and continuance intention to participate in a hands-on making contest called…

The Student Experience.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haselgrove, Susanne, Ed.

This collection of papers discusses the experience of students in the United Kingdom's new, mass higher education system. The papers are viewed as dispatches from the "front line" rather than conventional analyses by education researchers. The organization of the papers mirrors the stages of students' experience of higher…

Where are my hands? Influence of limb posture on tactile extinction.

PubMed

Auclair, Laurent; Barra, Julien; Raibaut, Patrick

2012-05-01

Tactile localization on the skin involves both a somatotopic and a postural schema (body-schema) representation. The present study determines the extent to which body posture influences tactile perception in right-brain-damaged patients. In a first set of experiments, patients were asked to detect single tactile stimulation delivered to their left or right hands or to both hands simultaneously (double stimulation) in different arm postures. Only patients who had no difficulty localizing single and double tactile stimulations when their hands were placed in anatomic position were tested. Participant's hands were crossed, one over the other, and the tactile stimuli were delivered either to the hand (beyond the crossing point, Experiment 1) or to the forearm (before the crossing point, Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, the left hand was placed in the right hemispace and the right hand in the left hemispace without crossing over (opposite condition). In a second set of experiments, patients were asked to detect stimulation delivered to the forefinger. The fingers were crossed, one over the other at the level of the middle phalanx, and stimuli were delivered either beyond or before the crossing point. In all experimental conditions, control participants performed at ceiling. We observed a left-hand tactile extinction on double stimulation in the crossed condition. These results suggest that tactile stimuli can be encoded based on multiple specific body-part representations rather than on an integrated body-schema representation.

Investigating the Impacts of Previous and Current Learning Experiences on Student Teachers' Teaching Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ögeyik, Muhlise Cosgun

2016-01-01

This study investigated the impacts of the previous and current learning experiences of the student teachers on their microteaching practices. The study pursued threefold research goals: to diagnose the microteaching stance, to treat it, and to explore and evaluate the progress. The participants were 24 undergraduate third year student teachers…

Grasp with hand and mouth: a kinematic study on healthy subjects.

PubMed

Gentilucci, M; Benuzzi, F; Gangitano, M; Grimaldi, S

2001-10-01

Neurons involved in grasp preparation with hand and mouth were previously recorded in the premotor cortex of monkey. The aim of the present kinematic study was to determine whether a unique planning underlies the act of grasping with hand and mouth in humans as well. In a set of four experiments, healthy subjects reached and grasped with the hand an object of different size while opening the mouth (experiments 1 and 3), or extending the other forearm (experiment 4), or the fingers of the other hand (experiment 5). In a subsequent set of three experiments, subjects grasped an object of different size with the mouth, while opening the fingers of the right hand (experiments 6-8). The initial kinematics of mouth and finger opening, but not of forearm extension, was affected by the size of the grasped object congruently with the size effect on initial grasp kinematics. This effect was due neither to visual presentation of the object, without the successive grasp motor act (experiment 2) nor to synchronism between finger and mouth opening (experiments 3, 7, and 8). In experiment 9 subjects grasped with the right hand an object of different size while pronouncing a syllable printed on the target. Mouth opening and sound production were affected by the grasped object size. The results of the present study are discussed according to the notion that in an action each motor act is prepared before the beginning of the motor sequence. Double grasp preparation can be used for successive motor acts on the same object as, for example, grasping food with the hand and ingesting it after bringing it to the mouth. We speculate that the circuits involved in double grasp preparation might have been the neural substrate where hand motor patterns used as primitive communication signs were transferred to mouth articulation system. This is in accordance with the hypothesis that Broca's area derives phylogenetically from the monkey premotor area where hand movements are controlled.

Classroom Social Dynamics Management: Why the Invisible Hand of the Teacher Matters for Special Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farmer, Thomas W.; Dawes, Molly; Hamm, Jill V.; Lee, David; Mehtaji, Meera; Hoffman, Abigail S.; Brooks, Debbie S.

2018-01-01

The "invisible hand" is a metaphor that refers to teachers' impact on the classroom peer ecology. Although teachers have the capacity to organize the classroom environment and activities in ways that contribute to students' social experiences, their contributions are often overlooked in research on students' peer relations and the…

Storying the Student Teaching Experience: Trying on Teaching Personae

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Janine S.

2013-01-01

This article uses a narrative analysis approach to explore the stories of student teachers' experiences developing a teaching persona during student teaching. In keeping with the narrative format, the researcher presents the participants' stories in a first-person narrative. The participants had similar experiences in the realm of developing their…

Bringing Hands-on Activities and Real Scientists to Students: Bishop Museum's X-treme Science Exhibit, Holoholo Science Program, and Planned Science Learning Center

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hills, D. J.; Fullerton, K.; Hoddick, C.; Ali, N.; Mosher, M. K.

2002-12-01

Bishop Museum developed the "X-treme Science: Exploring Oceans, Volcanoes, and Outer Space" museum exhibit in conjunction with NASA as part of their goal to increase educational outreach. A key element of the exhibit was the inclusion of real scientists describing what they do, and fostering the interaction between scientists and students. Highlights of the exhibit were interviews with local (Hawaii-based) scientists involved in current ocean, volcano, and space research. These interviews were based on questions that students provided, and were available during the exhibit at interactive kiosks. Lesson plans were developed by local teachers and scientists, and provided online to enhance the exhibit. However, one limitation of the museum exhibit was that not all students in the state could visit, or spend enough time with it. To serve more remote schools, and to provide for additional enrichment for those who did attend, the education department at Bishop Museum developed a traveling program with the X-treme Science exhibit as the basis. The Holoholo (Hawaiian for "fun outing") Science program brings a scientist into the classroom with a hands-on scientific inquiry activity. The activity is usually a simplified version of a problem that the scientist actually deals with. The students explore the activity, reach conclusions, and discuss their results. They are then given the opportunity to question the scientist about the activity and about what the scientist does. This allows students to understand that science is not something mystical, but rather something attainable. A key element of Holoholo remains the active participation of real-life scientists in the experience. The scientists who have participated in the program have had overwhelmingly positive experiences. Bishop Museum is developing a science learning center, with the objective of meeting local and national science standards using inquiry based science. The unifying theme of all three of these projects is

Progress update on a 2015 USIP interdisciplinary undergraduate student microgravity experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dove, A.; Colwell, J. E.; Brisset, J.; Kirstein, J.; Brightwell, K.; Hayden, R.; Jorges, J.; Schwartzberg, D.; Strange, J.; Yates, A.

2016-12-01

Our team was selected by the 2016 USIP program to build, fly, and analyze the results from a granular dynamics experiment that will fly in 2017 on a suborbital flight. The experiment will be designed to test technology and enable science relevant to low-gravity planetary objects, such as asteroids, comets, and small moons. Following on the success of previous NASA Flight Opportunities Program (FOP) and Undergraduate Student Instrumentation Project (USIP) projects, however, the primary driver of the project is to enable undergraduate student participation in the entire lifetime of a science and technology development project. Our mentoring team consists of faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students, who have experience with the past USIP program and similar projects, as well as with mentoring undergraduate students. The undergraduate team includes a diversity of major disciplines, including physics, mechanical/aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, business (accounting), and marketing. Each team member has specific project tasks, as outlined in the proposal, and all members will also help develop and participate in outreach events. In additional to their project roles, students will also be responsible for presentations and milestones, such as design reviews. Through these reviews and the outreach events, all team members have the chance to develop their technical and non-technical communication skills. Previous experience with the NASA USIP program demonstrated that students achieve significant growth through these projects -gaining a better understanding of the entire lifecycle of a project, and, likely more importantly, how to work with a diverse team. In this talk, we will discuss the status of the project, and present student impressions and thoughts on the project thus far.

