Topical, Yes, but It Dives beneath the Surface

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tyler, Paul

2017-01-01

Topical science is about developing an awareness of science issues in the news and the importance of science stories that affect pupils' lives and the world around them. It is about making science relevant for pupils and engaging them in the subject. The author explores how children can be engaged and inspired through topical science. The idea of…

When Technology, Science and Culture Meet: Insights from Ancient Chinese Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Yeung Chung

2018-01-01

This paper draws together two important agendas in science education. The first is making science education more inclusive such that students from non-Western or indigenous cultures can benefit from culturally relevant curricula. The second is integrating technology into the curriculum under the umbrella of Science-Technology-Society (STS)…

Making Quantitative Genetics Relevant: Effectiveness of a Laboratory Investigation that Links Scientific Research, Commercial Applications, and Legal Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rutledge, Michael L.; Mathis, Philip M.; Seipelt, Rebecca L.

2005-01-01

As students apply their knowledge of scientific concepts and of science as a method of inquiry, learning becomes relevant. This laboratory exercise is designed to foster students' understanding of the genetics of quantitative traits and of the nature of science as a method of inquiry by engaging them in a real-world business scenario. During the…

Exploring Identities to Deepen Understanding of Urban High School Students' Sexual Health Decision-Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brotman, Jennie S.; Mensah, Felicia Moore; Lesko, Nancy

2010-01-01

Sexual health is a controversial science topic that has received little attention in the field of science education, despite its direct relevance to students' lives and communities. Moreover, research from other fields indicates that a great deal remains to be learned about how to make school learning about sexual health influence the real-life…

Empowering Rural Appalachian Youth Through Integrated Inquiry-based Earth Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cartwright, T. J.; Hogsett, M.

2009-05-01

Science education must be relevant and inspiring to keep students engaged and receptive to learning. Reports suggest that science education reform can be advanced by involving students in active research (NSF 1996). Through a 2-year Geoscience Education award from the National Science Foundation, a program called IDGE (Integrated Design for Geoscience Education) has targeted low-income, under-represented, and minority high school students in rural Appalachia in inquiry-based projects, international collaboration, and an international environmental expedition incorporating the GLOBE program protocols. This program targeted Upward Bound students at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. The Upward Bound is a federally-supported program targeting low-income, under-represented, and minority students for inclusion in a summer academic- enrichment program. IDGE builds on the mission of Upward Bound by encouraging underprivileged students to investigate science and scientific careers. This outreach has proven to be successful in enhancing positive attitudes and understanding about science and increasing the number of students considering science careers. IDGE has found that students must be challenged to observe the world around them and to consider how their decisions affect the future of our planet, thus making geoscience relevant and interesting to the students. By making the geoscience course inquiry-based and incorporating field research that is relevant to local environmental issues, it becomes possible for students to bridge the gap between science in theory and science in practice while remaining engaged. Participants were able to broaden environmental connections through an ecological expedition experience to Costa Rica, serving as an opportunity to broaden the vision of students as members of an international community of learners and scientists through their experiences with a diverse natural environment. This trip, in coordination with the inclusion of scientific instruments such as GPS and probeware, fostered additional student interest in earth science. IDGE has shown to have a lasting effect on the participating students who learn from the experience that science is a dynamic field in need of creative minds who want to make discoveries. Through relevant inquiry, the quality of geoscience instruction is inspiring a new generation of geoscientists. This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under award 0735596. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Science Foundation.

Transforming Science Education for the Anthropocene--Is It Possible?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilbert, Jane

2016-01-01

Since its inception, science education has been the focus of a great many reform attempts. In general, the aim has been to improve science understanding and/or make science study more interesting and/or relevant to a wider range of students. However, these reform attempts have had limited success. This paper argues that this is in part because…

Science Teachers' Use of Mass Media to Address Socio-Scientific and Sustainability Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klosterman, Michelle L.; Sadler, Troy D.; Brown, Julie

2012-01-01

The currency, relevancy and changing nature of science makes it a natural topic of focus for mass media outlets. Science teachers and students can capitalize on this wealth of scientific information to explore socio-scientific and sustainability issues; however, without a lens on how those media are created and how representations of science are…

Constructing Contracts: Making Discrete Mathematics Relevant to Beginning Programmers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gegg-Harrison, Timothy S.

2005-01-01

Although computer scientists understand the importance of discrete mathematics to the foundations of their field, computer science (CS) students do not always see the relevance. Thus, it is important to find a way to show students its relevance. The concept of program correctness is generally taught as an activity independent of the programming…

Ground Water Studies. Earth Science Module for Grades 7-9.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baldwin, Roland L.; And Others

Earth science education needs to be relevant to students in order to make them aware of the serious problems facing the planet. In an effort to insure that this need is meet, the Denver Earth Science Project has set as one of their goals the development of new earth science curriculum materials for teachers. This document provides a collection of…

The perspectives and experiences of African American students in an informal science program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bulls, Domonique L.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are the fastest growing sectors of the economy, nationally and globally. In order for the United States (U.S.) to maintain its competitiveness, it is important to address STEM experiences at the precollege level. In early years, science education serves as a foundation and pipeline for students to pursue STEM in college and beyond. Alternative approaches to instruction in formal classrooms have been introduced to engage more students in science. One alternative is informal science education. Informal science education is an avenue used to promote science education literacy. Because it is less regulated than science teaching in formal classroom settings, it allows for the incorporation of culture into science instruction. Culturally relevant science teaching is one way to relate science to African American students, a population that continually underperforms in K-12 science education. This study explores the science perspectives and experiences of African American middle school students participating in an informal science program. The research is framed by the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy and shaped by the following questions: (1) What specific aspects of the Carver Program make it unique to African American students? (2) How is culturally relevant pedagogy incorporated into the informal science program? (3) How does the incorporation of culturally relevant pedagogy into the informal science program influence African American students' perceptions about science? The findings to the previously stated questions add to the limited research on African American students in informal science learning environments and contribute to the growing research on culturally relevant science. This study is unique in that it explores the cultural components of an informal science program.

Making Construals as a New Digital Skill for Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beynon, Meurig; Boyatt, Russell; Foss, Jonathan; Hall, Chris; Hudnott, Elizabeth; Russ, Steve; Sutinen, Erkki; Macleod, Hamish; Kommers, Piet

2015-01-01

Making construals is a practical approach to computing that was originally developed for and by computer science undergraduates. It is the central theme of an EU project aimed at disseminating the relevant principles to a broader audience. This involves bringing together technical experts in making construals and international experts in…

The Translational Potential of Research on the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications of Genomics

PubMed Central

Burke, Wylie; Appelbaum, Paul; Dame, Lauren; Marshall, Patricia; Press, Nancy; Pyeritz, Reed; Sharp, Richard; Juengst, Eric

2014-01-01

Federally funded research on the ethical, legal and social implications of genomics (“ELSI” research) includes a programmatic charge to consider policy-relevant questions and to communicate findings in venues that help inform the policy-making process. In addressing this goal, investigators must consider the range of policies that are relevant to human genetics, how foundational research in bioethics, law, and the social sciences might inform those policies, and the potential professional issues that this translational imperative raises for ELSI investigators. We review these questions in the light of experiences from a consortium of federally funded Centers of Excellence in ELSI Research, and offer a set of policy recommendations for program design and evaluation of ELSI research. We conclude that it would be a mistake to require that ELSI research programs demonstrate a direct impact on science or health policy; however, ELSI researchers can take steps to increase the relevance of their work to policy makers. Similarly, funders of ELSI research concerned to facilitate policy development can help by building cross-disciplinary translational research capacities, and universities can take steps to make policy-relevant research more rewarding for scholars in the humanities, social sciences, and law. PMID:24946153

Does STES-Oriented Science Education Promote 10th-Grade Students' Decision-Making Capability?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levy Nahum, Tami; Ben-Chaim, David; Azaiza, Ibtesam; Herskovitz, Orit; Zoller, Uri

2010-07-01

Today's society is continuously coping with sustainability-related complex issues in the Science-Technology-Environment-Society (STES) interfaces. In those contexts, the need and relevance of the development of students' higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) such as question-asking, critical-thinking, problem-solving and decision-making capabilities within science teaching have been argued by several science educators for decades. Three main objectives guided this study: (1) to establish "base lines" for HOCS capabilities of 10th grade students (n = 264) in the Israeli educational system; (2) to delineate within this population, two different groups with respect to their decision-making capability, science-oriented (n = 142) and non-science (n = 122) students, Groups A and B, respectively; and (3) to assess the pre-post development/change of students' decision-making capabilities via STES-oriented HOCS-promoting curricular modules entitled Science, Technology and Environment in Modern Society (STEMS). A specially developed and validated decision-making questionnaire was used for obtaining a research-based response to the guiding research questions. Our findings suggest that a long-term persistent application of purposed decision-making, promoting teaching strategies, is needed in order to succeed in affecting, positively, high-school students' decision-making ability. The need for science teachers' involvement in the development of their students' HOCS capabilities is thus apparent.

Responding to a Relevance Imperative in School Science and Mathematics: Humanising the Curriculum through Story

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Darby-Hobbs, Linda

2013-01-01

There has been a recent push to reframe curriculum and pedagogy in ways that make school more meaningful and relevant to students' lives and perceived needs. This "relevance imperative" is evident in contemporary rhetoric surrounding quality education, and particularly in relation to the junior secondary years where student disengagement with…

Use of Semantic Technology to Create Curated Data Albums

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran, Rahul; Kulkarni, Ajinkya; Li, Xiang; Sainju, Roshan; Bakare, Rohan; Basyal, Sabin; Fox, Peter (Editor); Norack, Tom (Editor)

2014-01-01

One of the continuing challenges in any Earth science investigation is the discovery and access of useful science content from the increasingly large volumes of Earth science data and related information available online. Current Earth science data systems are designed with the assumption that researchers access data primarily by instrument or geophysical parameter. Those who know exactly the data sets they need can obtain the specific files using these systems. However, in cases where researchers are interested in studying an event of research interest, they must manually assemble a variety of relevant data sets by searching the different distributed data systems. Consequently, there is a need to design and build specialized search and discovery tools in Earth science that can filter through large volumes of distributed online data and information and only aggregate the relevant resources needed to support climatology and case studies. This paper presents a specialized search and discovery tool that automatically creates curated Data Albums. The tool was designed to enable key elements of the search process such as dynamic interaction and sense-making. The tool supports dynamic interaction via different modes of interactivity and visual presentation of information. The compilation of information and data into a Data Album is analogous to a shoebox within the sense-making framework. This tool automates most of the tedious information/data gathering tasks for researchers. Data curation by the tool is achieved via an ontology-based, relevancy ranking algorithm that filters out non-relevant information and data. The curation enables better search results as compared to the simple keyword searches provided by existing data systems in Earth science.

Science education and worldview

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keane, Moyra

2008-09-01

Is there a place for Indigenous Knowledge in the science curriculum for a Zulu community in rural Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa? This article argues "yes," based on a participative research and development project that discovered relevant science learning in a Zulu community. Among community concerns for relevant factual and performative knowledge, we found that culture and worldview are critical to community identity, to visioning educational outcomes, and to learning in school science. Cultural practices may contribute to pedagogy and curriculum; curriculum, in turn, may affirm cultural practices. Further, worldview needs to be understood as an aspect of knowledge creation. By understanding key aspects of an African worldview, science educators can contribute to both meaningful science education and community well-being. By fostering culture and worldview, a rural community can make a unique contribution to science education.

Math and Science Education. IDRA Focus.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

IDRA Newsletter, 1996

1996-01-01

This newsletter focuses on efforts to make math and science more attractive, relevant, and accessible to students, especially limited-English-proficient, minority, economically disadvantaged, female, and at-risk students. "TAAS Math Performance" (Linda Cantu) outlines recent statewide results for the controversial Texas Assessment of…

Children Making Sense of Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, Clíona; Murphy, Colette; Kilfeather, Paula

2011-03-01

This study explored the effects that the incorporation of nature of science (NoS) activities in the primary science classroom had on children's perceptions and understanding of science. We compared children's ideas in four classes by inviting them to talk, draw and write about what science meant to them: two of the classes were taught by `NoS' teachers who had completed an elective nature of science (NoS) course in the final year of their Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree. The `non-NoS' teachers who did not attend this course taught the other two classes. All four teachers had graduated from the same initial teacher education institution with similar teaching grades and all had carried out the same science methods course during their B.Ed programme. We found that children taught by the teachers who had been NoS-trained developed more elaborate notions of nature of science, as might be expected. More importantly, their reflections on science and their science lessons evidenced a more in-depth and sophisticated articulation of the scientific process in terms of scientists "trying their best" and "sometimes getting it wrong" as well as "getting different answers". Unlike children from non-NoS classes, those who had engaged in and reflected on NoS activities talked about their own science lessons in the sense of `doing science'. These children also expressed more positive attitudes about their science lessons than those from non-NoS classes. We therefore suggest that there is added value in including NoS activities in the primary science curriculum in that they seem to help children make sense of science and the scientific process, which could lead to improved attitudes towards school science. We argue that as opposed to considering the relevance of school science only in terms of children's experience, relevance should include relevance to the world of science, and NoS activities can help children to link school science to science itself.

Engineered Plants Make Potential Precursor to Raw Material for Plastics

ScienceCinema

Shanklin, John

2018-06-12

In a first step toward achieving industrial-scale green production, scientists from BNL and collaborators at Dow AgroSciences report engineering a plant that produces industrially relevant levels of chemicals that could potentially be used to make plastics.

Achieving conservation science that bridges the knowledge-action boundary.

PubMed

Cook, Carly N; Mascia, Michael B; Schwartz, Mark W; Possingham, Hugh P; Fuller, Richard A

2013-08-01

There are many barriers to using science to inform conservation policy and practice. Conservation scientists wishing to produce management-relevant science must balance this goal with the imperative of demonstrating novelty and rigor in their science. Decision makers seeking to make evidence-based decisions must balance a desire for knowledge with the need to act despite uncertainty. Generating science that will effectively inform management decisions requires that the production of information (the components of knowledge) be salient (relevant and timely), credible (authoritative, believable, and trusted), and legitimate (developed via a process that considers the values and perspectives of all relevant actors) in the eyes of both researchers and decision makers. We perceive 3 key challenges for those hoping to generate conservation science that achieves all 3 of these information characteristics. First, scientific and management audiences can have contrasting perceptions about the salience of research. Second, the pursuit of scientific credibility can come at the cost of salience and legitimacy in the eyes of decision makers, and, third, different actors can have conflicting views about what constitutes legitimate information. We highlight 4 institutional frameworks that can facilitate science that will inform management: boundary organizations (environmental organizations that span the boundary between science and management), research scientists embedded in resource management agencies, formal links between decision makers and scientists at research-focused institutions, and training programs for conservation professionals. Although these are not the only approaches to generating boundary-spanning science, nor are they mutually exclusive, they provide mechanisms for promoting communication, translation, and mediation across the knowledge-action boundary. We believe that despite the challenges, conservation science should strive to be a boundary science, which both advances scientific understanding and contributes to decision making. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Wolves in the Wild: Using Current Issues to Make Science Relevant

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Post, Jennie; Sadler, Troy D.

2010-01-01

As teachers, one of our most important responsibilities is to help students develop dynamic and useful views of science. Using current issues to create learning experiences can help generate student interest in science and help students appreciate its significance in both personal and societal contexts. This article presents a lesson based on news…

Place-Based Science Teaching and Learning: 40 Activities for K-8 Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buxton, Cory A.; Provenzo, Eugene F., Jr.

2011-01-01

Grounded in theory and best-practices research, this practical text provides elementary and middle school teachers with 40 place-based activities that will help them to make science learning relevant to their students. This text provides teachers with both a rationale and a set of strategies and activities for teaching science in a local context…

Making Earth Science Relevant in the K-8 Classroom. The Development of an Instructional Soils Module for Pre-Service Elementary Teachers Using the Next Generation Science Standards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baldwin, K. A.; Hauge, R.; Dechaine, J. M.; Varrella, G.; Egger, A. E.

2013-12-01

The development and adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) raises a challenge in teacher preparation: few current teacher preparation programs prepare students to teach science the way it is presented in the NGSS, which emphasize systems thinking, interdisciplinary science, and deep engagement in the scientific process. In addition, the NGSS include more geoscience concepts and methods than previous standards, yet this is a topic area in which most college students are traditionally underprepared. Although nationwide, programmatic reform is needed, there are a few targets where relatively small, course-level changes can have a large effect. One of these targets is the 'science methods' course for pre-service elementary teachers, a requirement in virtually all teacher preparation programs. Since many elementary schools, both locally and across the country, have adopted a kit based science curriculum, examining kits is often a part of a science methods course. Unfortunately, solely relying on a kit based curriculum may leave gaps in science content curriculum as one prepares teachers to meet the NGSS. Moreover, kits developed at the national level often fall short in connecting geoscientific content to the locally relevant societal issues that engage students. This highlights the need to train pre-service elementary teachers to supplement kit curriculum with inquiry based geoscience investigations that consider relevant societal issues, promote systems thinking and incorporate connections between earth, life, and physical systems. We are developing a module that teaches geoscience concepts in the context of locally relevant societal issues while modeling effective pedagogy for pre-service elementary teachers. Specifically, we focus on soils, an interdisciplinary topic relevant to multiple geoscience-related societal grand challenges (e.g., water, food) that is difficult to engage students in. Module development is funded through InTeGrate, NSF's STEP Center in the geosciences. The module goals are: 1) Pre-service teachers will apply classification methods, testing procedures and interdisciplinary systems thinking to analyze and evaluate a relevant societal issue in the context of soils, 2) Pre-service teachers will design, develop, and facilitate a standards-based K-8 soils unit, incorporating a relevant broader societal issue that applies authentic geoscientific data, and incorporates geoscientific habits of mind. In addition, pre-service teachers will look toward the NGSS and align activities with content standards, systems thinking, and science and engineering practices. This poster will provide an overview of module development to date as well as a summary of pre-semester survey results indicating pre-service elementary teachers' ideas (beliefs, attitudes, preconceptions, and content knowledge) about teaching soils, and making science relevant in a K-8 classroom.

Environmental Research Puts Science into Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zaikowski, Lori; Lichtman, Paul

2007-01-01

The new paradigm for student research should be articulations and collaborations with local governmental, academic, and civic entities. This will enable students to make lasting contributions to bettering their communities through scientific research, and to better understand the practical relevance of science. This article presents two such…

Honors Anthropology and the Four Rs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farrer, Claire R.

1990-01-01

Describes an honors introductory cultural anthropology course taught at California State University, Chico. Discusses the course design, how course information is made relevant and reinforced, and how students have partial responsibility for the course design. Discusses the use of science fiction books to make material relevant to students. (JS)

Opportunities for Web-Based Indicators in Environmental Sciences

PubMed Central

Malcevschi, Sergio; Marchini, Agnese; Savini, Dario; Facchinetti, Tullio

2012-01-01

This paper proposes a set of web-based indicators for quantifying and ranking the relevance of terms related to key-issues in Ecology and Sustainability Science. Search engines that operate in different contexts (e.g. global, social, scientific) are considered as web information carriers (WICs) and are able to analyse; (i) relevance on different levels: global web, individual/personal sphere, on-line news, and culture/science; (ii) time trends of relevance; (iii) relevance of keywords for environmental governance. For the purposes of this study, several indicators and specific indices (relational indices and dynamic indices) were applied to a test-set of 24 keywords. Outputs consistently show that traditional study topics in environmental sciences such as water and air have remained the most quantitatively relevant keywords, while interest in systemic issues (i.e. ecosystem and landscape) has grown over the last 20 years. Nowadays, the relevance of new concepts such as resilience and ecosystem services is increasing, but the actual ability of these concepts to influence environmental governance needs to be further studied and understood. The proposed approach, which is based on intuitive and easily replicable procedures, can support the decision-making processes related to environmental governance. PMID:22905118

Opportunities for web-based indicators in environmental sciences.

PubMed

Malcevschi, Sergio; Marchini, Agnese; Savini, Dario; Facchinetti, Tullio

2012-01-01

This paper proposes a set of web-based indicators for quantifying and ranking the relevance of terms related to key-issues in Ecology and Sustainability Science. Search engines that operate in different contexts (e.g. global, social, scientific) are considered as web information carriers (WICs) and are able to analyse; (i) relevance on different levels: global web, individual/personal sphere, on-line news, and culture/science; (ii) time trends of relevance; (iii) relevance of keywords for environmental governance. For the purposes of this study, several indicators and specific indices (relational indices and dynamic indices) were applied to a test-set of 24 keywords. Outputs consistently show that traditional study topics in environmental sciences such as water and air have remained the most quantitatively relevant keywords, while interest in systemic issues (i.e. ecosystem and landscape) has grown over the last 20 years. Nowadays, the relevance of new concepts such as resilience and ecosystem services is increasing, but the actual ability of these concepts to influence environmental governance needs to be further studied and understood. The proposed approach, which is based on intuitive and easily replicable procedures, can support the decision-making processes related to environmental governance.

Phun Week: Understanding Physiology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Limson, Mel; Matyas, Marsha Lakes

2009-01-01

Topics such as sports, exercise, health, and nutrition can make the science of physiology relevant and engaging for students. In addition, many lessons on these topics, such as those on the cardiovascular, respiratory, and digestive systems, align with national and state life science education standards. Physiology Understanding Week (PhUn…

Research methods from social science can contribute much to the health sciences.

PubMed

Wensing, Michel

2008-06-01

Research methods from social science, such as social network analysis, random coefficient modeling, and advanced measurement techniques, can contribute much to the health sciences. There is, however, a slow rate of transmission of social science methodology into the health sciences. This paper identifies some of the barriers for adoption and proposes ideas for the future. Commentary. Contributions of social science to the health sciences are not always recognized as such. It may help if the professional profile of social science in the health sciences would be higher and if its focus would be more on making useful predictions. Clinical epidemiologists may assume that their discipline includes all relevant methods and that social science is largely based on qualitative research. These perceptions need to be challenged in order to widen the scope of clinical epidemiology and include relevant methods from other sciences. New methods help to ask new research questions and to provide better to old questions. This paper has sketched challenges for both social science researchers and clinical epidemiologists.

Investigating the Integration of Everyday Phenomena and Practical Work in Physics Teaching in Vietnamese High Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ng, Wan; Nguyen, Van Thanh

2006-01-01

Making science relevant in students' learning is an important aspect of science education. This involves the ability to draw in examples from daily contexts to begin with the learning or to apply concepts learnt into familiar everyday phenomena that students observe and experience around them. Another important aspect of science education is the…

Vets and Videos: Student Learning from Context-Based Assessment in a Pre-Clinical Science Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seddon, Jennifer

2008-01-01

To increase the perceived relevance of pre-clinical science courses to undergraduates, a context-based assessment item was introduced to a genetics course that occurs early within a five-year veterinary science programme. The aim was to make a direct link between genetic concepts and the future clinical profession of the students. In the…

What Makes Science Relevant?: Student Perceptions of Multimedia Case Learning in Ecology and Health

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolter, Bjorn H. K.; Lundeberg, Mary A.; Bergland, Mark

2013-01-01

The perception of science as boring is a major issue for teachers at all instructional levels. Tertiary classes especially suffer from a reputation for being dry, instructor-centered, and irrelevant to the lives of students. However, previous research has shown that science can be interesting to students if it is presented in such a manner as to…

Solve Medical Mysteries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Leslie

2007-01-01

Wondering how to make the study of the immune system and infectious agents more relevant to your students' lives? The online adventure series, Medical Mysteries, can provide the context and motivation. The series combines the drama of television's "CSI" episodes with science to address several of the National Science Education Content Standards.…

Super Mileage Challenge: Combining Education and Fun!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Jim; Fitzgerald, Mike

2006-01-01

Beginning in 1996, key leaders in Indiana business, education, and industry, along with the Department of Education and the Indiana Math Science Technology Education Alliance recognized that creating an event that would showcase true integration of mathematics, science, and technology could make learning more relevant to the lives of students. The…

Making Biology Relevant to Undergraduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Musante, Susan

2012-01-01

This article features Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER; www.sencer.net) Summer Institute. The SENCER program, which began formally in 2001, was the vision of David Burns; Karen Oates, currently Peterson Family Dean of Arts and Sciences at Worcester Polytechnic Institute; and Ric Wiebl, currently director of…

Does STES-Oriented Science Education Promote 10th-Grade Students' Decision-Making Capability?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levy Nahum, Tami; Ben-Chaim, David; Azaiza, Ibtesam; Herskovitz, Orit; Zoller, Uri

2010-01-01

Today's society is continuously coping with sustainability-related complex issues in the Science-Technology-Environment-Society (STES) interfaces. In those contexts, the need and relevance of the development of students' higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) such as question-asking, critical-thinking, problem-solving and decision-making…

The Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium Environmental Information Network: Building ‘Learning Communities’ in the Northern Great Plains

USGS Publications Warehouse

Welling, Leigh; Seielstad, George; McClurg, Pat; Fagre, Daniel B.

2000-01-01

In the last two decades alone, the U.S. and large portions of the world have witnessed what can be aptly be described as an explosion of scientific information and technological innovations that has permeated almost every aspect of our lives. Given these trends, it is clear that science and the understanding of science are becoming increasingly more relevant and essential to decision-makers and the decision-making process. Every environmental issue confronting society has an undisputed scientific underpinning. Understanding the implications of the science underpinning issues of particular importance to the health and well being of society constitutes the basis for making more informed and enlightened decisions. However obvious this linkage may be, many factors continue to serve as impediments to the broader understanding and incorporation of science into policy- and decision-making processes, as perhaps is best exemplified by the case of climate science.

Earth observations and global change decision making: A special bibliography, 1991

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The first section of the bibliography contains 294 bibliographic citations and abstracts of relevant reports, articles, and documents announced in 'Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports (STAR)' and 'International Aerospace Abstracts (IAA)'. These abstracts are categorized by the following major subject divisions: aeronautics, astronautics, chemistry and materials, engineering, geosciences, life sciences, mathematical and computer sciences, physics, social sciences, space sciences and general. Following the abstract section, seven indexes are provided for further assistance.

Outside the pipeline: reimagining science education for nonscientists.

PubMed

Feinstein, Noah Weeth; Allen, Sue; Jenkins, Edgar

2013-04-19

Educational policy increasingly emphasizes knowledge and skills for the preprofessional "science pipeline" rather than helping students use science in daily life. We synthesize research on public engagement with science to develop a research-based plan for cultivating competent outsiders: nonscientists who can access and make sense of science relevant to their lives. Schools should help students access and interpret the science they need in response to specific practical problems, judge the credibility of scientific claims based on both evidence and institutional cues, and cultivate deep amateur involvement in science.

It's Not Just Games: Exploring the Science of Sport

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tyler, Paul

2018-01-01

Sports science is still one of the fastest growth areas in science across the world. There isn't a professional sports team that does not have a host of sports scientists to analyse and improve every minute detail of their performance. So how is this relevant to a primary school? Making real-life links to other areas of life is very important in…

How do small groups make decisions? : A theoretical framework to inform the implementation and study of clinical competency committees.

PubMed

Chahine, Saad; Cristancho, Sayra; Padgett, Jessica; Lingard, Lorelei

2017-06-01

In the competency-based medical education (CBME) approach, clinical competency committees are responsible for making decisions about trainees' competence. However, we currently lack a theoretical model for group decision-making to inform this emerging assessment phenomenon. This paper proposes an organizing framework to study and guide the decision-making processes of clinical competency committees.This is an explanatory, non-exhaustive review, tailored to identify relevant theoretical and evidence-based papers related to small group decision-making. The search was conducted using Google Scholar, Web of Science, MEDLINE, ERIC, and PsycINFO for relevant literature. Using a thematic analysis, two researchers (SC & JP) met four times between April-June 2016 to consolidate the literature included in this review.Three theoretical orientations towards group decision-making emerged from the review: schema, constructivist, and social influence. Schema orientations focus on how groups use algorithms for decision-making. Constructivist orientations focus on how groups construct their shared understanding. Social influence orientations focus on how individual members influence the group's perspective on a decision. Moderators of decision-making relevant to all orientations include: guidelines, stressors, authority, and leadership.Clinical competency committees are the mechanisms by which groups of clinicians will be in charge of interpreting multiple assessment data points and coming to a shared decision about trainee competence. The way in which these committees make decisions can have huge implications for trainee progression and, ultimately, patient care. Therefore, there is a pressing need to build the science of how such group decision-making works in practice. This synthesis suggests a preliminary organizing framework that can be used in the implementation and study of clinical competency committees.

Teacher and Student Reflections on ICT-Rich Science Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, P. John; Otrel-Cass, Kathrin

2017-01-01

Background: Inquiry learning in science provides authentic and relevant contexts in which students can create knowledge to solve problems, make decisions and find solutions to issues in today's world. The use of electronic networks can facilitate this interaction, dialogue and sharing, and adds a new dimension to classroom pedagogy. Purpose: This…

Statistical Literacy in the Data Science Workplace

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grant, Robert

2017-01-01

Statistical literacy, the ability to understand and make use of statistical information including methods, has particular relevance in the age of data science, when complex analyses are undertaken by teams from diverse backgrounds. Not only is it essential to communicate to the consumers of information but also within the team. Writing from the…

Neo-Colonialism in Our Schools: Representations of Indigenous Perspectives in Ontario Science Curricula

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Eun-Ji Amy

2015-01-01

Motivated by the striking under-representation of Indigenous students in the field of science and technology, the Ontario Ministry of Education has attempted to integrate Aboriginal perspectives into their official curricula in hopes of making a more culturally relevant curriculum for Indigenous students. Using hermeneutic content analysis (HCA),…

The Interactive Effect of Pro-Environmental Disciplinary Concentration under Cooperation versus Competition Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cuadrado, Esther; Tabernero, Carmen; García, Rocío; Luque, Bárbara

2017-01-01

This research explores the relevance of cooperation and students' environmental disciplinary concentration on decision-making with respect to environmental issues--specifically the use of water, a limited common-pool resource. For this purpose, 61 environmental sciences students and 46 educational sciences students played the role of farmers and…

Science for action at the local landscape scale

Treesearch

Paul Opddam; Joan Iverson Nassauer; Zhifang Wang; Christian Albert; Gary Bentrup; Jean-Christophe Castella; Clive McAlpine; Jianguo Liu; Stephen Sheppard; Simon Swaffield

2013-01-01

For landscape ecology to produce knowledge relevant to society, it must include considerations of human culture and behavior, extending beyond the natural sciences to synthesize with many other disciplines. Furthermore, it needs to be able to support landscape change processes which increasingly take the shape of deliberative and collaborative decision making by local...

Government Regulatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Becker, Katie

Government regulation of food products, food processing, and food preparation is imperative in bringing an unadulterated, nonmisleading, and safe food product to market and is relevant to all areas of food science, including engineering, processing, chemistry, and microbiology. The liability associated with providing consumers with an adulterated or substandard product cannot only tarnish a company's name and reputation, but also impose substantial financial repercussions on the company and those individuals who play an active role in the violation. In order for a company to fully comply with the relevant food laws (both federal and state), an intimate knowledge of food science is required. Individuals knowledgeable in food science play an integral role not only in implementing and counseling food companies/processors to ensure compliance with government regulations, but these individuals are also necessary to the state and federal governments that make and enforce the relevant laws and regulators.

An Introspective Critique of Past, Present, and Future USGS Decision Support

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neff, B. P.; Pavlick, M.

2017-12-01

In response to increasing scrutiny of publicly funded science, the Water Mission Area of USGS is shifting its approach for informing decisions that affect the country. Historically, USGS has focused on providing sound science on cutting edge, societally relevant issues with the expectation that decision makers will take action on this information. In practice, scientists often do not understand or focus on the needs of decision makers and decision makers often cannot or do not utilize information produced by scientists. The Water Mission Area of USGS has recognized that it can better serve the taxpayer by delivering information more relevant to decision making in a form more conducive to its use. To this end, the Water Mission Area of USGS is seeking greater integration with the decision making process to better inform what information it produces. In addition, recognizing that the transfer of scientific knowledge to decision making is fundamentally a social process, USGS is embracing the use of social science to better inform how it delivers scientific information and facilitates its use. This study utilizes qualitative methods to document the evolution of decision support at USGS and provide a rationale for a shift in direction. Challenges to implementation are identified and collaborative opportunities to improve decision making are discussed.

How can philosophy be a true cognitive science discipline?

PubMed

Bechtel, William

2010-07-01

Although philosophy has been only a minor contributor to cognitive science to date, this paper describes two projects in naturalistic philosophy of mind and one in naturalistic philosophy of science that have been pursued during the past 30 years and that can make theoretical and methodological contributions to cognitive science. First, stances on the mind-body problem (identity theory, functionalism, and heuristic identity theory) are relevant to cognitive science as it negotiates its relation to neuroscience and cognitive neuroscience. Second, analyses of mental representations address both their vehicles and their contents; new approaches to characterizing how representations have content are particularly relevant to understanding the relation of cognitive agents to their environments. Third, the recently formulated accounts of mechanistic explanation in philosophy of science both provide perspective on the explanatory project of cognitive science and may offer normative guidance to cognitive science (e.g., by providing perspective on how multiple disciplinary perspectives can be integrated in understanding a given mechanism). Copyright © 2010 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

The randomised controlled trial design: unrecognized opportunities for health sciences librarianship.

PubMed

Eldredge, Jonathan D

2003-06-01

to describe the essential components of the Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) and its major variations; to describe less conventional applications of the RCT design found in the health sciences literature with potential relevance to health sciences librarianship; to discuss the limited number of RCTs within health sciences librarianship. narrative review supported to a limited extent with PubMed and Library Literature database searches consistent with specific search parameters. In addition, more systematic methods, including handsearching of specific journals, to identify health sciences librarianship RCTs. While many RCTs within the health sciences follow more conventional patterns, some RCTs assume certain unique features. Selected examples illustrate the adaptations of this experimental design to answering questions of possible relevance to health sciences librarians. The author offers several strategies for controlling bias in library and informatics applications of the RCT and acknowledges the potential of the electronic era in providing many opportunities to utilize the blinding aspects of RCTs. RCTs within health sciences librarianship inhabit a limited number of subject domains such as education. This limited scope offers both advantages and disadvantages for making Evidence-Based Librarianship (EBL) a reality. The RCT design offers the potential to answer far more EBL questions than have been addressed by the design to date. Librarians need only extend their horizons through use of the versatile RCT design into new subject domains to facilitate making EBL a reality.

Reaching a Consensus on the Definition of Genetic Literacy that Is Required from a Twenty-First-Century Citizen

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boerwinkel, Dirk Jan; Yarden, Anat; Waarlo, Arend Jan

2017-12-01

To determine what knowledge of genetics is needed for decision-making on genetic-related issues, a consensus-reaching approach was used. An international group of 57 experts, involved in teaching, studying, or developing genetic education and communication or working with genetic applications in medicine, agriculture, or forensics, answered the questions: "What knowledge of genetics is relevant to those individuals not professionally involved in science?" and "Why is this knowledge relevant?" The answers were classified in different knowledge components following the PISA 2015 science framework. During a workshop with the participants, the results were discussed and applied to seven cases in which genetic knowledge is relevant for decision-making. The analysis of these discussions resulted in a revised framework consisting of nine conceptual knowledge components, three sociocultural components, and four epistemic components. The framework can be used in curricular decisions; its open character allows for including new technologies and applications and facilitates comparisons of different cases.

The history of science as oxymoron: from scientific exceptionalism to episcience.

PubMed

Alder, Ken

2013-03-01

This essay argues that historians of science who seek to embody our oxymoronic self-description must confront both contradictory terms that define our common enterprise--that is, both "history" and "science." On the history/methods side, it suggests that we embrace the heterogeneity of our institutional arrangements and repudiate the homogeneous disciplinary model sometimes advocated by Thomas Kuhn and followed by art history. This implies that rather than treating the history of science as an end in itself, we consider it a means to a variety of historical ends. think of ourselves as a tool-making community, and jettison moralistic assertions of scientific exceptionalism. To do so, this essay argues--on the science/subject side--that xe rebrand the subject of our historical inquiry as "episcience," a neologism that stands in relation to "science" as the new field of epigenetics does to the old genetics. Episcience encompasses both the material activities of the relevant sciences and their "surround" (environment, milieu, Umgebung) to reframe knowledge making to include the material processes that put science "in play" and make its findings matter beyond science. The essay concludes that "the history of science" is an oxymoron that makes sense to the extent that its practitioners acknowledge that the history of science is important not just because science is important, but because its history is.

Use of Semantic Technology to Create Curated Data Albums

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran, Rahul; Kulkarni, Ajinkya; Li, Xiang; Sainju, Roshan; Bakare, Rohan; Basyal, Sabin

2014-01-01

One of the continuing challenges in any Earth science investigation is the discovery and access of useful science content from the increasingly large volumes of Earth science data and related information available online. Current Earth science data systems are designed with the assumption that researchers access data primarily by instrument or geophysical parameter. Those who know exactly the data sets they need can obtain the specific files using these systems. However, in cases where researchers are interested in studying an event of research interest, they must manually assemble a variety of relevant data sets by searching the different distributed data systems. Consequently, there is a need to design and build specialized search and discover tools in Earth science that can filter through large volumes of distributed online data and information and only aggregate the relevant resources needed to support climatology and case studies. This paper presents a specialized search and discovery tool that automatically creates curated Data Albums. The tool was designed to enable key elements of the search process such as dynamic interaction and sense-making. The tool supports dynamic interaction via different modes of interactivity and visual presentation of information. The compilation of information and data into a Data Album is analogous to a shoebox within the sense-making framework. This tool automates most of the tedious information/data gathering tasks for researchers. Data curation by the tool is achieved via an ontology-based, relevancy ranking algorithm that filters out nonrelevant information and data. The curation enables better search results as compared to the simple keyword searches provided by existing data systems in Earth science.

Making research more relevant: give it a try!

Treesearch

David W. Lime

2002-01-01

Barriers to research use are common to most scientific disciplines and areas of investigation. This paper addresses three interrelated issues to enhancing the effectiveness of science to aid decision making specifically to outdoor recreation, leisure and tourism: (1) clearly defining and framing research problems, (2) enhancing the flow of research findings to those...

Meteorology and Climate Inspire Secondary Science Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charlton-Perez, Andrew; Dacre, Helen; Maskell, Kathy; Reynolds, Ross; South, Rachel; Wood, Curtis

2010-01-01

As part of its National Science and Engineering Week activities in 2009 and 2010, the University of Reading organised two open days for 60 local key stage 4 pupils. The theme of both open days was "How do we predict weather and climate?" Making use of the students' familiarity with weather and climate, several concepts of relevance to secondary…

Making Science Meaningful for Young People with Diverse Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stead, Di

2015-01-01

In the autumn term of 2011, it was identified that a programme of support for developing science in the curriculum was required at a newly opened special school, Beacon Reach, in Lancashire, which caters to children with autism spectrum disorders. Staff wanted to provide a relevant and meaningful curriculum, accessible even to young people who…

Computer Applications in Science Education. The Illinois Series on Educational Application of Computers, No. 17e.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gaede, Owen F.; Singletary, Ted J.

This paper provides a summary of information and ideas relevant to the use of computers in science education, describes a variety of uses and strategies, discusses advantages and disadvantages of specific applications, and explores the decision-making process surrounding computer instruction implementation. Uses and strategies which are described…

Do Variations of Science Teaching Approaches Make Difference in Shaping Student Content and Problem Solving Achievement across Different Racial/Ethnic Groups?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gao, Su; Wang, Jian

2016-01-01

Students' frequent exposure to inquiry-based science teaching is presumed more effective than their exposure to traditional didactic instruction in helping improve competence in content knowledge and problem solving. Framed through theoretical perspectives of inquiry-based instruction and culturally relevant pedagogy, this study examines this…

Can Basic Research on Children and Families Be Useful for the Policy Process?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Kristin A.

Based on the assumption that basic science is the crucial building block for technological and biomedical progress, this paper examines the relevance for public policy of basic demographic and behavioral sciences research on children and families. The characteristics of basic research as they apply to policy making are explored. First, basic…

Towards Personalising Learning in School Science: Making This Learning More Relevant

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prain, Vaughan; Waldrip, Bruce; Sbaglia, Rob; Lovejoy, Val

2017-01-01

In this paper, we report on a case study of how three teachers personalised learning in science through supporting a group of Year 8 students to engage in individual inquiry projects. The case study demonstrated how heavily transmissive teaching can be avoided by restructuring classes to optimise student group and individual work and timely…

Retention of knowledge and perceived relevance of basic sciences in an integrated case-based learning (CBL) curriculum

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Knowledge and understanding of basic biomedical sciences remain essential to medical practice, particularly when faced with the continual advancement of diagnostic and therapeutic modalities. Evidence suggests, however, that retention tends to atrophy across the span of an average medical course and into the early postgraduate years, as preoccupation with clinical medicine predominates. We postulated that perceived relevance demonstrated through applicability to clinical situations may assist in retention of basic science knowledge. Methods To test this hypothesis in our own medical student cohort, we administered a paper-based 50 MCQ assessment to a sample of students from Years 2 through 5. Covariates pertaining to demographics, prior educational experience, and the perceived clinical relevance of each question were also collected. Results A total of 232 students (Years 2–5, response rate 50%) undertook the assessment task. This sample had comparable demographic and performance characteristics to the whole medical school cohort. In general, discipline-specific and overall scores were better for students in the latter years of the course compared to those in Year 2; male students and domestic students tended to perform better than their respective counterparts in certain disciplines. In the clinical years, perceived clinical relevance was significantly and positively correlated with item performance. Conclusions This study suggests that perceived clinical relevance is a contributing factor to the retention of basic science knowledge and behoves curriculum planners to make clinical relevance a more explicit component of applied science teaching throughout the medical course. PMID:24099045

Seeing a World in a Grain of Sand: Science Teaching in Multicultural Context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chambers, David Wade

This paper briefly describes two unusual curriculum plans: the Imagining Nature Project at Deakin University in Geelong, Victoria, Australia and the Native Eyes Project at the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico Among other things, both projects entail the teaching of science and technology studies to non-science majors of highly diverse cultural origin. Both projects also incorporate innovative strategies designed to make science and technology more credible and relevant to indigenous people.

Math and science illiteracy: Social and economic impacts

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

Williams, J.L.

1994-05-01

Today`s highly competitive global economy is being driven by increasingly rapid technological development. This paper explores the problems of math and science illiteracy in the United States and the potential impact on our economic survival in this environment during the next century. Established educational methods that reward task performance, emphasize passive lecture, and fail to demonstrate relevance to real life are partly to blame. Social norms, stereotypes, and race and gender bias also have an impact. To address this crisis, we need to question the philosophy of an educational system that values task over concept. Many schools have already initiatedmore » programs at all grade levels to make math and science learning more relevant, stimulating, and fun. Teaching methods that integrate math and science learning with teamwork, social context, and other academic subjects promote the development of higher-order thinking skills and help students see math and science as necessary skills.« less

A Case for Culturally Relevant Teaching in Science Education and Lessons Learned for Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mensah, Felicia Moore

2011-01-01

In this article, the researcher discusses three elementary pre-service teachers' experiences in co-planning and co-teaching a Pollution Unit in a 4th-5th grade science classroom in New York City. The study makes use of microteaching papers, lesson plans, researcher classroom observations, interviews, and informal conversations to elicit lessons…

Assessing Student Knowledge of Chemistry and Climate Science Concepts Associated with Climate Change: Resources to Inform Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Versprille, Ashley; Zabih, Adam; Holme, Thomas A.; McKenzie, Lallie; Mahaffy, Peter; Martin, Brian; Towns, Marcy

2017-01-01

Climate change is one of the most critical problems facing citizens today. Chemistry faculty are presented with the problem of making general chemistry content simultaneously relevant and interesting. Using climate science to teach chemistry allows faculty to help students learn chemistry content in a rich context. Concepts related to…

The visualization and availability of experimental research data at Elsevier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keall, Bethan

2014-05-01

In the digital age, the visualization and availability of experimental research data is an increasingly prominent aspect of the research process and of the scientific output that researchers generate. We expect that the importance of data will continue to grow, driven by technological advancements, requirements from funding bodies to make research data available, and a developing research data infrastructure that is supported by data repositories, science publishers, and other stakeholders. Elsevier is actively contributing to these efforts, for example by setting up bidirectional links between online articles on ScienceDirect and relevant data sets on trusted data repositories. A key aspect of Elsevier's "Article of the Future" program, these links enrich the online article and make it easier for researchers to find relevant data and articles and help place data in the right context for re-use. Recently, we have set up such links with some of the leading data repositories in Earth Sciences, including the British Geological Survey, Integrated Earth Data Applications, the UK Natural Environment Research Council, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory DAAC. Building on these links, Elsevier has also developed a number of data integration and visualization tools, such as an interactive map viewer that displays the locations of relevant data from PANGAEA next to articles on ScienceDirect. In this presentation we will give an overview of these and other capabilities of the Article of the Future, focusing on how they help advance communication of research in the digital age.

The borderlands between science and philosophy: an introduction.

PubMed

Pigliucci, Massimo

2008-03-01

Science and philosophy have a very long history, dating back at least to the 16th and 17th centuries, when the first scientist-philosophers, such as Bacon, Galilei, and Newton, were beginning the process of turning natural philosophy into science. Contemporary relationships between the two fields are still to some extent marked by the distrust that maintains the divide between the so-called "two cultures." An increasing number of philosophers, however, are making conceptual contributions to sciences ranging from quantum mechanics to evolutionary biology, and a few scientists are conducting research relevant to classically philosophical fields of inquiry, such as consciousness and moral decision-making. This article will introduce readers to the borderlands between science and philosophy, beginning with a brief description of what philosophy of science is about, and including a discussion of how the two disciplines can fruitfully interact not only at the level of scholarship, but also when it comes to controversies surrounding public understanding of science.

Do High-School Students' Perceptions of Science Change When Addressed Directly by Researchers?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simonneaux, Laurence; Albe, Virginie; Ducamp, Christine; Simonneaux, Jean

2005-01-01

The Université des Lycéens (University of High-School Students) was set up in France in order to make scientific knowledge more relevant to students and to combat a growing lack of interest in science among students. The scheme involves a series of lectures to students by scientists, each followed by a debate. The organisers hope that putting…

Mathematics Fitness.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trezise, Kathleen A.

1998-01-01

Students receiving mathematics instruction relevant to life will understand that mathematics is part of the real world and not just another school subject. Presents an activity that integrates rational numbers with health-related science content as students collect data and engage in decision making. (ASK)

Science and Technology Education in the STES Context in Primary Schools: What Should It Take?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zoller, Uri

2011-10-01

Striving for sustainability requires a paradigm shift in conceptualization, thinking, research and education, particularly concerning the science-technology-environment-society (STES) interfaces. Consequently, `STES literacy' requires the development of students' question asking, critical, evaluative system thinking, decision making and problem solving capabilities, in this context, via innovative implementable higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS)-promoting teaching, assessment and learning strategies. The corresponding paradigms shift in science and technology education, such as from algorithmic teaching to HOCS-promoting learning is unavoidable, since it reflects the social pressure, worldwide, towards more accountable socially- and environmentally-responsible sustainable development. Since most of the STES- and, recently STEM (science-technology-engineering-mathematics)-related research in science education has been focused on secondary and tertiary education, it is vital to demonstrate the relevance of this multifaceted research to the science and technology teaching in primary schools. Our longitudinal STES education-related research and curriculum development point to the very little contribution, if any, of the traditional science teaching to "know", to the development of students' HOCS capabilities. On the other hand, there appears to be a `general agreement', that the contemporary dominant lower-order cognitive skills (LOCS) teaching and assessment strategies applied in science and technology education are, in fact, restraining the natural curiosity and creativity of primary school (and younger?) pupils/children. Since creative thinking as well as evaluative system thinking, decision making, problem solving and … transfer constitute an integral part of the HOCS conceptual framework, the appropriateness of "HOCS promoting" teaching, and the relevance of science and technology, to elementary education in the STES context, is apparent. Therefore, our overriding guiding purpose was to provide any evidence-based research to the vital LOCS-to-HOCS paradigm shift in STES education. The findings of, and conclusions derived from our longitudinal research on HOCS development within STES-oriented and traditional education, suggest that both—science and technology education (STE) and STES education—are relevant to primary school education. Based on this, what it should take to insure success in this context, is thoroughly discussed.

Humane Education: Science, Technology, and Society in the English Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Emeigh, Tonya Huber

1988-01-01

Presents "Beastly Thoughts," a holistic writing module designed to involve students in decision-making processes about socially relevant issues regarding animals. Provides 48 activities for investigation and lists 33 references for possible book reviews. Includes 38 references. (MVL)

Controversy as a Blind Spot in Teaching Nature of Science. Why the Range of Different Positions Concerning Nature of Science Should Be an Issue in the Science Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kötter, Mario; Hammann, Marcus

2017-07-01

In this article, the argument is put forth that controversies about the scope and limits of science should be considered in Nature of Science (NOS) teaching. Reference disciplines for teaching NOS are disciplines, which reflect upon science, like philosophy of science, history of science, and sociology of science. The culture of these disciplines is characterized by controversy rather than unified textbook knowledge. There is common agreement among educators of the arts and humanities that controversies in the reference disciplines should be represented in education. To teach NOS means to adopt a reflexive perspective on science. Therefore, we suggest that controversies within and between the reference disciplines are relevant for NOS teaching and not only the NOS but about NOS should be taught, too. We address the objections that teaching about NOS is irrelevant for real life and too demanding for students. First, we argue that science-reflexive meta-discourses are relevant for students as future citizens because the discourses occur publicly in the context of sociopolitical disputes. Second, we argue that it is in fact necessary to reduce the complexity of the above-mentioned discourses and that this is indeed possible, as it has been done with other reflexive elements in science education. In analogy to the German construct Bewertungskompetenz (which means the competency to make informed ethical decisions in scientific contexts), we suggest epistemic competency as a goal for NOS teaching. In order to do so, science-reflexive controversies must be simplified and attitudes toward science must be considered. Discourse on the scientific status of potential pseudoscience may serve as an authentic and relevant context for teaching the controversial nature of reflexion on science.

Identifying climate risk perceptions, information needs, and barriers to information exchange among public land managers.

PubMed

Peters, Casey B; Schwartz, Mark W; Lubell, Mark N

2018-03-01

Meeting ecosystem management challenges posed by climate change requires building effective communication channels among researchers, planners and practitioners to focus research on management issues requiring new knowledge. We surveyed resource managers within two regions of the western United States regions to better understand perceived risks and vulnerabilities associated with climate change and barriers to obtaining and using relevant climate science information in making ecosystem management decisions. We sought to understand what types of climate science information resource managers find most valuable, and the formats in which they prefer to receive climate science information. We found broad concern among natural resource managers in federal agencies that climate change will make it more difficult for them to achieve their management goals. Primary barriers to incorporating climate science into planning are distributed among challenges identifying, receiving, and interpreting appropriate science and a lack of direction provided by agency leadership needed to meaningfully use this emerging science in resource planning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Promoting interest and performance in high school science classes.

PubMed

Hulleman, Chris S; Harackiewicz, Judith M

2009-12-04

We tested whether classroom activities that encourage students to connect course materials to their lives will increase student motivation and learning. We hypothesized that this effect will be stronger for students who have low expectations of success. In a randomized field experiment with high school students, we found that a relevance intervention, which encouraged students to make connections between their lives and what they were learning in their science courses, increased interest in science and course grades for students with low success expectations. The results have implications for the development of science curricula and theories of motivation.

Connecting Inquiry and Values in Science Education. An Approach Based on John Dewey's Philosophy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Eun Ah; Brown, Matthew J.

2018-03-01

Conducting scientific inquiry is expected to help students make informed decisions; however, how exactly it can help is rarely explained in science education standards. According to classroom studies, inquiry that students conduct in science classes seems to have little effect on their decision-making. Predetermined values play a large role in students' decision-making, but students do not explore these values or evaluate whether they are appropriate to the particular issue they are deciding, and they often ignore relevant scientific information. We explore how to connect inquiry and values, and how this connection can contribute to informed decision-making based on John Dewey's philosophy. Dewey argues that scientific inquiry should include value judgments and that conducting inquiry can improve the ability to make good value judgments. Value judgment is essential to informed, rational decision-making, and Dewey's ideas can explain how conducting inquiry can contribute to make an informed decision through value judgment. According to Dewey, each value judgment during inquiry is a practical judgment guiding action, and students can improve their value judgments by evaluating their actions during scientific inquiry. Thus, we suggest that students need an opportunity to explore values through scientific inquiry and that practicing value judgment will help informed decision-makings.

Facing Climate Change: Connecting Coastal Communities with Place-Based Ocean Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pelz, M.; Dewey, R. K.; Hoeberechts, M.; McLean, M. A.; Brown, J. C.; Ewing, N.; Riddell, D. J.

2016-12-01

As coastal communities face a wide range of environmental changes, including threats from climate change, real-time data from cabled observatories can be used to support community members in making informed decisions about their coast and marine resources. Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) deploys and operates an expanding network of community observatories in the Arctic and coastal British Columbia, which enable communities to monitor real-time and historical data from the local marine environment. Community observatories comprise an underwater cabled seafloor platform and shore station equipped with a variety of sensors that collect environmental data 24/7. It is essential that data being collected by ONC instruments are relevant to community members and can contribute to priorities identified within the community. Using a community-based science approach, ONC is engaging local parties at all stages of each project from location planning, to instrument deployment, to data analysis. Alongside the science objectives, place-based educational programming is being developed with local educators and students. As coastal populations continue to grow and our use of and impacts on the ocean increase, it is vital that global citizens develop an understanding that the health of the ocean reflects the health of the planet. This presentation will focus on programs developed by ONC emphasizing the connection to place and local relevance with an emphasis on Indigenous knowledge. Building programs which embrace multiple perspectives is effective both in making ocean science more relevant to Indigenous students and in linking place-based knowledge to ocean science. The inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge into science-based monitoring programs also helps develop a more complete understanding of local conditions. We present a case study from the Canadian Arctic, in which ONC is working with Inuit community members to develop a snow and ice monitoring program to assist with predictions and modelling of sea-ice.

Kindergarten Monets

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dionne, Suzanne

2012-01-01

Integrating art with literature and science enhances students' learning and retention. Whenever possible, the introduction of the author's art lessons include a relevant artist, such as Claude Monet. In this article, kindergartners paint a pond and learn how to make water lilies using colored tissue-paper squares. (Contains 4 resources.)

Teaching Psychology for Sustainability: The Why and How

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koger, Susan M.; Scott, Britain A.

2016-01-01

The behavioral sciences can make vital contributions to environmental sustainability efforts, as relevant basic and applied psychological research has grown considerably over the past dozen years. Recently, conservation biologists, environmental policy makers, and other experts have recognized the importance of engaging with experts on human…

Why the Difference Between Explanation and Argument Matters to Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brigandt, Ingo

2016-05-01

Contributing to the recent debate on whether or not explanations ought to be differentiated from arguments, this article argues that the distinction matters to science education. I articulate the distinction in terms of explanations and arguments having to meet different standards of adequacy. Standards of explanatory adequacy are important because they correspond to what counts as a good explanation in a science classroom, whereas a focus on evidence-based argumentation can obscure such standards of what makes an explanation explanatory. I provide further reasons for the relevance of not conflating explanations with arguments (and having standards of explanatory adequacy in view). First, what guides the adoption of the particular standards of explanatory adequacy that are relevant in a scientific case is the explanatory aim pursued in this context. Apart from explanatory aims being an important aspect of the nature of science, including explanatory aims in classroom instruction also promotes students seeing explanations as more than facts, and engages them in developing explanations as responses to interesting explanatory problems. Second, it is of relevance to science curricula that science aims at intervening in natural processes, not only for technological applications, but also as part of experimental discovery. Not any argument enables intervention in nature, as successful intervention specifically presupposes causal explanations. Students can fruitfully explore in the classroom how an explanatory account suggests different options for intervention.

Enhancing the Popularity and the Relevance of Science Teaching in Portuguese Science Classes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galvão, Cecília; Reis, Pedro; Freire, Sofia; Almeida, Paulo

2011-11-01

PARSEL Project emerged from the urgent need to overcome the problem of lack of scientific literacy in the population, which should be a priority in a society where science occupies a central place. Indeed, nowadays for any citizen to participate in a responsible and informed way in society he has to be scientifically acknowledgeable. Nevertheless, not only are scientific levels low in the general population, but also there is an increasing number of students who avoid science and technology courses and related professions. Within this context, PARSEL aims at raising science and scientific courses' popularity and relevancy as well as at enacting teachers' professional development. In order to achieve these goals, the PARSEL group developed 54 pan-European modules, which were tested and evaluated by several teachers in several European countries and Israel. Teachers maintained a close relationship with the university, were highly encouraged to appropriate the modules and to adapt them to their local conditions and, also to discuss and share their experiences. In Portugal, modules were tested by a group of eight teachers, and their students. This paper presents data concerning teachers' evaluation. Data was collected by means of interviews, observation and written documents and reveals that teachers positively evaluated PARSEL's impact on their own professional development. Furthermore, they considered modules as well as the teaching-learning approach essential for making science learning relevant and popular for their students.

Headlines: Planet Earth: Improving Climate Literacy with Short Format News Videos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tenenbaum, L. F.; Kulikov, A.; Jackson, R.

2012-12-01

One of the challenges of communicating climate science is the sense that climate change is remote and unconnected to daily life--something that's happening to someone else or in the future. To help face this challenge, NASA's Global Climate Change website http://climate.nasa.gov has launched a new video series, "Headlines: Planet Earth," which focuses on current climate news events. This rapid-response video series uses 3D video visualization technology combined with real-time satellite data and images, to throw a spotlight on real-world events.. The "Headlines: Planet Earth" news video products will be deployed frequently, ensuring timeliness. NASA's Global Climate Change Website makes extensive use of interactive media, immersive visualizations, ground-based and remote images, narrated and time-lapse videos, time-series animations, and real-time scientific data, plus maps and user-friendly graphics that make the scientific content both accessible and engaging to the public. The site has also won two consecutive Webby Awards for Best Science Website. Connecting climate science to current real-world events will contribute to improving climate literacy by making climate science relevant to everyday life.

Cognitive neuroscience in forensic science: understanding and utilizing the human element

PubMed Central

Dror, Itiel E.

2015-01-01

The human element plays a critical role in forensic science. It is not limited only to issues relating to forensic decision-making, such as bias, but also relates to most aspects of forensic work (some of which even take place before a crime is ever committed or long after the verification of the forensic conclusion). In this paper, I explicate many aspects of forensic work that involve the human element and therefore show the relevance (and potential contribution) of cognitive neuroscience to forensic science. The 10 aspects covered in this paper are proactive forensic science, selection during recruitment, training, crime scene investigation, forensic decision-making, verification and conflict resolution, reporting, the role of the forensic examiner, presentation in court and judicial decisions. As the forensic community is taking on the challenges introduced by the realization that the human element is critical for forensic work, new opportunities emerge that allow for considerable improvement and enhancement of the forensic science endeavour. PMID:26101281

Cognitive neuroscience in forensic science: understanding and utilizing the human element.

PubMed

Dror, Itiel E

2015-08-05

The human element plays a critical role in forensic science. It is not limited only to issues relating to forensic decision-making, such as bias, but also relates to most aspects of forensic work (some of which even take place before a crime is ever committed or long after the verification of the forensic conclusion). In this paper, I explicate many aspects of forensic work that involve the human element and therefore show the relevance (and potential contribution) of cognitive neuroscience to forensic science. The 10 aspects covered in this paper are proactive forensic science, selection during recruitment, training, crime scene investigation, forensic decision-making, verification and conflict resolution, reporting, the role of the forensic examiner, presentation in court and judicial decisions. As the forensic community is taking on the challenges introduced by the realization that the human element is critical for forensic work, new opportunities emerge that allow for considerable improvement and enhancement of the forensic science endeavour. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Meeting the challenge of policy-relevant science: lessons from a water resource project

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lamb, Berton L.

1986-01-01

Water resource scientists face complex tasks in evaluating aspects of water projects, but relatively few assessment procedures have been applied and accepted as standard applications. Decision-makers often rely on environmental assessments to evaluate the value and operation of projects. There is often confusion about scientists' role in policy decisions. The scientist can affect policy-making as an expert withess, an advocate or a surrogate. By understanding the policy process, scientists can make their work more “policy relevant.” Using the Terror Lake hydro project in Alaska as a guide, three lessons are discussed: (1) not all problems are able to be solved with technology; (2) policy-relevant technology is rarely imposed on a problem; and (3) the scientist need not just react to the policy process, but can have an impact on how that process unfolds.

Creating alternatives in science

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Traditional scientist training at the PhD level does not prepare students to be competitive in biotechnology or other non-academic science careers. Some universities have developed biotechnology-relevant doctoral programmes, but most have not. Forming a life science career club makes a statement to university administrators that it is time to rework the curriculum to include biotechnology-relevant training. A career club can supplement traditional PhD training by introducing students to available career choices, help them develop a personal network and teach the business skills that they will need to be competitive in science outside of academia. This paper is an instructional guide designed to help students create a science career club at their own university. These suggestions are based on the experience gained in establishing such a club for the Graduate School at the University of Colorado Denver. We describe the activities that can be offered, the job descriptions for the offices required and potential challenges. With determination, a creative spirit, and the guidance of this paper, students should be able to greatly increase awareness of science career options, and begin building the skills necessary to become competitive in non-academic science. PMID:20161069

Game Theory .net.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shor, Mikhael

2003-01-01

States making game theory relevant and accessible to students is challenging. Describes the primary goal of GameTheory.net is to provide interactive teaching tools. Indicates the site strives to unite educators from economics, political and computer science, and ecology by providing a repository of lecture notes and tests for courses using…

Bridge over troubled waters: A Synthesis Session to connect scientific and decision making sectors

EPA Science Inventory

Lack of access to relevant scientific data has limited decision makers from incorporating scientific information into their management and policy schemes. Yet, there is increasing interest among decision makers and scientists to integrate coastal and marine science into the polic...

Closing the chasm between research and practice: evidence of and for change.

PubMed

Green, Lawrence W

2014-04-01

The usual remedy suggested for bridging the science-to-practice gap is to improve the efficiency of disseminating the evidence-based practices to practitioners. This reflection on the gap takes the position that it is the relevance and fit of the evidence with the majority of practices that limit its applicability and application in health promotion and related behavioural, community and population-level interventions where variations in context, values and norms make uniform interventions inappropriate. To make the evidence more relevant and actionable to practice settings and populations will require reforms at many points in the research-to-practice pipeline. These points in the pipeline are described and remedies for them suggested.

Faster, Better, Cheaper: A ZERODUR® low-expansion, light-weight present path toward affordable spaceborne telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hull, Anthony B.; Westerhoff, Thomas

2014-06-01

For competed missions, payload costs are often the discriminate of whether or not outstanding science can be selected to fly. Optical Telescope Assemblies (OTAs) encompass a significant fraction of the payload cost, and mirror aperture and stability are usually are key to the science merit. The selection of the primary mirror approach drives architecture decisions for the rest of the OTA and even payload. We look at the ways OTA architecture is affected by the PM selection, and specifically at the benefits of selecting a low expansion material. We will also review recent advances in ZERODUR® fabrication which make this low-expansion material relevant in situations where affordable, lightweight mirrors can enable the apertures needed for science merit. Extreme Lightweight ZERODUR® Mirrors (ELZM) are available in apertures from 0.3m to over 4m. SCHOTT has recently demonstrated a relevant 1.2m ELZM substrate.

Communicating the Needs of Climate Change Policy Makers to Scientists

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Molly E.; Escobar, Vanessa M.; Lovell, Heather

2012-01-01

This chapter will describe the challenges that earth scientists face in developing science data products relevant to decision maker and policy needs, and will describe strategies that can improve the two-way communication between the scientist and the policy maker. Climate change policy and decision making happens at a variety of scales - from local government implementing solar homes policies to international negotiations through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Scientists can work to provide data at these different scales, but if they are not aware of the needs of decision makers or understand what challenges the policy maker is facing, they are likely to be less successful in influencing policy makers as they wished. This is because the science questions they are addressing may be compelling, but not relevant to the challenges that are at the forefront of policy concerns. In this chapter we examine case studies of science-policy partnerships, and the strategies each partnership uses to engage the scientist at a variety of scales. We examine three case studies: the global Carbon Monitoring System pilot project developed by NASA, a forest biomass mapping effort for Silvacarbon project, and a forest canopy cover project being conducted for forest management in Maryland. In each of these case studies, relationships between scientists and policy makers were critical for ensuring the focus of the science as well as the success of the decision-making.

A relevancy algorithm for curating earth science data around phenomenon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maskey, Manil; Ramachandran, Rahul; Li, Xiang; Weigel, Amanda; Bugbee, Kaylin; Gatlin, Patrick; Miller, J. J.

2017-09-01

Earth science data are being collected for various science needs and applications, processed using different algorithms at multiple resolutions and coverages, and then archived at different archiving centers for distribution and stewardship causing difficulty in data discovery. Curation, which typically occurs in museums, art galleries, and libraries, is traditionally defined as the process of collecting and organizing information around a common subject matter or a topic of interest. Curating data sets around topics or areas of interest addresses some of the data discovery needs in the field of Earth science, especially for unanticipated users of data. This paper describes a methodology to automate search and selection of data around specific phenomena. Different components of the methodology including the assumptions, the process, and the relevancy ranking algorithm are described. The paper makes two unique contributions to improving data search and discovery capabilities. First, the paper describes a novel methodology developed for automatically curating data around a topic using Earth science metadata records. Second, the methodology has been implemented as a stand-alone web service that is utilized to augment search and usability of data in a variety of tools.

Reality is broken to be rebuilt: how a gamer's mindset can show science educators new ways of contribution to science and world?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farhangi, Sanaz

2012-12-01

This paper presents a review of Jane McGonigal's book, "Reality is broken" (Reality is broken: why games make us better and how they can change the world. Penguin Press, New York, 2011). As the book subtitle suggests it is a book about "why games make us better and how they can change the world", written by a specialist in computer game design. I will try to show the relevance this book might have to science educators through emphasizing the points that the author offers as the fixes to rebuild reality on the image of gaming world. Using cultural-historical activity theory, I will explore how taking up a gamer mindset can challenge one to consider shortcomings in current approaches to the activity of teaching-learning science and how using this mindset can open our minds to think of new ways of engaging in the activity of doing science. I hope this review will encourage educators to explore the worldview presented in the book and use it to transform our thinking about science education.

Science as experience, exploration, and experiments: elementary teachers' notions of `doing science'

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, Ashley N.; Luna, Melissa J.; Bernstein, Malayna B.

2017-11-01

Much of the literature on science teaching suggests that elementary teachers lack relevant prior experiences with science. This study begins to reframe the deficit approach to research in science teaching by privileging the experiences elementary teachers have had with science - both in and out of schools - throughout their lives. Our work uses identity as a lens to examine the complexities of elementary teachers' narrative accounts of their experiences with science over the course of their lives. Our findings identify components of teachers' science-related experiences in order to lay the groundwork for making connections between teachers' personal experiences and professional practice. This work demonstrates that teachers' storied lives are important for educational researchers and teacher educators, as they reveal elements of teaching knowledge that may be productive and resourceful for refining teachers' science practice.

Cognitive Phenotypes and the Evolution of Animal Decisions.

PubMed

Mendelson, Tamra C; Fitzpatrick, Courtney L; Hauber, Mark E; Pence, Charles H; Rodríguez, Rafael L; Safran, Rebecca J; Stern, Caitlin A; Stevens, Jeffrey R

2016-11-01

Despite the clear fitness consequences of animal decisions, the science of animal decision making in evolutionary biology is underdeveloped compared with decision science in human psychology. Specifically, the field lacks a conceptual framework that defines and describes the relevant components of a decision, leading to imprecise language and concepts. The 'judgment and decision-making' (JDM) framework in human psychology is a powerful tool for framing and understanding human decisions, and we apply it here to components of animal decisions, which we refer to as 'cognitive phenotypes'. We distinguish multiple cognitive phenotypes in the context of a JDM framework and highlight empirical approaches to characterize them as evolvable traits. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Biology in the Agriculture Classroom: A Descriptive Comparative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Despain, Deric; North, Teresa; Warnick, Brian K.; Baggaley, John

2016-01-01

Agricultural education can take scientific topics to higher levels, emphasize scientific concepts, involve hands-on learning, and develop interrelationships with the other sciences, thus making the living and non-living world around them relevant for students, potentially supporting a STEM curriculum. As such, in 1996, Utah deemed agricultural…

The Importance of Engaging Pupils Actively in Demonstrations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suomela, Liisa; Juuti, Kalle; Ahtee, Maija

2013-01-01

Demonstrating is a traditional method in teaching science that can raise interest and encourage pupils to think about a topic. While demonstrating, the teacher can focus the pupils' attention on the relevant facts and introduce scientific principles and concepts. Through discussion and actively making observations and inferences, rather than…

Federal Criteria for Studies Grow

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sparks, Sarah D.

2010-01-01

The author reports on the U.S. Department of Education's "What Works Clearinghouse" that goes beyond "gold standard" research and sets standards for accepting other types of studies. As part of the Institute of Education Sciences' push to make research more relevant to educators, the federal clearinghouse has devised standards by which it can…

Considerations for Teaching Integrated STEM Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stohlmann, Micah; Moore, Tamara J.; Roehrig, Gillian H.

2012-01-01

Quality Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education is vital for the future success of students. Integrated STEM education is one way to make learning more connected and relevant for students. There is a need for further research and discussion on the knowledge, experiences, and background that teachers need to effectively…

Scientific Aspects of Leonardo da Vinci's Drawings: An Interdisciplinary Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Struthers, Sally A.

While interdisciplinary courses can help demonstrate the relevance of learning to students and reinforce education from different fields, they can be difficult to implement and are often not cost effective. An interdisciplinary art history course at Ohio's Sinclair Community College incorporates science into the art history curriculum, making use…

Integrating Land Cover Modeling and Adaptive Management to Conserve Endangered Species and Reduce Catastrophic Fire Risk

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Breininger, David; Duncan, Brean; Eaton, Mitchell; Johnson, Fred; Nichols, James

2014-01-01

Land cover modeling is used to inform land management, but most often via a two-step process where science informs how management alternatives can influence resources and then decision makers can use this to make decisions. A more efficient process is to directly integrate science and decision making, where science allows us to learn to better accomplish management objectives and is developed to address specific decisions. Co-development of management and science is especially productive when decisions are complicated by multiple objectives and impeded by uncertainty. Multiple objectives can be met by specification of tradeoffs, and relevant uncertainty can be addressed through targeted science (i.e., models and monitoring). We describe how to integrate habitat and fuels monitoring with decision making focused on dual objectives of managing for endangered species and minimizing catastrophic fire risk. Under certain conditions, both objectives might be achieved by a similar management policy, but habitat trajectories suggest tradeoffs. Knowledge about system responses to actions can be informed by applying competing management actions to different land units in the same system state and by ideas about fire behavior. Monitoring and management integration is important to optimize state-specific management decisions and increase knowledge about system responses. We believe this approach has broad utility for and cover modeling programs intended to inform decision making.

Experiment-o-mania

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drndarski, Marina

2015-04-01

Every 21st century student is expected to develop science literacy skills. As this is not part of Serbian national curriculum yet, we decided to introduce it with this project. Experiment-o-mania provides students to experience science in different and exciting way. It makes opportunity for personalized learning offering space and time to ask (why, where, how, what if) and to try. Therefore, we empower young people with skills of experimenting, and they love science back. They ask questions, make hypothesis, make problems and solve them, make mistakes, discuss about the results. Subsequently this raises the students' interest for school curriculum. This vision of science teaching is associated with inquiry-based learning. Experiment-o-mania is the unique and recognizable teaching methodology for the elementary school Drinka Pavlović, Belgrade, Serbia. Experiment-o-mania implies activities throughout the school year. They are held on extra class sessions, through science experiments, science projects or preparations for School's Days of science. Students learn to ask questions, make observations, classify data, communicate ideas, conduct experiments, analyse results and make conclusions. All science teachers participate in designing activities and experiments for students in Experiment-o-mania teaching method. But they are not alone. Teacher of fine arts, English teachers and others also take part. Students have their representatives in this team, too. This is a good way to blend knowledge among different school subject and popularize science in general. All the experiments are age appropriate and related to real life situations, local community, society and the world. We explore Fibonacci's arrays, saving energy, solar power, climate change, environmental problems, pollution, daily life situations in the country or worldwide. We introduce great scientists as Nikola Tesla, Milutin Milanković and sir Isaac Newton. We celebrate all relevant international days, weeks, months or years (this year, 2015. the students will prepare opera science for celebrate the International Year of Light and International Year of Soils). Experiment-o-mania makes science teaching and learning exciting for teachers as well as for students. The acquisition of this kind of teaching method (and its frequency) empowers students and become self-regulated learners, independent, to creatively solve problems, to innovate, to truly understand and appreciate science and to better understand themselves and the world around them.

Clinical Correlations as a Tool in Basic Science Medical Education

PubMed Central

Klement, Brenda J.; Paulsen, Douglas F.; Wineski, Lawrence E.

2016-01-01

Clinical correlations are tools to assist students in associating basic science concepts with a medical application or disease. There are many forms of clinical correlations and many ways to use them in the classroom. Five types of clinical correlations that may be embedded within basic science courses have been identified and described. (1) Correlated examples consist of superficial clinical information or stories accompanying basic science concepts to make the information more interesting and relevant. (2) Interactive learning and demonstrations provide hands-on experiences or the demonstration of a clinical topic. (3) Specialized workshops have an application-based focus, are more specialized than typical laboratory sessions, and range in complexity from basic to advanced. (4) Small-group activities require groups of students, guided by faculty, to solve simple problems that relate basic science information to clinical topics. (5) Course-centered problem solving is a more advanced correlation activity than the others and focuses on recognition and treatment of clinical problems to promote clinical reasoning skills. Diverse teaching activities are used in basic science medical education, and those that include clinical relevance promote interest, communication, and collaboration, enhance knowledge retention, and help develop clinical reasoning skills. PMID:29349328

Policy-Led Comparative Environmental Risk Assessment of Genetically Modified Crops: Testing for Increased Risk Rather Than Profiling Phenotypes Leads to Predictable and Transparent Decision-Making

PubMed Central

Raybould, Alan; Macdonald, Phil

2018-01-01

We describe two contrasting methods of comparative environmental risk assessment for genetically modified (GM) crops. Both are science-based, in the sense that they use science to help make decisions, but they differ in the relationship between science and policy. Policy-led comparative risk assessment begins by defining what would be regarded as unacceptable changes when the use a particular GM crop replaces an accepted use of another crop. Hypotheses that these changes will not occur are tested using existing or new data, and corroboration or falsification of the hypotheses is used to inform decision-making. Science-led comparative risk assessment, on the other hand, tends to test null hypotheses of no difference between a GM crop and a comparator. The variables that are compared may have little or no relevance to any previously stated policy objective and hence decision-making tends to be ad hoc in response to possibly spurious statistical significance. We argue that policy-led comparative risk assessment is the far more effective method. With this in mind, we caution that phenotypic profiling of GM crops, particularly with omics methods, is potentially detrimental to risk assessment. PMID:29755975

Meeting the challenge of policy-relevant science: lessons from a water resource project

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

Lamb, B.L.

Water resources scientists face complex tasks in evaluating aspects of water projects, but relatively few assessment procedures have been applied and accepted as standards applications. Decision-makers often rely on environmental assessments to evaluate the value and operation of projects. There is often confusion about scientists' role in policy decisions. The scientist can affect policy-making as an expert witness, an advocate or a surrogate. By understanding the policy process, scientists can make their work more policy relevant. Using the Terror Lake hydro project in Alaska as a guide, three lessons are discussed: (1) not all problems are able to be solvedmore » with technology; (2) policy-relevant technology is rarely imposed on a problem; and (3) the scientist need not just to react to the policy process, but can have an impact on how that process unfolds.« less

Linking science, public values, and decision-making: Case study development for public deliberations about climate change resilience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weller, N.; Bennett, I.; Bernstein, M.; Farooque, M.; Lloyd, J.; Lowenthal, C.; Sittenfeld, D.

2016-12-01

Actionable science seeks to align scientific inquiry with decision-making priorities to overcome rifts between scientific knowledge and the needs of decision makers. Combining actionable science with explorations of public values and priorities creates useful support for decision makers facing uncertainty, tradeoffs, and limited resources. As part of a broader project to create public forums about climate change resilience, we convened workshops with decision makers, resilience experts, and community stakeholders to discuss climate change resilience. Our goals were 1) to create case studies of resilience strategies for use in public deliberations at science museums across 8 U.S. cities; and 2) to build relationships with decision makers and stakeholders interested in these public deliberations. Prior to workshops, we created summaries of resilience strategies using academic literature, government assessments, municipal resilience plans, and conversations with workshop participants. Workshops began with example deliberation activities followed by semi-structured discussions of resilience strategies centered on 4 questions: 1) What are the key decisions to be made regarding each strategy? 2) What stakeholders and perspectives are relevant to each strategy? 3) What available data are relevant to each strategy? 4) What visualizations or other resources are useful for communicating things about each strategy? Workshops yielded actionable dialogue regarding issues of justice, feasibility, and the socio-ecological-technical systems impacted by climate change hazards and resilience strategies. For example, discussions of drought revealed systemic and individual-level challenges and opportunities; discussions of sea level rise included ways to account for the cultural significance of many coastal communities. The workshops provide a model for identifying decision-making priorities and tradeoffs and building partnerships among stakeholders, scientists, and decision makers.

Brain Science and International Nuclear Safeguards: Implications from Cognitive Science and Human Factors Research on the Provision and Use of Safeguards-Relevant Information in the Field

DOE PAGES

Gastelum, Zoe Nellie; Matzen, Laura E.; Smartt, Heidi A.; ...

2017-06-01

Today’s international nuclear safeguards inspectors have access to an increasing volume of supplemental information about the facilities under their purview, including commercial satellite imagery, nuclear trade data, open source information, and results from previous safeguards activities. In addition to completing traditional in-field safeguards activities, inspectors are now responsible for being able to act upon this growing corpus of supplemental safeguards-relevant data and for maintaining situational awareness of unusual activities taking place in their environment. However, cognitive science research suggests that maintaining too much information can be detrimental to a user’s understanding, and externalizing information (for example, to a mobile device)more » to reduce cognitive burden can decrease cognitive function related to memory, navigation, and attention. Given this dichotomy, how can international nuclear safeguards inspectors better synthesize information to enhance situational awareness, decision making, and performance in the field? This paper examines literature from the fields of cognitive science and human factors in the areas of wayfinding, situational awareness, equipment and technical assistance, and knowledge transfer, and describes the implications for the provision of, and interaction with, safeguards-relevant information for international nuclear safeguards inspectors working in the field.« less

Brain Science and International Nuclear Safeguards: Implications from Cognitive Science and Human Factors Research on the Provision and Use of Safeguards-Relevant Information in the Field

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

Gastelum, Zoe Nellie; Matzen, Laura E.; Smartt, Heidi A.

Today’s international nuclear safeguards inspectors have access to an increasing volume of supplemental information about the facilities under their purview, including commercial satellite imagery, nuclear trade data, open source information, and results from previous safeguards activities. In addition to completing traditional in-field safeguards activities, inspectors are now responsible for being able to act upon this growing corpus of supplemental safeguards-relevant data and for maintaining situational awareness of unusual activities taking place in their environment. However, cognitive science research suggests that maintaining too much information can be detrimental to a user’s understanding, and externalizing information (for example, to a mobile device)more » to reduce cognitive burden can decrease cognitive function related to memory, navigation, and attention. Given this dichotomy, how can international nuclear safeguards inspectors better synthesize information to enhance situational awareness, decision making, and performance in the field? This paper examines literature from the fields of cognitive science and human factors in the areas of wayfinding, situational awareness, equipment and technical assistance, and knowledge transfer, and describes the implications for the provision of, and interaction with, safeguards-relevant information for international nuclear safeguards inspectors working in the field.« less

"The first step is admitting you have a problem…": the process of advancing science communication in Landscape Conservation Cooperatives in Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buxbaum, T. M.; Trainor, S.; Warner, N.; Timm, K.

2015-12-01

Climate change is impacting ecological systems, coastal processes, and environmental disturbance regimes in Alaska, leading to a pressing need to communicate reliable scientific information about climate change, its impacts, and future projections for land and resource management and decision-making. However, little research has been done to dissect and analyze the process of making the results of scientific inquiry directly relevant and usable in resource management. Based within the Science Application division of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) are regional conservation science partnerships that provide scientific and technical expertise needed to support conservation planning at landscape scales and promote collaboration in defining shared conservation goals. The five LCCs with jurisdiction in Alaska recently held a training workshop with the goals of advancing staff understanding and skills related to science communication and translation. We report here preliminary results from analysis of workshop discussions and pre- and post- workshop interviews and surveys revealing expectations, assumptions, and mental models regarding science communication and the process of conducting use-inspired science. Generalizable conclusions can assist scientists and boundary organizations bridge knowledge gaps between science and resource management.

Science For Sendai - Bridging the gap between research and application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rees, J.

2015-12-01

Disasters have an enormous cost in lives and livelihoods, but the use of rigorous evidence-based scientific approaches to minimise their impact remains poor. Vast amounts of science which could be readily applied for disaster risk reduction (DRR) is under-utilised, if used at all. Previous international agreements have failed to change this picture, but there is a clear call from the international community that the 2015 Sendai framework should make a difference; it is thus re-appraising how to bridge the chasm that exists between DRR relevant scientists and potential users of their research. There is widespread recognition of the need for risk affected countries and communities to engage in science-based decision-making, but several barriers, such as a lack of infrastructure or necessary skills, institutions, and enforcement of science-based policies require significant attention. There are now incentives for governments to respond: the framework has science embedded throughout and it sets-out national targets against which science uptake can be monitored; similarly, widening access to insurance also demands sound science. Advances such as open-data and models, increasing computational capacity, expanding networks, evolving diverse mobile technologies and the other multiple facets of the big data agenda, also should drive change. So, how does the scientific community need to adapt? Whilst vast amounts of 'DRR-relevant' science has been produced, too little of it can be readily used in DRR science. Much remains highly disciplinary and focused on analysis of limited distributions or single processes with a small number of agents; by contrast real-world DRR problems are commonly complex, with multiple drivers and uncertainties. There is a major need for a trans-disciplinary DRR-focused risk research agenda to evolve. Not only do research funders need to develop and resource risk research, but researchers themselves need to identify that focussing on the bigger risk picture is commonly more important than addressing the traditional disciplinary topics that they have commonly engaged.

Making Time for Spacetime: The Story of a National Science Cafe Effort

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Redmond, Kendra; Chakrabarti, Anish

2012-03-01

Science Cafes are live and lively events that take place in casual settings such as coffeehouses or bars, are open to everyone, and feature an engaging conversation with a scientist about a compelling scientific topic. The Science Cafe movement in the United States is a grassroots effort to really engage the public in discussions about science and its relevance to society, inspired by the United Kingdom Cafe Scientifique organization. With support from NOVA and the related website sciencecafes.org, a number of Society of Physics Students chapters hosted local Cosmic Cafes (cosmic themed science cafes) in late 2011 and early 2012. This presentation will discuss the goals and models of the Science Cafe movement, the Cosmic Cafe effort, lessons learned, and how you can get involved.

Environmental health science at the U.S. Geological Survey

USGS Publications Warehouse

Buxton, Herbert T.; Bright, Patricia R.

2013-01-01

USGS environmental health science focuses on the environment-health interface. Research characterizes the processes that affect the interaction among the physical environment, the living environment, and people, as well as the factors that affect ecological and human exposure to disease agents and the resulting toxicologic or infectious disease. The mission of USGS in environmental health science is to contribute scientific information to environmental, natural resource, agricultural, and public-health managers, who use that information to support sound decisionmaking. Coordination with partners and stakeholders will enable USGS to focus on the highest priority environmental health issues, to make relevant, timely, and useable contributions, and to become a “partner of first choice” for environmental health science.

The adaptive use of recognition in group decision making.

PubMed

Kämmer, Juliane E; Gaissmaier, Wolfgang; Reimer, Torsten; Schermuly, Carsten C

2014-06-01

Applying the framework of ecological rationality, the authors studied the adaptivity of group decision making. In detail, they investigated whether groups apply decision strategies conditional on their composition in terms of task-relevant features. The authors focused on the recognition heuristic, so the task-relevant features were the validity of the group members' recognition and knowledge, which influenced the potential performance of group strategies. Forty-three three-member groups performed an inference task in which they had to infer which of two German companies had the higher market capitalization. Results based on the choice data support the hypothesis that groups adaptively apply the strategy that leads to the highest theoretically achievable performance. Time constraints had no effect on strategy use but did have an effect on the proportions of different types of arguments. Possible mechanisms underlying the adaptive use of recognition in group decision making are discussed. © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

From Understanding to Deference: Laypersons' and Medical Students' Views on Conflicts within Medicine

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bromme, Rainer; Thomm, Eva; Wolf, Veronika

2015-01-01

When making personally relevant decisions (e.g. on health-related issues), laypersons have to deal increasingly with science-based knowledge claims that are frequently not only inconsistent if not contradictory but also beyond their own everyday understanding. Nevertheless, they need to reason about these issues. The present interview study…

From Collections to Connections: Building a Revised Platform for Library and Information Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Audunson, Ragnar; Aabo, Svanhild

2013-01-01

Introduction: The paper discusses the often-repeated assertion that digitization makes libraries and librarians redundant by giving everyone access to the information they need without having to rely upon librarians as information middlemen. Method: Relevant articles both from research literature and from discussions in the public sphere…

Teachers in the desert: Creating ecological research opportunities for teachers and students on the US-Mexico border

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Considerable research provides evidence for the value of teaching science using enhanced context strategies. These strategies include making learning relevant to students by using real-world examples and problems as well as taking students out of the classroom to learn about the topic. Unfortunately...

Rocky Mountain Research Station: 2006 Research Accomplishments

Treesearch

Rick Fletcher

2007-01-01

The Rocky Mountain Research Station has a long and celebrated legacy of conducting relevant natural resources research throughout the Interior West and beyond. Land managers and planners regularly rely upon our science to help make wise resource decisions. Our niche among research organizations is distinct: mission-oriented, close to the customers, a reputation for...

Linking Science and Design and Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lunt, Julie; Lawrence, Liz

2010-01-01

Making connections between subjects to enhance learning and demonstrate relevance and application is not new, especially in primary education. Teaching through topics or themes has swung in and out of fashion and the use of literacy, numeracy and ICT skills across the curriculum is embedded in many schemes of work. However, the proposed New…

Philosophy and the front line of science.

PubMed

Pernu, Tuomas K

2008-03-01

According to one traditional view, empirical science is necessarily preceded by philosophical analysis. Yet the relevance of philosophy is often doubted by those engaged in empirical sciences. I argue that these doubts can be substantiated by two theoretical problems that the traditional conception of philosophy is bound to face. First, there is a strong normative etiology to philosophical problems, theories, and notions that is dfficult to reconcile with descriptive empirical study. Second, conceptual analysis (a role that is typically assigned to philosophy) seems to lose its object of study if it is granted that terms do not have purely conceptual meanings detached from their actual use in empirical sciences. These problems are particularly acute to the current naturalistic philosophy of science. I suggest a more concrete integration of philosophy and the sciences as a possible way of making philosophy of science have more impact.

Michael Faraday on the Learning of Science and Attitudes of Mind

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crawford, Elspeth

The paper makes use of Michael Faraday's ideas about learning, in particular his thoughts about attitudes to the unknowns of science and the development of an attitude which improves scientific decision-making. An invented scenario involving nursery school children demonstrates some attitudes displayed there. Discussion of the scenario and variation in possible outcomes suggests that Faraday's views are relevant to scientific learning in general. The main thesis of the paper is that it is central to learning in science to acknowledge that there is an inner struggle involved in facing unknowns, and that empathy with the fears and expectations of learners is an essential quality if genuinely scientific thought is to develop. It is suggested, following Faraday, that understanding our own feelings while we teach is a pre-requisite to enabling such empathy and that only then will we be in a position to evaluate accurately whether or not our pupils are thinking scientifically.

Understanding user needs for carbon monitoring information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duren, R. M.; Macauley, M.; Gurney, K. R.; Saatchi, S. S.; Woodall, C. W.; Larsen, K.; Reidmiller, D.; Hockstad, L.; Weitz, M.; Croes, B.; Down, A.; West, T.; Mercury, M.

2015-12-01

The objectives of the Understanding User Needs project for NASA's Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) program are to: 1) engage the user community and identify needs for policy-relevant carbon monitoring information, 2) evaluate current and planned CMS data products with regard to their value for decision making, and 3) explore alternative methods for visualizing and communicating carbon monitoring information and associated uncertainties to decision makers and other stakeholders. To meet these objectives and help establish a sustained link between science and decision-making we have established a multi-disciplinary team that combines expertise in carbon-cycle science, engineering, economics, and carbon management and policy. We will present preliminary findings regarding emerging themes and needs for carbon information that may warrant increased attention by the science community. We will also demonstrate a new web-based tool that offers a common framework for facilitating user evaluation of carbon data products from multiple CMS projects.

Do It Yourself (DIY) Earth Science Collaboratories Using Best Practices and Breakthrough Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stephan, E.

2017-12-01

The objective of published earth science study data results and literature on the Web should be to provide a means to integrate discoverable science resources through an open collaborative-Web. At the core of any open science collaborative infrastructure is the ability to discover, manage and ultimately use relevant data accessible to the collaboration. Equally important are the relationships between people, applications, services, and publications, which capture critical contextual knowledge that enable their effective use. While contributions of either irreproducible or costly data can be a great asset the inability of users being able to use the data intelligently or make sense of it, makes these investments not usable. An ability to describe ad-hoc discoverable usage methodologies, provide feedback to data producers, and identify and cite data in a systematic way by leveraging existing Web-enabled off the shelf technology is needed. Fortunately many break-through advancements in data publication best practices and government, open source, and commercial investments support consumers who can provide feedback, share experiences, and contribute back to the earth science ecosystem.

A Relevancy Algorithm for Curating Earth Science Data Around Phenomenon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maskey, Manil; Ramachandran, Rahul; Li, Xiang; Weigel, Amanda; Bugbee, Kaylin; Gatlin, Patrick; Miller, J. J.

2017-01-01

Earth science data are being collected for various science needs and applications, processed using different algorithms at multiple resolutions and coverages, and then archived at different archiving centers for distribution and stewardship causing difficulty in data discovery. Curation, which typically occurs in museums, art galleries, and libraries, is traditionally defined as the process of collecting and organizing information around a common subject matter or a topic of interest. Curating data sets around topics or areas of interest addresses some of the data discovery needs in the field of Earth science, especially for unanticipated users of data. This paper describes a methodology to automate search and selection of data around specific phenomena. Different components of the methodology including the assumptions, the process, and the relevancy ranking algorithm are described. The paper makes two unique contributions to improving data search and discovery capabilities. First, the paper describes a novel methodology developed for automatically curating data around a topic using Earthscience metadata records. Second, the methodology has been implemented as a standalone web service that is utilized to augment search and usability of data in a variety of tools.

Disassembling archeology, reassembling the modern world.

PubMed

Carruthers, William; Van Damme, Stéphane

2017-09-01

This article provides a substantive discussion of the relevance of the history of archeology to the history of science. At the same time, the article introduces the papers contained in this special issue as exemplars of this relevance. To make its case, the article moves through various themes in the history of archeology that overlap with key issues in the history of science. The article discusses the role and tension of regimes of science in antiquarian and archeological practices, and also considers issues of scale and place, particularly in relation to the field. Additionally, the piece attends to issues of professionalization and the constitution of an archeological public, at the same time as discussing issues of empire, colonialism, and the circulation of knowledge. Meanwhile, enriching discussions within and beyond the history of science, the article discusses the history of archeology and its relationship with museums, collecting, and material culture and materiality. Finally, the piece discusses the relationship of the history of archeology with wider discussions about scientific ethics. In conclusion, the article questions whether we should speak of 'the history of archeology' at all.

The case for policy-relevant conservation science.

PubMed

Rose, David C

2015-06-01

Drawing on the "evidence-based" (Sutherland et al. 2013) versus "evidence-informed" debate (Adams & Sandbrook 2013), which has become prominent in conservation science, I argue that science can be influential if it holds a dual reference (Lentsch & Weingart 2011) that contributes to the needs of policy makers whilst maintaining technical rigor. In line with such a strategy, conservation scientists are increasingly recognizing the usefulness of constructing narratives through which to enhance the influence of their evidence (Leslie et al. 2013; Lawton & Rudd 2014). Yet telling stories alone is rarely enough to influence policy; instead, these narratives must be policy relevant. To ensure that evidence is persuasive alongside other factors in a complex policy-making process, conservation scientists could follow 2 steps: reframe within salient political contexts and engage more productively in boundary work, which is defined as the ways in which scientists "construct, negotiate, and defend the boundary between science and policy" (Owens et al. 2006:640). These will both improve the chances of evidence-informed conservation policy. © 2015 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

Integrating land cover modeling and adaptive management to conserve endangered species and reduce catastrophic fire risk

USGS Publications Warehouse

Breininger, David; Duncan, Brean; Eaton, Mitchell J.; Johnson, Fred; Nichols, James

2014-01-01

Land cover modeling is used to inform land management, but most often via a two-step process, where science informs how management alternatives can influence resources, and then, decision makers can use this information to make decisions. A more efficient process is to directly integrate science and decision-making, where science allows us to learn in order to better accomplish management objectives and is developed to address specific decisions. Co-development of management and science is especially productive when decisions are complicated by multiple objectives and impeded by uncertainty. Multiple objectives can be met by the specification of tradeoffs, and relevant uncertainty can be addressed through targeted science (i.e., models and monitoring). We describe how to integrate habitat and fuel monitoring with decision-making focused on the dual objectives of managing for endangered species and minimizing catastrophic fire risk. Under certain conditions, both objectives might be achieved by a similar management policy; other conditions require tradeoffs between objectives. Knowledge about system responses to actions can be informed by developing hypotheses based on ideas about fire behavior and then applying competing management actions to different land units in the same system state. Monitoring and management integration is important to optimize state-specific management decisions and to increase knowledge about system responses. We believe this approach has broad utility and identifies a clear role for land cover modeling programs intended to inform decision-making.

Geohazards in the IYPE: An Example of a Holistic Approach to Achieving a Vision (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woodfork, L. D.; Eder, W.; Janoschek, W.

2009-12-01

The International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE), a triennium (2007 - 2009), is a joint initiative between UNESCO and the IUGS. The central year, 2008, was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly to be The International Year of Planet Earth (for complete details, visit www.yearofplanetearth.org). Two major foci comprise the IYPE: a science/research initiative on 10 broad, multidisciplinary, socially relevant programs, one of which was Hazards. The second was outreach/public education to make the science/research relevant to a broader audience, including the general public, and in particular, decision makers at all levels of government through the local, state/province, national, and international levels. The vision of IYPE was to make its subtitle, "Earth Sciences for Society," not just a slogan but an influential global reality. Geohazards, however defined, are pervasive global phenomena ranging from small nuisance situations, to those with significant financial considerations, to huge, catastrophic events involving enormous loss of life and tremendous financial loss. Clearly, to attempt to effectively deal with geohazards in modern society, we must (1) Maximize public awareness of the appreciation of the danger involved in various situations (2) Minimize the risk through appropriate public policy and personal responsibility (3) Mitigate the danger and damage that might occur despite our best efforts to accomplish (1) and (2). Over the past three years, the IYPE has pursued a holistic approach to dealing with geohazards, involving science/research and outreach/education through the activities of national committees for the IYPE in 80 countries around the globe. Now as the IYPE draws rapidly to a close at the end of this calendar year, we have accomplished much using this holistic approach toward our noble vision of making "Earth Sciences for Society" a reality. Although a significant record of accomplishment and a legacy of the IYPE remain, in my view, much still remains to be done. A global framework linking 400,000 geoscientists has been established, but the fulfillment of making "Earth Sciences for Society" remains a continuing challenge. I personally believe that follow-on opportunities provided by IYPE are obvious and should be pursued. We should not and cannot simply rest on our laurels. The IYPE has been a good start toward meeting challenges and opening future opportunities, so stay involved and remain a part of it.

The Upper San Pedro Partnership: A Case Study of Successful Strategies to Connect Science to Societal Needs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodrich, D. C.; Richter, H.; Varady, R.; Browning-Aiken, A.; Shuttleworth, J.

2006-12-01

The Upper San Pedro Partnership (USPP) (http://www.usppartnership.com/) has been in existence since 1998. Its purpose is to coordinate and cooperate in the implementation of comprehensive policies and projects to meet the long-term water needs of residents within the U.S. side of the basin and of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. The Partnership consists of 21 local, state, and Federal agencies, NGO's and a private water company. In 2004 it was recognized by Congress in Section 321 of Public Law 108-136 and required to make annual reports to Congress on its progress in bringing the basin water budget into balance by 2011. The Partnership is dedicated to science-based decision making. This presentation will provide an overview of the evolution of natural resources research in the binational (U.S.-Mexico) San Pedro Basin into a mature example of integrated science and decision making embodied in the USPP. It will discuss the transition through science and research for understanding; to science for addressing a need; to integrated policy development and science. At each stage the research conducted becomes more interdisciplinary, first across abiotic disciplines (hydrology, remote sensing, atmospheric science), then a merging of abiotic and biotic disciplines (adding ecology and plant physiology), and finally a further merging with the social sciences and policy and decision making for resource management. Federal, university, and NSF SAHRA Science and Technology Center research has been planned and conducted directly with the USPP. Because of the success the San Pedro has been designated as an operational HELP (Hydrology for the Environment, Life, and Policy) demonstration basin—the most advanced category. Lessons learned from this experience will be reviewed with the intent providing guidance to ensure that hydrologic and watershed research is socially and scientifically relevant and will directly address the needs of policy makers and resource managers. Additionally, the successful examples of science-society linkages can provide helpful models for basins, especially transnational basins, elsewhere.

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

PubMed

Van Oudenhove, Lukas; Cuypers, Stefaan

2014-05-01

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

Theoretical computer science and the natural sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marchal, Bruno

2005-12-01

I present some fundamental theorems in computer science and illustrate their relevance in Biology and Physics. I do not assume prerequisites in mathematics or computer science beyond the set N of natural numbers, functions from N to N, the use of some notational conveniences to describe functions, and at some point, a minimal amount of linear algebra and logic. I start with Cantor's transcendental proof by diagonalization of the non enumerability of the collection of functions from natural numbers to the natural numbers. I explain why this proof is not entirely convincing and show how, by restricting the notion of function in terms of discrete well defined processes, we are led to the non algorithmic enumerability of the computable functions, but also-through Church's thesis-to the algorithmic enumerability of partial computable functions. Such a notion of function constitutes, with respect to our purpose, a crucial generalization of that concept. This will make easy to justify deep and astonishing (counter-intuitive) incompleteness results about computers and similar machines. The modified Cantor diagonalization will provide a theory of concrete self-reference and I illustrate it by pointing toward an elementary theory of self-reproduction-in the Amoeba's way-and cellular self-regeneration-in the flatworm Planaria's way. To make it easier, I introduce a very simple and powerful formal system known as the Schoenfinkel-Curry combinators. I will use the combinators to illustrate in a more concrete way the notion introduced above. The combinators, thanks to their low-level fine grained design, will also make it possible to make a rough but hopefully illuminating description of the main lessons gained by the careful observation of nature, and to describe some new relations, which should exist between computer science, the science of life and the science of inert matter, once some philosophical, if not theological, hypotheses are made in the cognitive sciences. In the last section, I come back to self-reference and I give an exposition of its modal logics. This is used to show that theoretical computer science makes those “philosophical hypotheses” in theoretical cognitive science experimentally and mathematically testable.

Determining discourses: Constraints and resources influencing early career science teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grindstaff, Kelly E.

This study explores the thinking and practices of five early-career teachers of grades eight to ten science, in relation to their histories, schools, students, and larger cultural and political forces. All the teachers are young women, two in their fourth year of teaching, who teach together in an affluent suburb, along with one first-year teacher. The other two are first-year teachers who teach in an urban setting. All of these teachers most closely associated good science teaching with forming relationships with students. They filtered science content through a lens of relevance (mostly to everyday life) and interest for students. Thus they filtered science content through a commitment to serving students, which makes sense since I argue that the primary motivations for teaching had more to do with working with students and helping people than the disciplines of science. Thus, within the discourse of the supremacy of curriculum and the prevalence of testing, these teachers enact hybrid practices which focus on covering content -- to help ensure the success of students -- and on relevance and interest, which has more to do with teaching styles and personality than disciplines of science. Ideas of good teaching are not very focused on science, which contradicts the type of support they seek and utilize around science content. This presents a challenge to pre- and in-service education and support to question what student success means, what concern for students entails and how to connect caring and concern for students with science.

Pre-Service Teacher Scientific Behavior: Comparative Study of Paired Science Project Assignments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bulunuz, Mizrap; Tapan Broutin, Menekse Seden; Bulunuz, Nermin

2016-01-01

Problem Statement: University students usually lack the skills to rigorously define a multi-dimensional real-life problem and its limitations in an explicit, clear and testable way, which prevents them from forming a reliable method, obtaining relevant results and making balanced judgments to solve a problem. Purpose of the Study: The study…

Examining Curriculum Related Progress Using a Context-Based Test Instrument--A Comparison of Estonian Grade 10 and 11 Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soobard, R.; Rannikmae, M.

2015-01-01

This study was undertaken to investigate the progress in operational scientific literacy skills through demonstrating cognition associated with undertaking scientific processes. Scientific literacy is taken here to mean utilising science knowledge and skills, particularly with relevance to creative problem solving and making reasoned decisions in…

Reasoning about Benefits, Costs, and Risks of Chemical Substances: Mapping Different Levels of Sophistication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cullipher, S.; Sevian, H.; Talanquer, V.

2015-01-01

The ability to evaluate options and make informed decisions about problems in relevant contexts is a core competency in science education that requires the use of both domain-general and discipline-specific knowledge and reasoning strategies. In this study we investigated the implicit assumptions and modes of reasoning applied by individuals with…

Relationships between Conceptual Knowledge and Reasoning about Systems: Implications for Fostering Systems Thinking in Secondary Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lyons, Cheryl

2014-01-01

Reasoning about systems is necessary for understanding many modern issues that face society and is important for future scientists and all citizens. Systems thinking may allow students to make connections and identify common themes between seemingly different situations and phenomena, and is relevant to the focus on cross-cutting concepts in…

"You Hafta Push": Using Sapphire's Novel to Teach Introduction to American Government

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pappas, Christine

2007-01-01

Using fiction in the classroom can dramatize public policy issues and political science concepts, therefore, making them more real and relevant to students. Sapphire's 1996 novel "Push" puts a face on welfare, rape, incest, child abuse, educational inequalities, homophobia, and AIDS. I also use this novel to discuss the public policy process,…

Expanding Roles and Resources: Assessing the Collaboration between Florida Atlantic University Libraries and Taras Oceanographic Foundation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arrieta, Diane; Brunnick, Barbara; Plocharczyk, Leah

2015-01-01

As academic libraries struggle to remain relevant when technological advancements and electronic resources threaten to make them obsolete, libraries are learning to re-invent themselves by molding and adapting staff skills to cultivate innovative outreach programs. The Science Outreach Committee of the John D. MacArthur Campus library at Florida…

Geeksta Rap: An Example of the Utilization of Elements of Popular Culture in Science Education and Outreach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hall, F.; Otto, A.

2003-12-01

Science education and outreach efforts must compete for the attention of students in an environment filled with many distractions. Many of the most compelling of these distractions arise from popular culture. Rather than bemoaning this situation, we propose that we make use of some of those elements of popular culture which garner the most attention. In particular, we propose that we utilize the popularity of current hip-hop and rap music in science education and outreach efforts. To that end, we present some examples of what we call `geeksta rap' and discuss some of the considerations relevant for its preparation. We also discuss various uses of `geeksta rap' in science education and outreach.

Top-Down Proteomics and Farm Animal and Aquatic Sciences.

PubMed

Campos, Alexandre M O; de Almeida, André M

2016-12-21

Proteomics is a field of growing importance in animal and aquatic sciences. Similar to other proteomic approaches, top-down proteomics is slowly making its way within the vast array of proteomic approaches that researchers have access to. This opinion and mini-review article is dedicated to top-down proteomics and how its use can be of importance to animal and aquatic sciences. Herein, we include an overview of the principles of top-down proteomics and how it differs regarding other more commonly used proteomic methods, especially bottom-up proteomics. In addition, we provide relevant sections on how the approach was or can be used as a research tool and conclude with our opinions of future use in animal and aquatic sciences.

Teaching the science of learning.

PubMed

Weinstein, Yana; Madan, Christopher R; Sumeracki, Megan A

2018-01-01

The science of learning has made a considerable contribution to our understanding of effective teaching and learning strategies. However, few instructors outside of the field are privy to this research. In this tutorial review, we focus on six specific cognitive strategies that have received robust support from decades of research: spaced practice, interleaving, retrieval practice, elaboration, concrete examples, and dual coding. We describe the basic research behind each strategy and relevant applied research, present examples of existing and suggested implementation, and make recommendations for further research that would broaden the reach of these strategies.

Advancing Sustainable Bioenergy: Evolving Stakeholder Interests and the Relevance of Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Timothy Lawrence; Bielicki, Jeffrey M.; Dodder, Rebecca S.; Hilliard, Michael R.; Ozge Kaplan, P.; Andrew Miller, C.

2013-02-01

The sustainability of future bioenergy production rests on more than continual improvements in its environmental, economic, and social impacts. The emergence of new biomass feedstocks, an expanding array of conversion pathways, and expected increases in overall bioenergy production are connecting diverse technical, social, and policy communities. These stakeholder groups have different—and potentially conflicting—values and cultures, and therefore different goals and decision making processes. Our aim is to discuss the implications of this diversity for bioenergy researchers. The paper begins with a discussion of bioenergy stakeholder groups and their varied interests, and illustrates how this diversity complicates efforts to define and promote "sustainable" bioenergy production. We then discuss what this diversity means for research practice. Researchers, we note, should be aware of stakeholder values, information needs, and the factors affecting stakeholder decision making if the knowledge they generate is to reach its widest potential use. We point out how stakeholder participation in research can increase the relevance of its products, and argue that stakeholder values should inform research questions and the choice of analytical assumptions. Finally, we make the case that additional natural science and technical research alone will not advance sustainable bioenergy production, and that important research gaps relate to understanding stakeholder decision making and the need, from a broader social science perspective, to develop processes to identify and accommodate different value systems. While sustainability requires more than improved scientific and technical understanding, the need to understand stakeholder values and manage diversity presents important research opportunities.

Advancing sustainable bioenergy: evolving stakeholder interests and the relevance of research.

PubMed

Johnson, Timothy Lawrence; Bielicki, Jeffrey M; Dodder, Rebecca S; Hilliard, Michael R; Kaplan, P Ozge; Miller, C Andrew

2013-02-01

The sustainability of future bioenergy production rests on more than continual improvements in its environmental, economic, and social impacts. The emergence of new biomass feedstocks, an expanding array of conversion pathways, and expected increases in overall bioenergy production are connecting diverse technical, social, and policy communities. These stakeholder groups have different-and potentially conflicting-values and cultures, and therefore different goals and decision making processes. Our aim is to discuss the implications of this diversity for bioenergy researchers. The paper begins with a discussion of bioenergy stakeholder groups and their varied interests, and illustrates how this diversity complicates efforts to define and promote "sustainable" bioenergy production. We then discuss what this diversity means for research practice. Researchers, we note, should be aware of stakeholder values, information needs, and the factors affecting stakeholder decision making if the knowledge they generate is to reach its widest potential use. We point out how stakeholder participation in research can increase the relevance of its products, and argue that stakeholder values should inform research questions and the choice of analytical assumptions. Finally, we make the case that additional natural science and technical research alone will not advance sustainable bioenergy production, and that important research gaps relate to understanding stakeholder decision making and the need, from a broader social science perspective, to develop processes to identify and accommodate different value systems. While sustainability requires more than improved scientific and technical understanding, the need to understand stakeholder values and manage diversity presents important research opportunities.

Towards a more open debate about values in decision-making on agricultural biotechnology.