Endodontic shaping performance using nickel-titanium hand and motor ProTaper systems by novice dental students.

PubMed

Tu, Ming-Gene; Chen, San-Yue; Huang, Heng-Li; Tsai, Chi-Cheng

2008-05-01

Preparing a continuous tapering conical shape and maintaining the original shape of a canal are obligatory in root canal preparation. The purpose of this study was to compare the shaping performance in simulated curved canal resin blocks of the same novice dental students using hand-prepared and engine-driven nickel-titanium (NiTi) rotary ProTaper instruments in an endodontic laboratory class. Twenty-three fourth-year dental students attending China Medical University Dental School prepared 46 simulated curved canals in resin blocks with two types of NiTi rotary systems: hand and motor ProTaper files. Composite images were prepared for estimation. Material removed, canal width and canal deviation were measured at five levels in the apical 4 mm of the simulated curved canals using AutoCAD 2004 software. Data were analyzed using Wilcoxon's rank-sum test. The hand ProTaper group cut significantly wider than the motor rotary ProTaper group in the outer wall, except for the apical 0 mm point. The total canal width was cut significantly larger in the hand group than in the motor group. There was no significant difference between the two groups in centering canal shape, except at the 3 mm level. These findings show that the novice students prepared the simulated curved canal that deviated more outwardly from apical 1 mm to 4 mm using the hand ProTaper. The ability to maintain the original curvature was better in the motor rotary ProTaper group than in the hand ProTaper group. Undergraduate students, if following the preparation sequence carefully, could successfully perform canal shaping by motor ProTaper files and achieve better root canal geometry than by using hand ProTaper files within the same teaching and practicing sessions.

Mentoring Experiences of Latina Graduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

García, Irán O.; Henderson, Sheila J.

2015-01-01

In order to contribute to knowledge on the Latina graduate students' experiences and the role of mentoring relationships in their pursuit of higher education, the purpose of this qualitative study was to interview Latina doctoral students about their lived experience. Four Latina graduate students at a graduate university in San Francisco,…

Teaching genetics using hands-on models, problem solving, and inquiry-based methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoppe, Stephanie Ann

Teaching genetics can be challenging because of the difficulty of the content and misconceptions students might hold. This thesis focused on using hands-on model activities, problem solving, and inquiry-based teaching/learning methods in order to increase student understanding in an introductory biology class in the area of genetics. Various activities using these three methods were implemented into the classes to address any misconceptions and increase student learning of the difficult concepts. The activities that were implemented were shown to be successful based on pre-post assessment score comparison. The students were assessed on the subjects of inheritance patterns, meiosis, and protein synthesis and demonstrated growth in all of the areas. It was found that hands-on models, problem solving, and inquiry-based activities were more successful in learning concepts in genetics and the students were more engaged than tradition styles of lecture.

The student perspective of high school laboratory experiences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lambert, R. Mitch

High school science laboratory experiences are an accepted teaching practice across the nation despite a lack of research evidence to support them. The purpose of this study was to examine the perspective of students---stakeholders often ignored---on these experiences. Insight into the students' perspective was explored progressively using a grounded theory methodology. Field observations of science classrooms led to an open-ended survey of high school science students, garnering 665 responses. Twelve student interviews then focused on the data and questions evolving from the survey. The student perspective on laboratory experiences revealed varied information based on individual experience. Concurrent analysis of the data revealed that although most students like (348/665) or sometimes like (270/665) these experiences, some consistent factors yielded negative experiences and prompted suggestions for improvement. The category of responses that emerged as the core idea focused on student understanding of the experience. Students desire to understand the why do, the how to, and the what it means of laboratory experiences. Lacking any one of these, the experience loses educational value for them. This single recurring theme crossed the boundaries of age, level in school, gender, and even the student view of lab experiences as positive or negative. This study suggests reflection on the current laboratory activities in which science teachers engage their students. Is the activity appropriate (as opposed to being merely a favorite), does it encourage learning, does it fit, does it operate at the appropriate level of inquiry, and finally what can science teachers do to integrate these activities into the classroom curriculum more effectively? Simply stated, what can teachers do so that students understand what to do, what's the point, and how that point fits into what they are learning outside the laboratory?

The Impact of Student Experiences with Diversity on Developing Graduate Attributes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Denson, Nida; Zhang, Shirley

2010-01-01

While the emerging body of international research suggests that students' experiences with diversity impact positively on student learning and their preparation for entering a diverse workforce and society, no similar research is available in relation to students in Australian universities. Many of these outcomes, such as problem-solving, ability…

Impact of supervised student optometry consultations on the patient experience.

PubMed

Bentley, Sharon A; Trevaskis, Jane E; Woods, Craig A; Guest, Daryl; Watt, Kathleen G

2018-03-01

Understanding patient perceptions of having students involved in their clinical care is important as we strive to develop optimal models of care that integrate teaching with the best possible experience for the patient. The aim was to ascertain the impact of supervised optometry student consultations on the patient experience. A survey comprising 45 questions was mailed to consecutive adult patients who had undergone a comprehensive eye examination at the Australian College of Optometry over a four-week period. Responses were received from 193 patients who had a student involved in their care (44 per cent response rate; 156 completed correctly) and 177 who did not have a student involved (32 per cent response rate; 105 completed correctly). There was no significant difference in overall patient satisfaction between the teaching and non-teaching clinics (p = 0.18). Over 87 per cent of patients in the teaching clinic felt completely comfortable with a student examining them, 44 per cent felt their care was better because a student was involved and 97 per cent rated the overall performance of the student as very good or good. Although 12 per cent would rather have seen only the optometrist and three per cent would not be happy to have a student involved in their eye care again, 100 per cent believed it is important for students to work with patients. The most common reason for student acceptance was the importance of students needing opportunities to learn. The main reasons for unwillingness to have a student involved in future were the additional time taken and prolonged testing. The findings of this study suggest that most patients view supervised student involvement in their optometric care as an important and highly positive experience. However, efforts should be made to avoid excessively long consultations and prolonged testing. Concerns about patient satisfaction and acceptance are largely unwarranted and should not prevent optometry students being involved in

Teaching DNA Fingerprinting using a Hands-on Simulation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schug, Thatcher

1998-01-01

Presents an inexpensive hands-on lesson in DNA fingerprinting that can be completed in a single class period. Involves students in solving a murder in which a drop of blood is fingerprinted and matched with the blood of the murderer. (DDR)

Astronaut James D. van Hoften examines student experiment on Challenger

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1984-01-01

Astronaut James D. van Hoften, 41-C mission specialist, holds an aluminum box full of honeybees. The experiment in earth orbit is duplicated with another colony of the bees on earth. This is an experiment submitted by student researchers.