PubMed

Devos, Yann; Sanvido, Olivier; Tait, Joyce; Raybould, Alan

2014-12-01

Regulatory decision-making over the use of products of new technology aims to be based on science-based risk assessment. In some jurisdictions, decision-making about the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) plants is blocked supposedly because of scientific uncertainty about risks to the environment. However, disagreement about the acceptability of risks is primarily a dispute over normative values, which is not resolvable through natural sciences. Natural sciences may improve the quality and relevance of the scientific information used to support environmental risk assessments and make scientific uncertainties explicit, but offer little to resolve differences about values. Decisions about cultivating GM plants will thus not necessarily be eased by performing more research to reduce scientific uncertainty in environmental risk assessments, but by clarifying the debate over values. We suggest several approaches to reveal values in decision-making: (1) clarifying policy objectives; (2) determining what constitutes environmental harm; (3) making explicit the factual and normative premises on which risk assessments are based; (4) better demarcating environmental risk assessment studies from ecological research; (5) weighing the potential for environmental benefits (i.e., opportunities) as well as the potential for environmental harms (i.e., risks); and (6) expanding participation in the risk governance of GM plants. Recognising and openly debating differences about values will not remove controversy about the cultivation of GM plants. However, by revealing what is truly in dispute, debates about values will clarify decision-making criteria.

Development of online instructional resources for Earth system science education: An example of current practice from China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Shaochun; Xu, Shijin; Lu, Xiancai

2009-06-01

Educators around the world are striving to make science more accessible and relevant to students. Online instructional resources have become an integral component of tertiary science education and will continue to grow in influence and importance over the coming decades. A case study in the iterative improvement of the online instructional resources provided for first-year undergraduates taking " Introductory Earth System Science" at Nanjing University in China is presented in this paper. Online instructional resources are used to conduct a student-centered learning model in the domain of Earth system science, resulting in a sustainable online instructional framework for students and instructors. The purpose of our practice is to make Earth system science education more accessible and exciting to students, changing instruction from a largely textbook-based teacher-centered approach to a more interactive and student-centered approach, and promoting the integration of knowledge and development of deep understanding by students. Evaluation on learning performance and learning satisfaction is conducted to identify helpful components and perception based on students' learning activities. The feedbacks indicate that the use of online instructional resources has positive impacts on mitigating Earth system science education challenges, and has the potential to promote deep learning.

Communicating Science from the Inside Out

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clark, C.

2006-12-01

Communicating relevant science to the outside world is becoming more critical to the science research community. Now part of many institution's mission statements, communicating the broader impacts of scientific exploration and discovery has become increasingly important in informing the public, providing information to policy makers, and obtaining research funding. Although some critics say traditional coverage of science news is shrinking, media coverage of newsworthy science will always exist in today's news-hungry world. The key is access, access to media outlets by scientists and access to scientists by media representatives. Getting the word out through traditional and new media in a timely and effective manner can be daunting and time consuming to many scientists. Yet, these are the challenges being tackled on a daily basis by science communicators residing in most research and academic organizations, universities, and institutions. Professional science communicators are valuable resources who can provide crucial input on dealing with, and coping with, the media. In return, effective science communicators serve as important liaisons who efficiently connect science media with appropriate researchers. Wise use of internal science communicators can make the difference in getting news out and getting it right. For more than a decade, a national network of science communicators from institutions, organizations, and funding agencies has existed to collaborate on science news in a concerted effort to improve science coverage at all levels. This network provides collaborative resources to improve the efficiency in getting science news disseminated to the broader public. Although the media is only one audience scientists must interface with today, it is still the most far- reaching outlet for reaching and impacting the broad public by conveying the excitement, importance, and value of today's scientific research. And science communications specialists are the most valuable tool a scientist can utilize in getting relevant science communicated to the outside world.

Fort Collins Science Center- Policy Analysis and Science Assistance Branch : Integrating social, behavioral, economic and biological sciences

USGS Publications Warehouse

2010-01-01

The Fort Collins Science Center's Policy Analysis and Science Assistance (PASA) Branch is a team of approximately 22 scientists, technicians, and graduate student researchers. PASA provides unique capabilities in the U.S. Geological Survey by leading projects that integrate social, behavioral, economic, and biological analyses in the context of human-natural resource interactions. Resource planners, managers, and policymakers in the U.S. Departments of the Interior (DOI) and Agriculture (USDA), State and local agencies, as well as international agencies use information from PASA studies to make informed natural resource management and policy decisions. PASA scientists' primary functions are to conduct both theoretical and applied social science research, provide technical assistance, and offer training to advance performance in policy relevant research areas. Management and research issues associated with human-resource interactions typically occur in a unique context, involve difficult to access populations, require knowledge of both natural/biological science in addition to social science, and require the skill to integrate multiple science disciplines. In response to these difficult contexts, PASA researchers apply traditional and state-of-the-art social science methods drawing from the fields of sociology, demography, economics, political science, communications, social-psychology, and applied industrial organization psychology. Social science methods work in concert with our rangeland/agricultural management, wildlife, ecology, and biology capabilities. The goal of PASA's research is to enhance natural resource management, agency functions, policies, and decision-making. Our research is organized into four broad areas of study.

Transforming Science Education for the Anthropocene—Is It Possible?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gilbert, Jane

2016-04-01

Since its inception, science education has been the focus of a great many reform attempts. In general, the aim has been to improve science understanding and/or make science study more interesting and/or relevant to a wider range of students. However, these reform attempts have had limited success. This paper argues that this is in part because science education as a discipline has some "blind spots", some unacknowledged assumptions that obstruct its development and make it immune to change. While this has long been a problem, the paper argues that, in the new, "postnormal" conditions of the twenty-first century, it is now imperative that we see these blind spots and think differently about what science education is for. School science as we now know it (along with the other school subjects) developed as part of, and in parallel with, modern economies/societies, which in turn depended on the burning of fossil fuels. However, because this period of "carbonised modernity" is now coming to an end, many of the assumptions it was built on must be re-examined. This has (or should have) major implications for science education. Via an exploration of three very different "orientations to the future", the paper aims to provoke discussion of how science education could be reconceptualised to support our transition into the post-carbon, Anthropocene era.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Yuqing

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

Researching the Real: Transforming the Science Fair through Relevant and Authentic Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davidson, Rosemary McBryan

This teacher research study documents the processes used to help students in an all-female, religious-based high school create science fair projects that are personally meaningful, scientifically sophisticated and up-to date in terms of science content. One-hundred sixteen young women in an honors chemistry class were introduced by their teacher to the methods used by science journalists when researching and crafting articles. The students then integrated these strategies into their science fair research through collaborative classroom activities designed by their teacher. Data collected during the process included audio and video tapes of classroom activities, student interviews, process work, finished projects, email conversations and the reflective journaling, annotated lesson plans, and memories of the lived experience by the teacher. The pedagogical changes which resulted from this project included the use of Read Aloud-Think Alouds (RATA) to introduce content and provide relevance, a discussion based topic selection process, the encouragement of relevant topic choices, the increased use of technology for learning activities and for sharing research, and an experimental design process driven by the student's personally relevant, topic choice. Built in feedback loops, provided by the teacher, peer editors and an outside editor, resulted in multiple revisions and expanded opportunities for communicating results to the community-at-large. Greater student engagement in science fair projects was evident: questioning for understanding, active involvement in decision making, collaboration within the classroom community, experience and expertise with reading, writing and the use of technology, sense of agency and interest in science related activities and careers all increased. Students communicated their evolving practices within the school community and became leaders who promoted the increased use of technology in all of their classes. Integrating journalistic practices into the research projects of these honors chemistry students also brought about positive changes in the attitude of the students toward science. The pedagogy implemented was successful at increasing the engagement of the participants in their own learning processes as well as increased interest in science. Moreover, the teacher researcher has expanded her skill set and is transitioning toward a more student-centered classroom. While this study focused on 116 honors chemistry students over the course of three years, it identified changes in practices that can be taken up and examined more broadly by science teachers who include science fairs as part of their curriculum.

Making objective decisions in mechanical engineering problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raicu, A.; Oanta, E.; Sabau, A.

2017-08-01

Decision making process has a great influence in the development of a given project, the goal being to select an optimal choice in a given context. Because of its great importance, the decision making was studied using various science methods, finally being conceived the game theory that is considered the background for the science of logical decision making in various fields. The paper presents some basic ideas regarding the game theory in order to offer the necessary information to understand the multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) problems in engineering. The solution is to transform the multiple-criteria problem in a one-criterion decision problem, using the notion of utility, together with the weighting sum model or the weighting product model. The weighted importance of the criteria is computed using the so-called Step method applied to a relation of preferences between the criteria. Two relevant examples from engineering are also presented. The future directions of research consist of the use of other types of criteria, the development of computer based instruments for decision making general problems and to conceive a software module based on expert system principles to be included in the Wiki software applications for polymeric materials that are already operational.

Everything I Need to Know About Science Communication, I Learned from Local Television News (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lorditch, E.; O'Riordan, C.

2010-12-01

According to the National Science Foundation’s Science and Engineering Indicators for 2010, the general public in the USA relies on local television news more than any other medium for their science and technology news and information -- with the internet coming in as a fast-rising second. Ten years ago, the American Institute of Physics (AIP) created Discoveries and Breakthroughs Inside Science (DBIS) as a way to reach this large audience and provide them with accurate and reliable science information. DBIS is a syndicated science news service that distributes twelve 90-second news segments to local television stations throughout the USA and internationally each month. DBIS topics cover a range of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics including everything from astronomy to zoology. DBIS has created a unique pathway for science communication. Story ideas go through a rigorous process of background research and peer review to make sure that they meet not only our science criteria, but also our television criteria standards to make sure that television stations will air the segments. The program is supported by a STEM coalition of over 20 organizations- including AGU - that work together to identify research breakthroughs in diverse fields of science. We will describe the creation of this service and the fine-tuning of the editorial process. We will also highlight results from a 2003-2007 NSF grant to study the impact DBIS has on viewing audiences. The study showed us that 78% of television viewers would like to see more STEM news segments during their local news broadcast. Another important finding from the study is that there is a statistically significant difference in television viewers support for STEM in cities where DBIS segments are broadcasted compared to cities where they are not showing that DBIS is having an impact in communicating science to the general public. Finally, we will summarize what we have learned about making STEM news entertaining and informative as well as the balance between reporting the details of STEM news and making it relevant to the public.

Making an Informed Decision on Freshwater Management by Integrating Remote Sensing Data with Traditional Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hyon, Jason J.

2012-01-01

The US National Research Council (NRC) recommended that: "The U.S. government, working in concert with the private sector, academe, the public, and its international partners, should renew its investment in Earth-observing systems and restore its leadership in Earth science and applications." in response to the NASA Earth Science Division's request to prioritize research areas, observations, and notional missions to make those objectives. In this presentation, we will discuss our approach to connect remote sensing science to decision support applications by establishing a framework to integrate direct measurements, earth system models, inventories, and other information to accurately estimate fresh water resources in global, regional, and local scales. We will discuss our demonstration projects and lessons learned from the experience. Deploying a monitoring system that offers sustained, accurate, transparent and relevant information represents a challenge and opportunity to a broad community spanning earth science, water resource accounting and public policy. An introduction to some of the scientific and technical infrastructure issues associated with monitoring systems is offered here to encourage future treatment of these topics by other contributors as a concluding remark.

Personal, Informal and Relatable: Engaging Wide Audiences in Climate Science with Nasa's Earth Right Now Blog

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tenenbaum, L. F.; Shaftel, H.; Jackson, R.

2014-12-01

There is no such thing as a non-scientist, but there are some who have yet to acknowledge their inner science spark. Aiming to ignite and fan the flame of curiosity, promote dialogue and attempt to make climate science personal and relevant to everyday life, NASA's Global Climate Change website http://climate.nasa.gov/ and Earth Right Now campaign http://www.nasa.gov/content/earth-right-now/ partnered together this year to launch the Earth Right Now blog http://climate.nasa.gov/blog. It quickly became one of the most popular blogs in all of NASA social media, receiving thousands of likes per week, and frequent comments as well as thoughtful and respectful discussions about climate change. Social media platforms such as blogs have become popular vehicles for engaging large swaths of the public in new exciting ways. NASA's Earth Right Now blog has become a powerful platform for engaging both scientists and the science-curious in constructive, fruitful conversations about the complex topic of climate science. We continue to interact and have ongoing dialogue with our readers by making the scientific content both accessible and engaging for diverse populations.

[The function of philosophy of science in the teaching of medical history].

PubMed

Li, Yaming

2014-05-01

The philosophy of science yields 3 important functions in the teaching of medical history. Firstly, by analyzing the development of medicine from the perspective of philosophy, we can integrate medical history into the history of human thought and clearly show the close connection between the development of humanity and the development of medical science. Secondly, philosophical analysis on the general rules of scientific discoveries involved in medical history can help medical students to understand the methodology in the research of sciences in history. Thirdly, philosophy of science offers new dimensions for understanding the relationship between medicine and the society. By making use of the relevant theory in scientific philosophy to explore the relationship between medicine and the society, the nature of medicine and the social nature and function of science can be further understood by medical students so as to exert an active role in the research and clinical work in the future.

Addiction and Its Sciences: What economics can contribute to the addiction sciences

PubMed Central

Caulkins, Jonathan P.; Nicosia, Nancy

2010-01-01

The addiction sciences are intrinsically multidisciplinary, and economics is among the disciplines that offer useful perspectives on the complex behaviors surrounding substance abuse. The focus of this article is on the contributions economics has made in the past and could make in the future towards understanding how illegal markets operate, how prices affect use, how use generates various consequences, and how policy shapes all three. We concentrate on illegal drugs as insights concerning markets are particularly salient, though we also mention relevant studies from the alcohol and tobacco fields. We argue that economics’ value to the addiction sciences goes far beyond the ability to monetize non-monetary outcomes or to calculate a benefit-cost ratio. Economics offers tools and topical expertise that usefully complement other disciplines traditionally associated with the addiction sciences. PMID:20331545

Black smokers and the Tree of Life

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linich, Michael

The molecular biology revolution has turned the classification of life on its head. Is Whittaker's five-kingdom scheme for the classification of living things no longer relevant to life science education? Coupled with this is the discovery that most microscopic life cannot yet be brought into culture. One of the key organisms making this knowledge possible is Methanococcus jannishi a microorganism found in black smokers. This workshop presents the development of the Universal Tree of Life in a historical context and then links together major concepts in the New South Wales senior science programs of Earth and Environmental Science and Biology by examining the biological and geological aspects of changes to black smokers over geological time.

How Source Information Shapes Lay Interpretations of Science Conflicts: Interplay between Sourcing, Conflict Explanation, Source Evaluation, and Claim Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomm, Eva; Bromme, Rainer

2016-01-01

When laypeople read controversial scientific information in order to make a personally relevant decision, information on the source is a valuable resource with which to evaluate multiple, competing claims. Due to their bounded understanding, laypeople rely on the expertise of others and need to identify whether sources are credible. The present…

Complexity Theory 101 for Educators: A Fictional Account of a Graduate Seminar

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMurtry, Angus

2008-01-01

The following fictional account of a seminar on complexity science and its relevance for education makes use of several real events. The first is an actual seminar that took place during the spring of 2005, in the Department of Secondary Education at the University of Alberta. The second is the collective creation of the Complexity and Education…

Night Gallery: An Innovative Multimedia Strategy for Delivering a General Microbiology Lecture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dahl, John; Mixter, Phil

2008-01-01

In delivering a core science course to pre-health-related majors, the authors sought ways to engage students, make material relevant to life-long learning, and present it in a memorable way. Their goals were to present scientific content fused with history, ethics, public policy, and art in such a way that the students would be provided a unique…

Aligning Academic Offerings with Industry Needs and Facility Construction, While Making Space for Relevant Public Private Partnerships (P3s)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golich, Vicki L.; Haynes, Sandra; Hillhouse, Erin; Pfeifer, David

2018-01-01

Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver) has been educating students for Colorado's urban workforce for over fifty years. The following case study of MSU Denver's new Aerospace Engineering Sciences (AES) Building reveals the roles played by partnerships among universities, faculty, and local civic and industry leaders in creating new…

Pisa testing. A global educational race?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sjøberg, Svein

2017-10-01

The OECD's PISA project is not an educational project. It is a political project and has to be understood as an instrument of power. PISA is normative, it tells what young people should learn, regardless of the nations' culture, nature, traditions and values. The battle to improve PISA rankings may conflict with our work to make science relevant, contextualized, interesting and motivating for young learners.

How Do Teachers Prepare for and Respond to Students' Evoked Emotions When Addressing Real Social Inequalities through Engineering Activities?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez, Alberto J.

2017-01-01

Making engineering and science culturally and socially relevant requires teachers to have broader content knowledge and an increased repertoire of pedagogical skills. One aspect of being an effective and culturally inclusive teacher that is seldom discussed is the ability to engage with the emotions associated with working for social justice. In…

Team Science Approach to Developing Consensus on Research Good Practices for Practice-Based Research Networks: A Case Study.

PubMed

Campbell-Voytal, Kimberly; Daly, Jeanette M; Nagykaldi, Zsolt J; Aspy, Cheryl B; Dolor, Rowena J; Fagnan, Lyle J; Levy, Barcey T; Palac, Hannah L; Michaels, LeAnn; Patterson, V Beth; Kano, Miria; Smith, Paul D; Sussman, Andrew L; Williams, Robert; Sterling, Pamela; O'Beirne, Maeve; Neale, Anne Victoria

2015-12-01

Using peer learning strategies, seven experienced PBRNs working in collaborative teams articulated procedures for PBRN Research Good Practices (PRGPs). The PRGPs is a PBRN-specific resource to facilitate PBRN management and staff training, to promote adherence to study protocols, and to increase validity and generalizability of study findings. This paper describes the team science processes which culminated in the PRGPs. Skilled facilitators used team science strategies and methods from the Technology of Participation (ToP®), and the Consensus Workshop Method to support teams to codify diverse research expertise in practice-based research. The participatory nature of "sense-making" moved through identifiable stages. Lessons learned include (1) team input into the scope of the final outcome proved vital to project relevance; (2) PBRNs with diverse domains of research expertise contributed broad knowledge on each topic; and (3) ToP® structured facilitation techniques were critical for establishing trust and clarifying the "sense-making" process. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Faculty Development Program Models to Advance Teaching and Learning Within Health Science Programs

PubMed Central

Lancaster, Jason W.; Stein, Susan M.; MacLean, Linda Garrelts; Van Amburgh, Jenny

2014-01-01

Within health science programs there has been a call for more faculty development, particularly for teaching and learning. The primary objectives of this review were to describe the current landscape for faculty development programs for teaching and learning and make recommendations for the implementation of new faculty development programs. A thorough search of the pertinent health science databases was conducted, including the Education Resource Information Center (ERIC), MEDLINE, and EMBASE, and faculty development books and relevant information found were reviewed in order to provide recommendations for best practices. Faculty development for teaching and learning comes in a variety of forms, from individuals charged to initiate activities to committees and centers. Faculty development has been effective in improving faculty perceptions on the value of teaching, increasing motivation and enthusiasm for teaching, increasing knowledge and behaviors, and disseminating skills. Several models exist that can be implemented to support faculty teaching development. Institutions need to make informed decisions about which plan could be most successfully implemented in their college or school. PMID:24954939

Faculty development program models to advance teaching and learning within health science programs.

PubMed

Lancaster, Jason W; Stein, Susan M; MacLean, Linda Garrelts; Van Amburgh, Jenny; Persky, Adam M

2014-06-17

Within health science programs there has been a call for more faculty development, particularly for teaching and learning. The primary objectives of this review were to describe the current landscape for faculty development programs for teaching and learning and make recommendations for the implementation of new faculty development programs. A thorough search of the pertinent health science databases was conducted, including the Education Resource Information Center (ERIC), MEDLINE, and EMBASE, and faculty development books and relevant information found were reviewed in order to provide recommendations for best practices. Faculty development for teaching and learning comes in a variety of forms, from individuals charged to initiate activities to committees and centers. Faculty development has been effective in improving faculty perceptions on the value of teaching, increasing motivation and enthusiasm for teaching, increasing knowledge and behaviors, and disseminating skills. Several models exist that can be implemented to support faculty teaching development. Institutions need to make informed decisions about which plan could be most successfully implemented in their college or school.

Negotiating the question: using science-manager communication to develop management-relevant science products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beechie, T. J.; Snover, A. K.

2014-12-01

Natural resource managers often ask scientists to answer questions that cannot be answered, and scientists commonly offer research that is not useful to managers. To produce management-relevant science, managers and scientists must communicate clearly to identify research that is scientifically doable and will produce results that managers find useful. Scientists might also consider that journals with high impact scores are rarely used by managers, while managers might consider that publishing in top tier journals is important to maintain scientific credentials. We offer examples from climate change and river restoration research, in which agency scientists and managers worked together to identify key management questions that scientists could answer and which could inform management. In our first example, we describe how climate scientists worked with agency staff to develop guidance for selecting appropriate climate change scenarios for use in ecological impacts assessments and Endangered Species Act decision making. Within NOAA Fisheries, agency researchers provide science to guide agency managers, and a key question has been how to adapt river restoration efforts for climate change. Based on discussions with restoration practitioners and agency staff, we developed adaptation guidance that summarizes current science to lead managers to develop climate-resilient restoration plans, as well as maps of population vulnerability for endangered steelhead. From these experiences we have learned that collaborative definition of relevant and producible knowledge requires (1) iterative discussions that go beyond simply asking managers what they need or scientists what they can produce, and (2) candid conversation about the intended applications and potential limitations of the knowledge.

Leveraging federal science data and tools to help communities & business build climate resilience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herring, D.

2016-12-01

Decision-makers in every sector and region of the United States are seeking actionable science-based information to help them understand and manage their climate-related risks. Translating data, tools and information from the domain of climate science to the domains of municipal, social, and economic decision-making raises complex questions—e.g., how to communicate causes and impacts of climate variability and change; how to show projections of plausible future climate scenarios; how to characterize and quantify vulnerabilities, risks, and opportunities facing communities and businesses; and how to make and implement "win-win" adaptation plans. These are the types of challenges being addressed by a public-private partnership of federal agencies, academic institutions, non-governmental organizations, and private businesses that are contributing to the development of the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit (toolkit.climate.gov), a new website designed to help people build resilience to extreme events caused by both natural climate variability and long-term climate change. The site's Climate Explorer is designed to help people understand potential climate conditions over the course of this century. It offers easy access to downloadable maps, graphs, and data tables of observed and projected temperature, precipitation and other decision-relevant climate variables dating back to 1950 and out to 2100. Of course, climate change is only one of many variables affecting decisions about the future so the Toolkit also ties climate information to a wide range of other relevant tools and information to help users to explore their vulnerabilities and risks. In this session, we will describe recent enhancements to the Toolkit, lessons learned from user engagements, and evidence that our approach of coupling scientific information with actionable decision-making processes is helping Americans build resilience to climate-related impacts.

[Incapacitated persons - participation rights and the legal concept of the capacity to consent].

PubMed

Damm, Reinhard

2016-09-01

Legal problems related to the capacity to consent and decision-making have recently become increasingly important. This concerns the prerequisites and limitations of legal participation as a basis of social participation. Among the relevant social spheres and fields of action, this particulary concerns medicine and health care as well as disability and care. At the normative level, with a view to those concerned, this leads to fundamental questions resulting from the tension between self-determination and care as basic legal and ethical standards. At the empirical level, there are debates between the law and the sciences with regard to the relevant knowledge base for the assessment of (in)capacity to consent. The traditional controversies about the relevant legal criteria determining the existence or absence of capacity to consent are intensified by some recent legal developments, two of which must be highlighted. One of these is the postulate, increasingly emphasized by courts and legislator, of an at least communicative involvement of persons incapable to give consent in the decision-making process. The other is the fundamental discussion of medical ethics on concepts of assisted self-determination and supported decision-making, the consequences of which will also be of relevance at the legal level. Insofar, the development of guardianship law and the legal requirements of the UN Disability Rights Convention are of particular importance.

Developing a Climate Change Boundary Organization: the Montana Adaptation Knowledge Exchange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitlock, C. L.; Brooks, S.; Armstrong, T.; Bryan, B.

2017-12-01

States, like Montana, with small populations and large areas, are challenged by a need to offer timely and relevant climate-science information that addresses diverse and widely dispersed stakeholder groups. In Montana, filling the gap between science and practice has motivated the first Montana Climate Assessment (MCA), released September 2017 with a focus on climate impacts on the agriculture, water and forestry sectors. The MCA is an outcome of a science-stakeholder partnership that has identified critical climate-change information and knowledge gaps for the state through listening sessions and questionnaires. From the initial feedback, it became clear that stakeholder groups were deeply concerned about the challenges posed by rising temperatures and wanted to know how recent and projected warming will affect Montana's natural and managed resources. As part of the next phase of the MCA project, we are now creating the Montana Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (MAKE), a "boundary organization" as described by the National Academy of Sciences. MAKE moves beyond information sharing by bringing scientists and practitioners together to seek solutions related to climate-change adaptation and other pressing environmental and socio-economic concerns. Through a collaborative partnership that involves Montana universities, state and federal agencies, businesses and non-governmental organizations, MAKE is designed to communicate current research findings and support revision and expansion of state-of-the-knowledge assessments like the MCA. Stakeholder partners will provide guidance to the science community to help prioritize research directions and activities of high importance. Significant, but often technical, scientific results will be translated and delivered to stakeholder groups through a variety of print, web, and mobile products. MAKE will support an extensive online database, host an online portal, gather a network of experts in respective fields, and maintain a knowledgeable customer service staff. Boundary organizations, such as MAKE, offer a path to effectively move from science to knowledge to action in the climate change arena while at the same time engaging practitioners and managers in the development of research agendas.

Relevance of behavioral and social models to the study of consumer energy decision making and behavior

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

Burns, B.A.

This report reviews social and behavioral science models and techniques for their possible use in understanding and predicting consumer energy decision making and behaviors. A number of models and techniques have been developed that address different aspects of the decision process, use different theoretical bases and approaches, and have been aimed at different audiences. Three major areas of discussion were selected: (1) models of adaptation to social change, (2) decision making and choice, and (3) diffusion of innovation. Within these three areas, the contributions of psychologists, sociologists, economists, marketing researchers, and others were reviewed. Five primary components of the modelsmore » were identified and compared. The components are: (1) situational characteristics, (2) product characteristics, (3) individual characteristics, (4) social influences, and (5) the interaction or decision rules. The explicit use of behavioral and social science models in energy decision-making and behavior studies has been limited. Examples are given of a small number of energy studies which applied and tested existing models in studying the adoption of energy conservation behaviors and technologies, and solar technology.« less

An implementation science perspective on psychological science and cancer: what is known and opportunities for research, policy, and practice.

PubMed

Rabin, Borsika; Glasgow, Russell E

2015-01-01

We discuss the role of implementation science in cancer and summarize the need for this perspective. Following a summary of key implementation science principles and lessons learned, we review the literature on implementation of cancer prevention and control activities across the continuum from prevention to palliative care. We identified 10 unique relevant reviews, four of which were specific to cancer. Multicomponent implementation strategies were found to be superior to single-component interventions, but it was not possible to draw conclusions about specific strategies or the range of conditions across which strategies were effective. Particular gaps identified include the need for more studies of health policies and reports of cost, cost-effectiveness, and resources required. Following this review, we summarize the types of evidence needed to make research findings more actionable and discuss emerging implementation science opportunities for psychological research on cancer prevention and control. These include innovative study designs (i.e., rapid learning designs, simulation modeling, comparative effectiveness, pragmatic studies, mixed-methods research) and measurement science (i.e., development of context-relevant measures; practical, longitudinal measures to gauge improvement; cost-effectiveness data; and harmonized patient report data). We conclude by identifying a few grand challenges for psychologists that if successfully addressed would accelerate integration of evidence into cancer practice and policy more consistently and rapidly. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Views of Science Teaching and Learning by Immigrant Somali Elders: Perceptions of Conflict and Acceptance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Albrecht, Nancy Jean

The gap between a student's home culture and that of classroom science may create challenges for students and families, especially those from recent immigrant cultures, including refugees. As a result, science learning in schools may require a form of cultural border crossing between home cultures and the culture of classroom science. Given this, as educators, how do we make these borders more porous for better science learning experiences? Using the frameworks of funds of knowledge, culturally relevant pedagogy, and socio-constructivism, this study focuses on the perspectives of Somali-American elders and parents about school science. Designed as an in-depth interview study, five purposefully selected participants were interviewed over a period of two years. The guiding questions for the study included: 1) What are the perceptions of Somali elders about school science? and 2) How do Somali elders believe science teaching and learning can facilitate Somali students' engagement in science?. Analysis of the interview data revealed that Somali-American adults have complicated perceptions of school science that include both conflicts and acceptance with current pedagogy and content. For example, science education was highly valued by both individuals and the Somali community, both as a way for individuals to attain economic prosperity and respect, but also as a way to lift up the Somali diaspora, both here and in their native homeland. On the other hand, science was also viewed as an abstract discipline with little connection to students' and families' everyday home lives. Moreover, due to the intrinsic role that Islam plays in traditional and contemporary Somali culture, several areas of science education, including geology, evolution and sex education, were viewed as problematic and unresolvable. Various potential areas of funds of knowledge and culturally relevant pedagogy were discussed including nutrition, food preparation and storage, health education, and vaccinations. The study discusses several implications for science teachers of Somali-American students including the need to be aware of the intrinsic relationship between Islam, as practiced by Somali-Americans, and everyday practices, including the possibility of cultural violence resulting from the conflicts between science teaching as practiced in the United States, and Somali-American students' beliefs. The study also discusses changes in pedagogy that are experienced by Somali-American families and students, and suggests ways to mitigate these differences. Finally, the study provides suggestions for the roles of science teachers, both in everyday teaching and learning and in their professional development practices, to make science more meaningful, accessible and engaging to Somali-American students and their families.

Advancing sustainable bioenergy: Evolving stakeholder interests and the relevance of research

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

Johnson, Timothy L; Bielicki, Dr Jeffrey M; Dodder, Rebecca

2013-01-01

The sustainability of future bioenergy production rests on more than continual improvements in its environmental, economic, and social impacts. The emergence of new biomass feedstocks, an expanding array of conversion pathways, and expected increases in overall bioenergy production are connecting diverse technical, social, and policy communities. These stakeholder groups have different and potentially conflicting values and cultures, and therefore different goals and decision making processes. Our aim is to discuss the implications of this diversity for bioenergy researchers. The paper begins with a discussion of bioenergy stakeholder groups and their varied interests, and illustrates how this diversity complicates efforts tomore » define and promote sustainable bioenergy production. We then discuss what this diversity means for research practice. Researchers, we note, should be aware of stakeholder values, information needs, and the factors affecting stakeholder decision making if the knowledge they generate is to reach its widest potential use. We point out how stakeholder participation in research can increase the relevance of its products, and argue that stakeholder values should inform research questions and the choice of analytical assumptions. Finally, we make the case that additional natural science and technical research alone will not advance sustainable bioenergy production, and that important research gaps relate to understanding stakeholder decision making and the need, from a broader social science perspective, to develop processes to identify and accommodate different value systems. While sustainability requires more than improved scientific and technical understanding, the need to understand stakeholder values and manage diversity presents important research opportunities.« less

Risk, Uncertainty and Precaution in Science: The Threshold of the Toxicological Concern Approach in Food Toxicology.

PubMed

Bschir, Karim

2017-04-01

Environmental risk assessment is often affected by severe uncertainty. The frequently invoked precautionary principle helps to guide risk assessment and decision-making in the face of scientific uncertainty. In many contexts, however, uncertainties play a role not only in the application of scientific models but also in their development. Building on recent literature in the philosophy of science, this paper argues that precaution should be exercised at the stage when tools for risk assessment are developed as well as when they are used to inform decision-making. The relevance and consequences of this claim are discussed in the context of the threshold of the toxicological concern approach in food toxicology. I conclude that the approach does not meet the standards of an epistemic version of the precautionary principle.

Setting up crowd science projects.

PubMed

Scheliga, Kaja; Friesike, Sascha; Puschmann, Cornelius; Fecher, Benedikt

2016-11-29

Crowd science is scientific research that is conducted with the participation of volunteers who are not professional scientists. Thanks to the Internet and online platforms, project initiators can draw on a potentially large number of volunteers. This crowd can be involved to support data-rich or labour-intensive projects that would otherwise be unfeasible. So far, research on crowd science has mainly focused on analysing individual crowd science projects. In our research, we focus on the perspective of project initiators and explore how crowd science projects are set up. Based on multiple case study research, we discuss the objectives of crowd science projects and the strategies of their initiators for accessing volunteers. We also categorise the tasks allocated to volunteers and reflect on the issue of quality assurance as well as feedback mechanisms. With this article, we contribute to a better understanding of how crowd science projects are set up and how volunteers can contribute to science. We suggest that our findings are of practical relevance for initiators of crowd science projects, for science communication as well as for informed science policy making. © The Author(s) 2016.

Holistic science: An understanding of science education encompassing ethical and social issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malekpour, Susan

Science has often been viewed, by the majority of our educators and the general public, as being objective and emotionless. Based on this view, our educators teach science in the same manner, objectively and in an abstract form. This manner of teaching has hindered our learners' ability for active learning and distanced them from the subject matter. In this action research, I have examined holistic science pedagogy in conjunction with a constructivism theory. In holistic science pedagogy, scientific knowledge is combined with subjective personal experiences and social issues. There is an interaction between student and scientific data when the student's context, relationships, and lived experiences that play a role in the scientific recognition of the world were incorporated into the learning process. In this pedagogical model, the factual content was viewed from the context of social and ethical implications. By empowering learners with this ability, science knowledge will no longer be exclusive to a select group. This process empowers the general population with the ability to understand scientific knowledge and therefore the ability to make informed decisions based on this knowledge. The goal was to make curriculum developers more conscious of factors that can positively influence the learning process and increase student engagement and understanding within the science classroom. The holistic approach to science pedagogy has enlightened and empowered our adult learners more effectively. Learners became more actively engaged in their own process of learning. Teachers must be willing to listen and implement student suggestions on improving the teaching/learning process. Teachers should be willing to make the effort in connecting with their students by structuring courses so the topics would be relevant to the students in relation to real world and social/ethical and political issues. Holistic science pedagogy strives for social change through the empowerment of adult learners with scientific knowledge. This research has demonstrated that learners can better understand the decision-making process and more easily relate their experiences, and therefore their knowledge, to social/political and ethical issues.

The morals of model-making.

PubMed

Sterrett, S G

2014-06-01

I address questions about values in model-making in engineering, specifically: Might the role of values be attributable solely to interests involved in specifying and using the model? Selected examples illustrate the surprisingly wide variety of things one must take into account in the model-making itself. The notions of system (as used in engineering thermodynamics), and physically similar systems (as used in the physical sciences) are important and powerful in determining what is relevant to an engineering model. Another example (windfarms) illustrates how an idea to completely re-characterize, or reframe, an engineering problem arose during model-making. I employ a qualitative analogue of the notion of physically similar systems. Historical cases can thus be drawn upon; I illustrate with a comparison between a geoengineering proposal to inject, or spray, sulfate aerosols, and two different historical cases involving the spraying of DDT (fire ant eradication; malaria eradication). The current geoengineering proposal is seen to be like the disastrous and counterproductive case, and unlike the successful case, of the spraying of DDT. I conclude by explaining my view that model-making in science is analogous to moral perception in action, drawing on a view in moral theory that has come to be called moral particularism.

Identifiers for the 21st century: How to design, provision, and reuse persistent identifiers to maximize utility and impact of life science data

PubMed Central

Juty, Nick; Blomberg, Niklas; Burdett, Tony; Conlin, Tom; Conte, Nathalie; Courtot, Mélanie; Deck, John; Dumontier, Michel; Fellows, Donal K.; Gonzalez-Beltran, Alejandra; Gormanns, Philipp; Grethe, Jeffrey; Hastings, Janna; Hériché, Jean-Karim; Hermjakob, Henning; Ison, Jon C.; Jimenez, Rafael C.; Jupp, Simon; Kunze, John; Laibe, Camille; Le Novère, Nicolas; Malone, James; Martin, Maria Jesus; McEntyre, Johanna R.; Morris, Chris; Muilu, Juha; Müller, Wolfgang; Rocca-Serra, Philippe; Sansone, Susanna-Assunta; Sariyar, Murat; Snoep, Jacky L.; Soiland-Reyes, Stian; Stanford, Natalie J.; Swainston, Neil; Washington, Nicole; Williams, Alan R.; Wimalaratne, Sarala M.; Winfree, Lilly M.; Wolstencroft, Katherine; Goble, Carole; Mungall, Christopher J.; Haendel, Melissa A.; Parkinson, Helen

2017-01-01

In many disciplines, data are highly decentralized across thousands of online databases (repositories, registries, and knowledgebases). Wringing value from such databases depends on the discipline of data science and on the humble bricks and mortar that make integration possible; identifiers are a core component of this integration infrastructure. Drawing on our experience and on work by other groups, we outline 10 lessons we have learned about the identifier qualities and best practices that facilitate large-scale data integration. Specifically, we propose actions that identifier practitioners (database providers) should take in the design, provision and reuse of identifiers. We also outline the important considerations for those referencing identifiers in various circumstances, including by authors and data generators. While the importance and relevance of each lesson will vary by context, there is a need for increased awareness about how to avoid and manage common identifier problems, especially those related to persistence and web-accessibility/resolvability. We focus strongly on web-based identifiers in the life sciences; however, the principles are broadly relevant to other disciplines. PMID:28662064

Identifiers for the 21st century: How to design, provision, and reuse persistent identifiers to maximize utility and impact of life science data.

PubMed

McMurry, Julie A; Juty, Nick; Blomberg, Niklas; Burdett, Tony; Conlin, Tom; Conte, Nathalie; Courtot, Mélanie; Deck, John; Dumontier, Michel; Fellows, Donal K; Gonzalez-Beltran, Alejandra; Gormanns, Philipp; Grethe, Jeffrey; Hastings, Janna; Hériché, Jean-Karim; Hermjakob, Henning; Ison, Jon C; Jimenez, Rafael C; Jupp, Simon; Kunze, John; Laibe, Camille; Le Novère, Nicolas; Malone, James; Martin, Maria Jesus; McEntyre, Johanna R; Morris, Chris; Muilu, Juha; Müller, Wolfgang; Rocca-Serra, Philippe; Sansone, Susanna-Assunta; Sariyar, Murat; Snoep, Jacky L; Soiland-Reyes, Stian; Stanford, Natalie J; Swainston, Neil; Washington, Nicole; Williams, Alan R; Wimalaratne, Sarala M; Winfree, Lilly M; Wolstencroft, Katherine; Goble, Carole; Mungall, Christopher J; Haendel, Melissa A; Parkinson, Helen

2017-06-01

In many disciplines, data are highly decentralized across thousands of online databases (repositories, registries, and knowledgebases). Wringing value from such databases depends on the discipline of data science and on the humble bricks and mortar that make integration possible; identifiers are a core component of this integration infrastructure. Drawing on our experience and on work by other groups, we outline 10 lessons we have learned about the identifier qualities and best practices that facilitate large-scale data integration. Specifically, we propose actions that identifier practitioners (database providers) should take in the design, provision and reuse of identifiers. We also outline the important considerations for those referencing identifiers in various circumstances, including by authors and data generators. While the importance and relevance of each lesson will vary by context, there is a need for increased awareness about how to avoid and manage common identifier problems, especially those related to persistence and web-accessibility/resolvability. We focus strongly on web-based identifiers in the life sciences; however, the principles are broadly relevant to other disciplines.

Grand Research Plan for Neural Circuits of Emotion and Memory--current status of neural circuit studies in China.

PubMed

Zhu, Yuan-Gui; Cao, He-Qi; Dong, Er-Dan

2013-02-01

During recent years, major advances have been made in neuroscience, i.e., asynchronous release, three-dimensional structural data sets, saliency maps, magnesium in brain research, and new functional roles of long non-coding RNAs. Especially, the development of optogenetic technology provides access to important information about relevant neural circuits by allowing the activation of specific neurons in awake mammals and directly observing the resulting behavior. The Grand Research Plan for Neural Circuits of Emotion and Memory was launched by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. It takes emotion and memory as its main objects, making the best use of cutting-edge technologies from medical science, life science and information science. In this paper, we outline the current status of neural circuit studies in China and the technologies and methodologies being applied, as well as studies related to the impairments of emotion and memory. In this phase, we are making efforts to repair the current deficiencies by making adjustments, mainly involving four aspects of core scientific issues to investigate these circuits at multiple levels. Five research directions have been taken to solve important scientific problems while the Grand Research Plan is implemented. Future research into this area will be multimodal, incorporating a range of methods and sciences into each project. Addressing these issues will ensure a bright future, major discoveries, and a higher level of treatment for all affected by debilitating brain illnesses.

Cultivating the Arts of Inquiry, Interpretation, and Criticism: A Peircean Approach to Our Educational Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colapietro, Vincent

2005-01-01

Peirce was a thinker who claimed that his mind had been thoroughly formed by his rigorous training in the natural sciences. But he was also the author who proclaimed that nothing is truer than true poetry. In making the case for Peirce's relevance to issues of education, then, it is necessary to do justice to the multifaceted character of his…

A Response to White and Gorard: Against Inferential Statistics: How and Why Current Statistics Teaching Gets It Wrong

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nicholson, James; Ridgway, Jim

2017-01-01

White and Gorard make important and relevant criticisms of some of the methods commonly used in social science research, but go further by criticising the logical basis for inferential statistical tests. This paper comments briefly on matters we broadly agree on with them and more fully on matters where we disagree. We agree that too little…

Mathematical Sciences Division 1992 Programs

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-10-01

statistical theory that underlies modern signal analysis . There is a strong emphasis on stochastic processes and time series , particularly those which...include optimal resource planning and real- time scheduling of stochastic shop-floor processes. Scheduling systems will be developed that can adapt to...make forecasts for the length-of-service time series . Protocol analysis of these sessions will be used to idenify relevant contextual features and to

Teaching and Learning Science Through Song: Exploring the experiences of students and teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Governor, Donna; Hall, Jori; Jackson, David

2013-12-01

This qualitative, multi-case study explored the use of science-content music for teaching and learning in six middle school science classrooms. The researcher sought to understand how teachers made use of content-rich songs for teaching science, how they impacted student engagement and learning, and what the experiences of these teachers and students suggested about using songs for middle school classroom science instruction. Data gathered included three teacher interviews, one classroom observation and a student focus-group discussion from each of six cases. The data from each unit of analysis were examined independently and then synthesized in a multi-case analysis, resulting in a number of merged findings, or assertions, about the experience. The results of this study indicated that teachers used content-rich music to enhance student understanding of concepts in science by developing content-based vocabulary, providing students with alternative examples and explanations of concepts, and as a sense-making experience to help build conceptual understanding. The use of science-content songs engaged students by providing both situational and personal interest, and provided a mnemonic device for remembering key concepts in science. The use of songs has relevance from a constructivist approach as they were used to help students build meaning; from a socio-cultural perspective in terms of student engagement; and from a cognitive viewpoint in that in these cases they helped students make connections in learning. The results of this research have implications for science teachers and the science education community in developing new instructional strategies for the middle school science classroom.

Climate science informs participatory scenario development and applications to decision making in Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Welling, L. A.; Winfree, R.; Mow, J.

2012-12-01

Climate change presents unprecedented challenges for managing natural and cultural resources into the future. Impacts are expected to be highly consequential but specific effects are difficult to predict, requiring a flexible process for adaptation planning that is tightly coupled to climate science delivery systems. Scenario planning offers a tool for making science-based decisions under uncertainty. The National Park Service (NPS) is working with the Department of the Interior Climate Science Centers (CSCs), the NOAA Regional Integrated Science and Assessment teams (RISAs), and other academic, government, non-profit, and private partners to develop and apply scenarios to long-range planning and decision frameworks. In April 2012, Alaska became the first region of the NPS to complete climate change scenario planning for every national park, preserve, and monument. These areas, which collectively make up two-thirds of the total area of the NPS, are experiencing visible and measurable effects attributable to climate change. For example, thawing sea ice, glaciers and permafrost have resulted in coastal erosion, loss of irreplaceable cultural sites, slope failures, flooding of visitor access routes, and infrastructure damage. With higher temperatures and changed weather patterns, woody vegetation has expanded into northern tundra, spruce and cedar diebacks have occurred in southern Alaska, and wildland fire severity has increased. Working with partners at the Alaska Climate Science Center and the Scenario Network for Alaska Planning the NPS integrates quantitative, model-driven data with qualitative, participatory techniques to scenario creation. The approach enables managers to access and understand current climate change science in a form that is relevant for their decision making. Collaborative workshops conducted over the past two years grouped parks from Alaska's southwest, northwest, southeast, interior and central areas. The emphasis was to identify and connect climate and social drivers of change to ecological processes and decision making. Components included review and synthesis of climate observations and projections, effects and impacts, and information on other relevant factors (e.g., subsistence activities, land cover, fire activity, land use change, sea level shifts). Although workshops focused primarily on park lands and waters, nearby communities and other land management units also participated. Results include a framework through which managers are beginning to analyze uncertainties associated with climate change and ecosystem responses and evaluate appropriate and effective actions. For example, at Kenai Fjords National Park, melting from the Harding Icefield and Exit Glacier is changing how managers respond to local flooding issues. The Exit Glacier is one of the park's iconic visitor experiences and in the last four years, the road to the glacier has been subject to mid-summer/fair weather flooding which are outside the historic norms. Rather than seek a traditional solution to the issue, park management has been working with highway engineers to evolve interim solutions as this dynamic system continues to rapidly change. Climate change scenarios established a set of possible plausible futures for the park and are also being used to "wind tunnel" potential responses.

Acoustic Absorption in Porous Materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kuczmarski, Maria A.; Johnston, James C.

2011-01-01

An understanding of both the areas of materials science and acoustics is necessary to successfully develop materials for acoustic absorption applications. This paper presents the basic knowledge and approaches for determining the acoustic performance of porous materials in a manner that will help materials researchers new to this area gain the understanding and skills necessary to make meaningful contributions to this field of study. Beginning with the basics and making as few assumptions as possible, this paper reviews relevant topics in the acoustic performance of porous materials, which are often used to make acoustic bulk absorbers, moving from the physics of sound wave interactions with porous materials to measurement techniques for flow resistivity, characteristic impedance, and wavenumber.

W. E. B. Du Bois at the center: from science, civil rights movement, to Black Lives Matter.

PubMed

Morris, Aldon

2017-03-01

I am honoured to present the 2016 British Journal of Sociology Annual Lecture at the London School of Economics. My lecture is based on ideas derived from my new book, The Scholar Denied: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology. In this essay I make three arguments. First, W.E.B. Du Bois and his Atlanta School of Sociology pioneered scientific sociology in the United States. Second, Du Bois pioneered a public sociology that creatively combined sociology and activism. Finally, Du Bois pioneered a politically engaged social science relevant for contemporary political struggles including the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2017.

How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirshenbaum, Sheril

2010-03-01

The vast majority of Americans do not see the ways in which science holds relevance in their lives, and too many scientists are unable to explain why our work matters. Meanwhile, partisan politics, a new media environment, and religious ideologies have magnified the growing rift between science and mainstream American culture. Science should be a value shared by all, but it will take far more than political will to bridge what C.P. Snow once described as a ``vast gulf of mutual incomprehension'' between scientists and everyone else. The scientific community must find new ways of reaching out or we will fail to influence the public, inform the decision-making process, and rise to meet the greatest challenges of the 21st century.

Training conservation practitioners to be better decision makers

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnson, Fred A.; Eaton, Mitchell J.; Williams, James H.; Jensen, Gitte H.; Madsen, Jesper

2015-01-01

Traditional conservation curricula and training typically emphasizes only one part of systematic decision making (i.e., the science), at the expense of preparing conservation practitioners with critical skills in values-setting, working with decision makers and stakeholders, and effective problem framing. In this article we describe how the application of decision science is relevant to conservation problems and suggest how current and future conservation practitioners can be trained to be better decision makers. Though decision-analytic approaches vary considerably, they all involve: (1) properly formulating the decision problem; (2) specifying feasible alternative actions; and (3) selecting criteria for evaluating potential outcomes. Two approaches are available for providing training in decision science, with each serving different needs. Formal education is useful for providing simple, well-defined problems that allow demonstrations of the structure, axioms and general characteristics of a decision-analytic approach. In contrast, practical training can offer complex, realistic decision problems requiring more careful structuring and analysis than those used for formal training purposes. Ultimately, the kinds and degree of training necessary depend on the role conservation practitioners play in a decision-making process. Those attempting to facilitate decision-making processes will need advanced training in both technical aspects of decision science and in facilitation techniques, as well as opportunities to apprentice under decision analysts/consultants. Our primary goal should be an attempt to ingrain a discipline for applying clarity of thought to all decisions.

Malaysian Teacher Trainees' Practices on Science and the Relevance of Science Education for Sustainability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nair, Subadrah Madhawa; Mohamed, Abdul Rashid; Marimuthu, Nagamah

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the practice of teacher trainees on science and the relevance of science education. The study focuses on teacher trainees' practice on science teaching and its relevance to understanding science education. Design/methodology/approach: The study employed a survey method using questionnaires. The…

Science in Society: Bridging the gap to connect science to decision makers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, L.; Bwarie, J.; Pearce, I.

2016-12-01

The gap between science and decision making in our society can be large and multi-faceted, involving communication, process, cultural and even subconscious differences. In sweeping generalization, scientists reject anecdotes, focus on uncertainty and details, and expect conflict as part of the scientific process, while non-scientists respond to stories, want certainty and the big picture, and see conflict as a reason to reject the message. Bridging this gap often requires ongoing collaboration to find the intersection of three independent domains: what science can provide, the technical information decision makers need to make the most effective choices and what information decision makers need to motivate action. For ten years, the USGS has experimented with improving the usefulness of its science through the SAFRR (Science Application for Risk Reduction) Project and its predecessor, the Multi Hazards Demonstration Project in Southern California. Through leading and participating in these activities, we have recognized 3 steps that have been essential to successful partnerships between scientists and decision makers. First, determining what makes for a successful product cannot be done in isolation by either scientists or users. The users may want something science cannot produce (e.g., accurate short-term earthquake predictions), while the scientists can fail to see that the product they know how to make may not be relevant to the decisions that need to be made. Real discussions with real exchange and absorption of information on both sides makes for the most useful products. Second, most scientific results need work beyond what belongs in a journal to create a product that can be used. This is not just a different style of communication, but analyses that focus on the community's local questions rather than on scientific advances. Third, probabilities of natural hazards almost never motivate action to mitigate. The probabilities are usually low on human time scales and focus on the uncertainty, conveying a strong message that the hazard may not happen. Presenting the hazard as absolutely certain to occur, just on an unknown time scale is scientifically identical, but conveys a very different emotional message.

Refining the relevant population in forensic voice comparison - A response to Hicks et alii (2015) The importance of distinguishing information from evidence/observations when formulating propositions.

PubMed

Morrison, Geoffrey Stewart; Enzinger, Ewald; Zhang, Cuiling

2016-12-01

Hicks et alii [Sci. Just. 55 (2015) 520-525. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scijus.2015.06.008] propose that forensic speech scientists not use the accent of the speaker of questioned identity to refine the relevant population. This proposal is based on a lack of understanding of the realities of forensic voice comparison. If it were implemented, it would make data-based forensic voice comparison analysis within the likelihood ratio framework virtually impossible. We argue that it would also lead forensic speech scientists to present invalid unreliable strength of evidence statements, and not allow them to conduct the tests that would make them aware of this problem. Copyright © 2016 The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Creating Critical Consumers of Health and Science News: Teaching Science to the Non-Scientist Using Newsworthy Topics in the Life Sciences.

PubMed

Coderre, Raymond W; Uekermann, Kristen A; Choi, Youngeun; Anderson, William J

2016-03-01

Scientists constantly make groundbreaking discoveries, some of which receive attention from the press. We designed a course intended for a lay audience that provides the scientific background to appreciate these reports more fully. We discuss three topics in the life sciences: stem cells, cancer, and infectious disease. The course is structured to blend relevant scientific background and evaluation of primary literature with the coverage of these advances by the media and popular press. In short, lectures emphasize exposure to basic biological concepts and tools as a means of informing understanding of prominent biological questions of public interest. The overall goal of the course is not only to expose students to the media's coverage of scientific progress, but also to hone their critical thinking skills to distinguish hope from hype.

Who is having a voice? Journalists' selection of sources in a creationism controversy in the UK press

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allgaier, Joachim

2011-06-01

Media accounts of reality have the potential to influence public opinion and decision making processes. Therefore who has and who does not have access to the media and can make their voice heard is a crucial question with serious political consequences. In this article it is investigated whether the speciality of journalists influences their source selection procedures. The coverage of science in schools is an interesting example, since it can be covered by specialized science or education correspondents, but also by general news reporters. A public controversy in the UK about the inclusion of creationism in a school is used to identify which types of sources were selected by various journalists. The focus is upon the selection of sources and whether journalists with different specialties consider various sources relevant and credible. A content analysis of articles, featuring this controversy, is combined with an analysis of correspondent's strategies for selecting sources based on interviews with them. The findings suggest that compared to journalists that specialize in education issues, science correspondents employ a narrower scope when seeking sources. This might have important consequences for the representation of views on science education in the media.

How well do middle school science programs measure up? Findings from Project 2061's curriculum review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kesidou, Sofia; Roseman, Jo Ellen

2002-08-01

The purposes of this study were to examine how well middle school programs support the attainment of key scientific ideas specified in national science standards, and to identify typical strengths and weaknesses of these programs using research-based criteria. Nine widely used programs were examined by teams of teachers and specialists in research on teaching and learning. Reviewers found that whereas key ideas were generally present in the programs, they were typically buried between detailed or even unrelated ideas. Programs only rarely provided students with a sense of purpose for the units of study, took account of student beliefs that interfere with learning, engaged students with relevant phenomena to make abstract scientific ideas plausible, modeled the use of scientific knowledge so that students could apply what they learned in everyday situations, or scaffolded student efforts to make meaning of key phenomena and ideas presented in the programs. New middle school science programs that reflect findings from learning research are needed to support teachers better in helping students learn key ideas in science. The criteria and findings from this study on the inadequacies in existing programs could serve as guidelines in new curriculum development.

Using NLM exhibits and events to engage library users and reach the community.

PubMed

Auten, Beth; Norton, Hannah F; Tennant, Michele R; Edwards, Mary E; Stoyan-Rosenzweig, Nina; Daley, Matthew

2013-01-01

In an effort to reach out to library users and make the library a more relevant, welcoming place, the University of Florida's Health Science Center Library hosted exhibits from the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Traveling Exhibition Program. From 2010 through 2012, the library hosted four NLM exhibits and created event series for each. Through reflection and use of a participant survey, lessons were learned concerning creating relevant programs, marketing events, and forming new partnerships. Each successive exhibit added events and activities to address different audiences. A survey of libraries that have hosted NLM exhibits highlights lessons learned at those institutions.

Using NLM Exhibits and Events to Engage Library Users and Reach the Community

PubMed Central

Auten, Beth; Norton, Hannah F.; Tennant, Michele R.; Edwards, Mary E.; Stoyan-Rosenzweig, Nina; Daley, Matthew

2013-01-01

In an effort to reach out to library users and make the library a more relevant, welcoming place, the University of Florida’s Health Science Center Library hosted exhibits from the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) Traveling Exhibition Program. From 2010 through 2012, the library hosted four NLM exhibits and created event series for each. Through reflection and use of a participant survey, lessons were learned concerning creating relevant programs, marketing events, and forming new partnerships. Each successive exhibit added events and activities to address different audiences. A survey of libraries that have hosted NLM exhibits highlights lessons learned at those institutions. PMID:23869634

75 FR 20843 - Notice of Workshop To Discuss Policy-Relevant Science to Inform EPA's Integrated Plan for the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-21

... Policy-Relevant Science to Inform EPA's Integrated Plan for the Review of the Lead National Ambient Air...-Relevant Science to Inform EPA's Integrated Plan for Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards... review focuses on the key policy-relevant issues and considers the most meaningful new science to inform...

Expert Performance and Time Pressure: Implications for Automation Failures in Aviation

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-30

Sciences , 7, 454-459. Fitts, P. M. (Ed.), (1951). Human engineering for an effective air navigation and control system. Washington, DC: National...expert performance. Implications for the aviation domain are discussed. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Decision Making , Time Pressure, Error, Situational Awareness...automation interaction has been a challenge for human factors for quite some time and its relevance continues to grow (e.g., Bainbridge, 1983; de Winter

It May Be Nonaversive, but Is It a Positive Approach? Relevant Questions to Ask throughout the Process of Behavioral Assessment and Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weiss, Nancy R.; Knoster, Tim

2008-01-01

It is important for people involved in the art and science of behavior change to reflect on the ethical issues inherent in this work. Simply because interventions are not inhumane or disrespectful does not, by default, make them person-centered or examples of positive behavior support. It is recommended that a series of questions be thoughtfully…

Telling a Compelling Tale, Scientifically Speaking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Unger, M.; Hauser, R.; Backlund, P.

2009-12-01

We will examine three strategies for conveying science effectively to a broad audience: making science relevant, accessible, and intriguing. Through an analysis of the dissemination strategy for three research-related stories at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, we explore methods for successful communication of societally relevant science. We will discuss both time-honored and new means of conveying authentic science in a rapidly changing media landscape. This visualization from the Hayden Planetarium's Journey to the Stars shows the generation of magnetic field in the solar convection zone and its connection to a sunspot at the visible surface of the Sun. Note that the sunspot (with a size slightly larger than Earth) is enlarged for better visibility and not in proper scale relative to the Sun. (© 2009, American Museum of Natural History) New research shows that the Arctic reversed a long-term cooling trend and began warming rapidly in recent decades. The graph shows estimates of Arctic temperatures over the last 2,000 years, based on proxy records, the long-term cooling trend, and the recent warming based on actual observations. A 2000-year transient climate simulation with NCAR's Community Climate System Model shows the same overall temperature decrease as does the proxy temperature reconstruction, which gives scientists confidence that their estimates are accurate.

Improving life sciences information retrieval using semantic web technology.

PubMed

Quan, Dennis

2007-05-01

The ability to retrieve relevant information is at the heart of every aspect of research and development in the life sciences industry. Information is often distributed across multiple systems and recorded in a way that makes it difficult to piece together the complete picture. Differences in data formats, naming schemes and network protocols amongst information sources, both public and private, must be overcome, and user interfaces not only need to be able to tap into these diverse information sources but must also assist users in filtering out extraneous information and highlighting the key relationships hidden within an aggregated set of information. The Semantic Web community has made great strides in proposing solutions to these problems, and many efforts are underway to apply Semantic Web techniques to the problem of information retrieval in the life sciences space. This article gives an overview of the principles underlying a Semantic Web-enabled information retrieval system: creating a unified abstraction for knowledge using the RDF semantic network model; designing semantic lenses that extract contextually relevant subsets of information; and assembling semantic lenses into powerful information displays. Furthermore, concrete examples of how these principles can be applied to life science problems including a scenario involving a drug discovery dashboard prototype called BioDash are provided.

On the almost inconceivable misunderstandings concerning the subject of value-free social science.

PubMed

Black, Donald

2013-12-01

A value judgment says what is good or bad, and value-free social science simply means social science free of value judgments. Yet many sociologists regard value-free social science as undesirable or impossible and readily make value judgments in the name of sociology. Often they display confusion about such matters as the meaning of value-free social science, value judgments internal and external to social science, value judgments as a subject of social science, the relevance of objectivity for value-free social science, and the difference between the human significance of social science and value-free social science. But why so many sociologists are so value-involved - and generally so unscientific - is sociologically understandable: The closest and most distant subjects attract the least scientific ideas. And during the past century sociologists have become increasingly close to their human subject. The debate about value-free social science is also part of an epistemological counterrevolution of humanists (including many sociologists) against the more scientific social scientists who invaded and threatened to expropriate the human subject during the past century. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2013.

The droso4schools project: Long-term scientist-teacher collaborations to promote science communication and education in schools.

PubMed

Patel, Sanjai; DeMaine, Sophie; Heafield, Joshua; Bianchi, Lynne; Prokop, Andreas

2017-10-01

Science communication is becoming an increasingly important part of a scientist's remit, and engaging with primary and secondary schools is one frequently chosen strategy. Here we argue that science communication in schools will be more effective if based on good understanding of the realities of school life, which can be achieved through structured participation and/or collaboration with teachers. For example, the Manchester Fly Facility advocates the use of the fruit fly Drosophila as an important research strategy for the discovery processes in the biomedical sciences. To communicate this concept also in schools, we developed the 'droso4schools' project as a refined form of scientist-teacher collaboration that embraces the expertise and interests of teachers. Within this project, we place university students as teaching assistants in university partner schools to collaborate with teachers and develop biology lessons with adjunct support materials. These lessons teach curriculum-relevant biology topics by making use of the profound conceptual understanding existing in Drosophila combined with parallel examples taken from human biology. By performing easy to implement experiments with flies, we bring living organisms into these lessons, thus endeavouring to further enhance the pupil's learning experience. In this way, we do not talk about flies but rather work with flies as powerful teaching tools to convey mainstream curriculum biology content, whilst also bringing across the relevance of Drosophila research. Through making these lessons freely available online, they have the potential to reach out to teachers and scientists worldwide. In this paper, we share our experiences and strategies to provide ideas for scientists engaging with schools, including the application of the droso4schools project as a paradigm for long-term school engagement which can be adapted also to other areas of science. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The scientist's education and a civic conscience.

PubMed

Donald, Kelling J; Kovac, Jeffrey

2013-09-01

A civic science curriculum is advocated. We discuss practical mechanisms for (and highlight the possible benefits of) addressing the relationship between scientific knowledge and civic responsibility coextensively with rigorous scientific content. As a strategy, we suggest an in-course treatment of well known (and relevant) historical and contemporary controversies among scientists over science policy or the use of sciences. The scientific content of the course is used to understand the controversy and to inform the debate while allowing students to see the role of scientists in shaping public perceptions of science and the value of scientific inquiry, discoveries and technology in society. The examples of the activism of Linus Pauling, Alfred Nobel and Joseph Rotblat as scientists and engaged citizens are cited. We discuss the role of science professors in informing the social conscience of students and consider ways in which a treatment of the function of science in society may find, coherently, a meaningful space in a science curriculum at the college level. Strategies for helping students to recognize early the crucial contributions that science can make in informing public policy and global governance are discussed.

Observation and visualization: reflections on the relationship between science, visual arts, and the evolution of the scientific image.

PubMed

Kolijn, Eveline

2013-10-01

The connections between biological sciences, art and printed images are of great interest to the author. She reflects on the historical relevance of visual representations for science. She argues that the connection between art and science seems to have diminished during the twentieth century. However, this connection is currently growing stronger again through digital media and new imaging methods. Scientific illustrations have fuelled art, while visual modeling tools have assisted scientific research. As a print media artist, she explores the relationship between art and science in her studio practice and will present this historical connection with examples related to evolution, microbiology and her own work. Art and science share a common source, which leads to scrutiny and enquiry. Science sets out to reveal and explain our reality, whereas art comments and makes connections that don't need to be tested by rigorous protocols. Art and science should each be evaluated on their own merit. Allowing room for both in the quest to understand our world will lead to an enriched experience.

Specimens as records: scientific practice and recordkeeping in natural history research.

PubMed

Ilerbaig, Juan

2010-01-01

For the past two decades, scholars in archival science have begun to question traditional assumptions about the nature of the record. Drawing on theories from fields such as sociology, organization theory, and science studies, and on their own ethnographic studies, they propose more inclusive definitions and widening the contexts of analysis of record making and recordkeeping. This paper continues this critical consideration of the concept of record by examining the nature of nonprototypical records in the scientific world. The paper focuses on the system of specimens and field notes established by biologist Joseph Grinnell at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (University of California, Berkeley) as a means of examining several aspects of the nature of the scientific record: materiality, representation, and the triad evidence/memory/accountability. Focusing on the creation and management of these scientific records, the paper argues that further analyses of scientific record making and recordkeeping are bound to benefit both scientific work, which depends more and more on databases and archives, as well as archival science, which is becoming more relevant beyond its traditional realm of the legal/business/administrative world.

Science in a New Mode: Good Old (Theoretical) Science Versus Brave New (Commodified) Knowledge Production?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knuuttila, Tarja

2013-10-01

The present transformation of the university system is conceptualized in terms of such terminologies as "Mode-2 knowledge production" and the "entrepreneurial university." What is remarkable about these analyses is how closely they link the generally accepted requirement of more socially relevant knowledge to the commercialization of university research. This paper critically examines the Mode-1/Mode-2 distinction through a combination of philosophical and empirical analysis. It argues that, from the perspective of actual scientific practice, this Mode-1/Mode-2 distinction and the related transition thesis do not stand closer scrutiny. Theoretical "Mode-1" science shares "Mode-2" features in being also problem-oriented, interventive and transdisciplinary. On the other hand, the empirical case on language technology demonstrates that even in "Mode-2"-like research, undertaken in the "context of application," scientists make a distinction between more difficult scientific problems and those that are considered more applied or commercial. Moreover, the case shows that the need to make such distinctions may even become more acute due to the compromises imposed by the commercialization of research.

Using "Making Sense of Climate Science Denial" MOOC videos in a college course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuenemann, K. C.; Cook, J.

2015-12-01

The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) "Denial101x: Making Sense of Climate Science Denial" teaches students to make sense of the science and respond to climate change denial. The course is made up of a series of short, myth-debunking lecture videos that can be strategically used in college courses. The videos and the visuals within have proven a great resource for an introductory college level climate change course. Methods for using the videos in both online and in-classroom courses will be presented, as well as student reactions and learning from the videos. The videos introduce and explain a climate science topic, then paraphrase a common climate change myth, explain why the myth is wrong by identifying the characteristic of climate denial used, and concludes by reinforcing the correct science. By focusing on common myths, the MOOC has made an archive of videos that can be used by anyone in need of a 5-minute response to debunk a myth. By also highlighting five characteristics of climate denial: fake experts, logical fallacies, impossible expectations, cherry picking, and conspiracy theories (FLICC), the videos also teach the viewer the skills they need to critically examine myths they may encounter in the real world on a variety of topics. The videos also include a series of expert scientist interviews that can be used to drive home points, as well as put some faces to the science. These videos are freely available outside of the MOOC and can be found under the relevant "Most used climate myths" section on the skepticalscience.com webpage, as well as directly on YouTube. Discover ideas for using videos in future courses, regardless of discipline.

Examining the Effectiveness of an Academic Language Planning Organizer as a Tool for Planning Science Academic Language Instruction and Supports

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, Karl G.; Brown, Julie C.

2016-12-01

To engage in the practices of science, students must have a strong command of science academic language. However, content area teachers often make academic language an incidental part of their lesson planning, which leads to missed opportunities to enhance students' language development. To support pre-service elementary science teachers (PSTs) in making language planning an explicit part of their science lessons, we created the Academic Language Planning Organizer (ALPO). The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the ALPO on two levels: first, by examining participants' interactions with the ALPO as they identified academic language features, objectives and supports; and second, by exploring the ways that participants translated identified language supports to planned science activities. Findings indicated that, when using the ALPO, PSTs identified clear language functions and relevant vocabulary terms, and also frequently developed clear, observable and measurable language objectives. When lesson planning, PSTs were largely successful in translating previously identified language supports to their lesson plans, and often planned additional language supports beyond what was required. We also found, however, that the ALPO did not meet its intended use in supporting PSTs in identifying discourse and syntax demands associated with specific academic language functions, suggesting that revisions to the ALPO could better support PSTs in identifying these academic language demands. Implications for supporting PSTs' planning for and scaffolding of science academic language use are presented.

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.

Governance of dual-use research: an ethical dilemma

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Abstract Scenarios where the results of well-intentioned scientific research can be used for both good and harmful purposes give rise to what is now widely known as the “dual-use dilemma”. There has been growing debate about the dual-use nature of life science research with implications for making biological weapons. This paper reviews several controversial publications that have been the focus of debates about dual-use life science research and critically examines relevant policy developments, particularly in the United States of America. Though the dual-use dilemma is inherently ethical in nature, the majority of debates about dual-use research have primarily involved science and security experts rather than ethicists. It is important that there is more ethical input into debates about the governance of dual-use research. PMID:19784453

Tailoring science education graduate programs to the needs of science educators in low-income countries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lunetta, Vincent N.; van den Berg, Euwe

Science education graduate programs in high-income countries frequently enroll students from low-income countries. Upon admission these students have profiles of knowledge, skills, and experiences which can be quite different from those of students from the host high-income countries. Upon graduation, they will normally return to work in education systems with conditions which differ greatly from those in high-income countries. This article attempts to clarify some of the differences and similarities between such students. It offers suggestions for making graduate programs more responsive to the special needs of students from low-income countries and to the opportunities they offer for enhancing cross-cultural sensitivity. Many of the suggestions can be incorporated within existing programs through choices of elective courses and topics for papers, projects, and research. Many references are provided to relevant literature on cultural issues and on science education in low-income countries.

Nursing, art and science: revisiting the two cultures.

PubMed

Darbyshire, P

1999-09-01

I begin this paper by setting out the importance of the Two Cultures debate, given that many nurse authors would agree with Closs's position that the art versus science debate should be closed finally. I suggest that issues are every bit as present and urgent in our current era as they were in the past. A brief tracing of the history of the Two Cultures debate highlights the relevance of the central features of the debate for nursing. I then focus on nursing's current understanding of science and art and attempt to defend science from some of the accusations levelled at it, while also questioning some of the claims made on behalf of the arts. In the latter sections of the paper, I make a case for the development of 'nursing humanities' and argue the vital importance of overcoming the Two Cultures divide for the everyday practices of nurses and midwives.

Psychology, psychologists, and public policy.

PubMed

McKnight, Katherine M; Sechrest, Lee; McKnight, Patrick E

2005-01-01

Evidence-based policy is being encouraged in all areas of public service ( Black 2001 ). Unprecedented federal legislation reflects a faith in science "as a force for improved public policy" ( Feuer et al. 2002 ). The objective of evidence-based policy is to use scientific research to drive decision making. Thus, the link between social science research and public policy seems to be a natural one. The purpose of this chapter is to address how psychological science in general, and clinical psychology in particular, can be of use to public policy makers. We discuss how psychological science can be relevant and applicable to informing policy, and we describe the role clinical scientists might play in generating, disseminating, and implementing that information. We also note distinct limitations on the usefulness of psychological research in driving public policy. We discuss some pitfalls and recommend areas where clinical psychology might best serve public policy.

Fostering Gender Equality and Achievement in Natural Science and Mathematics Instruction in Higher Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pearson, K.; Liddicoat, J.

2012-04-01

Traditionally in the United States, males have been drawn to careers in the natural sciences and mathematics for a variety of social and economic reasons, but in recent decades females have demonstrated a similar aptitude in these fields when provided with equal opportunities. Because the percentage of women attending colleges and universities in the developing and developed countries often surpasses the percentage of males, and as non-traditional students who might be older woman are returning to college and universities for training to make themselves competitive in the workforce, it is important that instruction in the natural sciences and mathematics be relevant to student needs. We will present the results of a recent campus-initiated discussion about improving the instruction of women in the natural sciences and mathematics as it applies to our institution in the fashion industries.

Visual Representations of DNA Replication: Middle Grades Students' Perceptions and Interpretations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patrick, Michelle D.; Carter, Glenda; Wiebe, Eric N.

2005-09-01

Visual representations play a critical role in the communication of science concepts for scientists and students alike. However, recent research suggests that novice students experience difficulty extracting relevant information from representations. This study examined students' interpretations of visual representations of DNA replication. Each of the four steps of DNA replication included in the instructional presentation was represented as a text slide, a simple 2D graphic, and a rich 3D graphic. Participants were middle grade girls ( n = 21) attending a summer math and science program. Students' eye movements were measured as they viewed the representations. Participants were interviewed following instruction to assess their perceived salient features. Eye tracking fixation counts indicated that the same features (look zones) in the corresponding 2D and 3D graphics had different salience. The interviews revealed that students used different characteristics such as color, shape, and complexity to make sense of the graphics. The results of this study have implications for the design of instructional representations. Since many students have difficulty distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant information, cueing and directing student attention through the instructional representation could allow cognitive resources to be directed to the most relevant material.

More than a Museum: Natural History is Relevant in 21st Century Environmental Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernandez, R. R.; Murphy-Mariscal, M. L.; Barrows, C. W.

2015-12-01

In the Anthropocene, the relevancy of natural history in environmental science is challenged and marginalized today more than ever. We tested the hypothesis that natural history is relevant to the fields of environmental science and ecology by assessing the values, needs, and decisions related to natural history of graduate students and environmental science professionals across 31 universities and various employers, respectively, in California. Graduate students surveyed (93.3%) agreed that natural history was relevant to science, approximately 70% believed it "essential" for conducting field-based research; however, 54.2% felt inadequately trained to teach a natural history course and would benefit from additional training in natural history (> 80%). Of the 185 professionals surveyed, all felt that natural history was relevant to science and "essential" or "desirable" in their vocation (93%). Our results indicate a disconnect between the value and relevancy of natural history in 21st century ecological science and opportunities for gaining those skills and knowledge through education and training.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2015-12-01

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

Improving the Science and Mathematic Achievement of Mexican American Students Through Culturally Relevant Science. ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marinez, Diana I.; Ortiz de Montellano, Bernardo R.

There are many ways in which science can be made culturally relevant: archeoastronomy, mathematics, geology, ethnobotany, chemistry, and art can all be taught from a perspective celebrating the accomplishments of Mexican American and American Indian science and encouraging exploration. A culturally relevant curriculum provides teachers with…

Supporting pre-service science teachers in developing culturally relevant pedagogy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krajeski, Stephen

This study employed a case study methodology to investigate a near-authentic intervention program designed to support the development of culturally relevant pedagogy and its impact on pre-service science teachers' notions of culturally relevant pedagogy. The unit of analysis for this study was the discourse of pre-service science teachers enrolled in a second semester science methods course, which was the site of the intervention program. Data for this study was collected from videos of classroom observations, audio recordings of personal interviews, and artifacts created by the pre-service science teachers during the class. To determine how effective science teacher certification programs are at supporting the development of culturally relevant pedagogy without an immersion aspect, two research questions were investigated: 1) How do pre-service science teachers view and design pedagogy while participating in an intervention designed to support the development of culturally relevant pedagogy? 2) How do pre-service science teachers view the importance of culturally relevant pedagogy for supporting student learning? How do their practices in the field change these initial views?

Developing and Evaluating Workshop Frameworks to Improve Climate Literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Averyt, K.; Alvord, C.; Joyce, L. A.; Lukas, J.; Barsugli, J. J.; Owen, G.; Udall, B.

2009-12-01

A burgeoning need for climate information is rising from a variety of stakeholders. A new federal report encourages federal resource management efforts to consider climate in assessments-leaving agency scientists and resource managers searching for appropriate data and methodologies. At the other end of the spectrum, small-scale decision makers realize the need to develop scientifically-informed climate adaptation plans, but are unclear about what science is relevant. It is becoming necessary to improve the climate literacy across all sectors. However, past examples illustrate that climate science has been insufficiently communicated, resulting in perceptions that misinform decision-making and planning. Given the necessity to include climate science in planning on multiple scales, scientific educators must work with stakeholders to determine how best to improve climate literacy. Doing so will reduce uncertainty in the application of climate data in planning, and thus mitigate vulnerabilities to the impacts of climate change. Here, we present the design and assessment of two workshop frameworks intended to improve the climate literacy of two distinct entities with different climate information needs. This work represents initial steps by the Western Water Assessment, a NOAA- Regionally Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) Program, towards the development of a suite of process-oriented frameworks geared toward improving the climate literacy of different users with distinct informational needs. Both workshops focused on water-related climate issues: the first (Dealing with Drought: Climate Change in Colorado) was geared toward an audience with minimal exposure to climate information; the second was for US Forest Service hydrologists and managers with technical backgrounds. In both cases, the workshop format included presentations of relevant climate science, introductions to varied climate tools and products, and a needs-and-gaps assessment. Evaluation of each workshop drew upon a variety of tested social science methods, such as focus groups, decision games, surveys, and structured interviews. The efficacy of the framework developed was assessed by evaluating the relationship among the climate information presented, user perceptions about climate information, and incorporation into decision-making. In addition to climate literacy evaluations, participants were presented with a scenario at the beginning of the meeting, and were asked to report periodically on their thoughts on how to approach the scenario as new information was presented throughout the workshop. This allowed us to track the co-evolution of climate literacy, accuracy of data interpretation, and the sophistication of participants’ decision-making. In the 12-months after each workshop, we will track how the climate literacy of the participants evolves, and how their informational needs for decision-making change. The results here will frame a process for how a larger, federal climate-training program might be conducted, and how training needs can be assessed through climate literacy assessments.

Identifiers for the 21st century: How to design, provision, and reuse persistent identifiers to maximize utility and impact of life science data

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

McMurry, Julie A.; Juty, Nick; Blomberg, Niklas

In many disciplines, data are highly decentralized across thousands of online databases (repositories, registries, and knowledgebases). Wringing value from such databases depends on the discipline of data science and on the humble bricks and mortar that make integration possible; identifiers are a core component of this integration infrastructure. Drawing on our experience and on work by other groups, we outline 10 lessons we have learned about the identifier qualities and best practices that facilitate large-scale data integration. Specifically, we propose actions that identifier practitioners (database providers) should take in the design, provision and reuse of identifiers. We also outline themore » important considerations for those referencing identifiers in various circumstances, including by authors and data generators. While the importance and relevance of each lesson will vary by context, there is a need for increased awareness about how to avoid and manage common identifier problems, especially those related to persistence and web-accessibility/resolvability. We focus strongly on web-based identifiers in the life sciences; however, the principles are broadly relevant to other disciplines.« less

Identifiers for the 21st century: How to design, provision, and reuse persistent identifiers to maximize utility and impact of life science data

DOE PAGES

McMurry, Julie A.; Juty, Nick; Blomberg, Niklas; ...

2017-06-29

In many disciplines, data are highly decentralized across thousands of online databases (repositories, registries, and knowledgebases). Wringing value from such databases depends on the discipline of data science and on the humble bricks and mortar that make integration possible; identifiers are a core component of this integration infrastructure. Drawing on our experience and on work by other groups, we outline 10 lessons we have learned about the identifier qualities and best practices that facilitate large-scale data integration. Specifically, we propose actions that identifier practitioners (database providers) should take in the design, provision and reuse of identifiers. We also outline themore » important considerations for those referencing identifiers in various circumstances, including by authors and data generators. While the importance and relevance of each lesson will vary by context, there is a need for increased awareness about how to avoid and manage common identifier problems, especially those related to persistence and web-accessibility/resolvability. We focus strongly on web-based identifiers in the life sciences; however, the principles are broadly relevant to other disciplines.« less

Emotion in the Law and the Lab: The Case of Graphic Cigarette Warnings

PubMed Central

Peters, Ellen; Evans, Abigail T.; Hemmerich, Natalie; Berman, Micah

2017-01-01

The decision in RJ Reynolds vs. FDA (2012) to invalidate FDA’s proposed graphic health warnings was based in part on the reasoning that the proposed graphic warnings cued emotional responses and therefore could not be considered “factual.” However, this reasoning demonstrated the courts’ fundamental misunderstanding of current behavioral-science research. In contrast to the courts’ artificial separation of emotions from fact, we synthesize and interpret relevant research in basic decision sciences and describe an evidence-based characterization of how emotions influence consumer decision making through multiple mechanisms. We then explore how behavioral research gets “lost in translation” in the legal process and recommend ways that behavioral scientists can work with attorneys to remedy this problem. In order for science-based tobacco regulation to survive legal challenges from the tobacco industry, courts must have access to and be able to understand and apply the relevant research. Accordingly, behavioral laboratory researchers must consider the courts as an additional audience when designing research and reporting results. Researchers wishing to influence policy should also work closely with public health lawyers to have the greatest impact on the legal system. PMID:29057296

Big Data and Data Science in Critical Care.

PubMed

Sanchez-Pinto, L Nelson; Luo, Yuan; Churpek, Matthew M

2018-05-09

The digitalization of the health-care system has resulted in a deluge of clinical Big Data and has prompted the rapid growth of data science in medicine. Data science, which is the field of study dedicated to the principled extraction of knowledge from complex data, is particularly relevant in the critical care setting. The availability of large amounts of data in the ICU, the need for better evidence-based care, and the complexity of critical illness makes the use of data science techniques and data-driven research particularly appealing to intensivists. Despite the increasing number of studies and publications in the field, thus far there have been few examples of data science projects that have resulted in successful implementations of data-driven systems in the ICU. However, given the expected growth in the field, intensivists should be familiar with the opportunities and challenges of Big Data and data science. The present article reviews the definitions, types of algorithms, applications, challenges, and future of Big Data and data science in critical care. Copyright © 2018 American College of Chest Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Associations Between Attitudes Towards Science and Children's Evaluation of Information About Socioscientific Issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Sihan; Sandoval, William A.

2017-05-01

Science educators are typically dismayed by the failure of students to use relevant scientific knowledge when reasoning about socioscientific issues. Except for the well-documented association between having more knowledge about a topic and a tendency to use that knowledge, the influences on students' evaluation of information in socioscientific issues are not well understood. This study presents an initial investigation into the associations between upper elementary students' attitudes towards science and their evaluation of information about a socioscientific issue. We surveyed the science attitudes of 49 sixth grade students and then asked them to evaluate information about a socioscientific issue (alternative energy use). Positive attitudes were associated with a more scientific approach to evaluating information in the task. When trying to make judgments, students with generally positive attitudes towards science were more likely to attend to scientific information than other sources. Scientific information, nonetheless, served a variety of socially oriented goals in students' evaluations. These findings warrant further research on the relationship between science attitudes and reasoning about socioscientific issues and support the argument for connecting school science more clearly with everyday concerns.

Passionate scholarship 2001-2010: a vision for making academe safer for joyous risk-takers.

PubMed

Heinrich, Kathleen T

2010-01-01

What is passionate scholarship? According to students and graduates from a nursing doctoral program interviewed 10 years ago, passionate scholars must risk committing to a personally meaningful and socially relevant topic close to the heart. This insight spawned a string of exploratory inquiries and educational interventions in search of the "ideal conditions" that foster passionate scholarship. Updating the findings of that original study published in Advances in Nursing Science in 2001, this article describes a 3-year, faculty development initiative. Beyond increasing scholarly productivity, the findings suggest that turning faculty groups into communities of scholarly caring can make academic environments safer for passionate risk-takers.

Participatory Action Research Experiences for Undergraduates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sample McMeeking, L. B.; Weinberg, A. E.

2013-12-01

Research experiences for undergraduates (REU) have been shown to be effective in improving undergraduate students' personal/professional development, ability to synthesize knowledge, improvement in research skills, professional advancement, and career choice. Adding to the literature on REU programs, a new conceptual model situating REU within a context of participatory action research (PAR) is presented and compared with data from a PAR-based coastal climate research experience that took place in Summer 2012. The purpose of the interdisciplinary Participatory Action Research Experiences for Undergraduates (PAREU) model is to act as an additional year to traditional, lab-based REU where undergraduate science students, social science experts, and community members collaborate to develop research with the goal of enacting change. The benefits to traditional REU's are well established and include increased content knowledge, better research skills, changes in attitudes, and greater career awareness gained by students. Additional positive outcomes are expected from undergraduate researchers (UR) who participate in PAREU, including the ability to better communicate with non-scientists. With highly politicized aspects of science, such as climate change, this becomes especially important for future scientists. Further, they will be able to articulate the relevance of science research to society, which is an important skill, especially given the funding climate where agencies require broader impacts statements. Making science relevant may also benefit URs who wish to apply their science research. Finally, URs will gain social science research skills by apprenticing in a research project that includes science and social science research components, which enables them to participate in future education and outreach. The model also positively impacts community members by elevating their voices within and outside the community, particularly in areas severely underserved socially and politically. The PAREU model empowers the community to take action from the research they, themselves, conducted, and enables them to carry out future research. Finally, many of these communities (and the general public) lack the understanding of the nature of science, which leads to ignorance on the part of citizens in areas of science such as climate change. By participating in science/social science research, community members gain a better understanding of the nature of science, making them more informed citizens. The PAREU model is theoretically grounded in decades of research in social science and documented impacts of student research experiences. In addition to providing practical benefits for communities with needs solvable by scientific research, the model builds on and expands student skills gained from traditional REU programs Deep and sustained engagement among scientists, social scientists, and community leaders is expected to create better informed citizens and improve their ability to solve problems.

Research implications of science-informed, value-based decision making.

PubMed

Dowie, Jack

2004-01-01

In 'Hard' science, scientists correctly operate as the 'guardians of certainty', using hypothesis testing formulations and value judgements about error rates and time discounting that make classical inferential methods appropriate. But these methods can neither generate most of the inputs needed by decision makers in their time frame, nor generate them in a form that allows them to be integrated into the decision in an analytically coherent and transparent way. The need for transparent accountability in public decision making under uncertainty and value conflict means the analytical coherence provided by the stochastic Bayesian decision analytic approach, drawing on the outputs of Bayesian science, is needed. If scientific researchers are to play the role they should be playing in informing value-based decision making, they need to see themselves also as 'guardians of uncertainty', ensuring that the best possible current posterior distributions on relevant parameters are made available for decision making, irrespective of the state of the certainty-seeking research. The paper distinguishes the actors employing different technologies in terms of the focus of the technology (knowledge, values, choice); the 'home base' mode of their activity on the cognitive continuum of varying analysis-to-intuition ratios; and the underlying value judgements of the activity (especially error loss functions and time discount rates). Those who propose any principle of decision making other than the banal 'Best Principle', including the 'Precautionary Principle', are properly interpreted as advocates seeking to have their own value judgements and preferences regarding mode location apply. The task for accountable decision makers, and their supporting technologists, is to determine the best course of action under the universal conditions of uncertainty and value difference/conflict.

New Curricular Material for Science Classes: How Do Students Evaluate It?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freire, Sofia; Faria, Cláudia; Galvão, Cecília; Reis, Pedro

2013-02-01

Living in an unpredictable and ever changing society demands from its' citizens the development of complex competencies that challenges school, education and curriculum. PARSEL, a pan-European Project related to science education, emerges as a contribution to curricular development as it proposes a set of teaching-learning materials (modules) in order to make science classes more popular and relevant in the eyes of the students and as such to increase their interest with school science. The goal of this study was to understand how students evaluate those innovative modules. This paper presents data concerning 134 secondary students, collected through interviews, questionnaires and written documents. A quantitative analysis of the data collected through questionnaires was complemented by a qualitative analysis of the data collected by interviews and written documents. Results show that understanding the relationship between science and daily life, participating in practical activities based on problem solving and developing critical thinking and reasoning were the issues most valued by students.

Thinking forensics: Cognitive science for forensic practitioners.

PubMed

Edmond, Gary; Towler, Alice; Growns, Bethany; Ribeiro, Gianni; Found, Bryan; White, David; Ballantyne, Kaye; Searston, Rachel A; Thompson, Matthew B; Tangen, Jason M; Kemp, Richard I; Martire, Kristy

2017-03-01

Human factors and their implications for forensic science have attracted increasing levels of interest across criminal justice communities in recent years. Initial interest centred on cognitive biases, but has since expanded such that knowledge from psychology and cognitive science is slowly infiltrating forensic practices more broadly. This article highlights a series of important findings and insights of relevance to forensic practitioners. These include research on human perception, memory, context information, expertise, decision-making, communication, experience, verification, confidence, and feedback. The aim of this article is to sensitise forensic practitioners (and lawyers and judges) to a range of potentially significant issues, and encourage them to engage with research in these domains so that they may adapt procedures to improve performance, mitigate risks and reduce errors. Doing so will reduce the divide between forensic practitioners and research scientists as well as improve the value and utility of forensic science evidence. Copyright © 2016 The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Revolutionary land use change in the 21st century: Is (rangeland) science relevant?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Herrick, J.E.; Brown, J.R.; Bestelmeyer, B.T.; Andrews, S.S.; Baldi, G.; Davies, J.; Duniway, M.; Havstad, K.M.; Karl, J.W.; Karlen, D.L.; Peters, Debra P.C.; Quinton, J.N.; Riginos, C.; Shaver, P.L.; Steinaker, D.; Twomlow, S.

2012-01-01

Rapidly increasing demand for food, fiber, and fuel together with new technologies and the mobility of global capital are driving revolutionary changes in land use throughout the world. Efforts to increase land productivity include conversion of millions of hectares of rangelands to crop production, including many marginal lands with low resistance and resilience to degradation. Sustaining the productivity of these lands requires careful land use planning and innovative management systems. Historically, this responsibility has been left to agronomists and others with expertise in crop production. In this article, we argue that the revolutionary land use changes necessary to support national and global food security potentially make rangeland science more relevant now than ever. Maintaining and increasing relevance will require a revolutionary change in range science from a discipline that focuses on a particular land use or land cover to one that addresses the challenge of managing all lands that, at one time, were considered to be marginal for crop production. We propose four strategies to increase the relevance of rangeland science to global land management: 1) expand our awareness and understanding of local to global economic, social, and technological trends in order to anticipate and identify drivers and patterns of conversion; 2) emphasize empirical studies and modeling that anticipate the biophysical (ecosystem services) and societal consequences of large-scale changes in land cover and use; 3) significantly increase communication and collaboration with the disciplines and sectors of society currently responsible for managing the new land uses; and 4) develop and adopt a dynamic and flexible resilience-based land classification system and data-supported conceptual models (e.g., state-and-transition models) that represent all lands, regardless of use and the consequences of land conversion to various uses instead of changes in state or condition that are focused on a single land use.

Sports-science roundtable: does sports-science research influence practice?

PubMed

Bishop, David; Burnett, Angus; Farrow, Damian; Gabbett, Tim; Newton, Robert

2006-06-01

As sports scientists, we claim to make a significant contribution to the body of knowledge that influences athletic practice and performance. Is this the reality? At the inaugural congress of the Australian Association for Exercise and Sports Science, a panel of well-credentialed academic experts with experience in the applied environment debated the question, Does sports-science research influence practice? The first task was to define "sports-science research," and it was generally agreed that it is concerned with providing evidence that improves sports performance. When practices are equally effective, sports scientists also have a role in identifying practices that are safer, more time efficient, and more enjoyable. There were varying views on the need for sports-science research to be immediately relevant to coaches or athletes. Most agreed on the importance of communicating the results of sports-science research, not only to the academic community but also to coaches and athletes, and the need to encourage both short- and long-term research. The panelists then listed examples of sports-science research that they believe have influenced practice, as well as strategies to ensure that sports-science research better influences practice.

Citizen science: a new direction in canine behavior research.

PubMed

Hecht, Julie; Spicer Rice, Eleanor

2015-01-01

Researchers increasingly rely on members of the public to contribute to scientific projects-from collecting or identifying, to analyzing and disseminating data. The "citizen science" model proves useful to many thematically distinctive fields, like ornithology, astronomy, and phenology. The recent formalization of citizen science projects addresses technical issues related to volunteer participation--like data quality--so that citizen scientists can make longstanding, meaningful contributions to scientific projects. Since the late 1990s, canine science research has relied with greater frequency on the participation of the general public, particularly dog owners. These researchers do not typically consider the methods and technical issues that those conducting citizen science projects embrace and continue to investigate. As more canine science studies rely on public input, an in-depth knowledge of the benefits and challenges of citizen science can help produce relevant, high-quality data while increasing the general public's understanding of canine behavior and cognition as well as the scientific process. We examine the benefits and challenges of current citizen science models in an effort to enhance canine citizen science project preparation, execution, and dissemination. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Canine Behavior. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Scientific progress - wireless phones and brain cancer: current state of the science.

PubMed

Carlo, G L; Jenrow, R S

2000-07-11

The current science is not definitive about health risks from wireless phones; however, the legitimate questions about safety that have arisen from recent studies make claims of absolute safety no longer supportable. The objective of this paper is to outline for primary care providers the results of the most current research on the possible impact of wireless phone use on human health. Presented are study results from Wireless Technology Research (WTR) program, the 7-year, $27 million effort funded by the wireless industry in the United States, that represents the world's most comprehensive research effort addressing this issue to date. Science-based recommendations for consumer interventions and future research are presented. Original studies performed under the WTR program as well as other relevant research from around the world. This article presents a synopsis of the peer-reviewed in vitro and in vivo laboratory research, and the peer-reviewed epidemiology studies supported by the WTR, as well as a summary of other relevant work. Only peer-reviewed scientific studies are presented, primarily WTR-sponsored research. In addition, results of the WTR literature surveillance program, which identified other relevant toxicology and epidemiology studies on an ongoing basis, are presented. These studies are presented in the context of their usefulness in providing intervention recommendations for consumers. Following a qualitative synthesis of specific relevant non-WTR research and a critical assessment of the WTR results, the following represents the current state of scientific understanding relevant to the public health impact of wireless phones: laboratory studies appear to have confirmed that radio frequency radiation from wireless phone antennas is insufficient to cause DNA breakage; however, this same radiation appears to cause genetic damage in human blood as measured through the formation of micronuclei. An increase in the rate of brain cancer mortality among hand-held cellular phone users as compared to car phone users, though not statistically significant, was observed in the WTR cohort study. A statistically significant increase in the risk of neuro-epithelial brain tumors was observed among cellular phone users in another case-control study. As new data emerge, our understanding of this complex problem will improve; however, at present there is a critical need for ongoing and open evaluation of the public health impact of new science, and communication of this science and derivative intervention options to those who are potentially affected.

Interactive fundamental physics. [THE REAL STUFF: The New Expanded Media Physics Course for secondary school students

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

Rubin, E.L.

THE REAL STUFF is an Expanded Media Physics Course aimed at students still in the formative early years of secondary school. Its consists of a working script for an interactive multimedia study unit in basic concepts of physics. The unit begins with a prologue on the Big Bang that sets the stage, and concludes with a lesson on Newton's first law of motion. The format is interactive, placing the individual student in control of a layered hypermedia'' structure that enables him or her to find a level of detail and difficulty that is comfortable and meaningful. The intent is tomore » make physics relevant, intellectually accessible and fun. On-screen presenters and demonstrators will be females and males of various ages, ethnicities and backgrounds, and will include celebrities and physicists of note. A lean, layered design encourages repeated, cumulative study and makes the material useful for self-directed Teaming even by college students. THE REAL STUFF introduces a new science teaching paradigm, a way to teach science that will engage even students who have declined'' to be interested in science in the past. Increased participation in science by women, African-Americans and Spanish-speaking students is a particular goal.« less

Language used in interaction during developmental science instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avenia-Tapper, Brianna

The coordination of theory and evidence is an important part of scientific practice. Developmental approaches to instruction, which make the relationship between the abstract and the concrete a central focus of students' learning activity, provide educators with a unique opportunity to strengthen students' coordination of theory and evidence. Therefore, developmental approaches may be a useful instructional response to documented science achievement gaps for linguistically diverse students. However, if we are to leverage the potential of developmental instruction to improve the science achievement of linguistically diverse students, we need more information on the intersection of developmental science instruction and linguistically diverse learning contexts. This manuscript style dissertation uses discourse analysis to investigate the language used in interaction during developmental teaching-learning in three linguistically diverse third grade classrooms. The first manuscript asks how language was used to construct ascension from the abstract to the concrete. The second manuscript asks how students' non-English home languages were useful (or not) for meeting the learning goals of the developmental instructional program. The third manuscript asks how students' interlocutors may influence student choice to use an important discourse practice--justification--during the developmental teaching-learning activity. All three manuscripts report findings relevant to the instructional decisions that teachers need to make when implementing developmental instruction in linguistically diverse contexts.

Interactive Webmap-Based Science Planning for BepiColombo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McAuliffe, J.; Martinez, S.; Ortiz de Landaluce, I.; de la Fuente, S.

2015-10-01

For BepiColombo, ESA's Mission to Mercury, we will build a web-based, map-based interface to the Science Planning System. This interface will allow the mission's science teams to visually define targets for observations and interactively specify what operations will make up the given observation. This will be a radical departure from previous ESA mission planning methods. Such an interface will rely heavily on GIS technologies. This interface will provide footprint coverage of all existing archived data for Mercury, including a set of built-in basemaps. This will allow the science teams to analyse their planned observations and operational constraints with relevant contextual information from their own instrument, other BepiColombo instruments or from previous missions. The interface will allow users to import and export data in commonly used GIS formats, such that it can be visualised together with the latest planning information (e.g. import custom basemaps) or analysed in other GIS software. The interface will work with an object-oriented concept of an observation that will be a key characteristic of the overall BepiColombo scienceplanning concept. Observation templates or classes will be tracked right through the planning-executionprocessing- archiving cycle to the final archived science products. By using an interface that synthesises all relevant available information, the science teams will have a better understanding of the operational environment; it will enhance their ability to plan efficiently minimising or removing manual planning. Interactive 3D visualisation of the planned, scheduled and executed observations, simulation of the viewing conditions and interactive modification of the observation parameters are also being considered.

Cognitive science and the law.

PubMed

Busey, Thomas A; Loftus, Geoffrey R

2007-03-01

Numerous innocent people have been sent to jail based directly or indirectly on normal, but flawed, human perception, memory and decision making. Current cognitive-science research addresses the issues that are directly relevant to the connection between normal cognitive functioning and such judicial errors, and suggests means by which the false-conviction rate could be reduced. Here, we illustrate how this can be achieved by reviewing recent work in two related areas: eyewitness testimony and fingerprint analysis. We articulate problems in these areas with reference to specific legal cases and demonstrate how recent findings can be used to address them. We also discuss how researchers can translate their conclusions into language and ideas that can influence and improve the legal system.

An Ontology Driven Information Architecture for Interoperable Disparate Data Sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hughes, J. Steven; Crichton, Dan; Hardman, Sean; Joyner, Ronald; Mattmann, Chris; Ramirez, Paul; Kelly, Sean; Castano, Rebecca

2011-01-01

The mission of the Planetary Data System is to facilitate achievement of NASA's planetary science goals by efficiently collecting, archiving, and making accessible digital data produced by or relevant to NASA's planetary missions, research programs, and data analysis programs. The vision is: (1) To gather and preserve the data obtained from exploration of the Solar System by the U.S. and other nations (2) To facilitate new and exciting discoveries by providing access to and ensuring usability of those data to the worldwide community (3) To inspire the public through availability and distribution of the body of knowledge reflected in the PDS data collection PDS is a federation of heterogeneous nodes including science and support nodes

Assessing Teachers' Comprehension of What Matters in Earth Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Penuel, W. R.; Kreikemeier, P.; Venezky, D.; Blank, J. G.; Davatzes, A.; Davatzes, N.

2006-12-01

Curricular standards developed for individual U.S. States tell teachers what they should teach. Most sets of standards are too numerous to be taught in a single year, forcing teachers to make decisions about what to emphasize in their curriculum. Ideally, such decisions would be based on what matters most in Earth science, namely, the big ideas that anchor scientific inquiry in the field. A measure of teachers' ability to associate curriculum standards with fundamental concepts in Earth science would help K-12 program and curriculum developers to bridge gaps in teachers' knowledge in order to help teachers make better decisions about what is most important to teach and communicate big ideas to students. This paper presents preliminary results of an attempt to create and validate a measure of teachers' comprehension of what matters in three sub-disciplines of Earth science. This measure was created as part of an experimental study of teacher professional development in Earth science. It is a task that requires teachers to take their state's curriculum standards and identify which standards are necessary or supplemental to developing students' understanding of fundamental concepts in the target sub-disciplines. To develop the task, a team of assessment experts and educational researchers asked a panel of four Earth scientists to identify key concepts embedded within middle school standards for the state of Florida. The Earth science panel reached a consensus on which standards needed to be taught in order to develop understanding of those concepts; this was used as a basis for comparison with teacher responses. Preliminary analysis of the responses of 44 teachers who participated in a pilot validation study identified differences between teachers' and scientists' maps of standards to big ideas in the sub-disciplines. On average, teachers identified just under one-third of the connections seen by expert Earth scientists between the concepts and their state standards. Teachers with higher levels of agreement also had a higher percentage of standards identified that were "off-grade," meaning that they saw connections to standards that they were not themselves required to teach but that nonetheless were relevant to developing student understanding of a particular concept. This result is consistent with the premise that to make good decisions about what to teach, teachers need to be able to identify relevant standards from other grade levels that are connected to the big ideas of a discipline (Shulman, 1986, Educ. Res. 15:4-14).

Indigenous knowledge in Canadian science curricula: cases from Western Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Mijung

2017-09-01

To enhance Aboriginal students' educational opportunities in sciences, culturally relevant science curriculum has been examined and practiced in Western Canadian science classrooms. This article shares some examples of inclusion of indigenous knowledge in science curricula and discusses the improvement and challenges of culturally relevant science curricula in Canadian contexts.

Knowledge and power in the technology classroom: a framework for studying teachers and students in action

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Danielsson, Anna T.; Berge, Maria; Lidar, Malena

2018-03-01

The purpose of this paper is to develop and illustrate an analytical framework for exploring how relations between knowledge and power are constituted in science and technology classrooms. In addition, the empirical purpose of this paper is to explore how disciplinary knowledge and knowledge-making are constituted in teacher-student interactions. In our analysis we focus on how instances of teacher-student interaction can be understood as simultaneously contributing to meaning-making and producing power relations. The analytical framework we have developed makes use of practical epistemological analysis in combination with a Foucauldian conceptualisation of power, assuming that privileging of educational content needs to be understood as integral to the execution of power in the classroom. The empirical data consists of video-recorded teaching episodes, taken from a teaching sequence of three 1-h lessons in one Swedish technology classroom with sixteen 13-14 years old students. In the analysis we have identified how different epistemological moves contribute to the normalisation and exclusion of knowledge as well as ways of knowledge-making. Further, by looking at how the teacher communicates what counts as (ir)relevant knowledge or (ir)relevant ways of acquiring knowledge we are able to describe what kind of technology student is made desirable in the analysed classroom.

Making research relevant? Ecological methods and the ecosystem services framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Root-Bernstein, Meredith; Jaksic, Fabián. M.

2017-07-01

We examine some unexpected epistemological conflicts that arise at the interfaces between ecological science, the ecosystem services framework, policy, and industry. We use an example from our own research to motivate and illustrate our main arguments, while also reviewing standard approaches to ecological science using the ecosystem services framework. While we agree that the ecosystem services framework has benefits in its industrial applications because it may force economic decision makers to consider a broader range of costs and benefits than they would do otherwise, we find that many alignments of ecology with the ecosystem services framework are asking questions that are irrelevant to real-world applications, and generating data that does not serve real-world applications. We attempt to clarify why these problems arise and how to avoid them. We urge fellow ecologists to reflect on the kind of research that can lead to both scientific advances and applied relevance to society. In our view, traditional empirical approaches at landscape scales or with place-based emphases are necessary to provide applied knowledge for problem solving, which is needed once decision makers identify risks to ecosystem services. We conclude that the ecosystem services framework is a good policy tool when applied to decision-making contexts, but not a good theory either of social valuation or ecological interactions, and should not be treated as one.

Why nursing has not embraced the clinician--scientist role.

PubMed

Mackay, Martha

2009-10-01

Reasons for the limited uptake of the clinician-scientist role within nursing are examined, specifically: the lack of consensus about the nature of nursing science; the varying approaches to epistemology; and the influence of post-modern thought on knowledge development in nursing. It is suggested that under-development of this role may be remedied by achieving agreement that science is a necessary, worthy pursuit for nursing, and that rigorous science conducted from a clinical perspective serves nursing well. Straddling practice and research is a powerful strategy for ensuring relevant research while forging strong links with practice. The clinician-scientist role, typically requiring a 75:25 ratio between research and clinical activities, is well established in medicine. Nursing, however, has been slow to institute the role; it is rare within North America, Australia, and western European countries, and almost non-existent outside those areas. Beyond structural obstacles, philosophical issues may explain nursing's reluctance to implement the role. Following a survey of clinician-scientist roles throughout the world, the nature of nursing science and epistemology, and the influence of post-modern thought on nursing attitudes to research are examined with respect to their influence on this role. The nurse clinician-scientist role holds promise for making strides in clinically relevant research, and for accelerating the knowledge cycle from clinical problem to research question to change in clinical practice.

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

Dayman, Ken J; Ade, Brian J; Weber, Charles F

High-dimensional, nonlinear function estimation using large datasets is a current area of interest in the machine learning community, and applications may be found throughout the analytical sciences, where ever-growing datasets are making more information available to the analyst. In this paper, we leverage the existing relevance vector machine, a sparse Bayesian version of the well-studied support vector machine, and expand the method to include integrated feature selection and automatic function shaping. These innovations produce an algorithm that is able to distinguish variables that are useful for making predictions of a response from variables that are unrelated or confusing. We testmore » the technology using synthetic data, conduct initial performance studies, and develop a model capable of making position-independent predictions of the coreaveraged burnup using a single specimen drawn randomly from a nuclear reactor core.« less

Implementing Innovations in Global Women's, Children's, and Adolescents' Health: Realizing the Potential for Implementation Science.

PubMed

Peterson, Herbert B; Haidar, Joumana; Fixsen, Dean; Ramaswamy, Rohit; Weiner, Bryan J; Leatherman, Sheila

2018-03-01

The launch of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the new Secretary General's Global Strategy for Women's, Children's, and Adolescents' Health are a window of opportunity for improving the health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents in the United States and around the world. Realizing the full potential of this historic moment will require that we improve our ability to successfully implement life-saving and life-enhancing innovations, particularly in low-resource settings. Implementation science, a new and rapidly evolving field that addresses the "how-to" component of providing sustainable quality services at scale, can make an important contribution on this front. A synthesis of the implementation science evidence indicates that three interrelated factors are required for successful, sustainable outcomes at scale: 1) effective innovations, 2) effective implementation, and 3) enabling contexts. Implementation science addresses the interaction among these factors to help make innovations more usable, to build ongoing capacity to assure the effective implementation of these innovations, and to ensure enabling contexts to sustain their full and effective use in practice. Improving access to quality services will require transforming health care systems and, therefore, much of the focus of implementation science in global health is on improving the ability of health systems to serve as enabling contexts. The field of implementation science is inherently interdisciplinary and academe will need to respond by facilitating collaboration among scientists from relevant disciplines, including evaluation, improvement, and systems sciences. Platforms and programs to facilitate collaborations among researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and funders are likewise essential.

Integrating environmental monitoring with cumulative effects management and decision making.

PubMed

Cronmiller, Joshua G; Noble, Bram F

2018-05-01

Cumulative effects (CE) monitoring is foundational to emerging regional and watershed CE management frameworks, yet monitoring is often poorly integrated with CE management and decision-making processes. The challenges are largely institutional and organizational, more so than scientific or technical. Calls for improved integration of monitoring with CE management and decision making are not new, but there has been limited research on how best to integrate environmental monitoring programs to ensure credible CE science and to deliver results that respond to the more immediate questions and needs of regulatory decision makers. This paper examines options for the integration of environmental monitoring with CE frameworks. Based on semistructured interviews with practitioners, regulators, and other experts in the Lower Athabasca, Alberta, Canada, 3 approaches to monitoring system design are presented. First, a distributed monitoring system, reflecting the current approach in the Lower Athabasca, where monitoring is delegated to different external programs and organizations; second, a 1-window system in which monitoring is undertaken by a single, in-house agency for the purpose of informing management and regulatory decision making; third, an independent system driven primarily by CE science and understanding causal relationships, with knowledge adopted for decision support where relevant to specific management questions. The strengths and limitations of each approach are presented. A hybrid approach may be optimal-an independent, nongovernment, 1-window model for CE science, monitoring, and information delivery-capitalizing on the strengths of distributed, 1-window, and independent monitoring systems while mitigating their weaknesses. If governments are committed to solving CE problems, they must invest in the long-term science needed to do so; at the same time, if science-based monitoring programs are to be sustainable over the long term, they must be responsive to the more immediate, often shorter term needs and CE information requirements of decision makers. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2018;14:407-417. © 2018 SETAC. © 2018 SETAC.

Quantifying the Sources and Sinks of Greenhouse Gases: What Does It Take to Satisfy Scientific and Decision-Making Needs?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, K. J.; Keller, K.; Ogle, S. M.; Smith, S.