Titeres. (Puppets.) Hand Puppets for Children (Based on Spanish Games & Characters).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arroyo, Nancy; And Others

The guide consists of patterns for making ten hand puppets based on Spanish games and characters. These hand puppets can be used by the teacher or student. They can be made of felt or construction paper. These hand puppets can teach a simple song and game or become a means of introducing many things. The patterns are for the characters of Cri Cri,…

Student Views on Assessment Activities: Perspectives from Their Experience on an Undergraduate Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Healy, Margaret; McCutcheon, Maeve; Doran, John

2014-01-01

Research on assessment activities has considered student responses to specific initiatives, but broader concerns underlying these responses have not been fully explored. Using a survey methodology, this paper explores how students view assessment activities, from the perspective of their experience on a four-year undergraduate programme,…

Occupation-based intervention in hand injury rehabilitation: Experiences of occupational therapists in Malaysia.

PubMed

Che Daud, Ahmad Zamir; Yau, Matthew K; Barnett, Fiona; Judd, Jenni

2016-01-01

In a previous study consensus was sought from Malaysian occupational therapists of occupation-based intervention (OBI) that was perceived as a means and an end. Occupation as a means refers to occupational and purposeful tasks as a therapeutic agent while occupation as an end refers to occupation as an outcome of intervention. The purpose of this follow-up study was to describe the occupational therapists' experiences of providing OBI in hand injury rehabilitation in Malaysia. Sixteen occupational therapists with more than five years of experience in hand rehabilitation were individually interviewed on their experiences of using OBI in practice. Data were thematically analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Definition of "Occupation as a means", and "Occupation as an end" was broadened after data analysis of interviews to include two new themes: "Rewarding yet challenging" and "Making OBI a reality". Occupational therapists had positive experiences with OBI and perceived that occupation as a means and an end can be merged into a single therapy session when the occupational therapists use an occupation that is therapeutic. Although occupation as a means and as an end have different purposes, when the ultimate goal is to enhance the clients' maximum level of functioning both can be used for successful rehabilitation of hand injuries.

Adherence to hand hygiene protocol by clinicians and medical students at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre-Malawi.

PubMed

Kalata, N L; Kamange, L; Muula, A S

2013-06-01

While communicable diseases are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Malawi, the contribution of nosocomial or hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) is unknown but could be substantial. The single most important method of preventing nosocomial infections is hand hygiene. We report a study which was conducted in 2011 to investigate adherence to hand hygiene protocols by clinicians and medical students working at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi. There were two parts to the study: a single blinded arm in which participants were observed without their knowledge by trained nurses; and a second arm which included self-completion of questionnaire after participant consent was obtained. The 2009 World Health Organization hand hygiene technique and recommendations which were adopted by Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital were used to define an opportunity for hand washing and effectiveness of hand washing. Hand hygiene effectiveness was defined as adherence to at least 6 out of 7 steps (80%) of the hand hygiene technique when using alcohol-based formulation or at least 8 out of 10 steps (80%) of the hand hygiene technique when using water and soap formulation before and after having direct contact with patients or their immediate surroundings. Clinicians were found to have disinfected their hands more than medical students (p<0.05) but effectiveness was similar and very low between the two groups (p=0.2). No association was also found between having a personal hand sanitizer and hand hygiene practice (p=0.3). Adherence to hand hygiene was found to be 23%. Most of the participants mentioned infection transmission prevention as a reason for disinfecting their hands. Other reasons mentioned included: a routine personal hand hygiene behaviour and discomfort if not washing hands. The top three reasons why they did not disinfect hands were forgetfulness, unavailability of sanitizers and negligence. Adherence to hand hygiene practice was found to be low

The analysis of student’s critical thinking ability on discovery learning by using hand on activity based on the curiosity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sulistiani, E.; Waluya, S. B.; Masrukan

2018-03-01

This study aims to determine (1) the effectiveness of Discovery Learning model by using Hand on Activity toward critical thinking abilities, and (2) to describe students’ critical thinking abilities in Discovery Learning by Hand on Activity based on curiosity. This study is mixed method research with concurrent embedded design. Sample of this study are students of VII A and VII B of SMP Daarul Qur’an Ungaran. While the subject in this study is based on the curiosity of the students groups are classified Epistemic Curiosity (EC) and Perceptual Curiosity (PC). The results showed that the learning of Discovery Learning by using Hand on Activity is effective toward mathematics critical thinking abilities. Students of the EC type are able to complete six indicators of mathematics critical thinking abilities, although there are still two indicators that the result is less than the maximum. While students of PC type have not fully been able to complete the indicator of mathematics critical thinking abilities. They are only strong on indicators formulating questions, while on the other five indicators they are still weak. The critical thinking abilities of EC’s students is better than the critical thinking abilities of the PC’s students.

Bone, Calcium and Spaceflight: A Living Systems Experiment Relating Animals and Plants the Effects of Calcium on Plant Growth and Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reiss-Bubenheim, Debra; Navarro, B. J.; Souza, Kenneth A. (Technical Monitor)

1994-01-01

This educational outreach activity provided students with information about ARC's role in conducting life sciences research in space. Students were introduced to the scientific method while conducting a plant experiment that was correlated to the flight animal experiment. Students made daily observations, collected data and reported on their findings. This classroom experiment providing a hands-on learning opportunity about terrestrial and space biology in which exposed the students to new fields of study for future endeavors.

Interactive Effects of Environmental Experience and Innovative Cognitive Style on Student Creativity in Product Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Chia-Chen

2017-01-01

Environmental experience can enhance the ideas of design students. Thus, this type of experience may interfere with the influence of design students' cognitive style on creativity. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of environmental experience on the relationship between innovative cognitive style and industrial design students'…

Bring the Poles to Your Classroom & Community Through Linked Hands-on Learning & IPY Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turrin, M.; Bell, R. E.; Kastens, K. A.; Pfirman, S. L.

2009-12-01

Two major legacies of the 4th International Polar Year (IPY 2007-9) are a newly galvanized educational community and an immense volume of polar data collected by the global science community. The tremendous new polar datasets represent a unique opportunity to communicate the nature of the changing poles to student and public audiences through this polar savvy educational community if effective approaches to link data and understanding are employed. We have developed a strategy for polar education that leverages the IPY data resources, linked with the polar education hands-on ‘manipulatives’ (materials that students can manipulate in a dynamic manner). This linked approach leverages the fundamental inquiry based learning but recognizes that particularly in the polar sciences the size of the earth, the remoteness of the poles and the scale of its processes make it difficult for students to explore in a hands-on manner. The linking of polar hands-on ‘manipulatives’ with IPY data provides a bridge between the tangible and the global. Alone manipulative activities can be beneficial in their ability to help students visualize a process or behavior, but without a strong link back to the Earth through data or evidence the understanding of the process is not transferred from the classroom model to the full scale Earth. The use of activities or models is beneficial in connecting the learner to the polar process(es), while the IPY data provides a unique opportunity to ground the polar manipulative experiments in real data. This linked strategy emerged from a series of NSF sponsored IPY Polar Fairs at major science museums that reached in excess of 12,000 people. The design of the fairs was that polar scientists developed activities linking low cost hands-on manipulatives to scientific evidence/data that was displayed in posters, images, and video clips. The participating scientists walked the ‘audience’ through the hands-on manipulative, then discussed their

Summer Enrichment Programs to Foster Interest in STEM Education for Students with Blindness or Low Vision

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Supalo, Cary A.; Hill, April A.; Larrick, Carleigh G.