2014-12-01

Changes in the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases (GHGs) are key drivers of anthropogenic climate change. It is hence not surprising that current and emerging U.S. governmental science priorities and programs focused on climate change (e.g. a U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan; the U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program, the U.S. Global Change Research Program, Executive Order 13653 'Preparing the U.S. for the Impacts of Climate Change') all call for an improved understanding of these sources and sinks.. Measurements of the total atmospheric burden of these gases are well established, but measurements of their sources and sinks are difficult to make over spatial and temporal scales that are relevant for scientific and decisionmaking needs. Quantifying the uncertainty in these measurements is particularly challenging. This talk reviews the intersection of the state of knowledge of GHG sources and sinks, focusing in particular on CO2 and CH4, and science and decision-making needs for this information. Different science and decision-making needs require differing levels of uncertainty. A number of high-priority needs (early detection of changes in the Earth system, projections of future climate, support of markets or regulations) often require a high degree of accuracy and/or precision. We will critically evaluate current U.S. planning to documents to infer current perceived needs for GHG source/sink quantification, attempting to translate these needs into quantitative uncertainty metrics. We will compare these perceived needs with the current state of the art of GHG source/sink quantification, including the apparent pattern of systematic differences between so-called "top down" and "bottom-up" flux estimates. This comparison will enable us to identify where needs can be readily satisfied, and where gaps in technology exist. Finally, we will examine what steps could be taken to close existing gaps.

Place-based and data-rich citizen science as a precursor for conservation action.

PubMed

Haywood, Benjamin K; Parrish, Julia K; Dolliver, Jane

2016-06-01

Environmental education strategies have customarily placed substantial focus on enhancing ecological knowledge and literacy with the hope that, upon discovering relevant facts and concepts, participants will be better equipped to process and dissect environmental issues and, therefore, make more informed decisions. The assumption is that informed citizens will become active citizens--enthusiastically lobbying for, and participating in, conservation-oriented action. We surveyed and interviewed and used performance data from 432 participants in the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST), a scientifically rigorous citizen science program, to explore measurable change in and links between understanding and action. We found that participation in rigorous citizen science was associated with significant increases in participant knowledge and skills; a greater connection to place and, secondarily, to community; and an increasing awareness of the relative impact of anthropogenic activities on local ecosystems specifically through increasing scientific understanding of the ecosystem and factors affecting it. Our results suggest that a place-based, data-rich experience linked explicitly to local, regional, and global issues can lead to measurable change in individual and collective action, expressed in our case study principally through participation in citizen science and community action and communication of program results to personal acquaintances and elected officials. We propose the following tenets of conservation literacy based on emergent themes and the connections between them explicit in our data: place-based learning creates personal meaning making; individual experience nested within collective (i.e., program-wide) experience facilitates an understanding of the ecosystem process and function at local and regional scales; and science-based meaning making creates informed concern (i.e., the ability to discern both natural and anthropogenic forcing), which allows individuals to develop a personalized prioritization schema and engage in conservation action. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Are Claims of Global Warming Being Suppressed?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crowley, Thomas J.

2006-02-01

Over the last few years, I have heard many rumors that climate science relevant to the global warming discussion is being suppressed by the Bush Administration. One cannot do much about third-hand information. However, on 29 January, the New York Times published a front page article on NASA efforts to suppress statements about global warming by James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. A claim by one government scientist, though, no matter how distinguished, still requires examples from other scientists before a general conclusion can be drawn about the overall scope of the problem. But if the charges are more widespread, then some government scientists might be reluctant to make such claims, because they might feel that their positions were jeopardized. Therefore, an alternate way may be needed to determine the scope of the issue, while still safeguarding government workers from possible retaliation. -On 30 January, Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, wrote a letter to NASA Administrator Michael Griffin addressing many of the concerns Crowley has raised. Boehlert wrote,``It ought to go without saying that government scientists must be free to describe their scientific conclusions and the implications of those conclusions to their fellow scientists, policymakers and the general public.'' He continued,``Good science cannot long persist in an atmosphere of intimidation. Political figures ought to be reviewing their public statements to make sure they are consistent with the best available science; scientists should not be reviewing their statements to make sure they are consistent with the current political orthodoxy.'' I commend Rep. Boehlert for his quick and clear statement of the importance of unfettered communication of science. -FRED SPILHAUS, Editor

Translational science: past, present, and future.

PubMed

Curry, Stephen H

2008-02-01

The concept of translational science is at least 15 years old. However, in its most recent incarnation, it represents the identification of a funding category designed to encourage academic participation in a critical stage of the drug discovery and product development process. It is hoped that this will make the process both shorter and more efficient. In this review, the author first considers the historical development of the pharmaceutical R&D process. The place of translational science in the process, the scientific techniques involved, and aspects of the business environment necessary for its success are then considered. Translational science does not displace preclinical development. Both concepts are relevant to the paramount importance of successfully and expeditiously bridging the gap between preclinical science and clinical testing, "from bench to bedside." Translational science is particularly likely to stimulate biomarker research in the universities and related business community and will probably give a modest boost to early clinical testing and commercialization of discoveries within the academic setting. Whether there will be a consequent improvement in the quality and efficiency of the overall process remains to be seen.

Improving Science and IT Literacy by Providing Urban-Based Environmental Science Research Opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cuff, K. E.; Corazza, L.; Liang, J.

2007-12-01

A U.C. Berkeley-based outreach program known as Environmental Science Information Technology Activities has been in operation over the past four years. The primary aim of the program is to provide opportunities for grades 9 and 10 students in diverse East San Francisco Bay Area communities to develop deeper understandings of the nature and conduct of science, which will increase their capacity to enroll and perform successfully in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses in the future. Design of the program has been informed by recent research that indicates a close relationship between educational activities that promote the perception of STEM as being relevant and the ability to foster development of deeper conceptual understandings among teens. Accordingly, ESITA includes an important student-led environmental science research project component, which provides participants with opportunities to engage in research investigations that are directly linked to relevant, real-world environmental problems and issues facing their communities. Analysis of evidence gleaned from questionnaires, interviews with participants and specific assessment/evaluation instruments indicates that ESITA program activities, including after-school meetings, summer and school year research projects, and conference preparations and presentations has provided students with high-quality inquiry science experiences that increased their knowledge of STEM and IT concepts, as well as their understanding of the nature of the scientific enterprise. In addition, the program has achieved a high degree of success in that it has: enhanced participants' intellectual self-confidence with regard to STEM; developed deeper appreciation of how scientific research can contribute to the maintenance of healthy local environments; developed a greater interest in participating in STEM-related courses of study and after school programs; and improved attitudes toward STEM. Overall, evaluation results support the notion that providing opportunities for students to develop personal connections with particular issues discussed, and real-world STEM experiences that make STEM more relevant and interesting can help to bring about changes in attitude, which is a key component in improving STEM learning and understanding particularly among urban youth.

Optimizing biomedical science learning in a veterinary curriculum: a review.

PubMed

Warren, Amy L; Donnon, Tyrone

2013-01-01

As veterinary medical curricula evolve, the time dedicated to biomedical science teaching, as well as the role of biomedical science knowledge in veterinary education, has been scrutinized. Aside from being mandated by accrediting bodies, biomedical science knowledge plays an important role in developing clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic reasoning skills in the application of clinical skills, in supporting evidence-based veterinary practice and life-long learning, and in advancing biomedical knowledge and comparative medicine. With an increasing volume and fast pace of change in biomedical knowledge, as well as increased demands on curricular time, there has been pressure to make biomedical science education efficient and relevant for veterinary medicine. This has lead to a shift in biomedical education from fact-based, teacher-centered and discipline-based teaching to applicable, student-centered, integrated teaching. This movement is supported by adult learning theories and is thought to enhance students' transference of biomedical science into their clinical practice. The importance of biomedical science in veterinary education and the theories of biomedical science learning will be discussed in this article. In addition, we will explore current advances in biomedical teaching methodologies that are aimed to maximize knowledge retention and application for clinical veterinary training and practice.

Shrinking the Gap Between Science Policy and Scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Call, Demitri

2017-01-01

As an American Institute of Physics Policy intern with the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology; I was able to work closely with staff on science policy issues currently being handled in the House of Representatives. The intersection of science and policy work is crucial to the continuation of current science programs as well as development of new opportunities as time progresses. There are a small number of people who work on these legislative topics and scientists have a responsibility to assist them in their work as the policies created and enacted today can affect the entire science community for many years to come. I will speak briefly on some of the ways in which legislation can be made, as well as the ways in which scientists, and even students in the science community, can interact effectively with policy creators to help make decisions that will benefit the science community as a whole. I will also highlight some of the most effective methods to determine who is important to keep in touch with, as well as how to maintain an open dialogue in which one can help inform him/her on relevant topics.

Visualizing Culturally Relevant Science Pedagogy through Photonarratives of Black Middle School Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldston, M. Jenice; Nichols, Sharon

2009-01-01

This study situated in a Southern resegregated Black middle school involved four Black teachers and two White science educators' use of photonarratives to envision culturally relevant science pedagogy. Two questions guided the study: (1) What community referents are important for conceptualizing culturally relevant practices in Black science…

The Next Great Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hodges, K. V.

2007-12-01

Earth science --- when defined as the study of all biological, chemical, and physical processes that interact to define the behavior of the Earth system --- has direct societal relevance equal to or greater than that any other branch of science. However, "geology", "geoscience", and "Earth science" departments are contracting at many universities and even disappearing at some. This irony speaks volumes about the limitations of the traditional university structure that partitions educational and research programs into specific disciplines, each housed in its own department. Programs that transcend disciplinary boundaries are difficult to fit into the traditional structure and are thus highly vulnerable to threats such as chronic underfunding by university administrations, low enrollments in more advanced subjects, and being largely forgotten during capital campaigns. Dramatic improvements in this situation will require a different way of thinking about earth science programs by university administrations. As Earth scientists, our goal must not be to protect "traditional" geology departments, but rather to achieve a sustainable programmatic future for broader academic programs that focus on Earth evolution from past, present, and future perspectives. The first step toward meeting this goal must be to promote a more holistic definition of Earth science that includes modes of inquiry more commonly found in engineering and social science departments. We must think of Earth science as a meta-discipline that includes core components of physics, geology, chemistry, biology, and the emerging science of complexity. We must recognize that new technologies play an increasingly important role in our ability to monitor global environmental change, and thus our educational programs must include basic training in the modes of analysis employed by engineers as well as those employed by scientists. One of the most important lessons we can learn from the engineering community is the value of systems-level thinking, and it makes good sense to make this the essential mantra of Earth science undergraduate and graduate programs of the future. We must emphasize that Earth science plays a central role in understanding processes that have shaped our planet since the origin of our species, processes that have thus influenced the rise and fall of human societies. By studying the co-evolution of Earth and human societies, we lay a critical part of the foundation for future environmental policymaking. If we can make this point persuasively, Earth science might just be the "next great science".

Indigenous Knowledge in Canadian Science Curricula: Cases from Western Canada

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Mijung

2017-01-01

To enhance Aboriginal students' educational opportunities in sciences, culturally relevant science curriculum has been examined and practiced in Western Canadian science classrooms. This article shares some examples of inclusion of indigenous knowledge in science curricula and discusses the improvement and challenges of culturally relevant science…

Bread and Other Edible Agents of Mental Disease

PubMed Central

Bressan, Paola; Kramer, Peter

2016-01-01

Perhaps because gastroenterology, immunology, toxicology, and the nutrition and agricultural sciences are outside of their competence and responsibility, psychologists and psychiatrists typically fail to appreciate the impact that food can have on their patients’ condition. Here we attempt to help correct this situation by reviewing, in non-technical, plain English, how cereal grains—the world’s most abundant food source—can affect human behavior and mental health. We present the implications for the psychological sciences of the findings that, in all of us, bread (1) makes the gut more permeable and can thus encourage the migration of food particles to sites where they are not expected, prompting the immune system to attack both these particles and brain-relevant substances that resemble them, and (2) releases opioid-like compounds, capable of causing mental derangement if they make it to the brain. A grain-free diet, although difficult to maintain (especially for those that need it the most), could improve the mental health of many and be a complete cure for others. PMID:27065833

The inference from a single case: moral versus scientific inferences in implementing new biotechnologies.

PubMed

Hofmann, B

2008-06-01

Are there similarities between scientific and moral inference? This is the key question in this article. It takes as its point of departure an instance of one person's story in the media changing both Norwegian public opinion and a brand-new Norwegian law prohibiting the use of saviour siblings. The case appears to falsify existing norms and to establish new ones. The analysis of this case reveals similarities in the modes of inference in science and morals, inasmuch as (a) a single case functions as a counter-example to an existing rule; (b) there is a common presupposition of stability, similarity and order, which makes it possible to reason from a few cases to a general rule; and (c) this makes it possible to hold things together and retain order. In science, these modes of inference are referred to as falsification, induction and consistency. In morals, they have a variety of other names. Hence, even without abandoning the fact-value divide, there appear to be similarities between inference in science and inference in morals, which may encourage communication across the boundaries between "the two cultures" and which are relevant to medical humanities.

Kinetic Modeling of Ultraintense X-ray Laser-Matter Interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Royle, Ryan; Sentoku, Yasuhiko; Mancini, Roberto

2016-10-01

Hard x-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) have had a profound impact on the physical, chemical, and biological sciences. They can produce millijoule x-ray laser pulses just tens of femtoseconds in duration with more than 1012 photons each, making them the brightest laboratory x-ray sources ever produced by several orders of magnitude. An XFEL pulse can be intensified to 1020 W/cm2 when focused to submicron spot sizes, making it possible to isochorically heat solid matter well beyond 100 eV. These characteristics enable XFELs to create and probe well-characterized warm and hot dense plasmas of relevance to HED science, planetary science, laboratory astrophysics, relativistic laser plasmas, and fusion research. Several newly developed atomic physics models including photoionization, Auger ionization, and continuum-lowering have been implemented in a particle-in-cell code, PICLS, which self-consistently solves the x-ray transport, to enable the simulation of the non-LTE plasmas created by ultraintense x-ray laser interactions with solid density matter. The code is validated against the results of several recent experiments and is used to simulate the maximum-intensity x-ray heating of solid iron targets. This work was supported by DOE/OFES under Contract No. DE-SC0008827.

A hybrid model of mathematics support for science students emphasizing basic skills and discipline relevance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jackson, Deborah C.; Johnson, Elizabeth D.

2013-09-01

The problem of students entering university lacking basic mathematical skills is a critical issue in the Australian higher-education sector and relevant globally. The Maths Skills programme at La Trobe University has been developed to address under preparation in the first-year science cohort in the absence of an institutional mathematics support centre. The programme was delivered through first-year science and statistics subjects with large enrolments and focused on basic mathematical skills relevant to each science discipline. The programme offered a new approach to the traditional mathematical support centre or class. It was designed through close collaboration between science subject coordinators and the project leader, a mathematician, and includes resources relevant to science and mathematics questions written in context. Evaluation of the programme showed it improved the confidence of the participating students who found it helpful and relevant. The programme was delivered through three learning modes to allow students to select activities most suitable for them, which was appreciated by students. Mathematics skills appeared to increase following completion of the programme and student participation in the programme correlated positively and highly with academic grades in their relevant science subjects. This programme offers an alternative model for mathematics support tailored to science disciplines.

Community Science: creating equitable partnerships for the advancement of scientific knowledge for action.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewis, E. S.; Gehrke, G. E.

2017-12-01

In a historical moment where the legitimacy of science is being questioned, it is essential to make science more accessible to the public. Active participation increases the legitimacy of projects within communities (Sidaway 2009). Creating collaborations in research strengthens not only the work by adding new dimensions, but also the social capital of communities through increased knowledge, connections, and decision making power. In this talk, Lewis will discuss how engagement at different stages of the scientific process is possible, and how researchers can actively develop opportunities that are open and inviting. Genuine co-production in research pushes scientists to work in new ways, and with people from different backgrounds, expertise, and lived experiences. This approach requires a flexible and dynamic balance of learning, sharing, and creating for all parties involved to ensure more meaningful and equitable participation. For example, in community science such as that by Public Lab, the community is at the center of scientific exploration. The research is place-based and is grounded in the desired outcomes of community members. Researchers are able to see themselves as active participants in this work alongside community members. Participating in active listening, developing plans together, and using a shared language built through learning can be helpful tools in all co-production processes. Generating knowledge is powerful. Through genuine collaboration and co-creation, science becomes more relevant. When community members are equitable stakeholders in the scientific process, they are better able to engage and advocate for the changes they want to see in their communities. Through this talk, session attendees will learn about practices that promote equitable participation in science, and hear examples of how the community science process engages people in both the knowledge production, and in the application of science.

Affordances and Challenges of Using Argument as a Connective Discourse for Scientific Practices to Teach Climate Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sezen-Barrie, A.; Wolfson, J.

2015-12-01

An important goal of science education is to support development of citizens to participate in public debate and make informed decisions relevant to their lives and their worlds. The NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) suggest engaging students in science classrooms in argumentation as a practice to help enhance the quality of evidence based decision making. In this multi-case study, we explored the use of written argumentation in eight secondary school science classrooms during a lesson on the relationship between ocean temperature and its CO2 holding capacity. All teachers of these classrooms were trained during a day long NSF funded Climate Literacy Workshop on the basic concepts of climate science, scientific practices and implementation of an activity called "It's a Gassy World". The data of the current study involved students' written arguments, teachers' written reflections on the implementation of the activity as well as field notes from the Climate Literacy Workshop. A qualitative discourse analysis of the data was used to find common themes around affordances and challenges of argument as a connective discourse for scientific practices to teach climate change. The findings show that participating in written argumentation process encouraged students to discuss their experimental design and use data interpretation for their evidences. However, the results also indicated the following challenges: a) teachers themselves need support in connecting their evidence to their claims, b) arguing a socioscientific issue creates a sensitive environment c) conceptual quality of an argument needs to be strengthen through background in courses other than science, and d) graphing skills (or lack of) can interfere with constructing scientifically accurate claims. This study has implications in effectively teaching climate change through argumentation, and thus creating opportunities for practicing authentic climate science research in K-12 classrooms.

Changes in Elementary Student Perceptions of Science, Scientists, and Science Careers after Participating in a Curricular Module on Health and Veterinary Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shin, Soo Yeon; Parker, Loran Carleton; Adedokun, Omolola; Mennonno, Ann; Wackerly, Amy; San Miguel, Sandra

2015-01-01

This study examined to what extent a curriculum module that uses animal and human health scientists and science concepts to portray science and scientists in a relevant and authentic manner could enhance elementary students' aspiration for science careers, attitudes to science, positive perceptions of scientists, and perceived relevance of…

Science in the public process of ecosystem management: lessons from Hawaii, Southeast Asia, Africa and the US Mainland.

PubMed

Gutrich, John; Donovan, Deanna; Finucane, Melissa; Focht, Will; Hitzhusen, Fred; Manopimoke, Supachit; McCauley, David; Norton, Bryan; Sabatier, Paul; Salzman, Jim; Sasmitawidjaja, Virza

2005-08-01

Partnerships and co-operative environmental management are increasing worldwide as is the call for scientific input in the public process of ecosystem management. In Hawaii, private landowners, non-governmental organizations, and state and federal agencies have formed watershed partnerships to conserve and better manage upland forested watersheds. In this paper, findings of an international workshop convened in Hawaii to explore the strengths of approaches used to assess stakeholder values of environmental resources and foster consensus in the public process of ecosystem management are presented. Authors draw upon field experience in projects throughout Hawaii, Southeast Asia, Africa and the US mainland to derive a set of lessons learned that can be applied to Hawaiian and other watershed partnerships in an effort to promote consensus and sustainable ecosystem management. Interdisciplinary science-based models can serve as effective tools to identify areas of potential consensus in the process of ecosystem management. Effective integration of scientific input in co-operative ecosystem management depends on the role of science, the stakeholders and decision-makers involved, and the common language utilized to compare tradeoffs. Trust is essential to consensus building and the integration of scientific input must be transparent and inclusive of public feedback. Consideration of all relevant stakeholders and the actual benefits and costs of management activities to each stakeholder is essential. Perceptions and intuitive responses of people can be as influential as analytical processes in decision-making and must be addressed. Deliberative, dynamic and iterative decision-making processes all influence the level of stakeholder achievement of consensus. In Hawaii, application of lessons learned can promote more informed and democratic decision processes, quality scientific analysis that is relevant, and legitimacy and public acceptance of ecosystem management.

Producing More Actionable Science Isn't the Problem; It's Providing Decision-Makers with Access to Right Actionable Knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trexler, M.

2017-12-01

Policy-makers today have almost infinite climate-relevant scientific and other information available to them. The problem for climate change decision-making isn't missing science or inadequate knowledge of climate risks; the problem is that the "right" climate change actionable knowledge isn't getting to the right decision-maker, or is getting there too early or too late to effectively influence her decision-making. Actionable knowledge is not one-size-fit-all, and for a given decision-maker might involve scientific, economic, or risk-based information. Simply producing more and more information as we are today is not the solution, and actually makes it harder for individual decision-makers to access "their" actionable knowledge. The Climatographers began building the Climate Web five years ago to test the hypothesis that a knowledge management system could help navigate the gap between infinite information and individual actionable knowledge. Today the Climate Web's more than 1,500 index terms allow instant access to almost any climate change topic. It is a curated public-access knowledgebase of more than 1,000 books, 2,000 videos, 15,000 reports and articles, 25,000 news stories, and 3,000 websites. But it is also much more, linking together tens of thousands of individually extracted ideas and graphics, and providing Deep Dives into more than 100 key topics from changing probability distributions of extreme events to climate communications best practices to cognitive dissonance in climate change decision-making. The public-access Climate Web is uniquely able to support cross-silo learning, collaboration, and actionable knowledge dissemination. The presentation will use the Climate Web to demonstrate why knowledge management should be seen as a critical component of science and policy-making collaborations.

Neurotechnology: expanding opportunities for funding at the National Institute of Mental Health.

PubMed

Huerta, M F; Curvey, M F; Koslow, S H

1994-10-01

The National Institute of Mental Health recognizes the importance that creative development of technology and methodology play in brain and behavioral science research. This institute is making major efforts to support such development through specific initiatives, like the Human Brain Project. In addition, this Institute is actively building bridges between business and academic research communities to make optical use of funds for the research and development of commercially viable technologies relevant to all aspects of the Institute's mission through the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs. Together, these efforts will culminate in a more vigorous scientific enterprise, and ultimately benefit the entire mental health community and society.

Informing Public Perceptions About Climate Change: A 'Mental Models' Approach.

PubMed

Wong-Parodi, Gabrielle; Bruine de Bruin, Wändi

2017-10-01

As the specter of climate change looms on the horizon, people will face complex decisions about whether to support climate change policies and how to cope with climate change impacts on their lives. Without some grasp of the relevant science, they may find it hard to make informed decisions. Climate experts therefore face the ethical need to effectively communicate to non-expert audiences. Unfortunately, climate experts may inadvertently violate the maxims of effective communication, which require sharing communications that are truthful, brief, relevant, clear, and tested for effectiveness. Here, we discuss the 'mental models' approach towards developing communications, which aims to help experts to meet the maxims of effective communications, and to better inform the judgments and decisions of non-expert audiences.

Problem formulation in the environmental risk assessment for genetically modified plants

PubMed Central

Wolt, Jeffrey D.; Keese, Paul; Raybould, Alan; Burachik, Moisés; Gray, Alan; Olin, Stephen S.; Schiemann, Joachim; Sears, Mark; Wu, Felicia

2009-01-01

Problem formulation is the first step in environmental risk assessment (ERA) where policy goals, scope, assessment endpoints, and methodology are distilled to an explicitly stated problem and approach for analysis. The consistency and utility of ERAs for genetically modified (GM) plants can be improved through rigorous problem formulation (PF), producing an analysis plan that describes relevant exposure scenarios and the potential consequences of these scenarios. A properly executed PF assures the relevance of ERA outcomes for decision-making. Adopting a harmonized approach to problem formulation should bring about greater uniformity in the ERA process for GM plants among regulatory regimes globally. This paper is the product of an international expert group convened by the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Research Foundation. PMID:19757133

Influential factors on treatment decision making among patients with colorectal cancer: A scoping review.

PubMed

Cranley, Nicole M; Curbow, Barbara; George, Thomas J; Christie, Juliette

2017-09-01

In recent years, a greater emphasis has been placed on shared decision-making (SDM) techniques between providers and patients with the goal of helping patients make informed decisions about their care and subsequently to improve patient health outcomes. Previous research has shown variability in treatment decision-making among patients with colorectal cancer (CRC), and there is little comprehensive information available to help explain this variability. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the current state of the literature on factors that are influential in treatment decision-making among patients with CRC. A priori search terms using Boolean connectors were used to examine PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, CINAHL, and MEDLINE for relevant studies. Eligibility criteria for inclusion in the study included patients with CRC and examination of influences on CRC treatment decision-making. All relevant data were extracted including, author, title and year, study methodology, and study results. Findings (n = 13) yielded influences in four areas: informational, patient treatment goals, patient role preferences, and relationship with provider. Quality of life and trust in physician were rated a high priority among patients when making decisions between different therapeutic options. Several studies found that patients wanted to be informed and involved but did not necessarily want to make autonomous treatment choices, with many preferring a more passive role. Providers who initiate a dialog to better understand their patients' treatment goals can establish rapport, increase patient understanding of treatment options, and help patients assume their desired role in their decision-making. Overall, there were a small number of studies that met all inclusion criteria with most used a cross-sectional design.

A gaze through the lens of decision theory toward knowledge translation science.

PubMed

Bucknall, Tracey

2007-01-01

Research findings become evidence when an individual decides that the information is relevant and useful to a particular circumstance. Prior to that point, they are unrelated facts. For research translation to occur, research evidence needs filtering, interpretation, and application by individuals to the specific situation. For this reason, decision science is complementary to knowledge translation science. Both aim to support the individual in deciding the most appropriate action in a dynamic environment where there are masses of uncensored and nonprioritized information readily available. Decision science employs research theories to study the cognitive processes underpinning the filtering and integration of current scientific information into changing contexts. Two meta-theories, coherence and correspondence theories, have been used to provide alternative views and prompt significant debate to advance the science. The aim of this article is to stimulate debate about the relationship between decision theory and knowledge translation. Discussed is the critical role of cognition in clinical decision making, with a focus on knowledge translation. A critical commentary of the knowledge utilization modeling papers is presented from a decision science perspective. The article concludes with a discussion on the implications for knowledge translation when viewed through the lens of decision science.

The Hard Sciences and the Soft: Some Sociological Observations *

PubMed Central

Storer, Norman W.

1967-01-01

The paper focuses on the implications of the terms “hard” and “soft” as they are used to characterize different branches of science; this is one approach to understanding some of the relations between knowledge and social organization. Given the importance to scientists of having their work evaluated accurately, it can be seen that the more rigorously a body of knowledge is organized, the more readily professional recognition can be appropriately assigned. The degree of rigor seems directly related to the extent to which mathematics is used in a science, and it is this that makes a science “hard.” Data are presented in support of the hypothesis that “harder” sciences are characterized by more impersonality in their members' relationships where impersonality is indexed by the frequency that only first initials are used in footnotes. Finally, some parallels between the economic and the scientific sectors of society are suggested, viewing money and professional recognition as “generalized media” and noting certain analogies in science to inflation and deflation in the economic system. Implications for the obsolescence of parts of the literature of science are discussed, and the relevance of this analysis to Kuhn's work on scientific revolutions is briefly noted. PMID:6016373

Maximizing Impact: Pairing interactive web visualizations with traditional print media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Read, E. K.; Appling, A.; Carr, L.; De Cicco, L.; Read, J. S.; Walker, J. I.; Winslow, L. A.

2016-12-01

Our Nation's rapidly growing store of environmental data makes new demands on researchers: to take on increasingly broad-scale, societally relevant analyses and to rapidly communicate findings to the public. Interactive web-based data visualizations now commonly supplement or comprise journalism, and science journalism has followed suit. To maximize the impact of US Geological Survey (USGS) science, the USGS Office of Water Information Data Science team builds tools and products that combine traditional static research products (e.g., print journal articles) with web-based, interactive data visualizations that target non-scientific audiences. We developed a lightweight, open-source framework for web visualizations to reduce time to production. The framework provides templates for a data visualization workflow and the packaging of text, interactive figures, and images into an appealing web interface with standardized look and feel, usage tracking, and responsiveness. By partnering with subject matter experts to focus on timely, societally relevant issues, we use these tools to produce appealing visual stories targeting specific audiences, including managers, the general public, and scientists, on diverse topics including drought, microplastic pollution, and fisheries response to climate change. We will describe the collaborative and technical methodologies used; describe some examples of how it's worked; and challenges and opportunities for the future.

Framework for assessing causality of air pollution-related health effects for reviews of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

PubMed

Owens, Elizabeth Oesterling; Patel, Molini M; Kirrane, Ellen; Long, Thomas C; Brown, James; Cote, Ila; Ross, Mary A; Dutton, Steven J

2017-08-01

To inform regulatory decisions on the risk due to exposure to ambient air pollution, consistent and transparent communication of the scientific evidence is essential. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) develops the Integrated Science Assessment (ISA), which contains evaluations of the policy-relevant science on the effects of criteria air pollutants and conveys critical science judgments to inform decisions on the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. This article discusses the approach and causal framework used in the ISAs to evaluate and integrate various lines of scientific evidence and draw conclusions about the causal nature of air pollution-induced health effects. The framework has been applied to diverse pollutants and cancer and noncancer effects. To demonstrate its flexibility, we provide examples of causality judgments on relationships between health effects and pollutant exposures, drawing from recent ISAs for ozone, lead, carbon monoxide, and oxides of nitrogen. U.S. EPA's causal framework has increased transparency by establishing a structured process for evaluating and integrating various lines of evidence and uniform approach for determining causality. The framework brings consistency and specificity to the conclusions in the ISA, and the flexibility of the framework makes it relevant for evaluations of evidence across media and health effects. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The knowledge-learning-instruction framework: bridging the science-practice chasm to enhance robust student learning.

PubMed

Koedinger, Kenneth R; Corbett, Albert T; Perfetti, Charles

2012-07-01

Despite the accumulation of substantial cognitive science research relevant to education, there remains confusion and controversy in the application of research to educational practice. In support of a more systematic approach, we describe the Knowledge-Learning-Instruction (KLI) framework. KLI promotes the emergence of instructional principles of high potential for generality, while explicitly identifying constraints of and opportunities for detailed analysis of the knowledge students may acquire in courses. Drawing on research across domains of science, math, and language learning, we illustrate the analyses of knowledge, learning, and instructional events that the KLI framework affords. We present a set of three coordinated taxonomies of knowledge, learning, and instruction. For example, we identify three broad classes of learning events (LEs): (a) memory and fluency processes, (b) induction and refinement processes, and (c) understanding and sense-making processes, and we show how these can lead to different knowledge changes and constraints on optimal instructional choices. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Collaboration and co-production of climate knowledge: lessons from a network on the front-line

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kettle, N.

2016-12-01

The science-practice gap is broadly considered a major barrier to the production and application of decision-relevant science. This study uses a social network analysis, based on 126 interviews, to analyze the roles and network ties among climate scientists, service providers, and decision makers in Alaska. Our research highlights the importance of key actors and significant differences in bonding and bridging ties across roles - structural characteristics that provide a basis for informing recommendations to build adaptive capacity and support the co-production of knowledge. Our findings also illustrate that some individuals in the network engage in multiple roles, suggesting that conceptualizing the science-practice interface as consisting of "producers" and "consumers" oversimplifies how individuals engage in climate science, services, and decision making. This research supports the notion that the development and use of climate information is a networked phenomenon. It also emphasizes the importance of centralized individuals who are capable of engaging in multiple roles for the transition of knowledge action.

The understandings and meanings eight seventh and eighth grade Latinas gave to science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parker, Carolyn Ann

My study examined the experiences of eight seventh and eighth grade girls of Central American descent, in and out of the science classroom. The study was interpretive in design and explored the question, "How did the eight participants understand and make meaning of science?" Guided by a sociocultural perspective and a socially critical stance, I explored issues of educational access, particularly to science, mediated by the relationships and experiences formed by families, peers, science classrooms, schools, and society. Data sources included monthly individual interviews, regular focus group meetings, school observations, and interviews with teachers and family members. Findings include the importance of school science experiences that emphasize hands-on activities and the study of topics relevant to students' everyday lives. School influences that I discuss include English-as-a-Second Language learning, English language ability and its effect on classroom interactions, ability grouping, standardized testing, and teachers' instructional practices. Out-of-school influences I examine include the national science education reform movement, familial expectations, and society and the media's portrayal of science and the scientist. The implications and recommendations of the study are particularly germane to practice. Recommendations for the science classroom include a continued emphasis on hands-on science experiences that incorporate high academic expectations for all students, including second-language learners. Moreover, curriculum should be connected and relevant to students' everyday experiences. Recommendations for outside-the-science classroom include a thoughtful examination of the educational environment created by a school's tracking policy and continued support of meaningful professional development experiences for teachers. Future research and the subsequent development of theory should include a further analysis of the influence of gender, ethnicity, science, and recently immigrated students. A study of the influence of English-language ability on students' educational experiences would be especially informative. Studies like this can assist the science education community to implement gender and culturally-equitable curricula, instructional materials, and assessment strategies that could better meet the needs of students who have historically been underrepresented in the discipline, including, but not limited to, second-language learners and recent immigrants to the United States.

Five-Year Bibliometric Review of Genomic Nursing Science Research.

PubMed

Williams, Janet K; Tripp-Reimer, Toni; Daack-Hirsch, Sandra; DeBerg, Jennifer

2016-03-01

This bibliometric review profiles the focus, dissemination, and impact of genomic nursing science articles from 2010 to 2014. Data-based genomic nursing articles by nursing authors and articles by non-nurse principal investigators funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research were categorized into the Genomic Nursing Science Blueprint nursing areas. Bibliometric content analysis was used. A total of 197 articles met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 60.3% were on biologic plausibility, 12.1% on client self-management, 11.1% on decision making or decision support, 8.1% on family, and 4.0% on communication, with the remaining 4.0% of articles focused on other topics. Few (11.6%) addressed healthcare disparities in the study purpose. Thirty-four references (17.2%) were cited 10 or more times. Research-based genomic nursing science articles are in the discovery phase of inquiry. All topics were investigated in more than one country. Healthcare disparities were addressed in few studies. Research findings from interdisciplinary teams were disseminated beyond nursing audiences, with findings addressing biologic discovery, decision making or support, and family being cited most frequently. Gaps in the reviewed articles included cross-cutting themes, ethics, and clinical utility. Interdisciplinary research is needed to document clinical and system outcomes of genomic nursing science implementation in health care. Although the review identifies areas that are encountered in clinical practice, relevance to practice will depend on evaluation of findings and subsequent development of clinical guidelines. © 2016 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Introductory physics in biological context: An approach to improve introductory physics for life science students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crouch, Catherine H.; Heller, Kenneth

2014-05-01

We describe restructuring the introductory physics for life science students (IPLS) course to better support these students in using physics to understand their chosen fields. Our courses teach physics using biologically rich contexts. Specifically, we use examples in which fundamental physics contributes significantly to understanding a biological system to make explicit the value of physics to the life sciences. This requires selecting the course content to reflect the topics most relevant to biology while maintaining the fundamental disciplinary structure of physics. In addition to stressing the importance of the fundamental principles of physics, an important goal is developing students' quantitative and problem solving skills. Our guiding pedagogical framework is the cognitive apprenticeship model, in which learning occurs most effectively when students can articulate why what they are learning matters to them. In this article, we describe our courses, summarize initial assessment data, and identify needs for future research.

Creating Critical Consumers of Health and Science News: Teaching Science to the Non-Scientist Using Newsworthy Topics in the Life Sciences†

PubMed Central

Coderre, Raymond W.; Uekermann, Kristen A.; Choi, Youngeun; Anderson, William J.

2016-01-01

Scientists constantly make groundbreaking discoveries, some of which receive attention from the press. We designed a course intended for a lay audience that provides the scientific background to appreciate these reports more fully. We discuss three topics in the life sciences: stem cells, cancer, and infectious disease. The course is structured to blend relevant scientific background and evaluation of primary literature with the coverage of these advances by the media and popular press. In short, lectures emphasize exposure to basic biological concepts and tools as a means of informing understanding of prominent biological questions of public interest. The overall goal of the course is not only to expose students to the media’s coverage of scientific progress, but also to hone their critical thinking skills to distinguish hope from hype. PMID:27047603

Identifying Decision-Makers’ Science Needs for Adaptation to Climate-Related Impacts on Forest Ecosystem Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordon, E.; Lukas, J.

2009-12-01

Through the Western Water Assessment RISA program, we are conducting a research project that will produce science synthesis information to help local, state, and federal decision-makers in Colorado and Wyoming develop adaptation strategies to deal with climate-related threats to forest ecosystem services, in particular bark beetle infestations and stand-replacing wildfires. We begin by using the problem orientation framework, a policy sciences methodology, to understand how decision-makers can most effectively address policy problems that threaten the attainment of socially accepted goals. By applying this framework to the challenges facing decision-makers, we more accurately identify specific areas where scientific research can improve decision-making. WWA researchers will next begin to connect decision-makers with relevant scientific literature and identify specific areas of future scientific research that will be most effective at addressing their needs.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Science for Decision-Making: Water Managers and Tree- Ring Data in the Western United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rice, J. L.; Woodhouse, C.; Lukas, J.

2008-12-01

Current climate variability, potential impacts of climate change, and limited resources in the face of growing demand are increasingly prompting water managers in the western United States to consider and use data from climate-related research in water resource planning. Much of these data are produced by stakeholder- driven science programs, such as NOAA's Regional Integrated Science Assessments (RISAs), but there have been few efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of these science-to-application efforts. Over the past several years, researchers with the Western Water Assessment (WWA) RISA have been providing tree-ring reconstructions of streamflow to water managers in Colorado and other western states, and presenting technical workshops explaining the applications of these tree-ring data for water management and planning. Using in-depth interviews and a survey questionnaire, we have assessed the effectiveness and outcomes of these engagements, addressing (1) the factors that have prompted water managers to seek out tree-ring data, (2) how paleoclimate data has been made relevant and accessible for water resource planning, and (3) how tree-ring data and information have been utilized by water managers and other workshop participants. We also provide an assessment of challenges and opportunities that exist in the translation of climate science for decision-making, including how tree-ring data are interpreted in the context of water planning paradigms, issues of credibility and acceptance of tree ring data, and what data needs exist in different planning environments. These findings have broader application in improving and evaluating science-policy interactions related to climate and climate change.

Changes in Elementary Student Perceptions of Science, Scientists and Science Careers after Participating in a Curricular Module on Health and Veterinary Science

PubMed Central

Shin, Soo Yeon; Parker, Loran Carleton; Adedokun, Omolola; Mennonno, Ann; Wackerly, Amy; SanMiguel, Sandra

2015-01-01

This study examined to what extent a curriculum module that uses animal and human health scientists and science concepts to portray science and scientists in a relevant and authentic manner could enhance elementary students’ aspiration for science careers, attitudes to science, positive perceptions of scientists, and perceived relevance of science. The curriculum was developed by a research-based university program and has been put into practice in two early elementary classrooms in an urban school in the Midwest. An attitudinal rating survey and the Draw-A-Scientist Test (DAST) were used to assess pre to post changes in student attitudes toward science, perceptions of scientists, perceived relevance of science, and aspiration for science careers. Findings indicated that the implementation of this curriculum contributed positively to student attitudes toward science, decreased students’ stereotypical images of scientists, and increased student aspirations to become a scientist. PMID:26726271

Science versus policy in establishing equitable Agent Orange disability compensation policy.

PubMed

Brown, Mark A

2011-07-01

This article makes the case that current Agent Orange compensation policy for Vietnam War veterans is based neither wholly upon scientific findings about Agent Orange health effects nor on pure public health policy considerations. Rather, it is the logical culmination of decades of experience among policy makers and public health scientists trying to establish clear-cut, equitable, and scientifically defensible compensation policy in the face of limited relevant science and poor or nonexistent exposure data-all within the broader context of Veterans Affairs disability compensation policies, and a deep-seated commitment to support the men and women who served their country during the Vietnam War. Finally, attempts to update current policy will benefit from an understanding of this background.

Implementation science approaches for integrating eHealth research into practice and policy.

PubMed

Glasgow, Russell E; Phillips, Siobhan M; Sanchez, Michael A

2014-07-01

To summarize key issues in the eHealth field from an implementation science perspective and to highlight illustrative processes, examples and key directions to help more rapidly integrate research, policy and practice. We present background on implementation science models and emerging principles; discuss implications for eHealth research; provide examples of practical designs, measures and exemplar studies that address key implementation science issues; and make recommendations for ways to more rapidly develop and test eHealth interventions as well as future research, policy and practice. The pace of eHealth research has generally not kept up with technological advances, and many of our designs, methods and funding mechanisms are incapable of providing the types of rapid and relevant information needed. Although there has been substantial eHealth research conducted with positive short-term results, several key implementation and dissemination issues such as representativeness, cost, unintended consequences, impact on health inequities, and sustainability have not been addressed or reported. Examples of studies in several of these areas are summarized to demonstrate this is possible. eHealth research that is intended to translate into policy and practice should be more contextual, report more on setting factors, employ more responsive and pragmatic designs and report results more transparently on issues important to potential adopting patients, clinicians and organizational decision makers. We outline an alternative development and assessment model, summarize implementation science findings that can help focus attention, and call for different types of more rapid and relevant research and funding mechanisms. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Visualizing Culturally Relevant Science Pedagogy Through Photonarratives of Black Middle School Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldston, M. Jenice; Nichols, Sharon

2009-04-01

This study situated in a Southern resegregated Black middle school involved four Black teachers and two White science educators’ use of photonarratives to envision culturally relevant science pedagogy. Two questions guided the study: (1) What community referents are important for conceptualizing culturally relevant practices in Black science classrooms? and (2) How do teachers’ photonarratives serve to open conversations and notions of culturally relevant science practices? The research methodologically drew upon memory-work, Black feminism, critical theory, visual methodology, and narrative inquiry as “portraiture.” Issues of positionality and identity proved to be central to this work, as three luminaries portray Black teachers’ insights about supports and barriers to teaching and learning science. The community referents identified were associated with church and its oral traditions, inequities of the market place in meeting their basic human needs, and community spaces.

The LAILAPS search engine: a feature model for relevance ranking in life science databases.

PubMed

Lange, Matthias; Spies, Karl; Colmsee, Christian; Flemming, Steffen; Klapperstück, Matthias; Scholz, Uwe

2010-03-25

Efficient and effective information retrieval in life sciences is one of the most pressing challenge in bioinformatics. The incredible growth of life science databases to a vast network of interconnected information systems is to the same extent a big challenge and a great chance for life science research. The knowledge found in the Web, in particular in life-science databases, are a valuable major resource. In order to bring it to the scientist desktop, it is essential to have well performing search engines. Thereby, not the response time nor the number of results is important. The most crucial factor for millions of query results is the relevance ranking. In this paper, we present a feature model for relevance ranking in life science databases and its implementation in the LAILAPS search engine. Motivated by the observation of user behavior during their inspection of search engine result, we condensed a set of 9 relevance discriminating features. These features are intuitively used by scientists, who briefly screen database entries for potential relevance. The features are both sufficient to estimate the potential relevance, and efficiently quantifiable. The derivation of a relevance prediction function that computes the relevance from this features constitutes a regression problem. To solve this problem, we used artificial neural networks that have been trained with a reference set of relevant database entries for 19 protein queries. Supporting a flexible text index and a simple data import format, this concepts are implemented in the LAILAPS search engine. It can easily be used both as search engine for comprehensive integrated life science databases and for small in-house project databases. LAILAPS is publicly available for SWISSPROT data at http://lailaps.ipk-gatersleben.de.

Integrated STEM in secondary education: A case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Meester, Jolien; Knipprath, Heidi; Thielemans, Jan; De Cock, Mieke; Langie, Greet; Dehaene, Wim

2016-05-01

Despite many opportunities to study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) in Flemish secondary education, only a minority of pupils are actually pursuing STEM fields in higher education and jobs. One reason could be that they do not see the relevance of science and mathematics. In order to draw their pupils' interest in STEM, a Belgian school started a brand new initiative: the school set up and implemented a first year course that integrates various STEM disciplines, hoping to provide an answer to the question pupils often ask themselves about the need to study math and science. The integrated curriculum was developed by the school's teachers and a STEM education research group of the University of Leuven. To examine the pupils' attitude towards STEM and STEM professions and their notion of relevance of STEM at the end of this one-year course, a post-test was administered to the group of pupils who attended the integrated STEM course (the experimental group) and to a group of pupils that took traditional, non-integrated STEM courses (the control group). The results reveal that attending the integrated STEM course is significantly related to pupils' interest in STEM and notion of relevance of STEM. Another post-test was administered only to the experimental group to investigate pupils' understanding of math and physics concepts and their relation when taught in an integrated way. The results reveal that the pupils have some conceptual understanding and can, to a certain extent, make a transfer of concepts across different STEM disciplines. However, the test results did point out that some additional introductory training in pure math context is needed.

Education science and biological anthropology.

PubMed

Krebs, Uwe

2014-01-01

This contribution states deficits and makes proposals in order to overcome them. First there is the question as to why the Biological Anthropology--despite all its diversifications--hardly ever deals with educational aspects of its subject. Second it is the question as to why Educational Science neglects or even ignores data of Biological Anthropology which are recognizably important for its subject. It is postulated that the stated deficits are caused by several adverse influences such as, the individual identity of each of the involved single sciences; aspects of the recent history of the German Anthropology; a lack of conceptual understanding of each other; methodological differences and, last but not least, the structure of the universities. The necessity to remedy this situation was deduced from two groups of facts. First, more recent data of the Biological Anthropology (e.g. brain functions and learning, sex specificity and education) are of substantial relevance for the Educational Science. Second, the epistemological requirements of complex subjects like education need interdisciplinary approaches. Finally, a few suggestions of concrete topics are given which are related to both, Educational Science and Biological Anthropology.

MememxGATE: Unearthing Latent Content Features for Improved Search and Relevancy Ranking Across Scientific Literature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilson, B. D.; McGibbney, L. J.; Mattmann, C. A.; Ramirez, P.; Joyce, M.; Whitehall, K. D.

2015-12-01

Quantifying scientific relevancy is of increasing importance to NASA and the research community. Scientific relevancy may be defined by mapping the impacts of a particular NASA mission, instrument, and/or retrieved variables to disciplines such as climate predictions, natural hazards detection and mitigation processes, education, and scientific discoveries. Related to relevancy, is the ability to expose data with similar attributes. This in turn depends upon the ability for us to extract latent, implicit document features from scientific data and resources and make them explicit, accessible and useable for search activities amongst others. This paper presents MemexGATE; a server side application, command line interface and computing environment for running large scale metadata extraction, general architecture text engineering, document classification and indexing tasks over document resources such as social media streams, scientific literature archives, legal documentation, etc. This work builds on existing experiences using MemexGATE (funded, developed and validated through the DARPA Memex Progrjam PI Mattmann) for extracting and leveraging latent content features from document resources within the Materials Research domain. We extend the software functionality capability to the domain of scientific literature with emphasis on the expansion of gazetteer lists, named entity rules, natural language construct labeling (e.g. synonym, antonym, hyponym, etc.) efforts to enable extraction of latent content features from data hosted by wide variety of scientific literature vendors (AGU Meeting Abstract Database, Springer, Wiley Online, Elsevier, etc.) hosting earth science literature. Such literature makes both implicit and explicit references to NASA datasets and relationships between such concepts stored across EOSDIS DAAC's hence we envisage that a significant part of this effort will also include development and understanding of relevancy signals which can ultimately be utilized for improved search and relevancy ranking across scientific literature.

Opportunities and Examples for Integration of Socio-environmental Approaches to Support Climate-informed Decisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kenney, M. A.

2014-12-01

Climate and environmental decisions require science that couples human and natural systems to quantify or articulate the observed physical, natural, and societal changes or likely consequences of different decision options. Despite the need for such policy-relevant research, multidisciplinary collaborations can be wrought with challenges of data integration, model interoperability, and communication across disciplinary divides. In this talk, I will present several examples where I have collaborated with colleagues from the physical, natural, and social sciences to develop novel, actionable science to inform decision-making. Specifically, I will discuss a cost analysis of water and sediment diversions to optimize land building in the Mississippi River delta (winner of American Geophysical Union Water Resources Research Editor's Choice Award 2014) and the development of a National Climate Indicator System that uses knowledge across the physical, natural, and social sciences to establish an end-to-end indicator system of climate changes, impacts, vulnerabilities, and responses. The latter project is in the process of moving from research to operations, an additional challenge and opportunity, as we work with the U.S. Global Change Research Program and their affiliated Federal agencies to establish it beyond the research prototype. Using these examples, I will provide some lessons learned that would have general applicability to socio-environmental research collaborations and integration of data, models, and information systems to support climate and environmental decision-making.

Students' perceptions of the relevance of mathematics in engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flegg, Jennifer; Mallet, Dann; Lupton, Mandy

2012-09-01

In this article, we report on the findings of an exploratory study into the experience of students as they learn first year engineering mathematics. Here we define engineering as the application of mathematics and sciences to the building and design of projects for the use of society [M. Kirschenman and B. Brenner, Education for Civil Engineering: A Profession of Practice, Leader. Manag. Eng. 10 (2010), p. 54]. Qualitative and quantitative data on students' views of the relevance of their mathematics study to their engineering studies and future careers in engineering was collected. The students described using a range of mathematics techniques (mathematics skills developed, mathematics concepts applied to engineering and skills developed relevant for engineering) for various usages (as a subject of study, a tool for other subjects or a tool for real world problems). We found a number of themes relating to the design of engineering mathematics curriculum emerged from the data. These included the relevance of mathematics within different engineering majors, the relevance of mathematics to future studies, the relevance of learning mathematical rigour and the effectiveness of problem-solving tasks in conveying the relevance of mathematics more effectively than other forms of assessment. We make recommendations for the design of engineering mathematics curriculum based on our findings.

UQ for Decision Making: How (at least five) Kinds of Probability Might Come Into Play

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, L. A.

2013-12-01

In 1959 IJ Good published the discussion "Kinds of Probability" in Science. Good identified (at least) five kinds. The need for (at least) a sixth kind of probability when quantifying uncertainty in the context of climate science is discussed. This discussion brings out the differences in weather-like forecasting tasks and climate-links tasks, with a focus on the effective use both of science and of modelling in support of decision making. Good also introduced the idea of a "Dynamic probability" a probability one expects to change without any additional empirical evidence; the probabilities assigned by a chess playing program when it is only half thorough its analysis being an example. This case is contrasted with the case of "Mature probabilities" where a forecast algorithm (or model) has converged on its asymptotic probabilities and the question hinges in whether or not those probabilities are expected to change significantly before the event in question occurs, even in the absence of new empirical evidence. If so, then how might one report and deploy such immature probabilities in scientific-support of decision-making rationally? Mature Probability is suggested as a useful sixth kind, although Good would doubtlessly argue that we can get by with just one, effective communication with decision makers may be enhanced by speaking as if the others existed. This again highlights the distinction between weather-like contexts and climate-like contexts. In the former context one has access to a relevant climatology (a relevant, arguably informative distribution prior to any model simulations), in the latter context that information is not available although one can fall back on the scientific basis upon which the model itself rests, and estimate the probability that the model output is in fact misinformative. This subjective "probability of a big surprise" is one way to communicate the probability of model-based information holding in practice, the probability that the information the model-based probability is conditioned on holds. It is argued that no model-based climate-like probability forecast is complete without a quantitative estimate of its own irrelevance, and that the clear identification of model-based probability forecasts as mature or immature, are critical elements for maintaining the credibility of science-based decision support, and can shape uncertainty quantification more widely.

NASA's Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) Applications and Application Readiness Levels (ARLs)-An assessment of how all CMS ARLs provide societal benefit.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Escobar, V. M.; Sepulveda Carlo, E.; Delgado Arias, S.

2016-12-01

During the past six years, the NASA Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) Applications effort has been engaging with stakeholders in an effort to make the 52 CMS project user friendly and policy relevant. Congressionally directed, the CMS initiative is a NASA endeavor providing carbon data products that help characterize and understand carbon sources and sinks at local and international scales. All data are freely available, and scaled for local, state, regional, national and international-level resource management. To facilitate user feedback during development, as well as understanding for the type of use and application the CMS data products can provide, the Applications project utilizes the NASA Applied Sciences Program nine step Application Readiness Level (ARL) indices. These are used to track and manage the progression and distribution of funded projects. ARLs are an adaptation of NASA's technology readiness levels (TRLs) used for managing technology and risk and reflects the three main tiers of a project: research, development and deployment. The ARLs are scaled from 1 to 9, research and development (ARL1) to operational and/or decision making ready products (ARL9). The ARLS can be broken up into three phases: Phase 1, discovery and feasibility (ARL 1-3); Phase 2, development testing and validation (ARL 4-6); and Phase 3, integration into Partner's systems (ARL 7-9). The ARLs are designed to inform both scientist and end user of the product maturity and application capability. The CMS initiative has products that range across all ARLs, providing societal benefit at multiple scales. Lower ARLs contribute to formal documents such as the IPCC while others at higher levels provide decision support quantifying the value of carbon data for greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction planning. Most CMS products have an ARL 5, (validation of a product in a relevant environment), meaning the CMS carbon science is actively in a state of science-user engagement. For the user community, ARLs are a litmus test for knowing the type of user feedback and advocacy that can be implemented into the product design. For the scientist, ARLS help communicate (1) the maturity of their science to users who would like to use it for decision making and (2) the intended use of the product.

Language of Science as a Bridge to Native American Educators and Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexander, C. J.; Angrum, A.; Martin, M.; Ali, N.; Kingfisher, J.; Treuer, A.; Grant, G.; Ciotti, J.

2010-12-01

In the Western tradition, words and vocabulary encapsulate much of how knowledge enters the public discourse, and is passed from one generation to the next. Much of Native American knowledge is passed along in an oral tradition. Chants and ceremonies contain context and long-baseline data on the environment (geology, climate, and astronomy) that may even surpasses the lifespan of a single individual. For Native American students and researchers, the concept of ‘modern research and science education’ may be wrapped up into the conundrum of assimilation and loss of cultural identification and traditional way of life. That conundrum is also associated with the lack of language and vocabulary with which to discuss 'modern research.' Native Americans emphasize the need to know themselves and their own culture when teaching their students. Many Native American communities recognize that the retention of their language - and need to make the language relevant to the technological age we live in, represents one of their largest and most urgent challenges. One strategy for making science education relevant to Native American learners is identifying appropriate terms that cross the cultural divide. More than just words and vocabulary, the thought processes and word/concept relationships can be quite different in the native cultures. The U.S. Rosetta Project has worked to identify words associated with Western 'STEM' concepts in three Native American communities: Navajo, Hawaiian, and Ojibwe. The U.S. Rosetta Project is NASA’s contribution to the International Rosetta Mission. The Rosetta stone, inspiration for the mission’s name, is expected to provide the keys to the primordial solar system the way the original Rosetta Stone provided a key to ancient language. Steps taken so far include identification and presentation of online astronomy, geology, and physical science vocabulary terms in the native language, identification of teachers and classrooms - often in Native American charter schools - interested in working STEM concepts in the native language, and initiation of an essay contest to encourage use and cognitive understanding of the terms. One of our lesson's learned, is that finding people who are bi-lingual, who have an understanding of western science and traditional knowledge are key to making the cross-cultural connections work. STEM language elements in Navajo, Hawaiian, and Ojibwe can be found at the U.S. Rosetta website. Work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, was supported by NASA. The Rosetta mission is a cooperative project of NASA and the European Space Agency.

Balancing emotion and cognition: a case for decision aiding in conservation efforts.

PubMed

Wilson, Robyn S

2008-12-01

Despite advances in the quality of participatory decision making for conservation, many current efforts still suffer from an inability to bridge the gap between science and policy. Judgment and decision-making research suggests this gap may result from a person's reliance on affect-based shortcuts in complex decision contexts. I examined the results from 3 experiments that demonstrate how affect (i.e., the instantaneous reaction one has to a stimulus) influences individual judgments in these contexts and identified techniques from the decision-aiding literature that help encourage a balance between affect-based emotion and cognition in complex decision processes. In the first study, subjects displayed a lack of focus on their stated conservation objectives and made decisions that reflected their initial affective impressions. Value-focused approaches may help individuals incorporate all the decision-relevant objectives by making the technical and value-based objectives more salient. In the second study, subjects displayed a lack of focus on statistical risk and again made affect-based decisions. Trade-off techniques may help individuals incorporate relevant technical data, even when it conflicts with their initial affective impressions or other value-based objectives. In the third study, subjects displayed a lack of trust in decision-making authorities when the decision involved a negatively affect-rich outcome (i.e., a loss). Identifying shared salient values and increasing procedural fairness may help build social trust in both decision-making authorities and the decision process.

Increasing High School Student Interest in Science: An Action Research Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vartuli, Cindy A.

An action research study was conducted to determine how to increase student interest in learning science and pursuing a STEM career. The study began by exploring 10th-grade student and teacher perceptions of student interest in science in order to design an instructional strategy for stimulating student interest in learning and pursuing science. Data for this study included responses from 270 students to an on-line science survey and interviews with 11 students and eight science teachers. The action research intervention included two iterations of the STEM Career Project. The first iteration introduced four chemistry classes to the intervention. The researcher used student reflections and a post-project survey to determine if the intervention had influence on the students' interest in pursuing science. The second iteration was completed by three science teachers who had implemented the intervention with their chemistry classes, using student reflections and post-project surveys, as a way to make further procedural refinements and improvements to the intervention and measures. Findings from the exploratory phase of the study suggested students generally had interest in learning science but increasing that interest required including personally relevant applications and laboratory experiences. The intervention included a student-directed learning module in which students investigated three STEM careers and presented information on one of their chosen careers. The STEM Career Project enabled students to explore career possibilities in order to increase their awareness of STEM careers. Findings from the first iteration of the intervention suggested a positive influence on student interest in learning and pursuing science. The second iteration included modifications to the intervention resulting in support for the findings of the first iteration. Results of the second iteration provided modifications that would allow the project to be used for different academic levels. Insights from conducting the action research study provided the researcher with effective ways to make positive changes in her own teaching praxis and the tools used to improve student awareness of STEM career options.

Knowledge Brokers in the Making: Opportunities to Connect Researchers and Stakeholders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pennell, K. G.; Pennell, M. C.

2014-12-01

Environmental science and engineering graduate students often lack training on how to communicate with policy decision makers who are grappling with questions to which research is responding. They communicate directly with mutual experts, but are many times unable to engage with non-experts about their research, thereby limiting the reach and impact of their findings. This presentation highlights opportunities within environmental science and engineering research to create opportunities for researchers to hone skills as knowledge brokers, so they learn ways to meaningfully engage with a range of stakeholders. A knowledge broker is an individual who connects scientific experts and relevant stakeholders with meaningful and useable information. Recognizing that information must flow in multiple directions, the knowledge broker must quickly and effectively translate needs and questions using established relationships. It is these relationships, as well as the synthesis of scientific knowledge into useable information, on which the success of the knowledge broker lies. Using lessons learned, as well as communication science theory related to knowledge brokering, this presentation highlights training opportunities for knowledge brokers who are primarily educated in science and engineering fields, yet seek to engage with societally relevant stakeholders. We present case study examples of knowledge brokering within two large multi-disciplinary research centers. These centers provide unique experiences for researchers to build relationships with stakeholders, so that the scientific experts not only create novel research within their specific discipline, but also inform policy decision makers, community members and regulatory officials.

Integration of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy into the Science Learning Progression Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernardo, Cyntra

2017-01-01

This study integrated elements of culturally relevant pedagogy into a science learning progression framework, with the goal of enhancing teachers' cultural knowledge and thereby creating better teaching practices in an urban public high school science classroom. The study was conducted using teachers, an administrator, a science coach, and…

Perceptions and Practices of Culturally Relevant Science Teaching in American Indian Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nam, Younkyeong; Roehrig, Gillian; Kern, Anne; Reynolds, Bree

2013-01-01

This study explores the perceptions of culturally relevant science teaching of 35 teachers of American Indian students. These teachers participated in professional development designed to help them better understand climate change science content and teaching climate change using both Western science and traditional and cultural knowledge. Teacher…

Diversity, Geosciences, and Societal Impact: Perspectives From a Geoscientist, Workforce Development Specialist, and Former Congressional Science Fellow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morris, A. R.

2014-12-01

In order for the United States to remain competitive in the STEM fields, all available interested citizens must be engaged, prepared, and retained in the geoscience workforce. The misperception that the geosciences do little to support the local community and give back to fellow citizens contributes to the lack of diversity in the field. Another challenge is that the assumptions of career paths for someone trained in geosciences are often limited to field work, perpetuated by visuals found in media, popular culture and recruiting materials and university websites. In order to combat these views it is critical that geoscientists make visible both the diverse career opportunities for those trained in geoscience and the relevance of the field to societal issues. In order to make a substantive change in the number of underrepresented minorities pursuing and working in geosciences we must rethink how we describe our work, its impacts and its relevance to society. At UNAVCO, we have undertaken this charge to change they way the future generation of geoscientists views opportunities in our field. This presentation will include reflections of a trained geoscientist taking a non-field/research career path and the opportunities it has afforded as well as the challenges encountered. The presentation will also highlight how experience managing a STEM program for middle school girls, serving as a Congressional Science Fellow, and managing an undergraduate research internship program is aiding in shaping the Geoscience Workforce Initiative at UNAVCO.

Nothing in medicine makes sense, except in the light of evolution.

PubMed

Varki, Ajit

2012-05-01

The practice of medicine is a fruitful marriage of classic diagnostic and healing arts with modern advancements in many relevant sciences. The scientific aspects of medicine are rooted in understanding the biology of our species and those of other organisms that interact with us in health and disease. Thus, it is reasonable to paraphrase Dobzhansky, stating that, "nothing in the biological aspects of medicine makes sense except in the light of evolution." However, the art and science of medicine are also rooted in the unusual cognitive abilities of humans and the cultural evolutionary processes arising. This explains the rather bold and inclusive title of this essay. The near complete absence of evolution in medical school curricula is a historical anomaly that needs correction. Otherwise, we will continue to train generations of physicians who lack understanding of some fundamental principles that should guide both medical practice and research. I here recount my attempts to correct this deficiency at my own medical school and the lessons learned. I also attempt to summarize what I teach in the limited amount of time allowed for the purpose. Particular attention is given to the value of comparing human physiology and disease with those of other closely related species. There is a long way to go before the teaching of evolution can be placed in its rightful context within the medical curriculum. However, the trend is in the right direction. Let us aim for a day when an essay like this will no longer be relevant.

"FAILING GIRLS": Understanding Connections among Identity Negotiation, Personal Relevance, and Engagement in Science Learning from Underachieving Girls

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, Jessica J.; Windschitl, Mark

Contemporary critiques of science education have noted that girls often fail to engage in science learning because the activities lack relevance for them, and they cannot "see themselves" in the work of science. Despite the empirical support for these claims, theory around the important connections between relevance, emerging self-identity, and engagement for girls remains underdeveloped. This qualitative, exploratory investigation examines engagement in science learning among five underachieving high school girls. Data sources include in-depth interviews, classroom observations, and teacher surveys. The girls were asked to describe engagement within three learning contexts: science class, a favorite class, and an extracurricular activity. From the girls' voices emerge three themes reflecting the centrality of self: "who I am," "who I am becoming," and "the importance of relationships." It is important that these themes of self and of identity negotiation are integrated with the ways these girls find learning personally relevant. One pattern of extracurricular engagement and two patterns of science engagement (integrated and situational) are described. This study attempts to expand the dialogue around the relationships between identity, relevance, and engagement among underachieving girls and suggests ways in which curriculum can be grounded in students' lives and developing identities.

Problem formulation, metrics, open government, and on-line collaboration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ziegler, C. R.; Schofield, K.; Young, S.; Shaw, D.

2010-12-01

Problem formulation leading to effective environmental management, including synthesis and application of science by government agencies, may benefit from collaborative on-line environments. This is illustrated by two interconnected projects: 1) literature-based evidence tools that support causal assessment and problem formulation, and 2) development of output, outcome, and sustainability metrics for tracking environmental conditions. Specifically, peer-production mechanisms allow for global contribution to science-based causal evidence databases, and subsequent crowd-sourced development of causal networks supported by that evidence. In turn, science-based causal networks may inform problem formulation and selection of metrics or indicators to track environmental condition (or problem status). Selecting and developing metrics in a collaborative on-line environment may improve stakeholder buy-in, the explicit relevance of metrics to planning, and the ability to approach problem apportionment or accountability, and to define success or sustainability. Challenges include contribution governance, data-sharing incentives, linking on-line interfaces to data service providers, and the intersection of environmental science and social science. Degree of framework access and confidentiality may vary by group and/or individual, but may ultimately be geared at demonstrating connections between science and decision making and supporting a culture of open government, by fostering transparency, public engagement, and collaboration.

The Ivory Tower and the Community: A New Approach to Emphasizing the Relevance of Environmental Science Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cuff, K. E.; Corazza, L.

2006-12-01

Over the past eight years we have developed and implemented several U.C. Berkeley-based outreach programs that provide opportunities for grades nine through eleven students in the East San Francisco Bay Area to gain skills and understandings that increase their capacity to enroll and perform successfully in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses in the future, which enhances their capacity to decide to pursue STEM careers. A common element of these programs is the opportunity they provide participants to engage in environmental science research projects that are directly linked to relevant, real-world environmental problems and issues facing their communities. Analysis of evidence gleaned from questionnaires, interviews and specific assessment instruments indicates that these programs have consistently achieved a high degree of success in that they have: significantly increased participants' understanding of the process and nature of science; enhanced their intellectual self-confidence with regard to STEM; developed deeper appreciation of how scientific research can contribute to the maintenance of healthy local environments; developed a greater interest in participating in STEM-related courses of study and after school programs; and improved attitudes toward STEM. These results corroborate recent research studies that indicate a close relationship between educational activities that promote the perception of STEM as being relevant and the ability to foster development of deeper conceptual understandings among teens. Moreover, they support the notion that providing opportunities for students to develop personal connections with particular issues discussed, and real-world STEM experiences that make STEM more relevant and interesting can help to bring about changes in attitude, which is a key component in improving STEM learning and understanding particularly among urban youth. Overall, our work suggests that in order for a given STEM education intervention strategy to be truly successful it must include activities that effectively counter the notion of STEM irrelevancy, and provide experiences that both address youth concerns and interests, and stimulate development and enactment of ideas within a broader community-based context.

Cost(s) of caring for patients with cystic fibrosis.

PubMed

Orenstein, David M; Abood, Robert N

2018-06-01

Cystic fibrosis (CF) has received a lot of attention in the past few years because of increased longevity and the emergence of ground-breaking new drugs targeting the molecular and cellular defects, making a huge clinical difference, and - not incidentally - carrying massive price tags. The prices of these new drugs make the question of overall costs of CF care highly relevant. This article reviews recent developments in CF science and treatment, and highlights areas that contribute to costs of CF care, emphasizing how these costs have increased. This article should help the pediatrician stay abreast of high points of CF care, with an awareness of the factors that wield the biggest influence on overall costs, to patients, families and the US healthcare system.

Science to Action: Thoughts on Convincing a Skeptical Public

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Press, William

2016-01-01

Acceptance by the public of findings widely accepted by scientists varies dramatically, issue by issue. The danger of smoking, for example, readily achieved public acceptance, while the arguably greater danger of climate change has, thus far, not. What are the relevant variables that make some public issues more difficult than others? A hypothesis consistent with the historical data is that, in communicating to the public, scientists fail to adequately distinguish two different types of messages, the first relating to the nature of scientific evidence, and the second relating to the rational choice of evidence-based decision-making. As scientists we take both for granted, but the public often may not. Different kinds of communication are required for the two different messages.

The role of testosterone and estrogen in consumer behavior and social & economic decision making: A review.

PubMed

Stanton, Steven J

2017-06-01

A contribution to a special issue on Hormones and Human Competition.This manuscript reviews the current literature on the actions of the steroid hormones testosterone and estradiol in shaping humans' behavior within two applied contexts, specifically consumer behavior and decision making (both social and economic). The theoretical argument put forth is that steroids shape these everyday behaviors and choices in service to being more competitive in achieving long-term goals related to resource acquisition, mating success, and social dominance. In addition, a discussion of the increased research focus on the role of steroids in other applied business domains will highlight the relevant applications of basic science discoveries in behavioral endocrinology. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A conceptual framework for understanding the perspectives on the causes of the science-practice gap in ecology and conservation.

PubMed

Bertuol-Garcia, Diana; Morsello, Carla; N El-Hani, Charbel; Pardini, Renata

2018-05-01

Applying scientific knowledge to confront societal challenges is a difficult task, an issue known as the science-practice gap. In Ecology and Conservation, scientific evidence has been seldom used directly to support decision-making, despite calls for an increasing role of ecological science in developing solutions for a sustainable future. To date, multiple causes of the science-practice gap and diverse approaches to link science and practice in Ecology and Conservation have been proposed. To foster a transparent debate and broaden our understanding of the difficulties of using scientific knowledge, we reviewed the perceived causes of the science-practice gap, aiming to: (i) identify the perspectives of ecologists and conservation scientists on this problem, (ii) evaluate the predominance of these perspectives over time and across journals, and (iii) assess them in light of disciplines studying the role of science in decision-making. We based our review on 1563 sentences describing causes of the science-practice gap extracted from 122 articles and on discussions with eight scientists on how to classify these sentences. The resulting process-based framework describes three distinct perspectives on the relevant processes, knowledge and actors in the science-practice interface. The most common perspective assumes only scientific knowledge should support practice, perceiving a one-way knowledge flow from science to practice and recognizing flaws in knowledge generation, communication, and/or use. The second assumes that both scientists and decision-makers should contribute to support practice, perceiving a two-way knowledge flow between science and practice through joint knowledge-production/integration processes, which, for several reasons, are perceived to occur infrequently. The last perspective was very rare, and assumes scientists should put their results into practice, but they rarely do. Some causes (e.g. cultural differences between scientists and decision-makers) are shared with other disciplines, while others seem specific to Ecology and Conservation (e.g. inadequate research scales). All identified causes require one of three general types of solutions, depending on whether the causal factor can (e.g. inadequate research questions) or cannot (e.g. scientific uncertainty) be changed, or if misconceptions (e.g. undervaluing abstract knowledge) should be solved. The unchanged predominance of the one-way perspective over time may be associated with the prestige of evidence-based conservation and suggests that debates in Ecology and Conservation lag behind trends in other disciplines towards bidirectional views ascribing larger roles to decision-makers. In turn, the two-way perspective seems primarily restricted to research traditions historically isolated from mainstream conservation biology. All perspectives represented superficial views of decision-making by not accounting for limits to human rationality, complexity of decision-making contexts, fuzzy science-practice boundaries, ambiguity brought about by science, and different types of knowledge use. However, joint knowledge-production processes from the two-way perspective can potentially allow for democratic decision-making processes, explicit discussions of values and multiple types of science use. To broaden our understanding of the interface and foster productive science-practice linkages, we argue for dialogue among different research traditions within Ecology and Conservation, joint knowledge-production processes between scientists and decision-makers and interdisciplinarity across Ecology, Conservation and Political Science in both research and education. © 2017 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

NASA Enterprise Architecture and Its Use in Transition of Research Results to Operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frisbie, T. E.; Hall, C. M.

2006-12-01

Enterprise architecture describes the design of the components of an enterprise, their relationships and how they support the objectives of that enterprise. NASA Stennis Space Center leads several projects involving enterprise architecture tools used to gather information on research assets within NASA's Earth Science Division. In the near future, enterprise architecture tools will link and display the relevant requirements, parameters, observatories, models, decision systems, and benefit/impact information relationships and map to the Federal Enterprise Architecture Reference Models. Components configured within the enterprise architecture serving the NASA Applied Sciences Program include the Earth Science Components Knowledge Base, the Systems Components database, and the Earth Science Architecture Tool. The Earth Science Components Knowledge Base systematically catalogues NASA missions, sensors, models, data products, model products, and network partners appropriate for consideration in NASA Earth Science applications projects. The Systems Components database is a centralized information warehouse of NASA's Earth Science research assets and a critical first link in the implementation of enterprise architecture. The Earth Science Architecture Tool is used to analyze potential NASA candidate systems that may be beneficial to decision-making capabilities of other Federal agencies. Use of the current configuration of NASA enterprise architecture (the Earth Science Components Knowledge Base, the Systems Components database, and the Earth Science Architecture Tool) has far exceeded its original intent and has tremendous potential for the transition of research results to operational entities.

Exploring multiple intelligences theory in the context of science education: An action research approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodnough, Karen Catherine

2000-10-01

Since the publication of Frames of Mind: The Theory in Practice, multiple intelligences, theory (Gardner, 1983) has been used by practitioners in a variety of ways to make teaching and learning more meaningful. However, little attention has been focused on exploring the potential of the theory for science teaching and learning. Consequently, this research study was designed to: (1) explore Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (1983) and its merit for making science teaching and learning more meaningful; (2) provide a forum for teachers to engage in critical self-reflection about their theory and practice in science education; (3) study the process of action research in the context of science education; and (4) describe the effectiveness of collaborative action research as a framework for teacher development and curriculum development. The study reports on the experiences of four teachers (two elementary teachers, one junior high teacher, and one high school teacher) and myself, a university researcher-facilitator, as we participated in a collaborative action research project. The action research group held weekly meetings over a five-month period (January--May, 1999). The inquiry was a qualitative case study (Stake, 1994) that aimed to understand the perspectives of those directly involved. This was achieved by using multiple methods to collect data: audiotaped action research meetings, fieldnotes, semi-structured interviews, journal writing, and concept mapping. All data were analysed on an ongoing basis. Many positive outcomes resulted from the study in areas such as curriculum development, teacher development, and student learning in science. Through the process of action research, research participants became more reflective about their practice and thus, enhanced their pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1987) in science. Students became more engaged in learning science, gained a greater understanding of how they learn, and experienced a science curriculum that was more relevant and personalized. In addition, the action research process provided a feasible and effective forum for both curriculum development and professional development.

Concept Mapping as a Support for Mars Landing-Site Selection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cabrol, Nathalie A.; Briggs, Geoffrey A.

1999-01-01

The NASA Ames' Center for Mars Exploration (CMEX) serves to coordinate Mars programmatic research at ARC in the sciences, in information technology and in aero-assist and other technologies. Most recently, CMEX has been working with the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition at the University of West Florida to develop a new kind of web browser based on the application of concept maps. These Cmaps, which are demonstrably effective in science teaching, can be used to provide a new kind of information navigation tool that can make web or CD based information more meaningful and more easily navigable. CMEX expects that its 1999 CD-ROM will have this new user interface. CMEX is also engaged with the Mars Surveyor Project Office at JPL in developing an Internet-based source of materials to support the process of selecting landing sites for the next series of Mars landers. This activity -- identifying the most promising sites from which to return samples relevant to the search for evidence of life -- is one that is expected to engage the general public as well as the science community. To make the landing site data easily accessible and meaningful to the public, CMEX is planning to use the IHMC Cmap browser as its user interface.

Review of experimental studies in social psychology of small groups when an optimal choice exists and application to operating room management decision-making.

PubMed

Prahl, Andrew; Dexter, Franklin; Braun, Michael T; Van Swol, Lyn

2013-11-01

Because operating room (OR) management decisions with optimal choices are made with ubiquitous biases, decisions are improved with decision-support systems. We reviewed experimental social-psychology studies to explore what an OR leader can do when working with stakeholders lacking interest in learning the OR management science but expressing opinions about decisions, nonetheless. We considered shared information to include the rules-of-thumb (heuristics) that make intuitive sense and often seem "close enough" (e.g., staffing is planned based on the average workload). We considered unshared information to include the relevant mathematics (e.g., staffing calculations). Multiple studies have shown that group discussions focus more on shared than unshared information. Quality decisions are more likely when all group participants share knowledge (e.g., have taken a course in OR management science). Several biases in OR management are caused by humans' limited abilities to estimate tails of probability distributions in their heads. Groups are more susceptible to analogous biases than are educated individuals. Since optimal solutions are not demonstrable without groups sharing common language, only with education of most group members can a knowledgeable individual influence the group. The appropriate model of decision-making is autocratic, with information obtained from stakeholders. Although such decisions are good quality, the leaders often are disliked and the decisions considered unjust. In conclusion, leaders will find the most success if they do not bring OR management operational decisions to groups, but instead act autocratically while obtaining necessary information in 1:1 conversations. The only known route for the leader making such decisions to be considered likable and for the decisions to be considered fair is through colleagues and subordinates learning the management science.

Dissemination of Research: Your Interface with the Public

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCann, S.; Scotchmoor, J. G.; Lindberg, D.; Kissack, A.

2011-12-01

In January 2011, something very special happened on the UC Berkley campus as a result of a unique partnership between two organizations - KQED, a San Francisco public broadcaster and a public university, UC Berkeley. Nineteen graduate students from the UCB Department of Integrative Biology (IB) and Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management participated in a pilot project in which they were trained by media professionals in communicating their science to broader audiences. The class, called Dissemination of Research: Your Interface with the Public, was a two unit, seven week course on making media for science communication, a hands-on approach to the dos and don'ts of social media, blogging, photo collections, web media, video/audio interviews, visualizing data, and a survey of types of science media and journalism. The partnership itself was an extension of a project initiated by KQED in 2007. At that time, KQED launched QUEST, with the goal of contributing much needed reporting on science and the environment to Northern California audiences. The project combined an interdisciplinary media staff to create radio reports, television programming, original online media, and educator resources. Further supporting this innovative editorial framework were 16 partners including Northern California's leading science centers, museums, parks, and community-based groups. Among those partners were representatives from UC Berkeley's Natural History Museums and the Integrative Biology Department. The very name - Integrative Biology - reflects the focus of the department which brings together a diversity of disciplines that complement one another to unravel the complexity of biology thus a perfect match for the QUEST project. Building on the model developed for QUEST partner media making trainings, KQED and UC Berkeley decided to pilot a new venture by co-teaching a course, specifically aimed at helping graduate students communicate their science. Unlike similar courses that provide skills in writing press releases and tips for interviews, this one emphasized the making of media. Such a focus teaches students appropriate media formats for differing audiences and which factors make a presentation interesting and comprehensible. The course, beyond media training, required students to contribute to a weekly blog by writing about contemporary scientific research with the goal of making these findings relevant to an everyday audience. Students also produced a one-minute slide show combining photos, animation, music and narration to communicate their own research projects and areas of interest. At the end of the course, an evaluation was conducted to measure the usefulness of the class. Students rated the overall educational value of the course a 6.438 out of 7. They appreciated the interaction with media experts and the different perspectives about communicating science beyond that of scientists. In their words: "It is part of our job as scientists to be able to share our discoveries with the world and we never get trained on this, so we make a lot of mistakes."

From a Vital Sign to Vitality: Selling Exercise So Patients Want to Buy It.

PubMed

Segar, Michelle L; Guérin, Eva; Phillips, Edward; Fortier, Michelle

2016-01-01

Exercise is Medicine (EIM) and physical activity as a vital sign are based on health-focused research and reflect ideal frames and messages for clinicians. However, they are nonoptimal for patients because they do not address what drives patients' decision-making and motivation. With the growing national emphasis on patient-centered and value-based care, it is the perfect time for EIM to evolve and advance a second-level consumer-oriented exercise prescription and communication strategy. Through research on decision-making, motivation, consumer behavior, and meaningful goal pursuit, this article features six evidence-based issues to help clinicians make physical activity more relevant and compelling for patients to sustain in ways that concurrently support patient-centered care. Physical activity prescriptions and counseling can evolve to reflect affective and behavioral science and sell exercise so patients want to buy it.

Integrating ethics into technical courses: micro-insertion.

PubMed

Davis, Michael

2006-10-01

Perhaps the most common reason science and engineering faculty give for not including 'ethics' (that is, research ethics, engineering ethics, or some discussion of professional responsibility) in their technical classes is that 'there is no room'. This article 1) describes a technique ('micro-insertion') that introduces ethics (and related topics) into technical courses in small enough units not to push out technical material, 2) explains where this technique might fit into the larger undertaking of integrating ethics into the technical (scientific or engineering) curriculum, and 3) concludes with some quantified evidence (collected over more than a decade) suggesting success. Integrating ethics into science and engineering courses is largely a matter of providing context for what is already being taught, context that also makes the material already being taught seem 'more relevant'.

Our Solar System 2050: Advancing the Science, Technology, and Societal Relevance of Planetary Exploration Through Public Participation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaminski, A. P.; Bowman, C. D.; Buquo, L. E.; Conrad, P. G.; Davis, R. M.; Domagal-Goldman, S.; Pirtle, Z. T.; Skytland, N. G.; Tahu, G. J.; Thaller, M. L.; Viotti, M. A.

2017-02-01

We show how citizen science, crowdsourcing, prize competitions, and other modalities can expand public participation and prove valuable for enhancing the science, technology, and societal relevance of planetary exploration over the next few decades.

Ethical guidelines in pandemic influenza: recommendations of the Ethics Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee of the Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

PubMed

Kinlaw, Kathy; Barrett, Drue H; Levine, Robert J

2009-12-01

Because of the importance of including ethical considerations in planning efforts for pandemic influenza, in February 2005 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requested that the Ethics Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee to the Director develop guidance that would serve as a foundation for decision making in preparing for and responding to pandemic influenza. Specifically, the ethics subcommittee was asked to make recommendations regarding ethical considerations relevant to decision making about vaccine and antiviral drug distribution prioritization and development of interventions that would limit individual freedom and create social distancing. The ethics subcommittee identified a number of general ethical considerations including identification of clear goals for pandemic planning, responsibility to maximize preparedness, transparency and public engagement, sound science, commitment to the global community, balancing individual liberty and community interests, diversity in ethical decision making, and commitment to justice. These general ethical considerations are applied to the issues of vaccine and antiviral drug distribution and use of community mitigation interventions.

Smarter Instruments, Smarter Archives: Machine Learning for Tactical Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, D. R.; Kiran, R.; Allwood, A.; Altinok, A.; Estlin, T.; Flannery, D.

2014-12-01

There has been a growing interest by Earth and Planetary Sciences in machine learning, visualization and cyberinfrastructure to interpret ever-increasing volumes of instrument data. Such tools are commonly used to analyze archival datasets, but they can also play a valuable real-time role during missions. Here we discuss ways that machine learning can benefit tactical science decisions during Earth and Planetary Exploration. Machine learning's potential begins at the instrument itself. Smart instruments endowed with pattern recognition can immediately recognize science features of interest. This allows robotic explorers to optimize their limited communications bandwidth, triaging science products and prioritizing the most relevant data. Smart instruments can also target their data collection on the fly, using principles of experimental design to reduce redundancy and generally improve sampling efficiency for time-limited operations. Moreover, smart instruments can respond immediately to transient or unexpected phenomena. Examples include detections of cometary plumes, terrestrial floods, or volcanism. We show recent examples of smart instruments from 2014 tests including: aircraft and spacecraft remote sensing instruments that recognize cloud contamination, field tests of a "smart camera" for robotic surface geology, and adaptive data collection by X-Ray fluorescence spectrometers. Machine learning can also assist human operators when tactical decision making is required. Terrestrial scenarios include airborne remote sensing, where the decision to re-fly a transect must be made immediately. Planetary scenarios include deep space encounters or planetary surface exploration, where the number of command cycles is limited and operators make rapid daily decisions about where next to collect measurements. Visualization and modeling can reveal trends, clusters, and outliers in new data. This can help operators recognize instrument artifacts or spot anomalies in real time. We show recent examples from science data pipelines deployed onboard aircraft as well as tactical visualizations for non-image instrument data.

An Overview of Alopecias

PubMed Central

Qi, Ji; Garza, Luis A.

2014-01-01

Hair loss is a topic of enormous public interest and understanding the pathophysiology and treatment of various alopecias will likely make a large impact on patients’ lives. The investigation of alopecias also provides important insight in the basic sciences; for instance, the abundance of stem cell populations and regenerative cycles that characterize a hair follicle render it an excellent model for the study of stem cell biology. This review seeks to provide a concise summary of the major alopecias with regard to presentation and management, and correlate these to recent advances in relevant research on pathogenesis. PMID:24591533

Scientific literacy for decisionmaking and the social construction of scientific knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bingle, Wade H.; Gaskell, P. James

Citizens are often required to make decisions about socioscientific issues in a climate characterized by conflict within both the scientific community and the larger society. Central to the process of decisionmaking is a critical examination of the relevant scientific knowledge involved. Individuals capable of performing this task can be considered scientifically literate in a decisionmaking sense. In this article we explore two ways of critically examining scientific knowledge in the context of a current socioscientific dispute: NASA's Galileo Mission to Jupiter. The two approaches we outline, termed the positivist and social constructivist positions, are examined in terms of their inherent views concerning the nature of scientific knowledge, in particular their use of constitutive and contextual values when evaluating knowledge claims. Because the social constructivist position acknowledges the importance of contextual values, it provides citizens with accessible standards for evaluating scientific knowledge claims. The positivist position, on the other hand, relies on constitutive values which we show are normally inaccessible to ordinary citizens. The positivist position, however, is most closely associated with the predominant social issues approach to science-technology-society (STS) education. Implications little consensus about which statements are fact (i.e., will remain stable when challenged) and which opinion, (i.e., will be modified when challenged). All knowledge is potentially unreliable when one is dealing with a socioscientific dispute.The adoption of a social constructivist view of scientific knowledge and its inherent way of evaluating knowledge claims clearly has implications for future approaches to STS education. Although one approach might be to offer a course in the history, philosophy, and sociology of science, this would not be useful without reference to the way in which such knowledge can help students to understand the context of a conflict within the society of scientists and the larger society. As Rosenthal (1989) argues, a synthesis is needed in which social issues are seen as a vehicle for studying the social studies of science and the social issues are seen as a way of making sense of social aspects of science. However, this way of teaching STS may be difficult to implement. In British Columbia, for example, science teachers have resisted efforts to include the social context of science within a traditional university-oriented physics course (Gaskell, 1992) and to teach a grade 11 social issues oriented sicence and technology course (Gaskell, 1989). This may be because the current social issues approach is most compatible with traditional science content as it is now taught: it simply shows the relevance of textbook knowledge (ready-made science) to contemporary probles. The shift to the approach suggested above will require a more drastic reorganization of the curriculum, one that may be resisted by the current stakeholders in science education (Duschl, 1988; Gaskell, 1989).

A Study of Novice Science Teachers' Conceptualizations of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Redman, Elizabeth Horst

This qualitative study examined new science teachers' conceptualization of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP). The study followed six novice science teachers from their preservice teaching placements into their first jobs as instructors of record, observing in their classrooms and interviewing them about their use of CRP. The study sought to understand (1) how the participating teachers conceptualize CRP in science, and (2) what challenges the teachers faced in trying to implement CRP. Findings suggest that the teachers conceptualized CRP in ways that were consistent with Enyedy, Danish and Fields' (2011) interpretations of relevance: relevance of authentic purpose, relevance of content and/or context, and relevance of practices. The teachers, however, translated those interpretations of relevance into their conceptualizations and classroom practice in a variety of ways. While they encountered difficulties in conceptualizing and practicing CRP, they also made productive moves in their practice and evidenced positive elements in their conceptualizations of CRP. In order to address the challenges these teachers faced in implementing CRP, I suggest an approach to teacher preparation in CRP that builds upon the understandings and productive moves the teachers evidenced in this study.

Everyday science & science every day: Science-related talk & activities across settings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zimmerman, Heather

To understand the development of science-related thinking, acting, and learning in middle childhood, I studied youth in schools, homes, and other neighborhood settings over a three-year period. The research goal was to analyze how multiple everyday experiences influence children's participation in science-related practices and their thinking about science and scientists. Ethnographic and interaction analysis methodologies were to study the cognition and social interactions of the children as they participated in activities with peers, family, and teachers (n=128). Interviews and participant self-documentation protocols elucidated the participants' understandings of science. An Everyday Expertise (Bell et al., 2006) theoretical framework was employed to study the development of science understandings on three analytical planes: individual learner, social groups, and societal/community resources. Findings came from a cross-case analysis of urban science learners and from two within-case analyses of girls' science-related practices as they transitioned from elementary to middle school. Results included: (1) children participated actively in science across settings---including in their homes as well as in schools, (2) children's interests in science were not always aligned to the school science content, pedagogy, or school structures for participation, yet children found ways to engage with science despite these differences through crafting multiple pathways into science, (3) urban parents were active supporters of STEM-related learning environments through brokering access to social and material resources, (4) the youth often found science in their daily activities that formal education did not make use of, and (5) children's involvement with science-related practices can be developed into design principles to reach youth in culturally relevant ways.

Courses and Resources to Teach Space Physics to Standards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reiff, P. H.

2008-12-01

We have created four courses for teachers, and inquiry-based materials to go with them, that embed space physics concepts while teaching Space Physics to National and State standards. The state of Texas recently adopted a "4x4" standard, which makes the "recommended" graduation requirement for high school students to include four science and four math courses. Space Physics is not specifically listed as a topic, but falls naturally as part of three of the Texas High School courses: "Physics", "Astronomy" and "Earth and Space Science", a new course whose syllabus is being decided now. The national standards which are most relevant at the high school level are "Change, Constancy and Measurement", "Motions and Forces", "Interactions of Energy and Matter" and "Natural and Human-induced hazards" [National Science Ed Standards, 1996]. The "Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills" includes circuits, electricity and magnetism, and waves in their Physics course syllabus, and include "describe the Sun's effects on the Earth" in the Astronomy class. In the new Earth and Space Science class we expect that additional heliospheric concepts will be included. At Rice we have four Astronomy courses (and four Earth Science courses) for teachers, two of which involve a substantial space physics content. By taking those eight courses, plus a research project and another content or education elective, the teachers can earn a "Masters of Science Teaching" degree. In "Teaching Earth and Space Science" (ASTR 402) we dedicate about 4 weeks on the Sun and the Earth and its environment. The "Physics of Ham Radio" course (PHYS 401) has an even more relevant focus. That class introduces electricity and magnetism, with hands-on activities on circuits and electromagnetic waves. The students earn their "Technician" class amateur license by making at least 75 per cent on the first quiz, which allows them VHF and UHF broadcast privileges. The second half of the course covers more space weather topics including the ionosphere, solar activity, radio propagation and absorption, antennas, etc. Some students pass the more detailed "General" amateur license by the end of the semester, which allows them to transmit at HF frequencies. Ham radio clubs are becoming more interesting to students as internet-based and digital modes allow more extensive communication even with minimum licensing, and amateur radio clubs are an excellent resource to teachers who want to set up a station in their school. A Technician license can also allow even communication with the Space Station.

Enabling New and More Transparent Science via DataONE—a Virtual Data Observation Network for Earth (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michener, W.

2010-12-01

Addressing grand environmental science challenges requires unprecedented access to easily understood data that cross the breadth of temporal, spatial, and thematic scales. From a scientist’s perspective, the big challenges lie in discovering the relevant data, dealing with extreme data heterogeneity, and converting data to information and knowledge. Addressing these challenges requires new approaches for managing, preserving, analyzing, and sharing data. DataONE is designed to be the foundation of new innovative environmental research that addresses questions of relevance to science and society. DataONE will ensure preservation and access to multi-scale, multi-discipline, and multi-national data. Operationally, DataONE encompasses a distributed global network of Member Nodes (i.e., data repositories) that provide open and persistent access to well-described and easily discovered Earth observational data. In addition, a smaller number of Coordinating Nodes (i.e., metadata repositories and service centers) support network-wide services such as data replication and access to an array of enabling tools. DataONE’s objectives are to: make biological data available from the genome to the ecosystem; make environmental data available from atmospheric, ecological, hydrological, and oceanographic sources; provide secure and long-term preservation and access; and engage scientists, land-managers, policy makers, students, educators, and the public through logical access and intuitive visualizations. The foundation for excellence of DataONE is the established collaboration among participating organizations that have multi-decade expertise in a wide range of fields that includes: existing archive initiatives, libraries, environmental observing systems and research networks, data and information management, science synthesis centers, and professional societies. DataONE is a means to serve a broad range of science domains directly and indirectly through interoperability with partnering networks. DataONE engages its community of partners through working groups focused on identifying, describing, and implementing the DataONE cyberinfrastructure, governance, and sustainability models. These working groups, which consist of a diverse group of graduate students, educators, government and industry representatives, and leading computer, information, and library scientists: (1) perform computer science, informatics, and social science research related to all stages of the data life cycle; (2) develop DataONE interfaces and prototypes; (3) adopt/adapt interoperability standards; (4) create value-added technologies (e.g., semantic mediation, scientific workflow, and visualization) that facilitate data integration, analysis, and understanding; (5) address socio-cultural barriers to sustainable data preservation and data sharing; and (6) promote the adoption of best practices for managing the full data life cycle.

Next Generation Science Partnerships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magnusson, J.

2016-02-01

I will provide an overview of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and demonstrate how scientists and educators can use these standards to strengthen and enhance their collaborations. The NGSS are rich in content and practice and provide all students with an internationally-benchmarked science education. Using these state-led standards to guide outreach efforts can help develop and sustain effective and mutually beneficial teacher-researcher partnerships. Aligning outreach with the three dimensions of the standards can help make research relevant for target audiences by intentionally addressing the science practices, cross-cutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas of the K-12 science curriculum that drives instruction and assessment. Collaborations between researchers and educators that are based on this science framework are more sustainable because they address the needs of both scientists and educators. Educators are better able to utilize science content that aligns with their curriculum. Scientists who learn about the NGSS can better understand the frameworks under which educators work, which can lead to more extensive and focused outreach with teachers as partners. Based on this model, the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) develops its education materials in conjunction with scientists and educators to produce accurate, standards-aligned activities and curriculum-based interactions with researchers. I will highlight examples of IODP's current, successful teacher-researcher collaborations that are intentionally aligned with the NGSS.

Position measurement of the direct drive motor of Large Aperture Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ying; Wang, Daxing

2010-07-01

Along with the development of space and astronomy science, production of large aperture telescope and super large aperture telescope will definitely become the trend. It's one of methods to solve precise drive of large aperture telescope using direct drive technology unified designed of electricity and magnetism structure. A direct drive precise rotary table with diameter of 2.5 meters researched and produced by us is a typical mechanical & electrical integration design. This paper mainly introduces position measurement control system of direct drive motor. In design of this motor, position measurement control system requires having high resolution, and precisely aligning the position of rotor shaft and making measurement, meanwhile transferring position information to position reversing information corresponding to needed motor pole number. This system has chosen high precision metal band coder and absolute type coder, processing information of coders, and has sent 32-bit RISC CPU making software processing, and gained high resolution composite coder. The paper gives relevant laboratory test results at the end, indicating the position measurement can apply to large aperture telescope control system. This project is subsidized by Chinese National Natural Science Funds (10833004).

Developing a Climate Change Boundary Organization: the Montana Adaptation Exchange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitlock, C. L.; Brooks, S.; Armstrong, T.; Bryan, B.

2016-12-01

Small-population large-area states like Montana are often challenged by a need to offer timely and relevant climate-change information that addresses diverse and widely dispersed stakeholder groups. In Montana, filling the gap between science and various types of decision-makers has motivated development of the first Montana Climate Assessment (MCA1), to be released in 2017 with a focus on climate-change impacts for agricultural, water and forestry sectors. To sustain and build on the MCA1 effort, we are also in the process of creating a Boundary Organization (defined by the National Academy of Sciences) called the Montana Adaptation Exchange (the Exchange); this entity will facilitate the flow of information across the boundaries between science, knowledge and implementation. In Montana, the Exchange brings scientists and practitioners together to seek solutions related to climate-change adaptation and other pressing environmental and social-economic challenges. The Montana Adaptation Exchange (1) is a collaborative partnership of members from the science and practitioner communities under a shared governance and participatory model; (2) presents research that has been vetted by the scientific community at large and represents the current state of knowledge; (3) allows for revision and expansion of assessments like the MCA; (4) communicates relevant, often technical, research and findings to a wide variety of resource managers and other stakeholders; (5) develops and maintains an extensive online database that organizes, regularly updates, and makes research data products readily available; and (6) offers an online portal and expert network of affiliated researchers and climate adaptation specialists to provide effective customer support. Boundary organizations, such as the Montana Adaptation Exchange, offer a scalable path to effectively move from "science to knowledge to action" while also allowing stakeholder needs to help inform research agendas.

Autonomous Multi-sensor Coordination: The Science Goal Monitor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koratkar, Anuradha; Jung, John; Geiger, Jenny; Grosvenor, Sandy

2004-01-01

Next-generation science and exploration systems will employ new observation strategies that will use multiple sensors in a dynamic environment to provide high quality monitoring, self-consistent analyses and informed decision making. The Science Goal Monitor (SGM) is a prototype software tool being developed to explore the nature of automation necessary to enable dynamic observing of earth phenomenon. The tools being developed in SGM improve our ability to autonomously monitor multiple independent sensors and coordinate reactions to better observe the dynamic phenomena. The SGM system enables users to specify events of interest and how to react when an event is detected. The system monitors streams of data to identify occurrences of the key events previously specified by the scientist/user. When an event occurs, the system autonomously coordinates the execution of the users desired reactions between different sensors. The information can be used to rapidly respond to a variety of fast temporal events. Investigators will no longer have to rely on after-the-fact data analysis to determine what happened. Our paper describes a series of prototype demonstrations that we have developed using SGM and NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite and Earth Observing Systems Aqua/Terra spacecrafts MODIS instrument. Our demonstrations show the promise of coordinating data from different sources, analyzing the data for a relevant event, autonomously updating and rapidly obtaining a follow-on relevant image. SGM is being used to investigate forest fires, floods and volcanic eruptions. We are now identifying new earth science scenarios that will have more complex SGM reasoning. By developing and testing a prototype in an operational environment, we are also establishing and gathering metrics to gauge the success of automating science campaigns.

Making Science Whole Again: The Role of Academia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lubchenco, J.

2006-12-01

Science in the 21st Century has become increasingly fragmented, not in the usual sense of disciplinary divisions, but with increased specialization in the discovery, teaching, public communication and application aspects of new knowledge. As in the infamous `telephone game', messages passed along through multiple parties, risk distortion. More insidiously, without active and effective checks and balances along the way, information can be and is being deliberately distorted, completely altered, or used selectively. Science, of course, is not the only basis for decision-making; values, politics, economics and other factors should also be considered. Nonetheless, a key role of science is to inform decision-making (not to drive it exclusively). The importance of citizens and leaders having access to accurate scientific information and knowledge is so essential to human well-being that new mechanisms must be found to ensure the integrity of scientific information. Among the multiple changes that are needed to achieve this goal, many of which will be explored in this session, one pertains specifically to the academic scientific community. That change entails growing and supporting stellar scientists who participate directly in discovery AND public communication of knowledge. More scientists whose primary jobs are research and teaching could and should also be actively involved in sharing new knowledge with non-scientists. The public expects this to happen but academia gives it lip service at best. Having more scientists who can communicate scientific knowledge that is understandable, relevant, useable, current and credible to non-technical audiences is a key (though far from the only) factor in protecting the integrity of science. The Aldo Leopold Leadership Program now based at Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment is a program that trains tenured, academic environmental scientists to communicate effectively with politicians, business people, the media, and multiple other interested parties. An examination of the program will provide insight into the feasibility and challenges of adopting the model more widely.

SciStarter 2.0: A Digital Platform to Foster and Study Sustained Engagement in Citizen Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoffman, C.

2016-12-01

SciStarter is a popular online hotspot for citizen science. As a Match.com meets Amazon for citizen science projects, we connect the millions of citizen scientists to thousands of projects and events, and to the resources they need to participate. These opportunities represent ways for the general public from kids to adults to get involved in scientific research. Recently, SciStarter developed a new digital infrastructure to support sustained engagement in citizen science, and research into the behaviors and motivations of participants. The new digital infrastructure of SciStarter includes contribution tracking tools to make it easier to participate in multiple projects, enhanced GIS information to promote locally relevant projects, an online personal dashboard to keep track of contributions, and the use of these tools (contribution tracking, GIS, dashboard) by project owners and researchers to better understand and respond to the needs and interests of citizen science participants. We will provide an overview of these tools and the research behind their development. We will then explore how these new tools advance citizen science towards a future with more pathways to participatory policymaking, expanded access to informal STEM experiences, and lowered barriers to citizen science. Finally, we will present the research questions that can and will be answered through the site by practitioners in the diverse science and citizen science fields.

The Coalition for Publishing Data in the Earth and Space Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lehnert, Kerstin; Hanson, Brooks; Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Joel

2015-04-01

Scholarly publishing remains a key high-value point in making data available and will for the foreseeable future be tied to the availability of science data. Data need to be included in or released as part of publications to make the science presented in an article reproducible, and most publishers have statements related to the inclusion of data, recognizing that such release enhances the value and is part of the integrity of the research. Unfortunately, practices for reporting and documenting data in the scientific literature are inconsistent and inadequate, and the vast majority of data submitted along with publications is still in formats and forms of storage that make discovery and reuse difficult or impossible. Leading earth and space science repositories on the other hand are eager and set up to provide persistent homes for these data, and also ensure quality, enhancing their value, access, and reusability. Unfortunately only a small fraction of the data associated with scientific publications makes it to these data facilities. Connecting scholarly publication more firmly with data facilities is essential in meeting the expectations of open, accessible and useful data as aspired by all stakeholders and expressed in position statements, policies, and guidelines. To strengthen these connections, a new initiative was launched in Fall 2014 at a conference that brought together major publishers, data facilities, and consortia in the Earth and space sciences, as well as governmental, association, and foundation funders. The aim of this initiative is to foster consensus and consistency among publishers, editors, funders, and data repositories on how data that are part of scholarly publications should be curated and published, and guide the development of practical resources based on those guidelines that will help authors and publishers support open data policies, facilitate proper data archiving, and support the linking of data to publications. The most relevant outcome of the conference is the formation of a working group: Coalition for Publishing Data in the Earth and Space Sciences by publishers and data facilities and consortia that will establish a permanent international coordinating conference on Earth science data publication. Marking the launch of the partnership is a joint statement of commitment (to be be released in January 2015), signed by the major Earth and space science publishers and many data facilities, to ensure that Earth science data will, to the greatest extent possible, be stored in community approved repositories that can provide additional data services. The development of a functional directory of Earth and space science repositories is underway that can be used by journals as part of their information to authors, and by authors to identify rapidly which repositories are the best homes for specific data types and how to structure such deposition.

Engaging science in a climate of values: tools for animal scientists tasked with addressing ethical problems.

PubMed

Croney, C C; Anthony, R

2010-04-01

In the United States, escalating concerns about current farm animal science and production methods have resulted not only in increased food animal protection policies, but also in animal welfare legislation. Animal scientists and industry leaders are apprehensive that such policies may be driven primarily by emotion and a lack of scientific understanding, and thus may have unforeseen consequences. However, decisions about animal care, and particularly animal welfare, cannot be made solely on the basis of science because the potential effects on producers, animals, and concerned citizens and the implications for the environment and on food prices must also be considered. Balancing the interests and values of all stakeholders in regard to animal welfare problems has presented a considerable challenge. Ethical accounting processes, such as the Ethical Matrix and the ethics assessment process by Campbell, offer models to combine socioethical concerns with relevant factual information, thereby facilitating decision making that is ethically responsible and that offers viable solutions. A case study is used to illustrate application of the ethics assessment process by Campbell that includes identification of the ethical problems, the embedded values, the relevant facts, and moral tests that can be applied. Awareness of these emerging ways of examining ethics that offer real solutions to conflicts of interests and not merely "one size fits all" answers should be an asset to animal and poultry scientists.

Female high school biology students' biofilm-focused learning: The contributions of three instructional strategies to patterns in understanding and motivation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ales, Jo Dale Hill

2000-12-01

This exploratory study examined three instructional strategies used with female high school biology students. The relative contributions of the strategies to student understanding of microbiology and motivation in science were analyzed. The science education community targeted underachievement in science by implementing changes in content and practices (NRC, 1996). Research suggested that teachers facilitate learnirig environments based on human constructivism (Mintzes, Wandersee, & Novak, 1997) that is rooted in meaningful learning theory (Ausubel, Novak & Hanesian, 1978). Teachers were advised to use both visual and verbal instructional strategies (Paivio, 1983) and encourage students to construct understandings by connecting new experiences to prior knowledge. The American Society for Microbiology supports the study of microorganisms because of their prominence in the biosphere (ASK 1997). In this study, two participating teachers taught selected microbiology concepts while focused on the cutting edge science of biofilms. Biology students accessed digitized biofilm images on an ASM web page and adapted them into products, communicated with biofilm researchers, and adapted a professional-quality instructional video for cross-age teaching. The study revealed improvements in understanding as evidenced on a written test; however, differences in learnirig outcomes were not significant. Other data, including student journal reflections, observations of student interactions, and student clinical interviews indicate that students were engaged in cutting edge science and adapted biofilm images in ways that increased understanding of microbiology (with respect to both science content and as a way of knowing) and motivation. An ASM CD-ROM of the images did not effectively enhance learning and this study provides insights into what could make it more successful. It also identifies why, in most cases, students' E-mail communication with biofilm researchers was unsuccessful. The positive experiences of successful students indicate that teacher management could maximize the benefits of experiencing cutting edge science this way. Cutting edge science can be used to make science more relevant to students, enhance science learning, and insure a more scientifically literate society. Cross-age teachers effectively adapted an instructional video, communicated science, and increased their understanding of selected microbiology concepts and self-confidence. They also increased or maintained their motivation to study science.

Making sense of biologists' teaching: Two case studies of beliefs and discourse practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fifield, Steven James

1999-09-01

Undergraduate science courses are often criticized for their overemphasis of content coverage, neglect of inquiry approaches, and misrepresentation of the nature of science. Because conventional courses are influential models for future science teachers, they are often viewed as impediments to K--12 science education reform. To effectively modify how professors teach, we first need to better understand their beliefs and practices as teachers. This is an interpretive study of how two biology professors (Jim and Sue) make sense of their classroom practices in an introductory undergraduate course. Interviews are used to analyze their beliefs about teaching, learning, and science. Discourse analysis of lectures on classical genetics is used to examine their classroom practices as situated constructions of scientific knowledge. The two professors' held distinct beliefs about teaching and learning that were intricately interwoven with their beliefs about science. Jim's beliefs were largely consistent with conventional approaches to introductory science courses. He thought that introductory courses support the development of knowledge and skills that students need before they can engage in scientific inquiry. Sarah was critical of these conventional approaches. She valued courses that foster active learning and focus on applications of biology that are relevant to students' lives. But she could not enact many of her beliefs due to situational constraints associated with the course. Instead she viewed her efforts to help students succeed in a conventional course as a way to resist her colleagues' expectations that most students cannot do well in science. Discourse analysis of the professors' lectures revealed that they both relied on narratives to represent concepts in classical genetics. These narratives of concepts were distinct from other narrative forms in technical and popular presentations of biology. The relationship among these professors' beliefs and classroom practices suggest that what scientists' believe and do as teachers should be understood as dimensions of the nature of science. From this perspective, for some science professors, science education reform may entail not simply using different instructional strategies, but doing and thinking about science in radically new ways. The implications of this perspective for educational reform are discussed.

Scaffolding scientific discussion using socially relevant representations in networked multimedia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoadley, Christopher M.

1999-11-01

How do students make use of social cues when learning on the computer? This work examines how students in a middle-school science course learned through on-line peer discussion. Cognitive accounts of collaboration stress interacting with ideas, while socially situated accounts stress the interpersonal context. The design of electronic environments allows investigation into the interrelation of cognitive and social dimensions. I use on-line peer discussion to investigate how socially relevant representations in interfaces can aid learning. First, I identify some of the variables that affect individual participation in on-line discussion, including interface features. Individual participation is predicted by student attitudes towards learning from peers. Second, I describe the range of group outcomes for these on-line discussions. There is a large effect of discussion group on learning outcomes which is not reducible to group composition or gross measures of group process. Third, I characterize how students (individually) construct understanding from these group discussions. Learning in the on-line discussions is shown to be a result of sustained interaction over time, not merely encountering or expressing ideas. Experimental manipulations in the types of social cues available to students suggest that many students do use socially relevant representations to support their understanding of multiple viewpoints and science reasoning. Personalizing scientific disputes can afford reflection on the nature of scientific discovery and advance. While there are many individual differences in how social representations are used by students in learning, overall learning benefits for certain social representations can be shown. This work has profound implications for design of collaborative instructional methods, equitable access to science learning, design of instructional technology, and understanding of learning and cognition in social settings.

Values in environmental research: Citizens' views of scientists who acknowledge values.