2014-01-01

Hands-on science enrichment experiences can be limited for students with blindness or low vision (BLV). This manuscript describes recent hands-on summer enrichment programs held for BLV students. Also presented are innovative technologies that were developed to provide spoken quantitative feedback for BLV students engaged in hands-on science…

The `Chocolate Experiment' - A Demonstration of Radiation Absorption by Different Colored Surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fung, Dennis

2015-12-01

In the typical "cookbook" experiment comparing the radiation absorption rates of different colored surfaces, students' hands are commonly used as a measurement instrument to demonstrate that dull black and silvery surfaces are good and poor absorbers of radiation, respectively. However, college students are often skeptical about using their bare hands in this experiment because they learned in early science lessons that skin is not a reliable detector of heat transfer. Moreover, when the experiment is conducted in a school laboratory, it is often difficult for students to perceive the slight differences in heat transfer on the dull black and silvery aluminum leaves attached to their hands. Rather than replacing students' bare hands with such sophisticated apparatus as a data logger and temperature probe, I suggest using a simple (and delicious!) low-cost instrument, i.e., chocolate, which simply melts when it receives radiation.

Student Experience of School Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shirazi, Shaista

2017-01-01

This paper presents the findings of a two-phase mixed methods research study that explores the link between experiences of school science of post-16 students and their decisions to take up science for their higher studies. In the first phase, students aged 16-17 (n = 569) reflected on the past five years of their school science experience in a…

[New Approaches for Young Surgeons - Students' Symposium on Minimally Invasive Surgery].

PubMed

Roch, Paul Jonathan; Friedrich, Mirco; Kowalewski, Karl-Friedrich; Schmidt, Mona Wanda; Herrera, Javier De la Garza; Müller, Philip Christoph; Benner, Laura; Romero, Philipp; Müller-Stich, Beat Peter; Nickel, Felix

2017-12-01

Background Physician shortage is particularly striking in surgical specialities. Umbrella organisations are making an effort to recruit medical students. Students' symposia during congresses seem to provide a promising approach to developing motivation and promoting interest. An exemplary students' symposium took place at the three nations meeting for minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Our aim was to evaluate the students' symposium from the students' perspective, in order to give recommendations for the future. Methods Of a total of 60 participants, half (30/60) completed the survey. Using a 5-point Likert scale, students evaluated items on the agenda, increase in interests, personal benefit and likelihood of future participation. Results Sixty percent (18/30) of the participants in the student forum reported enhanced interest in MIC - the largest increase found. For surgery in general and for robotic surgery in particular, an increase was reported by 57% (17/30) of the students. Of all the items on the agenda, laparoscopic hands-on experience was rated best - with a positive rating from 90% (27/30) of the students. Students expressed the wish for improved personal exchange with experts and professionals. Two thirds (40/60) of the students stated that future participation was definite or very likely. Discussion The increase in interest in MIS and surgery in general demonstrated the success of the students' symposium. Hands-on experiences was very popular. Future events should focus on personal exchange between students and experts. This seems necessary to reduce prejudice in the debate on a well-adjusted work-life balance. With a view to physician shortage in surgical specialties, students' symposia are a valuable option that should be firmly established and consistently developed. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

A Handful of Bacteria: A Simple Activity That Engages Students to Think and Write Like a Scientist

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Song, Pengfei

2014-01-01

Non-major students taking science courses to fulfill degree requirements may show low interest in traditional lecture-based classrooms. While professors may try to incorporate hands-on activities to the classroom to foster enthusiasm, the development of a low-cost, low-hazard scienitfic activity that engages students can be challenging. Moreover,…

The effect of inquiry-based, hands-on labs on achievement in middle school science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, Donna Kaye Green

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to measure the difference in science achievement between students who had been taught with an inquiry-based, hands-on pedagogical approach and those who had not. Improving student academic achievement and standardized test scores is the major objective of teachers, parents, school administrators, government entities, and students themselves. One major barrier to this academic success in Georgia, and the entire United States, has been the paucity of success in middle level science classes. Many studies have been conducted to determine the learning approaches that will best enable students to not only acquire a deeper understanding of science concepts, but to equip them to apply that new knowledge in their daily activities. Inquiry-based, hands-on learning involves students participating in activities that reflect methods of scientific investigation. The effective utilization of the inquiry-based learning approach demands inclusion of learners in a self-directed learning environment, the ability to think critically, and an understanding of how to reflect and reason scientifically. The treatment group using an inquiry-based, hands-on program did score slightly higher on the CRCT. However, the results revealed that there was not a significant difference in student achievement. This study showed that the traditionally instructed control group had slightly higher interest in science than the inquiry-based treatment group. The findings of this research study indicated that the NCLB mandates might need to be altered if there are no significant academic gains that result from the use of inquiry-based strategies.

European Hands-on Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doran, Rosa; Ferlet, Roger; Gómez de Castro, Ana I.; Hill, Robert; Horellou, Cathy; Mankiewicz, Lech; Melchior, Anne-Laure; Metaxa, Margarita; Zanazzi, Alessandra

2007-08-01

Hands-on Universe is a project born at UC@Berkeley. A project devoted to enrich the teaching of Astronomy within the classroom environment with a different approach, more connected to the new technologies. Its main goals are not only to promote the use of such technologies but also to reawaken on students the taste for STEM (Science, technologies, engineering and math) related issues and also to increase their scientific culture. Eight countries in Europe decided to adopt the method and, funded by MINERVA, formed the European Hands-on Universe. Several resources were produced and a data reduction software developed http://www.euhou.net/.Other European countries are interested and should join this coordinated effort in the near future. At an international level there are 20 countries using this approach. There are plans to develop scientific cooperation among these countries. Pilot scientific research projects in schools are being tested in EU-HOU schools, Russia and USA. There is also a game being developed to be used as a new tool for teaching scientific content in the classroom environment. An effort to develop an international network of scientific / educational collaboration is the next step.

[Study on an Exoskeleton Hand Function Training Device].

PubMed

Hu, Xin; Zhang, Ying; Li, Jicai; Yi, Jinhua; Yu, Hongliu; He, Rongrong

2016-02-01

Based on the structure and motion bionic principle of the normal adult fingers, biological characteristics of human hands were analyzed, and a wearable exoskeleton hand function training device for the rehabilitation of stroke patients or patients with hand trauma was designed. This device includes the exoskeleton mechanical structure and the electromyography (EMG) control system. With adjustable mechanism, the device was capable to fit different finger lengths, and by capturing the EMG of the users' contralateral limb, the motion state of the exoskeleton hand was controlled. Then driven by the device, the user's fingers conducting adduction/abduction rehabilitation training was carried out. Finally, the mechanical properties and training effect of the exoskeleton hand were verified through mechanism simulation and the experiments on the experimental prototype of the wearable exoskeleton hand function training device.

On the Margins: A Study of the Experiences of Transgender College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKinney, Jeffrey S.

2005-01-01

Transgender students are becoming more visible on college campuses. This qualitative study examines the experiences of undergraduate and graduate students who self-identify as transgender. Most of the participants reported that a hostile climate for transgender students exists on their campuses and that their colleges lack resources and education…

Impact of body posture on laterality judgement and explicit recognition tasks performed on self and others' hands.

PubMed

Conson, Massimiliano; Errico, Domenico; Mazzarella, Elisabetta; De Bellis, Francesco; Grossi, Dario; Trojano, Luigi

2015-04-01

Judgments on laterality of hand stimuli are faster and more accurate when dealing with one's own than others' hand, i.e. the self-advantage. This advantage seems to be related to activation of a sensorimotor mechanism while implicitly processing one's own hands, but not during explicit one's own hand recognition. Here, we specifically tested the influence of proprioceptive information on the self-hand advantage by manipulating participants' body posture during self and others' hand processing. In Experiment 1, right-handed healthy participants judged laterality of either self or others' hands, whereas in Experiment 2, an explicit recognition of one's own hands was required. In both experiments, the participants performed the task while holding their left or right arm flexed with their hand in direct contact with their chest ("flexed self-touch posture") or with their hand placed on a wooden smooth surface in correspondence with their chest ("flexed proprioceptive-only posture"). In an "extended control posture", both arms were extended and in contact with thighs. In Experiment 1 (hand laterality judgment), we confirmed the self-advantage and demonstrated that it was enhanced when the subjects judged left-hand stimuli at 270° orientation while keeping their left arm in the flexed proprioceptive-only posture. In Experiment 2 (explicit self-hand recognition), instead, we found an advantage for others' hand ("self-disadvantage") independently from posture manipulation. Thus, position-related proprioceptive information from left non-dominant arm can enhance sensorimotor one's own body representation selectively favouring implicit self-hands processing.

Student's experiment to fly on third Shuttle mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

A spaceborne student experiment on insect motion during weightlessness scheduled to fly on the third flight of the space shuttle is described. The experiment will focus on the flight behavior in zero gravity of two species of flying insects with differing ratios of body mass to wing area, the velvetbean caterpillar moth and the honeybee drone. Ten insects of each species will be carried in separate canisters. The crew will remove the canisters from the storage locker and attach them to the mid-deck wall, where the insects will be observed and filmed by a data acquisition camera.

Using Experiential Learning Through Science Experiments to Increase the Motivation of Students Classified as Emotionally Disturbed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crozier, Marisa

When learning is an adventure rather than an exercise in memorization, students can enjoy the process and be motivated to participate in classroom activities (Clem, Mennicke, & Beasley, 2014). Students classified as emotionally disturbed are prone to disruptive behaviors and struggle learning in a traditional science classroom consisting of lecture and demonstrations. They cannot maintain the necessary level of attention nor have the strong reading, writing or memory skills needed to succeed. Therefore, this study examined whether the use of experiential learning would increase on-task behavior and improve the motivation of emotionally disturbed, middle school students in science. Students completed four hands-on experiments aligned with the science curriculum. The data collection methods implemented were an observation checklist with corresponding journal entries, a summative assessment in the form of lab sheets, and student interviews. Through triangulation and analysis, data revealed that the students had more on-task behaviors, were engaged in the lessons, and improved grades in science.

Exploding Balloons, Deformed Balls, Strange Reflections and Breaking Rods: Slow Motion Analysis of Selected Hands-On Experiments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vollmer, Michael; Mollmann, Klaus-Peter

2011-01-01

A selection of hands-on experiments from different fields of physics, which happen too fast for the eye or video cameras to properly observe and analyse the phenomena, is presented. They are recorded and analysed using modern high speed cameras. Two types of cameras were used: the first were rather inexpensive consumer products such as Casio…

Relative effectiveness of dominant versus non-dominant hand position for rescuer's side of approach during chest compressions between right-handed and left-handed novice rescuers.

PubMed

You, Je Sung; Kim, Hoon; Park, Jung Soo; Baek, Kyung Min; Jang, Mun Sun; Lee, Hye Sun; Chung, Sung Phil; Kim, SeungWhan

2015-03-01

The major components affecting high quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) have been defined as the ability of the rescuer, hand position, position of the rescuer and victim, depth and rate of chest compressions, and fatigue. Until now, there have been no studies on dominant versus non-dominant hand position and the rescuer's side of approach. This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of hand position and approach side on the quality of CPR between right-handed (RH) and left-handed (LH) novice rescuers. 44 health science university students with no previous experience of basic life support (BLS) volunteered for the study. We divided volunteers into two groups by handedness. Adult BLS was performed on a manikin for 2 min in each session. The sequences were randomly performed on the manikin's left side of approach (Lap) with the rescuer's left hand in contact with the sternum (Lst), Lap/Rst, Rap/Lst and Rap/Rst. We compared the quality of chest compressions between the RH and LH groups according to predetermined positions. A significant decrease in mean compression depth between the two groups was only observed when rescuers performed in the Rap/Lst scenario, regardless of hand dominance. The frequency of correct hand placement also significantly decreased in the Lap/Rst position for the LH group. The performance of novice rescuers during chest compressions is influenced by the position of the dominant hand and the rescuer's side of approach. In CPR training and real world situations, a novice rescuer, regardless of handedness, should consider hand positions for contacting the sternum identical to the side of approach after approaching from the nearest and most accessible side, for optimal CPR performance. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Considering the Influence of High School Experiences on Students' College Aspirations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trolian, Teniell Leigh

2016-01-01

This study considered whether participation in several out-of-class experiences during high school influenced the odds that a student will aspire to earn at least a Bachelor's degree. Additionally, this study considered whether these experiences, considered together, had a cumulative effect on the odds that a student will aspire to earn at least a…

Research Experience for Undergraduate Students and Its Impact on STEM Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhan, Wei

2014-01-01

Research experience has been proven to be effective in enhancing the overall educational experience for undergraduate students. In this article, two engineering research projects with undergraduate students involvement are discussed. The projects provided the undergraduate student researchers with motivation for independent research work and…

Word Processing with the Elementary School Student--A Teaching and Learning Experience for Both Teachers and Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacoby, Adrienne

Using word processing in the elementary school writing curriculum is advantageous for both students and teachers. Word processors motivate students to spend more time on task, encourage changes and rewriting, and eliminate concern for neatness and the tedium of writing (and rewriting) by hand. Teachers can see that students using the word…

First-Hand Accounts of Sensory Perceptual Experiences in Autism: A Qualitative Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Robert S. P.; Quigney, Ciara; Huws, Jaci C.

2003-01-01

Five first-hand Web page accounts of unusual sensory perceptual experiences written by persons with high-functioning autism were selected for qualitative analysis. Four core categories emerged: turbulent sensory perceptual experiences; coping mechanisms; enjoyable sensory perceptual experiences; and awareness of being different, suggesting they…

International Students' Views on Local Culture: Turkish Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Çetin, Yakup; Bahar, Mustafa; Griffiths, Carol

2017-01-01

The number of international students in Turkey has steadily increased in recent years. As they come from different geographical locations, their successful adaptation to a medium sized country in-between three continents is of great interest. This study was conducted to investigate international students' perceptions of their Turkish experience.…

Use of First-Hand and Second-Hand Data in Science: Does Data Type Influence Classroom Conversations?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hug, Barbara; McNeill, Katherine L.