PubMed

Elliott, Kevin C; McCright, Aaron M; Allen, Summer; Dietz, Thomas

2017-01-01

Scientists who perform environmental research on policy-relevant topics face challenges when communicating about how values may have influenced their research. This study examines how citizens view scientists who publicly acknowledge values. Specifically, we investigate whether it matters: if citizens share or oppose a scientist's values, if a scientist's conclusions seem contrary to or consistent with the scientist's values, and if a scientist is assessing the state of the science or making a policy recommendation. We conducted two 3x2 factorial design online experiments. Experiment 1 featured a hypothetical scientist assessing the state of the science on the public-health effects of exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA), and Experiment 2 featured a scientist making a policy recommendation on use of BPA. We manipulated whether or not the scientist expressed values and whether the scientist's conclusion appeared contrary to or consistent with the scientist's values, and we accounted for whether or not subjects' values aligned with the scientist's values. We analyzed our data with ordinary least squares (OLS) regression techniques. Our results provide at least preliminary evidence that acknowledging values may reduce the perceived credibility of scientists within the general public, but this effect differs depending on whether scientists and citizens share values, whether scientists draw conclusions that run contrary to their values, and whether scientists make policy recommendations.

Using News Media Databases (LexisNexis) To Identify Relevant Topics For Introductory Earth Science Classes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cervato, C.; Jach, J. Y.; Ridky, R.

2003-12-01

Introductory Earth science courses are undergoing pedagogical changes in universities across the country and are focusing more than ever on the non-science majors. Increasing enrollment of non-science majors in these introductory Earth science courses demands a new look at what is being taught and how the content can be objectively chosen. Assessing the content and effectiveness of these courses requires a quantitative investigation of introductory Earth science topics and their relevance to current issues and concerns. Relevance of Earth science topics can be linked to improved students' attitude toward science and a deeper understanding of concepts. We have used the Internet based national news search-engine LexisNexis Academic Universe (http://www.lexisnexis.org/) to select the occurrence of Earth science terms over the last 12 months, five and ten years both regionally and nationally. This database of term occurrences is being used to examine how Earth sciences have evolved in the news through the last 10 years and is also compared with textbook contents and course syllabi from randomly selected introductory earth science courses across the nation. These data constitute the quantitative foundation for this study and are being used to evaluate the relevance of introductory earth science course content. The relevance of introductory course content and current real-world issues to student attitudes is a crucial factor when considering changes in course curricula and pedagogy. We have examined students' conception of the nature of science and attitudes towards science and learning science using a Likert-scale assessment instrument in the fall 2002 Geology 100 classes at Iowa State University. A pre-test and post-test were administered to see if the students' attitudes changed during the semester using as reference a control group comprised of geoscience undergraduate and graduate students, and faculty. The results of the attitude survey have been analyzed in terms of student demographics and socioeconomic variables (e.g., year in school, gender).

Neoliberal ideology, global capitalism, and science education: engaging the question of subjectivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bazzul, Jesse

2012-12-01

This paper attempts to add to the multifaceted discussion concerning neoliberalism and globalization out of two Cultural Studies of Science Education journal issues along with the recent Journal of Research in Science Teaching devoted to these topics. However, confronting the phenomena of globalization and neoliberalism will demand greater engagement with relevant sociopolitical thought in fields typically outside the purview of science education. Drawing from thinkers Michel Foucault, Jean Baudrillard, Judith Butler, and Louis Althusser this paper attempts to extend some key ideas coming from Ken Tobin, Larry Bencze, and Lyn Carter and advocates science educators taking up notions of ideology, discourse, and subjectivity to engage globalization and neoliberalism. Subjectivity (and its constitution in science education) is considered alongside two relevant textbook examples and also in terms of its importance in formulating political and culturally relevant questions in science education.

Science Education and Worldview

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keane, Moyra

2008-01-01

Is there a place for Indigenous Knowledge in the science curriculum for a Zulu community in rural Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa? This article argues "yes," based on a participative research and development project that discovered relevant science learning in a Zulu community. Among community concerns for relevant factual and performative…

An automated process for generating archival data files from MATLAB figures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wallace, G. M.; Greenwald, M.; Stillerman, J.

2016-10-01

A new directive from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy requires that all publications supported by federal funding agencies (e.g. Department of Energy Office of Science, National Science Foundation) include machine-readable datasets for figures and tables. An automated script was developed at the PSFC to make this process easier for authors using the MATLAB plotting environment to create figures. All relevant data (x, y, z, errorbars) and metadata (line style, color, symbol shape, labels) are contained within the MATLAB .fig file created when saving a figure. The export_fig script extracts data and metadata from a .fig file and exports it into an HDF5 data file with no additional user input required. Support is included for a number of plot types including 2-D and 3-D line, contour, and surface plots, quiver plots, bar graphs, and histograms. This work supported by US Department of Energy cooperative agreement DE-FC02-99ER54512 using the Alcator C-Mod tokamak, a DOE Office of Science user facility.

Modifying ``Six Ideas that Shaped Physics'' for a Life-Science major audience at Hope College

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mader, Catherine

2005-04-01

The ``Six Ideas That Shaped Physics'' textbook has been adapted and used for use in the algebra-based introductory physics course for non-physics science majors at Hope College. The results of the first use will be presented. Comparison of FCI for pre and post test scores will be compared with results from 8 years of results from both the algebra-based course and the calculus-based course (when we first adopted ``Six Ideas that Shaped Physcs" for the Calculus-based course). In addition, comparison on quantitative tests and homework problems with prior student groups will also be made. Because a large fraction of the audience in the algebra-based course is life-science majors, a goal of this project is to make the material relevant for these students. Supplemental materials that emphasize the connection between the life sciences and the fundamental physics concepts are being be developed to accompany the new textbook. Samples of these materials and how they were used (and received) during class testing will be presented.

Seminar in Flow Visualization at Lafayette College: Variations on the Hertzberg Effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossmann, Jenn Stroud

2013-11-01

Flow visualization reveals an invisible world of fluid dynamics, blending scientific investigation and artistic exploration. The resulting images have inspired, and in some cases themselves become appreciated as, art. At Lafayette College, a sophomore-level seminar in The Art and Science of Flow Visualization exposes students to these techniques and the science of fluid mechanics, and to the photographic methods needed to create effective images that are successful both scientifically and artistically. Unlike other courses in flow visualization, this course assumes no a priori familiarity with fluid flow or with photography. The fundamentals of both are taught and practiced in a studio setting. Students are engaged in an interdisciplinary discourse about fluids and physics, photography, scientific ethics, and historical societal responses to science and art. Relevant texts from several disciplines are read, discussed, and responded to in student writing. This seminar approach makes flow visualization and fluid dynamics a natural part of a liberal education. The development, implementation, and assessment of this team-taught course at Lafayette College will be discussed. Support provided by National Science Foundation.

The Road to Culturally Relevant Science: Exploring How Teachers Navigate Change in Pedagogy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Carla C.

2011-01-01

In this study, two middle-school teachers who participated in a professional development program utilizing the transformative professional development (TPD) model are followed as they embarked upon becoming culturally relevant science teachers of Hispanic students. Using Ladson-Billings (1994) theory of culturally relevant pedagogy, teacher…

Education biographies from the science pipeline: An analysis of Latino/a student perspectives on ethnic and gender identity in higher education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lujan, Vanessa Beth

This study is a qualitative narrative analysis on the importance and relevance of the ethnic and gender identities of 17 Latino/a (Hispanic) college students in the biological sciences. This research study asks the question of how one's higher education experience within the science pipeline shapes an individual's direction of study, attitudes toward science, and cultural/ethnic and gender identity development. By understanding the ideologies of these students, we are able to better comprehend the world-makings that these students bring with them to the learning process in the sciences. Informed by life history narrative analysis, this study examines Latino/as and their persisting involvement within the science pipeline in higher education and is based on qualitative observations and interviews of student perspectives on the importance of the college science experience on their ethnic identity and gender identity. The findings in this study show the multiple interrelationships from both Latino male and Latina female narratives, separate and intersecting, to reveal the complexities of the Latino/a group experience in college science. By understanding from a student perspective how the science pipeline affects one's cultural, ethnic, or gender identity, we can create a thought-provoking discussion on why and how underrepresented student populations persist in the science pipeline in higher education. The conditions created in the science pipeline and how they affect Latino/a undergraduate pathways may further be used to understand and improve the quality of the undergraduate learning experience.

Portrait of a science teacher as a bricoleur: A case study from India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Ajay

2008-12-01

This paper presents a case study of science teaching in an eighth grade school classroom in India. It comes out of a larger ethnographic study done in 2005 that looked at how science was taught and learned in a rural government run middle school in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India. Subscribing to a sociocultural perspective, the paper presents a narrative account of how a science teacher negotiated and made use of the existing discourses that influenced his teaching practice to construct learning experiences for his students. It is a portrait of him as a bricoleur, engaged in making-do with what is of available to conform to prescriptive discursive norms as well as engage in situated, contingent and collaborative pedagogical improvisations with his students. Through a discursive analysis of Mr. Raghuvanshi's teaching practice, this paper presents his bricolage as a feature of everyday sociocultural practices, and as an instance of glocalization of decontextualized school science discourse. It also offers a case for creation and strengthening of material conditions that support enactment of teacher agency for construction of meaningful and relevant learning experiences for students. [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.][InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.

Experiencing biodiversity as a bridge over the science-society communication gap.

PubMed

Meinard, Yves; Quétier, Fabien

2014-06-01

Drawing on the idea that biodiversity is simply the diversity of living things, and that everyone knows what diversity and living things mean, most conservation professionals eschew the need to explain the many complex ways in which biodiversity is understood in science. On many biodiversity-related issues, this lack of clarity leads to a communication gap between science and the general public, including decision makers who must design and implement biodiversity policies. Closing this communication gap is pivotal to the ability of science to inform sound environmental decision making. To address this communication gap, we propose a surrogate of biodiversity for communication purposes that captures the scientific definition of biodiversity yet can be understood by nonscientists; that is, biodiversity as a learning experience. The prerequisites of this or any other biodiversity communication surrogate are that it should have transdisciplinary relevance; not be measurable; be accessible to a wide audience; be usable to translate biodiversity issues; and understandably encompass biodiversity concepts. Biodiversity as a learning experience satisfies these prerequisites and is philosophically robust. More importantly, it can effectively contribute to closing the communication gap between biodiversity science and society at large. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Is social sciences and humanities (SSH) premedical education marginalized in the medical school admission process? A review and contextualization of the literature.

PubMed

Hall, Justin N; Woods, Nicole; Hanson, Mark D

2014-07-01

To investigate the performance outcomes of medical students with social sciences and humanities (SSH) premedical education during and beyond medical school by reviewing the literature, and to contextualize this review within today's admission milieu. From May to July 2012, the lead author searched the PubMed, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO databases, and reference lists of relevant articles, for research that compared premedical SSH education with premedical sciences education and its influence on performance during and/or after medical school. The authors extracted representative themes and relevant empirical findings. They contextualized their findings within today's admission milieu. A total of 1,548 citations were identified with 20 papers included in the review. SSH premedical education is predominately an American experience. For medical students with SSH background, equivalent academic, clinical, and research performance compared with medical students with a premedical science background is reported, yet different patterns of competencies exist. Post-medical-school equivalent or improved clinical performance is associated with an SSH background. Medical students with SSH backgrounds were more likely to select primary care or psychiatry careers. SSH major/course concentration, not SSH course counts, is important for admission decision making. The impact of today's admission milieu decreases the value of an SSH premedical education. Medical students with SSH premedical education perform on par with peers yet may possess different patterns of competencies, research, and career interests. However, SSH premedical education likely will not attain a significant role in medical school admission processes.

Seeking Relevance: American Political Science and America

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maranto, Robert; Woessner, Matthew C.

2012-01-01

In this article, the authors talk about the relevance of American political science and America. Political science has enormous strengths in its highly talented practitioners and sophisticated methods. However, its disconnection from its host society, while not so severe as for fields like English and sociology, nonetheless poses an existential…

Mass digitization of scientific collections: New opportunities to transform the use of biological specimens and underwrite biodiversity science.

PubMed

Beaman, Reed S; Cellinese, Nico

2012-01-01

New information technologies have enabled the scientific collections community and its stakeholders to adapt, adopt, and leverage novel approaches for a nearly 300 years old scientific discipline. Now, few can credibly question the transformational impact of technology on efforts to digitize scientific collections, as IT now reaches into almost every nook and cranny of society. Five to ten years ago this was not the case. Digitization is an activity that museums and academic institutions increasingly recognize, though many still do not embrace, as a means to boost the impact of collections to research and society through improved access. The acquisition and use of scientific collections is a global endeavor, and digitization enhances their value by improved access to core biodiversity information, increases use, relevance and potential downstream value, for example, in the management of natural resources, policy development, food security, and planetary and human health. This paper examines new opportunities to design and implement infrastructure that will support not just mass digitization efforts, but also a broad range of research on biological diversity and physical sciences in order to make scientific collections increasingly relevant to societal needs and interest.

Mass digitization of scientific collections: New opportunities to transform the use of biological specimens and underwrite biodiversity science

PubMed Central

Beaman, Reed S.; Cellinese, Nico

2012-01-01

Abstract New information technologies have enabled the scientific collections community and its stakeholders to adapt, adopt, and leverage novel approaches for a nearly 300 years old scientific discipline. Now, few can credibly question the transformational impact of technology on efforts to digitize scientific collections, as IT now reaches into almost every nook and cranny of society. Five to ten years ago this was not the case. Digitization is an activity that museums and academic institutions increasingly recognize, though many still do not embrace, as a means to boost the impact of collections to research and society through improved access. The acquisition and use of scientific collections is a global endeavor, and digitization enhances their value by improved access to core biodiversity information, increases use, relevance and potential downstream value, for example, in the management of natural resources, policy development, food security, and planetary and human health. This paper examines new opportunities to design and implement infrastructure that will support not just mass digitization efforts, but also a broad range of research on biological diversity and physical sciences in order to make scientific collections increasingly relevant to societal needs and interest. PMID:22859875

A Procedure for Extending Input Selection Algorithms to Low Quality Data in Modelling Problems with Application to the Automatic Grading of Uploaded Assignments

PubMed Central

Otero, José; Palacios, Ana; Suárez, Rosario; Junco, Luis

2014-01-01

When selecting relevant inputs in modeling problems with low quality data, the ranking of the most informative inputs is also uncertain. In this paper, this issue is addressed through a new procedure that allows the extending of different crisp feature selection algorithms to vague data. The partial knowledge about the ordinal of each feature is modelled by means of a possibility distribution, and a ranking is hereby applied to sort these distributions. It will be shown that this technique makes the most use of the available information in some vague datasets. The approach is demonstrated in a real-world application. In the context of massive online computer science courses, methods are sought for automatically providing the student with a qualification through code metrics. Feature selection methods are used to find the metrics involved in the most meaningful predictions. In this study, 800 source code files, collected and revised by the authors in classroom Computer Science lectures taught between 2013 and 2014, are analyzed with the proposed technique, and the most relevant metrics for the automatic grading task are discussed. PMID:25114967

Examining student understanding of the science of a societal issue in Botswana: Effects of ultraviolet radiation on the human skin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suping, Shanah Mompoloki

Science has had such an impact on our way of life that it has been at the centre of discussion for all issues of health, education, development, and the safe stewardship of the Earth's resources. Science has advanced so quickly in the last 50 years that the amount of knowledge generated by scientists is overwhelming. Science teachers who have persistently introduced children to science from a very young age, have been charged with a daunting task of presenting science knowledge to students in ways that not only make it easy to understand, but also make it relevant to them. The methods of how best they should go about this task have been debated from time immemorial. Due to the many concerns and demands placed on science teachers and science education programs in general, there have been a number of efforts to reform and redefine the science curriculum. Science education reform efforts in the US and elsewhere have examined all possible nucleotides in the building up of the reform DNA molecule. Many studies have measured people's level of understanding on given issues that affect their communities, but little attention has been given to conceptions and level of scientific literacy among students in developing countries. This study assessed Botswana school children's knowledge about ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and its effects on human health using a scientific literacy lens. Results show that students do not know as much as one would expect them to know, from public school through the first year in college. Exploratory factor analysis identified four indicators of knowledge about UVR. These are: (a) diseases related to UVR, (b) items that can be used for protections against UVR, (c) misconceptions held about UVR, and (d) general issues surrounding UVR. MANOVA analysis showed that whereas there are no differences in general based on school location, certain groups of students performed differently depending on the school type, type of science pursued at school and or the gender of the student.

Generations of interdisciplinarity in bioinformatics

PubMed Central

Bartlett, Andrew; Lewis, Jamie; Williams, Matthew L.

2016-01-01

Bioinformatics, a specialism propelled into relevance by the Human Genome Project and the subsequent -omic turn in the life science, is an interdisciplinary field of research. Qualitative work on the disciplinary identities of bioinformaticians has revealed the tensions involved in work in this “borderland.” As part of our ongoing work on the emergence of bioinformatics, between 2010 and 2011, we conducted a survey of United Kingdom-based academic bioinformaticians. Building on insights drawn from our fieldwork over the past decade, we present results from this survey relevant to a discussion of disciplinary generation and stabilization. Not only is there evidence of an attitudinal divide between the different disciplinary cultures that make up bioinformatics, but there are distinctions between the forerunners, founders and the followers; as inter/disciplines mature, they face challenges that are both inter-disciplinary and inter-generational in nature. PMID:27453689

Ethics in actor networks, or: what Latour could learn from Darwin and Dewey.

PubMed

Waelbers, Katinka; Dorstewitz, Philipp

2014-03-01

In contemporary Science, Technology and Society (STS) studies, Bruno Latour's Actor Network Theory (ANT) is often used to study how social change arises from interaction between people and technologies. Though Latour's approach is rich in the sense of enabling scholars to appreciate the complexity of many relevant technological, environmental, and social factors in their studies, the approach is poor from an ethical point of view: the doings of things and people are couched in one and the same behaviorist (third person) vocabulary without giving due recognition to the ethical relevance of human intelligence, sympathy and reflection in making responsible choices. This article argues that two other naturalist projects, the non-teleological virtue ethics of Charles Darwin and the pragmatist instrumentalism of John Dewey can enrich ANT-based STS studies, both, in a descriptive and in a normative sense.

Heuristic reasoning and cognitive biases: Are they hindrances to judgments and decision making in orthodontics?

PubMed

Hicks, E Preston; Kluemper, G Thomas

2011-03-01

Studies show that our brains use 2 modes of reasoning: heuristic (intuitive, automatic, implicit processing) and analytic (deliberate, rule-based, explicit processing). The use of intuition often dominates problem solving when innovative, creative thinking is required. Under conditions of uncertainty, we default to an even greater reliance on the heuristic processing. In health care settings and other such environments of increased importance, this mode becomes problematic. Since choice heuristics are quickly constructed from fragments of memory, they are often biased by prior evaluations of and preferences for the alternatives being considered. Therefore, a rigorous and systematic decision process notwithstanding, clinical judgments under uncertainty are often flawed by a number of unwitting biases. Clinical orthodontics is as vulnerable to this fundamental failing in the decision-making process as any other health care discipline. Several of the more common cognitive biases relevant to clinical orthodontics are discussed in this article. By raising awareness of these sources of cognitive errors in our clinical decision making, our intent was to equip the clinician to take corrective action to avoid them. Our secondary goal was to expose this important area of empirical research and encourage those with expertise in the cognitive sciences to explore, through further research, the possible relevance and impact of cognitive heuristics and biases on the accuracy of orthodontic judgments and decision making. Copyright © 2011 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

When technology, science and culture meet: insights from ancient Chinese technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Yeung Chung

2017-10-01

This paper draws together two important agendas in science education. The first is making science education more inclusive such that students from non-Western or indigenous cultures can benefit from culturally relevant curricula. The second is integrating technology into the curriculum under the umbrella of Science-Technology-Society (STS) education to embrace the social aspects of science, with technology serving as a bridge. The advancement of the first agenda is hindered by the pursuance by both Western and non-Western societies of narrow cultural and practical goals without considering the development of science and technology from a cross-cultural perspective. The second agenda is limited by the misconception that technology is applied science, leading to the exclusion from STS discussions of pre-science or indigenous technologies developed by non-Western cultures. Through selected case studies of the evolution of Chinese traditional technologies and their interaction with science, this paper offers a perspective from the Far East, and argues for situating culturally responsive science education in broader historical and cross-cultural contexts to acknowledge the multi-cultural contributions to science and technology. A form of cross-cultural STS education is advanced, encompassing the cultural basis of technological developments, technology diffusion, interactions of traditional technology with science, and the potential development of traditional or indigenous technologies. This approach provides a bridge between the existing universal science education paradigm promoted in the West and the different forms of multi-cultural education advocated by indigenous science educators. To translate theory into practice, a conceptual framework is proposed in which the essential transdisciplinary knowledge base, curricular goals, and pedagogical approaches are embedded.

Assessing what to address in science communication.

PubMed

Bruine de Bruin, Wändi; Bostrom, Ann

2013-08-20

As members of a democratic society, individuals face complex decisions about whether to support climate change mitigation, vaccinations, genetically modified food, nanotechnology, geoengineering, and so on. To inform people's decisions and public debate, scientific experts at government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and other organizations aim to provide understandable and scientifically accurate communication materials. Such communications aim to improve people's understanding of the decision-relevant issues, and if needed, promote behavior change. Unfortunately, existing communications sometimes fail when scientific experts lack information about what people need to know to make more informed decisions or what wording people use to describe relevant concepts. We provide an introduction for scientific experts about how to use mental models research with intended audience members to inform their communication efforts. Specifically, we describe how to conduct interviews to characterize people's decision-relevant beliefs or mental models of the topic under consideration, identify gaps and misconceptions in their knowledge, and reveal their preferred wording. We also describe methods for designing follow-up surveys with larger samples to examine the prevalence of beliefs as well as the relationships of beliefs with behaviors. Finally, we discuss how findings from these interviews and surveys can be used to design communications that effectively address gaps and misconceptions in people's mental models in wording that they understand. We present applications to different scientific domains, showing that this approach leads to communications that improve recipients' understanding and ability to make informed decisions.

The Promise and Limitations of Using Analogies to Improve Decision-Relevant Understanding of Climate Change.

PubMed

Raimi, Kaitlin T; Stern, Paul C; Maki, Alexander

2017-01-01

To make informed choices about how to address climate change, members of the public must develop ways to consider established facts of climate science and the uncertainties about its future trajectories, in addition to the risks attendant to various responses, including non-response, to climate change. One method suggested for educating the public about these issues is the use of simple mental models, or analogies comparing climate change to familiar domains such as medical decision making, disaster preparedness, or courtroom trials. Two studies were conducted using online participants in the U.S.A. to test the use of analogies to highlight seven key decision-relevant elements of climate change, including uncertainties about when and where serious damage may occur, its unprecedented and progressive nature, and tradeoffs in limiting climate change. An internal meta-analysis was then conducted to estimate overall effect sizes across the two studies. Analogies were not found to inform knowledge about climate literacy facts. However, results suggested that people found the medical analogy helpful and that it led people-especially political conservatives-to better recognize several decision-relevant attributes of climate change. These effects were weak, perhaps reflecting a well-documented and overwhelming effect of political ideology on climate change communication and education efforts in the U.S.A. The potential of analogies and similar education tools to improve understanding and communication in a polarized political environment are discussed.

Toward the adoption of complexity science in health care: implications for risk-taking and decision-making activities.

PubMed

Perez, Bianca; Liberman, Aaron

2011-01-01

This article explores the issues of risk taking and decision making in health care. An analysis of various sociocultural and psychological influences is provided for understanding of the dominant mind set in this industry. In tandem with this analysis, the evolution of system theories is described so as to promote understanding of the relative merits of the mechanistic and complexity philosophies. These philosophies are at odds with each other, conceptually and practically speaking; however, it seems that the complexity approach offers more promising strategies for the growth and development of health care. Recommendations for improving employee competencies and the organizational structure and culture in health care are offered in light of this analysis. These recommendations are relevant to activities that are clinical and administrative in nature.

Making Astronomy and the Physical Sciences More Welcoming to LGBT+ Persons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lawrence, Stephen; SGMA, LGBT+Physicists

2018-01-01

Want a department that is more welcoming to students, staff, and faculty across the spectrum of gender and sexual (LGBT+) identities? The AAS Committee for Sexual-Orientation and Gender Minorities in Astronomy (SGMA), together with LGBT+physicists, has produced a guide to help you: "Supporting LGBT+ Physicists and Astronomers: Best Practices for Academic Departments." This best practices guide provides simple, concrete suggestions to improve climate and increase LGBT+ visibility and acceptance within your department and across your institution. I will present a summary of these suggestions and discuss ways to implement them. In spite of rapid and remarkable advances in LGBT+ rights in the last decade, dramatic changes and policy reversals by the current administration make the need for these strategies very relevant and urgent once again.

Hell and High Water: Practice-Relevant Adaptation Science

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

Moss, Richard H.; Meehl, G.; Lemos, Maria Carmen

2013-11-08

Recent extreme weather such as Hurricane Sandy and the 2012 drought demonstrate the vulnerability of the United States to climate extremes in the present and point to the potential for increased future damages under a changing climate. They also provide lessons for reducing harm and realizing any potential benefits. Preparedness measures – also referred to as adaptation – can cost-effectively increase resilience today and in the future. The upfront costs will be more than offset by reductions in property damage, lives and livelihoods lost, and expensive post-disaster recovery processes. While others have addressed use of science for adaptation in specificmore » sectors including biodiversity (Heller and Zavaleta, 2009) and freshwater ecosystem management (Wilby et al., 2010), or by simply taking a more pragmatic approach to adaptation under uncertainty (Hallegatte, 2009), here the authors make the case that a new, comprehensive approach is needed to create and use science to inform adaptations with applicable and sound knowledge (Kerr et al., 2011).« less

An Overview of data science uses in bioimage informatics.

PubMed

Chessel, Anatole

2017-02-15

This review aims at providing a practical overview of the use of statistical features and associated data science methods in bioimage informatics. To achieve a quantitative link between images and biological concepts, one typically replaces an object coming from an image (a segmented cell or intracellular object, a pattern of expression or localisation, even a whole image) by a vector of numbers. They range from carefully crafted biologically relevant measurements to features learnt through deep neural networks. This replacement allows for the use of practical algorithms for visualisation, comparison and inference, such as the ones from machine learning or multivariate statistics. While originating mainly, for biology, in high content screening, those methods are integral to the use of data science for the quantitative analysis of microscopy images to gain biological insight, and they are sure to gather more interest as the need to make sense of the increasing amount of acquired imaging data grows more pressing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Was Newtonian cosmology really inconsistent?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vickers, Peter

This paper follows up a debate as to the consistency of Newtonian cosmology. Whereas Malament [(1995). Is Newtonian cosmology really inconsistent? Philosophy of Science 62, 489-510] has shown that Newtonian cosmology is not inconsistent, to date there has been no analysis of Norton's claim [(1995). The force of Newtonian cosmology: Acceleration is relative. Philosophy of Science 62, 511-522.] that Newtonian cosmology was inconsistent prior to certain advances in the 1930s, and in particular prior to Seeliger's seminal paper of Seeliger [(1895). Über das Newton'sche Gravitationsgesetz. Astronomische Nachrichten 137 (3273), 129-136.] In this paper I agree that there are assumptions, Newtonian and cosmological in character, and relevant to the real history of science, which are inconsistent. But there are some important corrections to make to Norton's account. Here I display for the first time the inconsistencies-four in total-in all their detail. Although this extra detail shows there to be several different inconsistencies, it also goes some way towards explaining why they went unnoticed for 200 years.

Gender and Physics: a Theoretical Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rolin, Kristina

This article argues that the objections raised by Koertge (1998), Gross and Levitt (1994), and Weinberg (1996) against feminist scholarship on gender and physics are unwarranted. The objections are that feminist science studies perpetuate gender stereotypes, are irrelevant to the content of physics, or promote epistemic relativism. In the first part of this article I argue that the concept of gender, as it has been developed in feminist theory, is a key to understanding why the first objection is misguided. Instead of reinforcing gender stereotypes, feminist science studies scholars can formulate empirically testable hypotheses regarding local and contested beliefs about gender. In the second part of this article I argue that a social analysis of scientific knowledge is a key to understanding why the second and the third objections are misguided. The concept of gender is relevant for understanding the social practice of physics, and the social practice of physics can be of epistemic importance. Instead of advancing epistemic relativism, feminist science studies scholars can make important contributions to a subfield of philosophy called social epistemology.

Communicating the Urgency of Climate Change to Local Government Policy Makers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, A.

2004-12-01

What are the challenges and obstacles in conveying scientific research and uncertainties about climate change to local government policy makers? What information do scientists need from local government practitioners to guide research efforts into producing more relevant information for the local government audience? What works and what doesn't in terms of communicating climate change science to non-technical audiences? Based on over a decade of experience working with local governments around the world on greenhouse gas mitigation, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability has developed a unique perspective and valuable insight into effective communication on climate science that motivates policy action. In the United States practical actions necessary to mitigate global climate change occur largely at the local level. As the level of government closest to individual energy consumers, local governments play a large role in determining the energy intensity of communities. How can local governments be persuaded to make greenhouse gas mitigation a policy priority over the long-term? Access to relevant information is critical to achieving that commitment. Information that will persuade local officials to pursue climate protection commitments includes specific impacts of global warming to communities, the costs of adaptation versus mitigation, and the potential benefits of implementing greenhouse gas-reducing initiatives. The manner in which information is conveyed is also critically important. The scientific community is loath to advocate for specific policies, or to make determinate statements on topics for which research is ongoing. These communication hurdles can be overcome if the needs of local policy practitioners can be understood by the scientific community, and research goals can be cooperatively defined.

Science in the General Educational Development (GED) curriculum: Analyzing the science portion of GED programs and exploring adult students' attitudes toward science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hariharan, Joya Reena

The General Educational Development (GED) tests enable people to earn a high school equivalency diploma and help them to qualify for more jobs and opportunities. Apart from this main goal, GED courses aim at enabling adults to improve the condition of their lives and to cope with a changing society. In today's world, science and technology play an exceedingly important role in helping people better their lives and in promoting the national goals of informed citizenship. Despite the current efforts in the field of secondary science education directed towards scientific literacy and the concept of "Science for all Americans", the literature does not reflect any corresponding efforts in the field of adult education. Science education research appears to have neglected a population that could possibly benefit from it. The purpose of this study is to explore: the science component of GED programs, significant features of the science portion of GED curricula and GED science materials, and adult learners' attitudes toward various aspects of science. Data collection methods included interviews with GED students and instructors, content analysis of relevant materials, and classroom observations. Data indicate that the students in general feel that the science they learn should be relevant to their lives and have direct applications in everyday life. Student understanding of science and interest in it appears to be contingent to their perceiving it as relevant to their lives and to society. Findings indicate that the instructional approaches used in GED programs influence students' perceptions about the relevance of science. Students in sites that use strategies such as group discussions and field trips appear to be more aware of science in the world around them and more enthusiastic about increasing this awareness. However, the dominant strategy in most GED programs is individual reading. The educational strategies used in GED programs generally focus on developing reading skills rather than the internalization of knowledge or influencing attitudes. An interesting finding is that GED science materials do attend to the relevance of science in everyday life but students' appreciation of this depends on the strategies employed.

Ability grouping and science education reform: Policy and research base

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lynch, Sharon

This article reviews current policy trends concerning the practice of ability grouping in K-12 science education. Relevant statements of key policy-making, policy-influencing organizations such as the NSTA, AAAS, NSF, the National Research Council, the U.S. Office of Education Department of Civil Rights, NAACP, the National Governors' Association, programs related to the Jacob Javits Grants for the Gifted and Talented, and others are summarized. The author's interpretation of the various positions are presented herein. The article also explores the research base supporting the various policies on grouping by examining selected general research literature on grouping, followed by research that is science education specific. Methodological issues color the research findings. The ethical and pragmatic implications of developing research and policy are discussed. The conclusions are that there is a dearth of recent empirical research specifically related to ability grouping in science, and that the time is ripe for the concerted development of a research agenda by key players in science education reform. Moreover, as controversial and value-laden as the topic is, it should be noted that grouping practices alone are unlikely to influence science education reform unless considered in the context of comprehensive restructuring efforts at the local school level.Received: 10 April 1993; Revised: 26 August 1993;

Succeeding in Science Communication amid Contentious Public Policy Debates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huertas, A.

2014-12-01

Scientists are often hesitant to engage in public dialogues about their work, especially when their research has bearing on contentious public policy issues. The Union of Concerned Scientists has conducted dozens of workshops to assist its members in communicating science fairly, accurately and effectively to audiences with mixed opinions about relevant public policy. While public polling indicates that people admire scientists and support scientific research, public understanding lags behind scientific understanding on a variety of issues, from climate change to evolution to vaccination. In many cases, people reject or discount scientific evidence when they perceive their ideology, beliefs or policy preferences as being in conflict with that evidence. These biases make it difficult for scientists to convey their research to many audiences. Based on reviews of social science literature and interactions with its members, the Union of Concerned Scientists has explored methods for surmounting public ideological biases while staying true to the science. In particular, scientists have found success with communicating based on shared values, asking audience members questions about their reactions to science, avoiding unintentional invocation of ideological biases and partnering with non-scientist speakers who can address contentious public policy questions. These methods can allow scientists to more effectively collaborate with stakeholders interested in their research and can build public support for science.

The SERC K12 Educators Portal to Teaching Activities and Pedagogic Approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larsen, K.; Kirk, K. B.; Manduca, C. A.; Ledley, T. S.; Schmitt, L.

2013-12-01

The Science Education Resource Center (SERC) has created a portal to information for K12 educators to provide high-quality grade level appropriate materials from a wide variety of projects and topics. These materials were compiled across the SERC site, showcasing materials that were created for, or easily adaptable to, K12 classrooms. This resource will help support implementation of Next Generation Science Standards by assisting educators in finding innovative resources to address areas of instruction that are conceptually different than previous national and state science standards. Specifically, the K12 portal assists educators in learning about approaches that address the cross-cutting nature of science concepts, increasing students quantitative reasoning and numeracy skills, incorporating technology such as GIS in the classroom, and by assisting educators of all levels of K12 instruction in using relevant and meaningful ways to teach science concepts. The K12 portal supports educators by providing access to hundreds of teaching activities covering a wide array of science topics and grade levels many of which have been rigorously reviewed for pedagogic quality and scientific accuracy. The portal also provides access to web pages that enhance teaching practices that help increase student's system thinking skills, make lectures interactive, assist instructors in conducting safe and effective indoor and outdoor labs, providing support for teaching energy and climate literacy principles, assisting educators in addressing controversial content, provide guidance in engaging students affective domain, and provides a collection of tools for making teaching relevant in 21st century classrooms including using GIS, Google Earth, videos, visualizations and simulations to model and describe scientific concepts. The portal also provides access to material for specific content and audiences by (1) Supporting AGIs 'Map your World' week to specifically highlight teaching activities and approaches that use maps as the basis of instruction for a wide range of topics commonly taught in K12 science courses such as natural hazards, urban development, plate tectonics, climate change, ocean science, and water resources; and (2) Providing easy access to a vast collection of materials specifically for teachers of AP and IB classes including collections of teaching activities for all science disciplines as well as pedagogic approaches that are appropriate for the lab-intensive nature of these classes. The contents of the K12 portal are drawn from a number of projects and collaborations, including CLEAN, Earth Exploration Toolbook, Minnesota Science Teachers Education Project, Pedagogy in Action, EarthLabs, NAGT and On the Cutting Edge. Teachers can add their own materials to the site by sharing lessons plans, activities, and labs. K12 educators of all levels will find a wide variety of resources to spark the curiosity and interest of students. Explore the SERC K12 Educators Portal at: http://serc.carleton.edu/k12/index.html

Success matters: Recasting the relationship among geophysical, biological, and behavioral scientists to support decision making on major environmental challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knopman, Debra S.

2006-03-01

Coping with global change, providing clean water for growing populations, and disposing of nuclear waste are some of the most difficult public policy challenges of our time. Unknowns in the physical sciences are one source of the difficulty. Real difficulties in meeting these challenges also arise in the behavioral sciences. A potentially rich vein of transdisciplinary research is to integrate the psychology of decision making, known as "judgment and decision making," or JDM, with the development of technical information and decision support tools for complex, long-term environmental problems. Practitioners of JDM conduct research on how individuals and groups respond to uncertainty and ambiguity, hedge against risks, anchor decisions to the status quo, compare relative risks and rewards of alternative strategies, and cope with other classes of decisions. Practitioners use a variety of stimuli, chance devices, hypothetical and real choices involving small stakes, scenarios, and questionnaires to measure (directly and indirectly) preferences under varying conditions. These kinds of experiments can help guide choices about the level of complexity required for different types of decision-making processes, the value of new data collection efforts, and the ways in which uncertainty in model outcomes can be cast to minimize decision-making paralysis. They can also provide a scientific basis for interacting with decision makers throughout the model development process, designing better ways of eliciting and combining opinions and of communicating information relevant to public policy issues with the goal of improving the value of the scientific contribution to the social decision.

Student science achievement and the integration of Indigenous knowledge on standardized tests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dupuis, Juliann; Abrams, Eleanor

2017-09-01

In this article, we examine how American Indian students in Montana performed on standardized state science assessments when a small number of test items based upon traditional science knowledge from a cultural curriculum, "Indian Education for All", were included. Montana is the first state in the US to mandate the use of a culturally relevant curriculum in all schools and to incorporate this curriculum into a portion of the standardized assessment items. This study compares White and American Indian student test scores on these particular test items to determine how White and American Indian students perform on culturally relevant test items compared to traditional standard science test items. The connections between student achievement on adapted culturally relevant science test items versus traditional items brings valuable insights to the fields of science education, research on student assessments, and Indigenous studies.

Science Spots AR: A Platform for Science Learning Games with Augmented Reality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laine, Teemu H.; Nygren, Eeva; Dirin, Amir; Suk, Hae-Jung

2016-01-01

Lack of motivation and of real-world relevance have been identified as reasons for low interest in science among children. Game-based learning and storytelling are prominent methods for generating intrinsic motivation in learning. Real-world relevance requires connecting abstract scientific concepts with the real world. This can be done by…

How Relevant Are Science Curricula for Rural and Remote Students?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lyons, Terry; Quinn, Frances

2014-01-01

This paper reports findings from the Choosing Science study (Lyons & Quinn, 2010) indicating that Australian Year 10 students in small rural or remote areas tend to regard their science lessons as less relevant than do students in larger towns and cities. Specifically, those in small rural or remote schools were significantly more inclined…

Demography and Public Health Emergency Preparedness: Making the Connection

PubMed Central

Katz, Rebecca

2009-01-01

The tools and techniques of population sciences are extremely relevant to the discipline of public health emergency preparedness: protecting and securing the population’s health requires information about that population. While related fields such as security studies have successfully integrated demographic tools into their research and literature, the theoretical and practical connection between the methods of demography and the practice of public health emergency preparedness is weak. This article suggests the need to further the interdisciplinary use of demography by examining the need for a systematic use of population science techniques in public health emergency preparedness. Ultimately, we demonstrate how public health emergency preparedness can incorporate demography to develop more effective preparedness plans. Important policy implications emerge: demographers and preparedness experts need to collaborate more formally in order to facilitate community resilience and mitigate the consequences of public health emergencies. PMID:20694030

NASA Space Sciences Symposium-1977

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1977-01-01

The primary objective of the symposium was to motivate American Indians and other minority youths and women to select science and engineering as viable career choices, thereby making them available to the technical work force. Other objectives were: (1) to determine how aerospace technology careers and aerospace activities can be made more relevant to minorities and women; (2) to provide an opportunity for key NASA officials to interact with teachers and counselors of the participating schools; (3) to stimulate a greater interest among American Indian organizations and students in NASA's research and development programs; (4) to help NASA's efforts in the recruiting of minorities and women into its work force; and (5) to provide opportunities for minority aerospace scientists and engineers to interact with the minority community, particularly with youths at the junior high school and high school levels.

20 Years of Developing Capacity for Action-Oriented Collaborative Regional Research in the Asia-Pacific Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tupas, L. M.; Stevenson, L. A.

2015-12-01

During its 3rd strategic phase, which ran from 2010 to 2015, the APN provided support for 123 projects through its competitive collaborative regional research and capacity development programmes. With over 250 peer-reviewed papers and the underlying philosophy that the regional research it undertakes engages at least two developing countries, the 3rd strategic phase is not only improving the research capabilities of nations in the region, but is engaging the developing country community in underpinning policy-relevant research. The extent to which science is contributing to policy is further evident in that 69% of the activities conducted had some form of science-policy mechanism built in to the project activities. The period of the 3rd Strategic Phase has been witness to significant changes in the make-up of the "conventional" global change arena, with the transition of some global change programmes into the new "Future Earth" initiative. At the same time, major events such as the Rio+20 Summit, the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, the establishment of an IPCC-related platform for biodiversity, i.e. IPBES, and the evolving engagement of science and policy communities has kept the APN busy at what it does best - networking and partnering with the international community. The APN has embraced these changes through its dynamism, allowing the APN to meet not only the needs of the scientists and decision makers its serves in the region but those of the international science communities as well. The challenge for the APN in its next two decades will be to ensure alignment with the transforming global change arena. With key phrases such as "policy-relevant science" and "science-policy interactions" being adopted broadly by the community at large these days, the APN's niche in the global community has received considerable recognition, particularly as other institutions strive to adopt similar practices that the APN has built over the last 20 years.

Self-Guided Field Explorations: Integrating Earth Science into Students' Lives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirkby, K. C.; Kirkby, S.

2013-12-01

Self-guided field explorations are a simple way to transform an earth science class into a more pedagogically effective experience. Previous experience demonstrated that self-guided student explorations of museum and aquarium exhibits were both extremely popular and remarkably effective. That success led our program to test an expansion of the concept to include self-guided student explorations in outdoor field settings. Preliminary assessment indicates these self-guided field explorations are nearly as popular with students as the museum and aquarium explorations and are as pedagogically effective. Student gains on post-instruction assessment match or exceed those seen in instructor-assisted, hands-on, small group laboratory activities and completely eclipse gains achieved by traditional lecture instruction. As importantly, self-guided field explorations provide a way to integrate field experiences into large enrollment courses where the sheer scale of class trips makes them logistically impossible. This expands course breadth, integrating new topics that could not be as effectively covered by the original class structure. Our introductory program assessed two models of self-guided field explorations. A walking/cycling exploration of the Saint Anthony Falls area, a mile from campus, focuses on the intersections of geological processes with human history. Students explore the geology behind the waterfalls' evolution as well as its subsequent social and economic impacts on human history. A second exploration focuses on the campus area geology, including its building stones as well as its landscape evolution. In both explorations, the goal was to integrate geology with the students' broader understanding of the world they live in. Although the explorations' creation requires a significant commitment, once developed, self-guided explorations are surprisingly low maintenance. These explorations provide a model of a simple, highly effective pedagogical tool that is easily adapted to almost any campus setting. A number of factors contribute to self-guided explorations' success. For most students, these are novel, particularly memorable experiences. Interactive in nature, self-guided explorations are also relaxed, self-paced instruction without the pressures that can dominate other educational settings. Well designed explorations build on students' prior knowledge, allowing them to integrate new earth science concepts with familiar ideas and settings. By creating connections between geology and human society, these explorations also make earth science more relevant to students who had not previously considered their world from a geological perspective. By their very nature, explorations are place-centered education which helps ground instruction and makes it more relevant to students without strong science backgrounds. Further these explorations give students control over, and responsibility for, their own learning, which is always a pedagogically sound approach. Finally, self-guided explorations can integrate earth science education into students' social lives as most students choose to complete the explorations in groups, often with friends and family who are not enrolled in the course.

Creative Learning Identities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jeffrey, Bob

2008-01-01

Making learning relevant involves many aspects of teaching such as attention to levels of maturity, individual inclinations, emotional, physical, aesthetic and cognitive activity and group dynamics. However, making learning relevant is not only a teacher led activity, for learners make activities relevant by the identification of connections with…

Science during crisis: the application of social science during major environmental crises

USGS Publications Warehouse

Machlis, Gary; Ludwig, Kris; Manfredo, Michael J.; Vaske, Jerry J.; Rechkemmer, Andreas; Duke, Esther

2014-01-01

Historical and contemporary experience suggests that science plays an increasingly critical role in governmental and institutional responses to major environmental crises. Recent examples include major western wildfires (2009), the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (2010), the Fukushima nuclear accident (2011), and Hurricane Sandy (2012). The application of science during such crises has several distinctive characteristics, as well as essential requirements if it is to be useful to decision makers. these include scope conditions that include coupled natural/human systems, clear statement of uncertainties and limitations, description of cascading consequences, accurate sense of place, estimates of magnitude of impacts, identification of beneficiaries and those adversely affected, clarity and conciseness, compelling visualization and presentation, capacity to speak "truth to power", and direct access to decision makers. In this chapter, we explore the role and significance of science – including all relevant disciplines and focusing attention on the social sciences – in responding to major environmental crises. We explore several important questions: How is science during crisis distinctive? What social science is most useful during crises? What distinctive characteristics are necessary for social science to make meaningful contributions to emergency response and recovery? How might the social sciences be integrated into the strategic science needed to respond to future crises? The authors, both members of the Department of the Interior's innovative Strategic Sciences Group, describe broad principles of engagement as well as specific examples drawn from history, contemporary efforts (such as during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill), and predictions of environmental crises still to be confronted.

Exploring Connections Between Earth Science and Biology - Interdisciplinary Science Activities for Schools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vd Flier-Keller, E.; Carolsfeld, C.; Bullard, T.

2009-05-01

To increase teaching of Earth science in schools, and to reflect the interdisciplinary nature and interrelatedness of science disciplines in today's world, we are exploring opportunities for linking Earth science and Biology through engaging and innovative hands-on science activities for the classroom. Through the NSERC-funded Pacific CRYSTAL project based at the University of Victoria, scientists, science educators, and teachers at all levels in the school system are collaborating to research ways of enriching the preparation of students in math and science, and improving the quality of science education from Kindergarten to Grade 12. Our primary foci are building authentic, engaging science experiences for students, and fostering teacher leadership through teacher professional development and training. Interdisciplinary science activities represent an important way of making student science experiences real, engaging and relevant, and provide opportunities to highlight Earth science related topics within other disciplines, and to expand the Earth science taught in schools. The Earth science and Biology interdisciplinary project builds on results and experiences of existing Earth science education activities, and the Seaquaria project. We are developing curriculum-linked activities and resource materials, and hosting teacher workshops, around two initial areas; soils, and marine life and the fossil record. An example activity for the latter is the hands-on examination of organisms occupying the nearshore marine environment using a saltwater aquarium and touch tank or beach fieldtrip, and relating this to a suite of marine fossils to facilitate student thinking about representation of life in the fossil record e.g. which life forms are typically preserved, and how are they preserved? Literacy activities such as fossil obituaries encourage exploration of paleoenvironments and life habits of fossil organisms. Activities and resources are being tested with teachers and student teachers through workshops, at teacher conferences, and participating Faculties of Education.

Strategies for Integrating Content from the USGCRP Climate and Health Assessment into the K-12 Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haine, D. B.

2016-12-01

That the physical environment shapes the lives and behaviors of people is certainly not news, but communicating the impact of a changing climate on human health and predicting the trajectory of these changes is an active area of study in public health. From air quality concerns to extreme heat to shifts in the range of disease vectors, there are many opportunities to make connections between Earth's changing climate and human health. While many science teachers understand that addressing human health impacts as a result of a changing climate can provide needed relevance, it can be challenging for teachers to do so given an already packed curriculum. This session will share instructional strategies for integrating content from the USGCRP Climate and Health Assessment (CHA) by enhancing, rather than displacing content related to climate science. This presentation will feature a data interpretation activity developed in collaboration with geoscientists at the University of North Carolina's Gillings School of Public Health to convey the connection between air quality, climate change and human health. This classroom activity invites students to read excerpts from the CHA and interpret data presented in the scientific literature, thus promoting scientific literacy. In summarizing this activity, I will highlight strategies for effectively engaging geoscientists in developing scientifically rigorous, STEM-focused educational activities that are aligned to state and national science standards and also address the realities of the science classroom. Collaborating with geoscientists and translating their research into classroom activities is an approach that becomes more pertinent with the advent of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Thus, the USGCRP Climate and Health Assessment represents an opportunity to cultivate science literacy among K-12 students while providing relevant learning experiences that promote integration of science and engineering practices as well as demonstrate links among engineering, technology, science, and society. Partnering with geoscientists to develop activities that deepen teacher content knowledge, while also promoting student engagement with real data, cultivates increased awareness of how climate change impacts human health.

Redefining roles of science in planning and management: ecology as a planning and management tool

Treesearch

Greg Mason; Stephen Murphy

2002-01-01

Science as a way of knowing has great value to decision-making but there is need to consider all its attributes and assess how science ought to be informing decision-making. Consideration of the critiques of science can make science stronger and more useful to decision-making in an environmental and ecological context. Scientists, planners, and managers need to...

The science knowledge, conceptions of the nature of science, attitudes about teaching science, and science instructional strategies of bilingual and English-only elementary teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alegria, Adelina Victoria

The goal of this study was to explore bilingual and English-only elementary teachers' science knowledge, their conceptions of the nature of science, their attitudes about teaching science, and their self-reported science instructional skills. In this study, a bilingual teacher was defined as a teacher who provides instruction in Spanish and English in core academic subjects and has completed and/or is completing a bilingual certification program. An English-only teacher was defined as a monolingual teacher that only speaks and instructs in English. The principal questions guiding this dissertation investigation were the following: How do bilingual elementary teachers differ from English-only elementary teachers in (a) their science knowledge, (b) their conceptions of the nature of science, (c) their attitude about teaching science, and (d) their self-reported science instructional skills? This dissertation study is a component of a three-year long Eisenhower Project granted to Hueneme School District and the University of California, Santa Barbara Southcoast Science Project. While the Project will last three years (1997--2000), this dissertation study was developed to answer only a subset of questions of the entire project and data was collected in 1998. The research design for this study consisted of a self-administered questionnaire that was given to Hueneme School District elementary teachers that teach science and was developed by reviewing the relevant literature about teachers' science knowledge, their conceptions of the nature of science, their attitudes about teaching science, and the instructional strategies that support science learning. The findings showed that both the bilingual and the English-only respondents demonstrated a similar science knowledge base, which is suggested, by this researcher, to be limited. That both bilingual and English-only teacher respondents demonstrated similar positive attitudes about teaching science and both reported making use of similar instructional strategies, many of which are known to support science learning in the classroom (laboratory/hands-on activities, whole group discussion, questioning, and cooperative/small group activities). Concerning assessment strategies, both the bilingual and English-only groups reported very similar answers. They reported usually making use of students' projects, student's logs/journals/diaries, performance activities such as lab practicals and hands-on tests to assess science learning. They also reported seldom or never making use of paper/pencil quizzes nor end-of-chapter/unit tests. There was not enough clear information to decide whether bilingual and English-only elementary respondents hold similar or different views of science. This study's implications encompass two different areas: (a) changes that bilingual and elementary credentialing programs need to undergo and (b) further bilingual science teaching research. The findings concerned with science knowledge, that both bilingual and English-only elementary teachers possess a limited science knowledge base leads me to suggest, just as the science teaching literature has suggested, that elementary credentialing programs need to strengthen their candidates' science content by increasing the science content addressed in the science methodology courses and/or by requiring a greater number of science undergraduate courses (most liberal arts majors require no more than five courses, San Diego State University, 1999). (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Mental maps and travel behaviour: meanings and models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hannes, Els; Kusumastuti, Diana; Espinosa, Maikel León; Janssens, Davy; Vanhoof, Koen; Wets, Geert

2012-04-01

In this paper, the " mental map" concept is positioned with regard to individual travel behaviour to start with. Based on Ogden and Richards' triangle of meaning (The meaning of meaning: a study of the influence of language upon thought and of the science of symbolism. International library of psychology, philosophy and scientific method. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1966) distinct thoughts, referents and symbols originating from different scientific disciplines are identified and explained in order to clear up the notion's fuzziness. Next, the use of this concept in two major areas of research relevant to travel demand modelling is indicated and discussed in detail: spatial cognition and decision-making. The relevance of these constructs to understand and model individual travel behaviour is explained and current research efforts to implement these concepts in travel demand models are addressed. Furthermore, these mental map notions are specified in two types of computational models, i.e. a Bayesian Inference Network (BIN) and a Fuzzy Cognitive Map (FCM). Both models are explained, and a numerical and a real-life example are provided. Both approaches yield a detailed quantitative representation of the mental map of decision-making problems in travel behaviour.

Ambiguous science and the visual representation of the real

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Newbold, Curtis Robert

The emergence of visual media as prominent and even expected forms of communication in nearly all disciplines, including those scientific, has raised new questions about how the art and science of communication epistemologically affect the interpretation of scientific phenomena. In this dissertation I explore how the influence of aesthetics in visual representations of science inevitably creates ambiguous meanings. As a means to improve visual literacy in the sciences, I call awareness to the ubiquity of visual ambiguity and its importance and relevance in scientific discourse. To do this, I conduct a literature review that spans interdisciplinary research in communication, science, art, and rhetoric. Furthermore, I create a paradoxically ambiguous taxonomy, which functions to exploit the nuances of visual ambiguities and their role in scientific communication. I then extrapolate the taxonomy of visual ambiguity and from it develop an ambiguous, rhetorical heuristic, the Tetradic Model of Visual Ambiguity. The Tetradic Model is applied to a case example of a scientific image as a demonstration of how scientific communicators may increase their awareness of the epistemological effects of ambiguity in the visual representations of science. I conclude by demonstrating how scientific communicators may make productive use of visual ambiguity, even in communications of objective science, and I argue how doing so strengthens scientific communicators' visual literacy skills and their ability to communicate more ethically and effectively.

Political and institutional influences on the use of evidence in public health policy. A systematic review.