2008-01-01

In this paper, we examine how students discuss and interpret data and whether these actions vary depending on the type of data they analyse. More specifically, we are interested in whether students perform differently when analysing first-hand data, which they collect themselves, compared with second-hand data provided to them. Our data analysis…

Examining the Use of Adaptive Technologies to Increase the Hands-On Participation of Students with Blindness or Low Vision in Secondary-School Chemistry and Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Supalo, Cary A.; Humphrey, Jennifer R.; Mallouk, Thomas E.; Wohlers, H. David; Carlsen, William S.

2016-01-01

To determine whether a suite of audible adaptive technologies would increase the hands-on participation of high school students with blindness or low vision in chemistry and physics courses, data were examined from a multi-year field study conducted with students in mainstream classrooms at secondary schools across the United States. The students…

The impact of real-time, Internet experiments versus interactive, asynchronous replays of experiments on high school students science concepts and attitudes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kubasko, Dennis S., Jr.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether students' learning experiences were similar or different with an interactive, live connection via the Internet in real-time to an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) versus a stored replay of AFM experiments. Did the two treatments influence students' attitudes towards the learning experience? Are there differences in students' understandings of viruses and science investigations? In addition, this study investigated treatment effects on students' understandings of the nature of science. The present study drew upon the research that examined students' attitudes toward science, students' views of the nature of science, instructional technology in education, and prior research on the nanoManipulator. Specific efforts have been made to address reform efforts in science education throughout the literature review. Eighty-five high school biology students participated in the nanoManipulator experience (44 males, 41 females, 64 Euro-American, 16 African-American, and 5 of other ethnicities). Two high school classes were randomly selected and administered the interactive, real-time treatment. Two different high school classes were randomly selected and administered the limited-interaction, experimental replay treatment. The intervention occurred over a one-week period. Qualitative and quantitative measures were used to examine the differences between two treatment conditions. Experiential, affective, cognitive, and the nature of science domains were assessed. Findings show that the questions and statements made in synchronous time by the live treatment group were significantly different than students' questions and statements in asynchronous communication. Students in the replay treatment made more statements about what they learned or knew about the experience than did students in the live experience. Students in both groups showed significant gains in understanding viruses (particularly viral dimensionality and shape

Does Hands-On Science Practices Make an Impact on Achievement in Science? A Meta-Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caglak, Serdar

2017-01-01

This study aimed to investigate to what extent the use of hands-on science activities influences on students? academic achievement in science. Review of literature revealed several research studies focusing upon such aim and thus, a meta-analysis of these researches was carried out to obtain an overall effect size estimate of hands-on science…

Students' perceptions of their learning experiences: A repeat regional survey of healthcare students.

PubMed

Hamshire, Claire; Barrett, Neil; Langan, Mark; Harris, Edwin; Wibberley, Christopher

2017-02-01

Student experience is an international concern and recent research has focused on initiatives to improve students' learning experiences and ultimately reduce attrition levels. To determine similarities and differences between students' perceptions of their learning experiences between 2011 and 2015 in relation to campus-based learning, placement-based learning and personal circumstances. A repeat online survey in 2011 and 2015; using a questionnaire developed from thematic analysis of narrative interviews with a subsample of the target population. Nine universities in the North West of England. A total of 1080 students completed the survey in 2011 and 1983 students in 2015 from a target population of all students studying on commissioned pre-registration healthcare education programmes. An online survey was made available to all undergraduate students studying on Health Education funded programmes within the region and survey respondents were invited to give demographic information and rate their agreement to statements on four-point Likert-type responses. Responses to a repeat survey of healthcare studying in the North West of England in 2015 were strikingly similar overall to those of an original 2011 survey. Although the students were positive overall about their experiences, a number were dissatisfied with some aspects of their experiences - particularly in relation to initial support on campus and whilst studying on placement. Four years on from the original survey, despite a considerable investment in improving students' experiences across the region, there appears to be little change in students' perceptions of their learning experiences CONCLUSION: In the short-term monitoring of student experience needs to be continued; and links to attrition (potential or actual) noted and acted upon. However, given that attrition from these courses has been a long-term problem and the complexity of its resolution a recurrent finding in the literature; new ways of framing

Nursing students' reflections on the learning experience of a unique mental health clinical placement.

PubMed

Patterson, Christopher; Moxham, Lorna; Brighton, Renee; Taylor, Ellie; Sumskis, Susan; Perlman, Dana; Heffernan, Tim; Hadfield, Louise

2016-11-01

There exists a need for innovative thinking to identify new clinical placement opportunities for nursing students. Recovery-based clinical placements for mental health nurse students remain unique and require investigation. To examine the learning experience of Bachelor of Nursing students who undertook an innovative mental health clinical placement known as Recovery Camp. This study incorporated qualitative analysis of written reflections. Using Braun and Clarke's (2006) six phases of thematic analysis the corpus of student reflections were reviewed by three members of the research team independent to each other. Four themes emerged. The theme of Pre-placement Expectations incorporates participant foci on pre-conceptions of Recovery Camp. The theme of Student Learning incorporates the ways in which participants recognised the experience of Recovery Camp influenced learning. Reflections themed under the title Placement Setting include discussion of the Recovery Camp as a clinical placement. The theme of Future Practice incorporates students' reflections on how they plan to practice as nurses as a result the learning experiences of Recovery Camp. An immersive clinical placement such as Recovery Camp can influence students' perceptions of people with mental illness, have a positive impact on student learning and influence students' decisions about future practice. The learning experience of nursing students whom attend unique, recovery-orientated clinical placements can be both positive and educative. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prefrontal hemodynamic responses and the degree of flow experience among occupational therapy students during their performance of a cognitive task.

PubMed

Hirao, Kazuki

2014-01-01

Although flow experience is positively associated with motivation to learn, the biological basis of flow experience is poorly understood. Accumulation of evidence on the underlying brain mechanisms related to flow is necessary for a deeper understanding of the motivation to learn. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between flow experience and brain function using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) during the performance of a cognitive task. Sixty right-handed occupational therapy (OT) students participated in this study. These students performed a verbal fluency test (VFT) while 2-channel NIRS was used to assess changes in oxygenated hemoglobin concentration (oxygenated hemoglobin [oxy-Hb]) in the prefrontal cortex. Soon after that, the OT students answered the flow questionnaire (FQ) to assess the degree of flow experience during the VFT. Average oxy-Hb in the prefrontal cortex had a significant negative correlation with the satisfaction scores on the FQ. Satisfaction during the flow experience correlated with prefrontal hemodynamic suppression. This finding may assist in understanding motivation to learn and related flow experience.

The Effect of Social Media on University Students' Perceptions of the Beef Industry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howard, Michelle; Stephens, Carrie A.; Stripling, Christopher T.; Brawner, Shelby; Loveday, H. Dwight

2017-01-01

Social media is known for having the ability to rapidly disseminate information and university students now receive the majority of information about agriculture through social media platforms rather than through first-hand experience. In order to understand the impact of social media on university students related to the beef industry, a study of…

A Rasch Analysis on Total Learning Experience of UKM Engineering Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aziz, Azrilah Abdul; Khatimin, Nuraini; Mastor, Khairul Anwar; Zaharim, Azami; Yasin, Siti Hanani Mat

2013-01-01

Learning experience has always been influenced by not only the academic materials presented to students, but also others factors within the surroundings of the students. Assessment is conducted to monitor the students' total learning experience (TLE) throughout their academic tenure-ship at the higher learning institution. UKM has taken the…

National Conference on Student & Scientist Partnerships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barstow, D.

2001-05-01

Science education is turning an exciting corner with the development of a new class of projects called Student and Scientist Partnerships for authentic research. Examples include GLOBE, Hands-On Universe and EarthKAM. These projects engage students as learners and as participants in authentic research.Through such projects scientists acquire new research partners. At the same time, students experience real science, learning up-to-date science content and developing essential investigation skills. To better understand the nature and potential of these partnerships, an invitational conference was held in Washington, D.C.,from October 23-25, 1996. The conference, funded by the National Science Foundation and coordinated by TERC and the Concord Consortium, brought together 60 leaders in science and education who have research backgrounds, practical experience, or a high interest in Student, Scientists & Partnerships. The participants confirmed that this shift from the "student as recipient" to the "student as partner" model can be of real and substantive benefit for both the scientists and the students. The primary and most obvious benefits for the students are the excitement of doing authentic science, a new context for hands-on experiential learning, and the linkage of school learning with the "real world." For the scientists, the primary benefits are the help of student partners who enable the scientists to do research that might not otherwise be possible and the personal rewards of supporting education. Beyond these primary benefits, however, is a secondary and perhaps deeper level of benefits, resulting from the cross-fertilization between these two rich cultures. In each partnership, it helps to recognize and articulate what I call "the three authentics". Authentic Science-The science must be real science. It must contribute new knowledge. The research must be central to the scientists' work, and the student participation must contribute in a meaningful way to

The Influence of Toy Design Activities on Middle School Students' Understanding of the Engineering Design Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Ninger; Pereira, Nielsen L.; George, Tarun Thomas; Alperovich, Jeffrey; Booth, Joran; Chandrasegaran, Senthil; Tew, Jeffrey David; Kulkarni, Devadatta M.; Ramani, Karthik

2017-10-01

The societal demand for inspiring and engaging science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students and preparing our workforce for the emerging creative economy has necessitated developing students' self-efficacy and understanding of engineering design processes from as early as elementary school levels. Hands-on engineering design activities have shown the potential to promote middle school students' self-efficacy and understanding of engineering design processes. However, traditional classrooms often lack hands-on engineering design experiences, leaving students unprepared to solve real-world design problems. In this study, we introduce the framework of a toy design workshop and investigate the influence of the workshop activities on students' understanding of and self-efficacy beliefs in engineering design. Using a mixed method approach, we conducted quantitative analyses to show changes in students' engineering design self-efficacy and qualitative analyses to identify students' understanding of the engineering design processes. Findings show that among the 24 participants, there is a significant increase in students' self-efficacy beliefs after attending the workshop. We also identified major themes such as design goals and prototyping in students' understanding of engineering design processes. This research provides insights into the key elements of middle school students' engineering design learning and the benefits of engaging middle school students in hands-on toy design workshops.

Exploration of Dominican International Students' Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Urban, Ewa L.; Orbe, Mark P.; Tavares, Nayibe A.; Alvarez, Wilfredo

2010-01-01

Research demonstrates that the experience of international students on U.S. university campuses is replete with cultural, social, relational, work-related, and linguistic challenges (e.g., Reynolds & Constantine, 2007). This study explored the experiences of international students from the Dominican Republic as they adjusted to campus life at…

Experiments and hands-on activities for geoscience observing and measuring by using low-priced instruments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, S. S.; Lin, Y. Y.; Tang-Iunn, S. S.

2016-12-01

In this presentation, we will introduce five experiments and hands-on activities for geoscience observing and measuring by using low-priced and small-sized commercial instruments. The Black Box for Environmental Measuring (BBEM) system is based on Arduino platform, low-power consumption sensors are employed to measure meteorological and environmental parameters. Commercial GPS receiver is used to observe the influence of geomagnetic storms on GPS system. Webcam is an accessible instrument which is suitable for detecting and recording sprites, thunders, and the development of cumulonimbus. Real-time flight trackers and websites are employed to determine the altitude of cloud base. A simple VLF receiver is built by using the audio interface on computer, and the observed signals showed the variations of the D-region of the ionosphere. All these experiments and activities are practical and have been applied in classroom and science outreach in Taiwan.

Student Perceptions of a Hands-on Practicum to Supplement an Online eHealth Course

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Since 2000, the Centre for Online Health (COH) at The University of Queensland has offered a range of online eHealth courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. While online learning has a number of advantages, in some domains, it can present some challenges to the development of practical skills and experience. Objective To assess students’ perceptions of the value of an eHealth practicum. Methods To supplement our online learning program, we introduced an eHealth practicum component that aimed to expose students to a range of clinically relevant learning experiences. Subsequently, by means of a questionnaire, student perceptions of the practicum were assessed. Results Over two semesters, a total of 66 students participated in the eHealth practicum, and questionnaire responses were very positive. The majority of students agreed that the practicum allowed them to gain necessary skills in eHealth applications (59%) and provided them with an opportunity to explore ways of using different eHealth tools for the delivery of health care at a distance (62%). Conclusions The study shows that a practical component in eHealth teaching was well received by students. While online teaching is appropriate for providing knowledge, the opportunity to develop practical skills may encourage students to use eHealth techniques in their future practices. PMID:23246840

Grasping with the eyes of your hands: hapsis and vision modulate hand preference.

PubMed

Stone, Kayla D; Gonzalez, Claudia L R

2014-02-01

Right-hand preference has been demonstrated for visually guided reaching and grasping. Grasping, however, requires the integration of both visual and haptic cues. To what extent does vision influence hand preference for grasping? Is there a hand preference for haptically guided grasping? Two experiments were designed to address these questions. In Experiment 1, individuals were tested in a reaching-to-grasp task with vision (sighted condition) and with hapsis (blindfolded condition). Participants were asked to put together 3D models using building blocks scattered on a tabletop. The models were simple, composed of ten blocks of three different shapes. Starting condition (Vision-First or Hapsis-First) was counterbalanced among participants. Right-hand preference was greater in visually guided grasping but only in the Vision-First group. Participants who initially built the models while blindfolded (Hapsis-First group) used their right hand significantly less for the visually guided portion of the task. To investigate whether grasping using hapsis modifies subsequent hand preference, participants received an additional haptic experience in a follow-up experiment. While blindfolded, participants manipulated the blocks in a container for 5 min prior to the task. This additional experience did not affect right-hand use on visually guided grasping but had a robust effect on haptically guided grasping. Together, the results demonstrate first that hand preference for grasping is influenced by both vision and hapsis, and second, they highlight how flexible this preference could be when modulated by hapsis.

"Sharks in Your Hands"--A Case Study on Effects of Teaching Strategies to Change Knowledge and Attitudes towards Sharks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Hung-Shan; Liu, Shiang-Yao; Yeh, Ting-Kuang

2016-01-01

This study was designed to exemplify how hands-on based teaching strategies enhanced students' knowledge and positive attitudes towards sharks. Hands-on activities for sharks' biological and morphological features were carried out. Eleven elementary school students from a remote area in Taiwan were recruited and assigned to the hands-on condition.…

Students' views on the impact of peer physical examination and palpation as a pedagogic tool for teaching and learning living human anatomy.

PubMed

Chinnah, Tudor I; de Bere, Sam Regan; Collett, Tracey

2011-01-01

Modern medical education teaching and learning approaches now lay emphasis on students acquiring knowledge, skills and attitudes relevant to medical practice. To explore students' perceived impacts of using hands-on approaches involving peer/life model physical examination and palpation in teaching and learning living human anatomy on their practice of physical examination of real patients. This study used exploratory focus groups and a questionnaire survey of years 3-5 medical students. The focus group discussions revealed new insights into the positive impacts of the hands-on approaches on students' clinical skills and professional attitudes when dealing with patients. Students' exposure to the hands-on approaches helped them to feel comfortable with therapeutically touching unclothed patients' bodies and physically examining them in the clinical environment. At least 60% of the questionnaire survey respondents agreed with the focus group participants on this view. Over 75% also agreed that the hands-on experiences helped them develop good professional attitudes in their encounter with patients. This study highlights the perceived educational value of the hands-on approaches as a pedagogic tool with a positive impact on students' clinical skills and professional attitudes that helps in easing their transition into clinical practice.

Piezoelectric osteotomy in hand surgery: first experiences with a new technique

PubMed Central

Hoigne, Dominik J; Stübinger, Stefan; Kaenel, Oliver Von; Shamdasani, Sonia; Hasenboehler, Paula

2006-01-01

Background In hand and spinal surgery nerve lesions are feared complications with the use of standard oscillating saws. Oral surgeons have started using a newly developed ultrasound bone scalpel when performing precise osteotomies. By using a frequency of 25–29 kHz only mineralized tissue is cut, sparing the soft tissue. This reduces the risk of nerve lesions. As there is a lack of experience with this technique in the field of orthopaedic bone surgery, we performed the first ultrasound osteotomy in hand surgery. Method While performing a correctional osteotomy of the 5th metacarpal bone we used the Piezosurgery® Device from Mectron [Italy] instead of the usual oscillating saw. We will report on our experience with one case, with a follow up time of one year. Results The cut was highly precise and there were no vibrations of the bone. The time needed for the operation was slightly longer than the time needed while using the usual saw. Bone healing was good and at no point were there any neurovascular disturbances. Conclusion The Piezosurgery® Device is useful for small long bone osteotomies. Using the fine tip enables curved cutting and provides an opportunity for new osteotomy techniques. As the device selectively cuts bone we feel that this device has great potential in the field of hand- and spinal surgery. PMID:16611362

Reflection on observation: A qualitative study using practice development methods to explore the experience of being a hand hygiene auditor in Australia.

PubMed

Jain, Susan; Edgar, Denise; Bothe, Janine; Newman, Helen; Wilson, Annmaree; Bint, Beth; Brown, Megan; Alexander, Suzanne; Harris, Joanna

2015-12-01

Within the Australian public health care system, an observation model is used to assess hand hygiene practice in health care workers, culminating in a publicly available healthcare service performance indicator. The intent of this study was for the results to inform the development of a strategy to support individual auditors and local sustainability of the hand hygiene auditing program. This qualitative study used a values clarification tool to gain an understanding of the experiences of hand hygiene auditors. The methodology involved qualitative interpretation of focus group discussions to identify the enablers and barriers to successful performance of the auditors' role. Twenty-five participants identified congruous themes of the need for peer and managerial support, improved communication and feedback, and consideration for succession planning. There was consistency in the participants' most frequently identified significant barriers in undertaking the role. Hand hygiene auditors take pride in their role and work toward the goal of reducing health care-associated infections by having a part to play in improving hand hygiene practices of all staff members. Important themes, barriers, and enablers were identified in this study. This research will be of interest nationally and globally, considering the dearth of published information on the experience of hand hygiene auditors. This study provides evidence of the need to support individual hand hygiene auditors. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Using Polymer Semiconductors and a 3-in-1 Plastic Electronics STEM Education Kit to Engage Students in Hands-On Polymer Inquiry Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Enlow, Jessica L.; Marin, Dawn M.; Walter, Michael G.

2017-01-01

To improve polymer education for 9-12 and undergraduate students, a plastic electronics laboratory kit using polymer semiconductors has been developed. The three-module kit and curriculum use polymer semiconductors to provide hands-on inquiry activities with overlapping themes of electrical conductivity, light emission, and light-harvesting solar…

Astronaut James D. van Hoften examines student experiment on Challenger

NASA Image and Video Library

1984-04-15

41C-05-188 (12 April 1984) --- Astronaut James D. van Hoften, mission specialist, holds an aluminum box, full of honeybees. The experiment in Earth-orbit is duplicated with another colony of the young honeycomb builders on Earth. Dan Poskevich submitted the experiment to NASA as part of the Shuttle student involvement program.

Extending a Hands-On Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Mestre, Neville

2004-01-01

This paper describes a "hands-on task" called Number Tiles, which is Task 43 in the collection constructed for the Mathematics Task Centre Project, and available at www.blackdouglas.com.au or www.curriculum.edu.au. This task is rich in possibilities and directions. It should be used as a planned curriculum experience at several year levels to…

[Introduction of a Clinical Research Experience Program in Hospital Practical Training for Pharmacy Students and Its Evaluation].

PubMed

Takahashi, Katsuyuki; Suda, Yasuki; Kawaguchi, Hiroshi; Nakamura, Yasutaka; Kawabata, Shiho; Kawakami, Noriko; Nishikawa, Takeshi; Nagayama, Katsuya

2015-01-01

Long-term clinical training based on a model core curriculum was conducted to nurture highly competent pharmacists in the clinical field. Pharmacists' responsibilities are expanding, and a system has been developed to help pharmacists gain accreditation, identify specialties, and improve their training. However, this system requires research competency. Therefore clinical research should be considered a part of clinical training to encourage high competency among pharmacists. Because the model core curriculum does not include a section on clinical research. Osaka City University Hospital introduced a hands-on clinical research experience program and evaluated its usefulness. A significant improvement in the level of knowledge and awareness of clinical research was seen among students who underwent the clinical research experience program. In addition, the level of student satisfaction was higher. These findings suggest that a clinical research experience program may be useful to nurture a greater awareness of clinical research and knowledge acquisition among pharmacists.

Action Research Using Entomological Research to Promote Hands-On Science Inquiry in a High-Poverty, Midwest Urban High School

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stockmann, Dustin

The purpose of this mixed-methods action research study was to examine to what extent entomological research can promote students' hands-on learning in a high-poverty, urban, secondary setting. In reviewing the literature, the researcher was not able to find a specific study that investigated how entomological research could promote the hands-on learning of students. The researcher did find evidence that research on learning in a secondary setting was important to student growth. It should also be noted that support was established for the implementation of hands-on science inquiry in the classroom setting. The study's purpose was to aid educators in their instruction by combining research-based strategies and hands-on science inquiry. The surveys asked 30 students to rate their understanding of three basic ideas. These core ideas were entomological research, hands-on science inquiry, and urban studies. These core ideas provided the foundation for the study. The questionnaires were based on follow-up ideas from the surveys. Two interview sessions were used to facilitate this one-on-one focus. Because the study included only 30 student participants, its findings may not be totally replicable. Further study investigating the links between entomological research and hands-on science learning in an urban environment is needed.