PubMed

Liverani, Marco; Hawkins, Benjamin; Parkhurst, Justin O

2013-01-01

There is increasing recognition that the development of evidence-informed health policy is not only a technical problem of knowledge exchange or translation, but also a political challenge. Yet, while political scientists have long considered the nature of political systems, the role of institutional structures, and the political contestation of policy issues as central to understanding policy decisions, these issues remain largely unexplored by scholars of evidence-informed policy making. We conducted a systematic review of empirical studies that examined the influence of key features of political systems and institutional mechanisms on evidence use, and contextual factors that may contribute to the politicisation of health evidence. Eligible studies were identified through searches of seven health and social sciences databases, websites of relevant organisations, the British Library database, and manual searches of academic journals. Relevant findings were extracted using a uniform data extraction tool and synthesised by narrative review. 56 studies were selected for inclusion. Relevant political and institutional aspects affecting the use of health evidence included the level of state centralisation and democratisation, the influence of external donors and organisations, the organisation and function of bureaucracies, and the framing of evidence in relation to social norms and values. However, our understanding of such influences remains piecemeal given the limited number of empirical analyses on this subject, the paucity of comparative works, and the limited consideration of political and institutional theory in these studies. This review highlights the need for a more explicit engagement with the political and institutional factors affecting the use of health evidence in decision-making. A more nuanced understanding of evidence use in health policy making requires both additional empirical studies of evidence use, and an engagement with theories and approaches beyond the current remit of public health or knowledge utilisation studies.

Being Relevant in Tough Times: TRIUMF's Five-Year Plan

ScienceCinema

Tim, Mayer [TRIUMF

2017-12-09

Perhaps better known to the international community than its own neighbors, TRIUMF is Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics.  Working with the Canadian scientific community, TRIUMF has formulated a new vision to transform the laboratory and deliver a whole new level of performance and impact.  The plan capitalizes on platform technologies (superconducting RF cavities for accelerator physics and radiotracers in nuclear medicine) and exploits Canada's role in ATLAS and the LHC.  I will describe the key elements of the plan and discuss the science-policy landscape in which TRIUMF must make its case.

BioBridge Professional Development: Bringing Innovative Science into the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Babendure, Jeremy; Thompson, Loren; Peterman, Karen; Teiper, Leanne; Gastil, Heather; Liwanag, Heather; Glenn-Lee, Shelley

2011-01-01

The BioBridge Professional Development model was created to bring current and relevant science into the high school classroom. The purpose of this intervention was to connect teachers with relevant science and to create innovative, hands-on activities that engage students, with the goal of increasing student interest in STEM careers. To this end,…

Understandings of the nature of science and decision making on science and technology-based issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bell, Randy Lee

Current reforms emphasize the development of scientific literacy as the principal goal of science education. The nature of science is considered a critical component of scientific literacy and is assumed to be an important factor in decision making on science and technology based issues. However, little research exists that delineates the role of the nature of science in decision making. The purpose of this investigation was to explicate the role of the nature of science in decision making on science and technology based issues and to delineate the reasoning and factors associated with these types of decisions. The 15-item, open-ended "Decision Making Questionnaire" (DMQ) based on four different scenarios concerning science and technology issues was developed to assess decision making. Twenty-one volunteer participants purposively selected from the faculty of geographically diverse universities completed the questionnaire and follow-up interviews. Participants were subsequently grouped according to their understandings of the nature of science, based on responses to a second open-ended questionnaire and follow-up interview. Profiles of each group's decision making were constructed, based on their previous responses to the DMQ and follow-up interviews. Finally, the two groups' decisions, decision making factors, and decision making strategies were compared. No differences were found between the decisions of the two groups, despite their disparate views of the nature of science. While their reasoning did not follow formal lines of argumentation, several influencing factors and general reasoning patterns were identified. Participants in both groups based their decisions primarily on personal values, morals/ethics, and social concerns. While all participants said they considered scientific evidence in their decision making, most did not require absolute "proof," even though Group B participants held more absolute conceptions of the nature of science. Overall, the nature of science did not figure prominently in either group's decisions. These findings contrast with the assumptions of the science education community and current reform efforts and call for a reexamination of the goals of nature of science instruction. Developing better decision making skills---even on science and technology based issues---may involve other factors, including more values-based instruction and attention to intellectual/moral development.

The Joint Fire Science Program Fire Exchange Network: Facilitating Knowledge Exchange About Wildland Fire Science Across the U.S.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

York, A.; Blocksome, C.; Cheng, T.; Creighton, J.; Edwards, G.; Frederick, S.; Giardina, C. P.; Goebel, P. C.; Gucker, C.; Kobziar, L.; Lane, E.; Leis, S.; Long, A.; Maier, C.; Marschall, J.; McGowan-Stinski, J.; Mohr, H.; MontBlanc, E.; Pellant, M.; Pickett, E.; Seesholtz, D.; Skowronski, N.; Stambaugh, M. C.; Stephens, S.; Thode, A.; Trainor, S. F.; Waldrop, T.; Wolfson, B.; Wright, V.; Zedler, P.

2014-12-01

The Joint Fire Science Program's (JFSP) Fire Exchange Network is actively working to accelerate the awareness, understanding, and adoption of wildland fire science information by federal, tribal, state, local, and private stakeholders within ecologically similar regions. Our network of 15 regional exchanges provides timely, accurate, and regionally relevant science-based information to assist with fire management challenges. Regional activities, through which we engage fire and resource managers, scientists, and private landowners, include online newsletters and announcements, social media, regionally focused web-based clearinghouses of relevant science, field trips and demonstration sites, workshops and conferences, webinars and online training, and syntheses and fact sheets. Exchanges also help investigators design research that is relevant to regional management needs and assist with technology transfer to management audiences. This poster provides an introduction to and map of the regional exchanges.

Learning the 'grammar of science': The influence of a physical science content course on teachers' understanding of the nature of science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanuscin, Deborah L.

This research examined the development of practicing K--8 teachers' views of the nature of science (NOS) within a physical science content course. Reforms in science education have called for the teaching of science as inquiry. In order to achieve the vision of the reforms, teachers must understand science, both a body of knowledge and as a process, but also the very nature of science itself-or the values and assumptions inherent in the construction of scientific knowledge. NOS has been deemed a critical component of scientific literacy, with implications for making informed decisions about scientific claims. Research has indicated that despite the emphasis of reforms, teachers generally do not possess accurate views of NOS. Recent work in science education has led to the recommendation that efforts undertaken within teacher education programs to improve teachers' understanding of NOS can be enhanced through relevant coursework in other academic areas, including the sciences. The purpose of this dissertation was to provide an empirical basis for this recommendation, by examining the development of teachers' views of NOS within a physical science content course. To this end, the researcher employed qualitative methodology including participant observation, interview, document analysis, and questionnaire to assess teacher participants' views of the nature of science and the impact of their experience in the content course on these views. As a result of this research, implications for both the course design and science teacher education have been described. In addition, various aspects of the community of practice that characterizes the classroom that inhibit the development of understandings about the nature of science are identified. It is argued that instruction in NOS should be approached from the perspective that builds bridges between the communities of practice of learners and of scientists.

Exploring how New Teaching Materials Influence the Beliefs and Practices of Instructors and Students' Attitudes about Geoscience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pelch, Michael Anthony

STEM educational reform encourages a transition from instructor-centered passive learning classrooms to student-centered, active learning environments. Instructors adopting these changes incorporate research-validated teaching practices that improve student learning. Professional development that trains faculty to implement instructional reforms plays a key role in supporting this transition. Effective professional development features authentic, rigorous experiences of sufficient duration. We investigated changes in the teaching beliefs of college faculty resulting from their participation in InTeGrate project that guided them in the development of reformed instructional materials for introductory college science courses. A convergent parallel mixed methods design was employed using the Teacher Belief Interview, the Beliefs About Reformed Science Teaching and Learning survey and participants' reflections on their experience to characterize pedagogical beliefs at different stages of their professional development. Qualitative and quantitative data show a congruent change toward reformed pedagogical beliefs for the majority of participants. The majority of participants' TBI scores improved toward more student-centered pedagogical beliefs. Instructors who began with the most traditional pedagogical beliefs showed the greatest gains. Interview data and participants' reflections aligned with the characteristics of effective professional development. Merged results suggest that the most significant changes occurred in areas strongly influenced by situational classroom factors. Introductory geoscience courses play a crucial role in recruiting new geoscience majors but we know relatively little about how students' attitudes and motivations are impacted by their experiences in geoscience classes. Students' attitudes toward science and its relevance are complex and are dependent upon the context in which they encounter science. Recent investigations into the attitudes of geoscience students have provided evidence to support this observation. We sought to expand this data set to provide a broader characterization of students' attitudes. We examined students' attitudes about the nature of science and its relevance before and after taking an introductory geology course. To characterize students' attitudes, we employed two quantitative instruments: the revised Scientific Attitude Inventory and the Changes in Attitudes about the Relevance of Science survey. Results show a negative trend in students' attitudes about the nature of science while their attitudes about the relevance of science were more variable. Our data support the findings of previous studies showing only minimal change in students' attitudes about the nature of science and its relevance after taking an introductory science course. The data also highlighted several misconceptions about the nature of science that could have implications toward future investigations of how geoscience courses impact student attitudes about science. There is consensus among industrialized nations that it is important for its citizens and leaders to be scientifically literate. Therefore, it is important for the educational system to provide students with pertinent scientific knowledge, an understanding of the scientific processes, and the ability to evaluate scientific claims. Students' attitudes toward science and its relevance are important aspects of science literacy. We sought to determine if the repeated and explicit exposure to socioscientific issues through the use of InTeGrate course materials would result in positive changes to students' attitudes about the nature and relevance of science. We collected data on student attitudes using the revised Scientific Attitude Inventory and the Changes in Attitude about the Relevance of Science survey in a quasi-experimental design over four semesters of an introductory physical geology course. Results show that the emphasis of socioscientific issues can influence both students' attitudes about the nature of science and their perceptions on the relevance of science. Changes were observed in data from both STEM and non-STEM majors. These findings have implications about how we select content for introductory science courses in general, and proves the utility of designing geoscience lessons based around socioscientific issues.

Lessons learned from a rigorous peer-review process for building the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness (CLEAN) collection of high-quality digital teaching materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gold, A. U.; Ledley, T. S.; McCaffrey, M. S.; Buhr, S. M.; Manduca, C. A.; Niepold, F.; Fox, S.; Howell, C. D.; Lynds, S. E.

2010-12-01

The topic of climate change permeates all aspects of our society: the news, household debates, scientific conferences, etc. To provide students with accurate information about climate science and energy awareness, educators require scientifically and pedagogically robust teaching materials. To address this need, the NSF-funded Climate Literacy & Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) Pathway has assembled a new peer-reviewed digital collection as part of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) featuring teaching materials centered on climate and energy science for grades 6 through 16. The scope and framework of the collection is defined by the Essential Principles of Climate Science (CCSP 2009) and a set of energy awareness principles developed in the project. The collection provides trustworthy teaching materials on these socially relevant topics and prepares students to become responsible decision-makers. While a peer-review process is desirable for curriculum developer as well as collection builder to ensure quality, its implementation is non-trivial. We have designed a rigorous and transparent peer-review process for the CLEAN collection, and our experiences provide general guidelines that can be used to judge the quality of digital teaching materials across disciplines. Our multi-stage review process ensures that only resources with teaching goals relevant to developing climate literacy and energy awareness are considered. Each relevant resource is reviewed by two individuals to assess the i) scientific accuracy, ii) pedagogic effectiveness, and iii) usability/technical quality. A science review by an expert ensures the scientific quality and accuracy. Resources that pass all review steps are forwarded to a review panel of educators and scientists who make a final decision regarding inclusion of the materials in the CLEAN collection. Results from the first panel review show that about 20% (~100) of the resources that were initially considered for inclusion passed final review. Reviewer comments are recorded as annotations to enhance the resources in the collection and help educators with the implementation in their curriculum. CLEAN launched the first collection of digital educational resources about climate science and energy awareness in November 2010. The final CLEAN collection will include ≥500 resources and will also provide the alignment with the Benchmarks for Science Literacy and the NAAEE Excellence in Environmental Education Guidelines for Learning through the interactive NSDL strandmaps. We will present the first user feedback to this new collection.

Promotive and Corrosive Factors in African American Students' Math Beliefs and Achievement.

PubMed

Diemer, Matthew A; Marchand, Aixa D; McKellar, Sarah E; Malanchuk, Oksana

2016-06-01

Framed by expectancy-value theory (which posits that beliefs about and the subjective valuation of a domain predict achievement and decision-making in that domain), this study examined the relationships among teacher differential treatment and relevant math instruction on African American students' self-concept of math ability, math task value, and math achievement. These questions were examined by applying structural equation modeling to 618 African American youth (45.6 % female) followed from 7th to 11th grade in the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study. While controlling for gender and prior math achievement, relevant math instruction promoted and teacher differential treatment corroded students' math beliefs and achievement over time. Further, teacher discrimination undermined students' perceptions of their teachers, a mediating process under-examined in previous inquiry. These findings suggest policy and practice levers to narrow opportunity gaps, as well as foster math achievement and science, technology, engineering and math success.

Integrating the New Generation Science Standards (NGSS) into K- 6 teacher training and curricula

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinter, S.; Carlson, S. J.

2017-12-01

The Next Generation Science Standards is an initiative, adopted by 26 states, to set national education standards that are "rich in content and practice, arranged in a coherent manner across disciplines and grades to provide all students an internationally benchmarked science education." Educators now must integrate these standards into existing curricula. Many grade-school (K-6) teachers face a particularly daunting task, as they were traditionally not required to teach science or only at a rudimentary level. The majority of K-6 teachers enter teaching from non-science disciplines, making this transition even more difficult. Since the NGSS emphasizes integrated and coherent progression of knowledge from grade to grade, prospective K-6 teachers must be able to deliver science with confidence and enthusiasm to their students. CalTeach/MAST (Mathematics and Science Teaching Program) at the University of California Davis, has created a two-quarter sequence of integrated science courses for undergraduate students majoring in non-STEM disciplines and intending to pursue multiple-subject K-6 credentials. The UCD integrated science course provides future primary school teachers with a basic, but comprehensive background in the physical and earth/space sciences. Key tools are taught for improving teaching methods, investigating complex science ideas, and solving problems relevant to students' life experiences that require scientific or technological knowledge. This approach allows prospective K-6 teachers to explore more effectively the connections between the disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and scientific and engineering practices, as outlined in the NGSS. In addition, they develop a core set of science teaching skills based on inquiry activities and guided lab discussions. With this course, we deliver a solid science background to prospective K-6 teachers and facilitate their ability to teach science following the standards as articulated in the NGSS.

Values in environmental research: Citizens’ views of scientists who acknowledge values

PubMed Central

McCright, Aaron M.; Allen, Summer; Dietz, Thomas

2017-01-01

Scientists who perform environmental research on policy-relevant topics face challenges when communicating about how values may have influenced their research. This study examines how citizens view scientists who publicly acknowledge values. Specifically, we investigate whether it matters: if citizens share or oppose a scientist’s values, if a scientist’s conclusions seem contrary to or consistent with the scientist’s values, and if a scientist is assessing the state of the science or making a policy recommendation. We conducted two 3x2 factorial design online experiments. Experiment 1 featured a hypothetical scientist assessing the state of the science on the public-health effects of exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA), and Experiment 2 featured a scientist making a policy recommendation on use of BPA. We manipulated whether or not the scientist expressed values and whether the scientist’s conclusion appeared contrary to or consistent with the scientist’s values, and we accounted for whether or not subjects’ values aligned with the scientist’s values. We analyzed our data with ordinary least squares (OLS) regression techniques. Our results provide at least preliminary evidence that acknowledging values may reduce the perceived credibility of scientists within the general public, but this effect differs depending on whether scientists and citizens share values, whether scientists draw conclusions that run contrary to their values, and whether scientists make policy recommendations. PMID:29069087

Time in Science: Reversibility vs. Irreversibility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pomeau, Yves

To discuss properly the question of irreversibility one needs to make a careful distinction between reversibility of the equations of motion and the choice of the initial conditions. This is also relevant for the rather confuse philosophy of the wave packet reduction in quantum mechanics. The explanation of this reduction requires also to make precise assumptions on what initial data are accessible in our world. Finally I discuss how a given (and long) time record can be shown in an objective way to record an irreversible or reversible process. Or: can a direction of time be derived from its analysis? This leads quite naturally to examine if there is a possible spontaneous breaking of the time reversal symmetry in many body systems, a symmetry breaking that would be put in evidence objectively by looking at certain specific time correlations.

Probabilistic modeling of discourse-aware sentence processing.

PubMed

Dubey, Amit; Keller, Frank; Sturt, Patrick

2013-07-01

Probabilistic models of sentence comprehension are increasingly relevant to questions concerning human language processing. However, such models are often limited to syntactic factors. This restriction is unrealistic in light of experimental results suggesting interactions between syntax and other forms of linguistic information in human sentence processing. To address this limitation, this article introduces two sentence processing models that augment a syntactic component with information about discourse co-reference. The novel combination of probabilistic syntactic components with co-reference classifiers permits them to more closely mimic human behavior than existing models. The first model uses a deep model of linguistics, based in part on probabilistic logic, allowing it to make qualitative predictions on experimental data; the second model uses shallow processing to make quantitative predictions on a broad-coverage reading-time corpus. Copyright © 2013 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Environmental Research Translation: Enhancing Interactions with Communities at Contaminated Sites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramirez-Andreotta, M.; Brusseau, M. L. L.; Artiola, J. F.; Maier, R. M.; Gandolfi, A. J.

2015-12-01

The characterization and remediation of contaminated sites are complex endeavors fraught with numerous challenges. One particular challenge that is receiving increased attention is the development and encouragement of full participation by communities and community members affected by a given site in all facets of decision-making. Many disciplines have been grappling with the challenges associated with environmental and risk communication, public participation in environmental data generation and decision-making, and increasing community capacity. The concepts and methods developed by these disciplines are reviewed, with a focus on their relevance to the specific dynamics associated with contaminated sites. The contributions of these disciplines are then synthesized and integrated to help develop Environmental Research Translation (ERT), a proposed framework for environmental scientists to promote interaction and communication among involved parties at contaminated sites. This holistic approach is rooted in public participation approaches to science, which includes: a transdisciplinary team, effective collaboration, information transfer, public participation in environmental projects, and a cultural model of risk communication. Although there are challenges associated with the implementation of ERT, it is anticipated that application of this proposed translational science method could promote more robust community participation at contaminated sites.

Environmental Research Translation: Enhancing Interactions with Communities at Contaminated Sites

PubMed Central

Ramirez-Andreotta, Monica D.; Brusseau, Mark L.; Artiola, Janick F.; Maier, Raina M.; Gandolfi, A. Jay

2014-01-01

The characterization and remediation of contaminated sites are complex endeavors fraught with numerous challenges. One particular challenge that is receiving increased attention is the development and encouragement of full participation by communities and community members affected by a given site in all facets of decision-making. Many disciplines have been grappling with the challenges associated with environmental and risk communication, public participation in environmental data generation, and decision-making and increasing community capacity. The concepts and methods developed by these disciplines are reviewed, with a focus on their relevance to the specific dynamics associated with environmental contamination sites. The contributions of these disciplines are then synthesized and integrated to help develop Environmental Research Translation (ERT), a proposed framework for environmental scientists to promote interaction and communication among involved parties at contaminated sites. This holistic approach is rooted in public participation approaches to science, which includes: a transdisciplinary team, effective collaboration, information transfer, public participation in environmental projects, and a cultural model of risk communication. Although there are challenges associated with the implementation of ERT, it is anticipated that application of this proposed translational science method could promote more robust community participation at contaminated sites. PMID:25173762

Ethical decision making in the conduct of research: role of individual, contextual and organizational factors. Commentary on "Science, human nature, and a new paradigm for ethics education".

PubMed

Langlais, Philip J

2012-09-01

Despite the importance of scientific integrity to the well-being of society, recent findings suggest that training and mentoring in the responsible conduct of research are not very reliable or effective inhibitors of research misbehavior. Understanding how and why individual scientists decide to behave in ways that conform to or violate norms and standards of research is essential to the development of more effective training programs and the creation of more supportive environments. Scholars in business management, psychology, and other disciplines have identified many important factors that affect ethical behavior, including individual, contextual, and organizational factors. Surprisingly little research has been conducted to examine the role of these factors in either the development of ethical decision-making skills, or their applicability to ethical issues commonly encountered in research and other scholarly and professional activities. Interdisciplinary approaches combined with research and discipline relevant paradigms should greatly enhance understanding of the individual contextual and organizational factors involved in ethical and unethical research conduct. Such studies will inform and facilitate the development of more effective ethics education programs in the sciences and engineering professions.

Connecting Coastal Communities with Ocean Science: A Look at Ocean Sense and the Inclusion of Place-based Indigenous Knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McLean, M. A.; Brown, J.; Hoeberechts, M.

2016-02-01

Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), an initiative of the University of Victoria, develops, operates, and maintains cabled ocean observatory systems. Technologies developed on the world-leading NEPTUNE and VENUS observatories have been adapted for small coastal installations called "community observatories," which enable community members to directly monitor conditions in the local ocean environment. In 2014, ONC pioneered an innovative educational program, Ocean Sense: Local observations, global connections, which introduces students and teachers to the technologies installed on community observatories. The program introduces middle and high school students to research methods in biology, oceanography and ocean engineering through hands-on activities. Ocean Sense includes a variety of resources and opportunities to excite students and spark curiosity about the ocean environment. The program encourages students to connect their local observations to global ocean processes and the observations of students in other geographic regions. The connection to place and local relevance of the program is further enhanced through an emphasis on Indigenous and place-based knowledge. ONC is working with coastal Indigenous communities in a collaborative process to include local knowledge, culture, and language in Ocean Sense materials. For this process to meaningful and culturally appropriate, ONC is relying on the guidance and oversight of Indigenous community educators and knowledge holders. Ocean Sense also includes opportunities for Indigenous youth and teachers in remote communities to connect in person, including an annual Ocean Science Symposium and professional development events for teachers. Building a program which embraces multiple perspectives is effective both in making ocean science more relevant to Indigenous students and in linking Indigenous knowledge and place-based knowledge to ocean science.

Expertise transfer for expert system design

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

Boose, J.H.

This book is about the Expertise Transfer System-a computer program which interviews experts and helps them build expert systems, i.e. computer programs that use knowledge from experts to make decisions and judgements under conditions of uncertainty. The techniques are useful to anyone who uses decision-making information based on the expertise of others. The methods can also be applied to personal decision-making. The interviewing methodology is borrowed from a branch of psychology called Personal Construct Theory. It is not necessary to use a computer to take advantage of the techniques from Personal Construction Theory; the fundamental procedures used by the Expertisemore » Transfer System can be performed using paper and pencil. It is not necessary that the reader understand very much about computers to understand the ideas in this book. The few relevant concepts from computer science and expert systems that are needed are explained in a straightforward manner. Ideas from Personal Construct Psychology are also introduced as needed.« less

Radiolucent rim as a possible diagnostic aid for differentiating jaw lesions

PubMed Central

Mortazavi, Hamed; Rahmani, Somayeh; Jafari, Soudeh; Parvaei, Parvin

2015-01-01

In this study, we formulate a new proposal that complements previous classifications in order to assist dental practitioners in performing a differential diagnosis based on patients' radiographs. We used general search engines and specialized databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, PubMed Central, MedLine Plus, Science Direct, Scopus, and well-recognized textbooks to find relevant studies by using keywords such as "jaw disease," "jaw lesions," "radiolucent rim," "radiolucent border," and "radiolucent halo." More than 200 articles were found, of which 70 were broadly relevant to the topic. We ultimately included 50 articles that were closely related to the topic of interest. When the relevant data were compiled, the following eight lesions were identified as having a radiolucent rim: periapical cemento-osseous dysplasia, focal cemento-osseous dysplasia, florid cemento-osseous dysplasia, cemento-ossifying fibroma, osteoid osteoma, osteoblastoma, odontoma, and cementoblastoma. We propose a novel subcategory, jaw lesions with a radiolucent rim, which includes eight entities. The implementation of this new category can help improve the diagnoses that dental practitioners make based on patients' radiographs. PMID:26730374

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

Dahlburg, Jill; Corones, James; Batchelor, Donald

Fusion is potentially an inexhaustible energy source whose exploitation requires a basic understanding of high-temperature plasmas. The development of a science-based predictive capability for fusion-relevant plasmas is a challenge central to fusion energy science, in which numerical modeling has played a vital role for more than four decades. A combination of the very wide range in temporal and spatial scales, extreme anisotropy, the importance of geometric detail, and the requirement of causality which makes it impossible to parallelize over time, makes this problem one of the most challenging in computational physics. Sophisticated computational models are under development for many individualmore » features of magnetically confined plasmas and increases in the scope and reliability of feasible simulations have been enabled by increased scientific understanding and improvements in computer technology. However, full predictive modeling of fusion plasmas will require qualitative improvements and innovations to enable cross coupling of a wider variety of physical processes and to allow solution over a larger range of space and time scales. The exponential growth of computer speed, coupled with the high cost of large-scale experimental facilities, makes an integrated fusion simulation initiative a timely and cost-effective opportunity. Worldwide progress in laboratory fusion experiments provides the basis for a recent FESAC recommendation to proceed with a burning plasma experiment (see FESAC Review of Burning Plasma Physics Report, September 2001). Such an experiment, at the frontier of the physics of complex systems, would be a huge step in establishing the potential of magnetic fusion energy to contribute to the world’s energy security. An integrated simulation capability would dramatically enhance the utilization of such a facility and lead to optimization of toroidal fusion plasmas in general. This science-based predictive capability, which was cited in the FESAC integrated planning document (IPPA, 2000), represents a significant opportunity for the DOE Office of Science to further the understanding of fusion plasmas to a level unparalleled worldwide.« less

Developing the Planetary Science Virtual Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erard, Stéphane; Cecconi, Baptiste; Le Sidaner, Pierre; Henry, Florence; Chauvin, Cyril; Berthier, Jérôme; André, Nicolas; Génot, Vincent; Schmitt, Bernard; Capria, Teresa; Chanteur, Gérard

2015-08-01

In the frame of the Europlanet-RI program, a prototype Virtual Observatory dedicated to Planetary Science has been set up. Most of the activity was dedicated to the definition of standards to handle data in this field. The aim was to facilitate searches in big archives as well as sparse databases, to make on-line data access and visualization possible, and to allow small data providers to make their data available in an interoperable environment with minimum effort. This system makes intensive use of studies and developments led in Astronomy (IVOA), Solar Science (HELIO), and space archive services (IPDA).The current architecture connects existing data services with IVOA or IPDA protocols whenever relevant. However, a more general standard has been devised to handle the specific complexity of Planetary Science, e.g. in terms of measurement types and coordinate frames. This protocol, named EPN-TAP, is based on TAP and includes precise requirements to describe the contents of a data service (Erard et al Astron & Comp 2014). A light framework (DaCHS/GAVO) and a procedure have been identified to install small data services, and several hands-on sessions have been organized already. The data services are declared in standard IVOA registries. Support to new data services in Europe will be provided during the proposed Europlanet H2020 program, with a focus on planetary mission support (Rosetta, Cassini…).A specific client (VESPA) has been developed at VO-Paris (http://vespa.obspm.fr). It is able to use all the mandatory parameters in EPN-TAP, plus extra parameters from individual services. A resolver for target names is also available. Selected data can be sent to VO visualization tools such as TOPCAT or Aladin though the SAMP protocol.Future steps will include the development of a connection between the VO world and GIS tools, and integration of heliophysics, planetary plasma and reference spectroscopic data.The EuroPlaNet-RI project was funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Program, grant 228319 "Capacities Specific Programme".

Communicating the Results and Activities of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chatterjee, K.; Parker, K.

2004-12-01

The Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) has a responsibility for credible and effective communications on issues related to climate variability and climate change science. As an essential part of its mission and responsibilities, the CCSP aims to enhance the quality of public discussion by stressing openness and transparency in its scientific research processes and results, and ensuring the widespread availability of credible, science-based information. The CCSP and individual federal agencies generate substantial amounts of authoritative scientific information on climate variability and change. Research findings are generally well reported in the scientific literature, but relevant aspects of these findings need to be reported in formats suitable for use by diverse audiences whose understanding and familiarity with climate change science issues vary. To further its commitment to the effective communication of climate change science information, the CCSP has established the Communications Interagency Working Group, which has produced an implementation plan for Climate Change communication, aimed at achieving the following goals: * Disseminate the results of CCSP activities credibly and effectively * Make CCSP science findings and products easily available to a diverse set of audiences. In addition to CCSP efforts, the individual federal agencies that comprise CCSP disseminate science-based climate information through their agency networks. The agencies of the CCSP are the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Interior, State, and Transportation and the U.S. EPA, NASA, NSF, Smithsonian Institute, and USAID.

Data Albums: An Event Driven Search, Aggregation and Curation Tool for Earth Science

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran, Rahul; Kulkarni, Ajinkya; Maskey, Manil; Bakare, Rohan; Basyal, Sabin; Li, Xiang; Flynn, Shannon

2014-01-01

Approaches used in Earth science research such as case study analysis and climatology studies involve discovering and gathering diverse data sets and information to support the research goals. To gather relevant data and information for case studies and climatology analysis is both tedious and time consuming. Current Earth science data systems are designed with the assumption that researchers access data primarily by instrument or geophysical parameter. In cases where researchers are interested in studying a significant event, they have to manually assemble a variety of datasets relevant to it by searching the different distributed data systems. This paper presents a specialized search, aggregation and curation tool for Earth science to address these challenges. The search rool automatically creates curated 'Data Albums', aggregated collections of information related to a specific event, containing links to relevant data files [granules] from different instruments, tools and services for visualization and analysis, and information about the event contained in news reports, images or videos to supplement research analysis. Curation in the tool is driven via an ontology based relevancy ranking algorithm to filter out non relevant information and data.

Developing evidence that is fit for purpose: a framework for payer and research dialogue.

PubMed

Sabharwal, Rajeev K; Graff, Jennifer S; Holve, Erin; Dubois, Robert W

2015-09-01

Matching the supply and demand of evidence requires an understanding of when more evidence is needed, as well as the type of evidence that will meet this need. This article describes efforts to develop and refine a decision-making framework that considers payers' perspectives on the utility of evidence generated by different types of research methods, including real-world evidence. Conceptual framework development with subsequent testing during a roundtable dialogue. The framework development process included a literature scan to identify existing frameworks and relevant articles on payer decision making. The framework was refined during a stand-alone roundtable in December 2013 hosted by the research team, which included representatives from public and private payers, pharmacy benefit management, the life sciences industry, and researchers. The roundtable discussion also included an application of the framework to 3 case studies. Application of the framework to the clinical scenarios and the resulting discussion provided key insights into when new evidence is needed to inform payer decision making and what questions should be addressed. Payers are not necessarily seeking more evidence about treatment efficacy; rather, they are seeking more evidence for relevant end points that illustrate the differences between treatment alternatives that can justify the resources required to change practice. In addition, payers are interested in obtaining new evidence that goes beyond efficacy, with an emphasis on effectiveness, longer-term safety, and delivery system impact. We believe that our decision-making framework is a useful tool to increase dialogue between evidence generators and payers, while also allowing for greater efficiency in the research process.

The Effect of Student-Centered Approaches on Students' Interest and Achievement in Science: Relevant Topic-Based, Open and Guided Inquiry-Based, and Discussion-Based Approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Jingoo; Keinonen, Tuula

2017-04-01

Since students have lost their interest in school science, several student-centered approaches, such as using topics that are relevant for students, inquiry-based learning, and discussion-based learning have been implemented to attract pupils into science. However, the effect of these approaches was usually measured in small-scale research, and thus, the large-scale evidence supporting student-centered approaches in general use is insufficient. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate the effect of student-centered approaches on students' interest and achievement by analyzing a large-scale data set derived from Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006, to add evidence for advocating these approaches in school science, and to generalize the effects on a large population. We used Finnish PISA 2006 data, which is the most recent data that measures science literacy and that contains relevant variables for the constructs of this study. As a consequence of the factor analyses, four teaching methods were grouped as student-centered approaches (relevant topic-based, open and guided inquiry-based, and discussion-based approaches in school science) from the Finnish PISA 2006 sample. The structural equation modeling result indicated that using topics relevant for students positively affected students' interest and achievement in science. Guided inquiry-based learning was also indicated as a strong positive predictor for students' achievement, and its effect was also positively associated with students' interest. On the other hand, open inquiry-based learning was indicated as a strong negative predictor for students' achievement, as was using discussion in school science. Implications and limitations of the study were discussed.

An examination of an aspect of the worldview of female college science teachers as revealed by their concepts of nature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tryon, Lisa A.

American citizens are confronted every day with scientific issues such as global warming, alternative energy technologies, stem cell research, and the use of genetically modified foods. A scientifically literate adult should be able to understand these issues, see how they relate to their own lives, and make choices that reflect their knowledge of the problems at hand. Research has indicated that the majority of U.S. students are not prepared to take a proactive role in current scientific issues and so undergraduate educators are being charged with the task of improving the relevancy of science to the nonscience student. One method for exploring this problem has been the application of worldview theory, which seeks to analyze the thoughts and attitudes of teachers and students with regard to science in their lives. This qualitative case study sought to uncover the worldviews of female science college professors particularly as they related to nature and to examine how these educators felt their worldviews might influence their students. A series of established card sort activities used in previous worldview studies, in combination with an in-depth interview facilitated the data collection from female science professors teaching at universities in New England.

Using doubly latent multilevel analysis to elucidate relationships between science teachers' professional knowledge and students' performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahler, Daniela; Großschedl, Jörg; Harms, Ute

2017-01-01

Teachers make a difference for the outcome of their students in science classrooms. One focus in this context lies on teachers' professional knowledge. We describe this knowledge according to three domains, namely (1) content knowledge (CK), (2) pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and (3) curricular knowledge (CuK). We hypothesise a positive relationship between these three domains and students' performance in science. Students' science performance was conceptualised by system thinking performance in the context of biology teaching. In order to test our hypothesis, we examined the relationship between the knowledge triplet CK, PCK, and CuK and students' performance. 48 biology teachers and their students (N = 1036) participated in this study. Teachers' content-related professional knowledge and students' performance were measured by paper-and-pencil tests. Moreover, we used concept maps to further assess students' performance. By specifying doubly latent models, we found a significant positive relationship between biology teachers' PCK and students' performance. On the contrary, the results reveal no relationship between CK and CuK and students' performance. These findings are discussed in respect to modelling the interrelationship of teachers' content-related professional knowledge and students' learning in science, as well as concerning their relevance for further research and teacher education programmes.

On the added value of forensic science and grand innovation challenges for the forensic community.

PubMed

van Asten, Arian C

2014-03-01

In this paper the insights and results are presented of a long term and ongoing improvement effort within the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) to establish a valuable innovation programme. From the overall perspective of the role and use of forensic science in the criminal justice system, the concepts of Forensic Information Value Added (FIVA) and Forensic Information Value Efficiency (FIVE) are introduced. From these concepts the key factors determining the added value of forensic investigations are discussed; Evidential Value, Relevance, Quality, Speed and Cost. By unravelling the added value of forensic science and combining this with the future needs and scientific and technological developments, six forensic grand challenges are introduced: i) Molecular Photo-fitting; ii) chemical imaging, profiling and age estimation of finger marks; iii) Advancing Forensic Medicine; iv) Objective Forensic Evaluation; v) the Digital Forensic Service Centre and vi) Real time In-Situ Chemical Identification. Finally, models for forensic innovation are presented that could lead to major international breakthroughs on all these six themes within a five year time span. This could cause a step change in the added value of forensic science and would make forensic investigative methods even more valuable than they already are today. © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd on behalf of Forensic Science Society. All rights reserved.

Providing the Missing Link: the Exposure Science Ontology ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Although knowledge-discovery tools are new to the exposure science community, these tools are critical for leveraging exposure information to design health studies and interpret results for improved public health decisions. Standardized ontologies define relationships, allow for automated reasoning, and facilitate meta-analyses. ExO will facilitate development of biologically relevant exposure metrics, design of in vitro toxicity tests, and incorporation of information on susceptibility and background exposures for risk assessment. In this approach, there are multiple levels of organization, from the global environment down through ecosystems, communities, indoor spaces, populations, organisms, tissues, and cells. We anticipate that the exposure science and environmental health community will adopt and contribute to this work, as wide acceptance is key to integration and federated searching of exposure data to support environmental and public health research. In particular, we anticipate acceptance of the concept that exposure science provides the spatial/temporal narrative about the intensity (concentration) of a stressor at the boundary between two systems: one functioning as an “environment” (stressor) and one functioning as a target (receptor). An agreed-upon exposure ontology with clear definitions and relationships should help to facilitate decision-making, study design and prioritization of research initiatives by enhancing the capacity for data colle

Learning in Authentic Earth and Planetary Contexts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fergusson, J. A.; Oliver, C. A.

2006-12-01

A Virtual Field Trip project has been developed in collaboration with NASA Learning Technologies to allow students, internationally, to accompany scientists on a field trip to the Pilbara region of Western Australia to debate the relevance of ancient structures called stromatolites, to the origins of life on Earth and the search for life on Mars. The project was planned with the aim of exposing high school students to `science in the making', including exposure to the ongoing debate and uncertainties involved in scientific research. The development of the project stemmed from both research-based and anecdotal evidence that current science education programs are not providing secondary students with a good understanding of the processes of science. This study seeks to examine the effectiveness of student use of the tools to increase awareness of the processes of science and to evaluate the effectiveness of the tools in terms of student learning. The literature reports that there is a need for learning activities to be conducted within meaningful contexts. The virtual field trip tools create an environment that simulates key elements in the scientific process. Such an approach allows students to learn by doing, to work like scientists and apply their learning in an authentic context.

A Rationale and Outline for an Undergraduate Course on the Philosophy and History of Science for Life Science Students

PubMed Central

Hockberger, Philip E.; Miller, Richard J.

2005-01-01

There are compelling reasons for teaching a philosophy of science course to undergraduate life science students. The main reason is to help them understand that modern science is not based upon a single, consistent philosophical system; nor is it based upon common sense, or a method, set of rules or formulas that can be used to make unerring predictions. Rather, science is a dynamic process that is constantly being modified and refined to reflect and encompass an ever-expanding set of hypotheses, observations, and theories. To illustrate these points, we developed a course that examined the history and philosophical underpinnings of modern science, and we discussed famous experiments that challenged the prevailing norm and led to Kuhnian revolutions in scientific thought. Building upon this knowledge, students investigated how different philosophical systems address controversial social issues in the biological sciences. They examined the teaching of intelligent design and creationism in public schools, the implications of legalized abortion and physician-assisted suicide, the potential impact of DNA fingerprinting on human rights and racism, the promise and pitfalls of stem cell research, and the neurobiological basis of consciousness and its relevance to mental health therapies and the animal rights movement. We believe undergraduate life science students should be exposed to these issues and have an opportunity to develop informed opinions about them before they graduate from college. Exploration of such topics will help them become better prepared for the inevitable public debates that they will face as science educators, researchers, and leaders of society. PMID:21289866

A Rationale and Outline for an Undergraduate Course on the Philosophy and History of Science for Life Science Students.

PubMed

Hockberger, Philip E; Miller, Richard J

2005-09-01

There are compelling reasons for teaching a philosophy of science course to undergraduate life science students. The main reason is to help them understand that modern science is not based upon a single, consistent philosophical system; nor is it based upon common sense, or a method, set of rules or formulas that can be used to make unerring predictions. Rather, science is a dynamic process that is constantly being modified and refined to reflect and encompass an ever-expanding set of hypotheses, observations, and theories. To illustrate these points, we developed a course that examined the history and philosophical underpinnings of modern science, and we discussed famous experiments that challenged the prevailing norm and led to Kuhnian revolutions in scientific thought. Building upon this knowledge, students investigated how different philosophical systems address controversial social issues in the biological sciences. They examined the teaching of intelligent design and creationism in public schools, the implications of legalized abortion and physician-assisted suicide, the potential impact of DNA fingerprinting on human rights and racism, the promise and pitfalls of stem cell research, and the neurobiological basis of consciousness and its relevance to mental health therapies and the animal rights movement. We believe undergraduate life science students should be exposed to these issues and have an opportunity to develop informed opinions about them before they graduate from college. Exploration of such topics will help them become better prepared for the inevitable public debates that they will face as science educators, researchers, and leaders of society.

Using Art to Teach Students Science Outdoors: How Creative Science Instruction Influences Observation, Question Formation, and Involvement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cone, Christina Schull

Elementary education has become increasingly divided into subjects and focused on the demand for high math and reading scores. Consequently, teachers spend less time devoted to science and art instruction. However, teaching art and science is crucial to developing creative and rational thinking, especially for observation and questioning skills. In this study, third grade students attending an urban school in Portland, Oregon received instruction of an art strategy using observational and quantifying drawing techniques. This study examines, "Will an art strategy observing the local environment help students make observations and ask questions?" and "In what ways are student learning and perspectives of science affected by the art strategy?" The independent variable is the art strategy developed for this study. There are three dependent variables: quality of student observations, quality of questions, and themes on student learning and perspectives of science. I predicted students would develop strong observation and questioning skills and that students would find the strategy useful or have an increased interest in science. The art scores were high for relevance and detail, but not for text. There were significant correlations between art scores and questions. Interviews revealed three themes: observations create questions, drawing is helpful and challenging, and students connected to science. By examining science through art, students were engaged and created strong observations and questions. Teachers need to balance unstructured drawing time with scaffolding for optimal results. This study provides an integrated science and art strategy that teachers can use outdoors or adapt for the classroom.

Choosing phenomenology as a guiding philosophy for nursing research.

PubMed

Matua, Gerald Amandu

2015-03-01

To provide an overview of important methodological considerations that nurse researchers need to adhere to when choosing phenomenology as a guiding philosophy and research method. Phenomenology is a major philosophy and research method in the humanities, human sciences and arts disciplines with a central goal of describing people's experiences. However, many nurse researchers continue to grapple with methodological issues related to their choice of phenomenological method. The author conducted online and manual searches of relevant research books and electronic databases. Using an integrative method, peer-reviewed research and discussion papers published between January 1990 and December 2011 and listed in the CINAHL, Science Direct, PubMed and Google Scholar databases were reviewed. In addition, textbooks that addressed research methodologies such as phenomenology were used. Although phenomenology is widely used today to broaden understanding of human phenomena relevant to nursing practice, nurse researchers often fail to adhere to acceptable scientific and phenomenological standards. Cognisant of these challenges, researchers are expected to indicate in their work the focus of their investigations, designs, and approaches to collecting and analysing data. They are also expected to present their findings in an evocative and expressive manner. Choosing phenomenology requires researchers to understand it as a philosophy, including basic assumptions and tenets of phenomenology as a research method. This awareness enables researchers, especially novices, to make important methodological decisions, particularly those necessary to indicate the study's scientific rigour and phenomenological validity. This paper adds to the discussion of phenomenology as a guiding philosophy for nursing research. It aims to guide new researchers on important methodological decisions they need to make to safeguard their study's scientific rigour and phenomenological validity.

The Promise and Limitations of Using Analogies to Improve Decision-Relevant Understanding of Climate Change

PubMed Central

Stern, Paul C.; Maki, Alexander

2017-01-01

To make informed choices about how to address climate change, members of the public must develop ways to consider established facts of climate science and the uncertainties about its future trajectories, in addition to the risks attendant to various responses, including non-response, to climate change. One method suggested for educating the public about these issues is the use of simple mental models, or analogies comparing climate change to familiar domains such as medical decision making, disaster preparedness, or courtroom trials. Two studies were conducted using online participants in the U.S.A. to test the use of analogies to highlight seven key decision-relevant elements of climate change, including uncertainties about when and where serious damage may occur, its unprecedented and progressive nature, and tradeoffs in limiting climate change. An internal meta-analysis was then conducted to estimate overall effect sizes across the two studies. Analogies were not found to inform knowledge about climate literacy facts. However, results suggested that people found the medical analogy helpful and that it led people—especially political conservatives—to better recognize several decision-relevant attributes of climate change. These effects were weak, perhaps reflecting a well-documented and overwhelming effect of political ideology on climate change communication and education efforts in the U.S.A. The potential of analogies and similar education tools to improve understanding and communication in a polarized political environment are discussed. PMID:28135337

Toward benchmarking in catalysis science: Best practices, challenges, and opportunities

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

Bligaard, Thomas; Bullock, R. Morris; Campbell, Charles T.

Benchmarking is a community-based and (preferably) community-driven activity involving consensus-based decisions on how to make reproducible, fair, and relevant assessments. In catalysis science, important catalyst performance metrics include activity, selectivity, and the deactivation profile, which enable comparisons between new and standard catalysts. Benchmarking also requires careful documentation, archiving, and sharing of methods and measurements, to ensure that the full value of research data can be realized. Beyond these goals, benchmarking presents unique opportunities to advance and accelerate understanding of complex reaction systems by combining and comparing experimental information from multiple, in situ and operando techniques with theoretical insights derived frommore » calculations characterizing model systems. This Perspective describes the origins and uses of benchmarking and its applications in computational catalysis, heterogeneous catalysis, molecular catalysis, and electrocatalysis. As a result, it also discusses opportunities and challenges for future developments in these fields.« less

Evaluating Astronomy Laboratories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zirbel, E. L.

2002-12-01

A set of non-traditional astronomy laboratories for non-science majors will be presented along with evaluations of lab technicians (these labs were originally developed at the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York). The goal of these labs is twofold: (a) to provide the students with hands-on experiences of scientific methodology and (b) to provoke critical thinking. Because non-science majors are often rather resistant to learning the relevant methodology - and especially to thinking critically - this manual is structured differently. It does not only provide traditional cook-book recipes but also contains several leading questions to make the students realize why they are doing what. The students are encouraged to write full sentences and explain how they reach which conclusions. This poster summarizes the experiences of the laboratory assistants that worked with the instructor and presents how they judge the effectiveness of the laboratories.

A personal perspective on modelling the climate system.

PubMed

Palmer, T N

2016-04-01

Given their increasing relevance for society, I suggest that the climate science community itself does not treat the development of error-free ab initio models of the climate system with sufficient urgency. With increasing levels of difficulty, I discuss a number of proposals for speeding up such development. Firstly, I believe that climate science should make better use of the pool of post-PhD talent in mathematics and physics, for developing next-generation climate models. Secondly, I believe there is more scope for the development of modelling systems which link weather and climate prediction more seamlessly. Finally, here in Europe, I call for a new European Programme on Extreme Computing and Climate to advance our ability to simulate climate extremes, and understand the drivers of such extremes. A key goal for such a programme is the development of a 1 km global climate system model to run on the first exascale supercomputers in the early 2020s.

Integrated approaches to perceptual learning.

PubMed

Jacobs, Robert A

2010-04-01

New technologies and new ways of thinking have recently led to rapid expansions in the study of perceptual learning. We describe three themes shared by many of the nine articles included in this topic on Integrated Approaches to Perceptual Learning. First, perceptual learning cannot be studied on its own because it is closely linked to other aspects of cognition, such as attention, working memory, decision making, and conceptual knowledge. Second, perceptual learning is sensitive to both the stimulus properties of the environment in which an observer exists and to the properties of the tasks that the observer needs to perform. Moreover, the environmental and task properties can be characterized through their statistical regularities. Finally, the study of perceptual learning has important implications for society, including implications for science education and medical rehabilitation. Contributed articles relevant to each theme are summarized. Copyright © 2010 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Toward benchmarking in catalysis science: Best practices, challenges, and opportunities

DOE PAGES

Bligaard, Thomas; Bullock, R. Morris; Campbell, Charles T.; ...

2016-03-07

Benchmarking is a community-based and (preferably) community-driven activity involving consensus-based decisions on how to make reproducible, fair, and relevant assessments. In catalysis science, important catalyst performance metrics include activity, selectivity, and the deactivation profile, which enable comparisons between new and standard catalysts. Benchmarking also requires careful documentation, archiving, and sharing of methods and measurements, to ensure that the full value of research data can be realized. Beyond these goals, benchmarking presents unique opportunities to advance and accelerate understanding of complex reaction systems by combining and comparing experimental information from multiple, in situ and operando techniques with theoretical insights derived frommore » calculations characterizing model systems. This Perspective describes the origins and uses of benchmarking and its applications in computational catalysis, heterogeneous catalysis, molecular catalysis, and electrocatalysis. As a result, it also discusses opportunities and challenges for future developments in these fields.« less

Astronomy. Laser telemetry from space.

PubMed

Bland-Hawthorn, Joss; Harwit, Alex; Harwit, Martin

2002-07-26

Space missions currently on the drawing boards are expected to gather data at rates exceeding the transmission capabilities of today's telemetry systems by many orders of magnitude. Even on current missions, onboard data compression techniques are being implemented to compensate for lack of transmission speed. But while data compression can minimize the loss of data, it is no substitute for transmitting all of the data through a faster communications link. The transmission problem will soon reach crisis proportions and will affect astronomical, Earth resources, geophysical, meteorological, planetary and other space science missions. To overcome this communications bottleneck, the authors advocate the implementation of telemetry systems based on near-infrared laser transmission techniques. The fiber-optics communications industry has developed most of the basic components required for signal transmission in this wavelength band, which should make such a system affordable on scales relevant to the cost of anticipated space science missions.

User and stakeholder involvement for relevant, reliable and robust local-scale climate projections in Norway

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neby, Simon; Sobolowski, Stefan

2017-04-01

How can users and stakeholders be actively involved with providing input to and using output from local-scale climate projections? How can the scientific community better understand the needs of local actors? And how should communication and cooperation efforts be organized? These are critical questions we aim to answer in a climate services project funded by the Norwegian Research Council (R3: Relevant, Reliable and Robust local-scale climate projections for Norway). The project takes into consideration not only the scientific issues in establishing useful local-scale climate projections, but also addresses the "usability gap" between climate information and decision-making. The lack of effective communication between scientists and user communities often result in outputs and products that are not matched with decision-relevant climate information. In the R3 project, the scientific participants actively engage with a range of users that have quite different information needs: municipalities, infrastructure developers, agriculture, energy producers, insurance companies, and more. In this particular presentation, we present our experiences concerning three specific issues that relate to the stakeholder-science interface: 1) Preferences are not clear-cut and pre-defined. In practice, this means that stakeholders often do not have precise information about their needs, nor precise information about how, where and whether their needs can be voiced. Similarly, science communities tend to presuppose that stakeholders are interested and have well-articulated needs, which is hardly the case. Collectively, that means that there is a need for an approach that guides the articulation and prioritization of preferences in a manner that integrates both scientific and stakeholder perspectives and takes the integrity of both perspectives seriously. 2) Technologies are unclear. Although information may be produced and used, past experiences, trial and error processes and pragmatic considerations often dominate actual knowledge dissemination and application processes. Involved actors have very diverse interests, and equally varying modes of knowledge application and logics of action. Timeframes vary, as do the formats that climate information needs have, if it is to be applicable and relevant. Farmers' associations that formulate sector policies need information in a different form than municipalities engaged in urban planning. 3) Actor participation is fluid. All actors are marked by limitations in attention, engagement, resources, external demands and access to processes that are of (varying) relevance to them. Not all stakeholders (and not all scientists) can, will or wish to be equally active in co-production of knowledge. Similarly, the decision-making processes where information is put to use are subject to variation in engagement and participation.

Citation analysis in journal rankings: medical informatics in the library and information science literature.

PubMed Central

Vishwanatham, R

1998-01-01

Medical informatics is an interdisciplinary field. Medical informatics articles will be found in the literature of various disciplines including library and information science publications. The purpose of this study was to provide an objectively ranked list of journals that publish medical informatics articles relevant to library and information science. Library Literature, Library and Information Science Abstracts, and Social Science Citation Index were used to identify articles published on the topic of medical informatics and to identify a ranked list of journals. This study also used citation analysis to identify the most frequently cited journals relevant to library and information science. PMID:9803294

Workshop summary: 'Integrating air quality and climate mitigation - is there a need for new metrics to support decision making?'

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

von Schneidemesser, E.; Schmale, J.; Van Aardenne, J.

2013-12-01

Air pollution and climate change are often treated at national and international level as separate problems under different regulatory or thematic frameworks and different policy departments. With air pollution and climate change being strongly linked with regard to their causes, effects and mitigation options, the integration of policies that steer air pollutant and greenhouse gas emission reductions might result in cost-efficient, more effective and thus more sustainable tackling of the two problems. To support informed decision making and to work towards an integrated air quality and climate change mitigation policy requires the identification, quantification and communication of present-day and potential future co-benefits and trade-offs. The identification of co-benefits and trade-offs requires the application of appropriate metrics that are well rooted in science, easy to understand and reflect the needs of policy, industry and the public for informed decision making. For the purpose of this workshop, metrics were loosely defined as a quantified measure of effect or impact used to inform decision-making and to evaluate mitigation measures. The workshop held on October 9 and 10 and co-organized between the European Environment Agency and the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies brought together representatives from science, policy, NGOs, and industry to discuss whether current available metrics are 'fit for purpose' or whether there is a need to develop alternative metrics or reassess the way current metrics are used and communicated. Based on the workshop outcome the presentation will (a) summarize the informational needs and current application of metrics by the end-users, who, depending on their field and area of operation might require health, policy, and/or economically relevant parameters at different scales, (b) provide an overview of the state of the science of currently used and newly developed metrics, and the scientific validity of these metrics, (c) identify gaps in the current information base, whether from the scientific development of metrics or their application by different users.

Creating a Model of Acceptance: Preservice Teachers Interact with Non-English-Speaking Latino Parents Using Culturally Relevant Mathematics and Science Activities at Family Learning Events

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramirez, Olga; McCollough, Cherie A.; Diaz, Zulmaris

2016-01-01

The following describes a culturally relevant mathematics and science content program implemented by preservice teachers (PSTs) at Family Math/Science Learning Events (FM/SLEs) conducted through two different university programs in south Texas. These experiences are required course activities designed to inform PSTs of the importance of…

Teaching Social Science Research Methods to Undergraduate Medical Students: The State of the Art and Opportunities for Practice and Curriculum Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forrest, Simon

2017-01-01

There is an expectation that medical students in the UK will be able to demonstrate conversancy with social science relevant to medicine and health, including the means by which the relevant bodies of knowledge are generated through the use of social science research methods. This paper explores the structural and pedagogical challenges and…

An Exploration of the Relevance of the Pedagogy and Academic Content Knowledge That Are Offered to Prospective Science and Mathematics Teachers in Tanzania Teachers' Colleges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mungure, Daudi Mika

2016-01-01

This paper explored the Relevance of the Pedagogy and Academic Content Knowledge that are offered to Prospective Science and Mathematics Teachers in Tanzania Teachers' colleges. Morogoro Teachers' College and Kleruu Teachers' college were used as a case study. The performance in science and mathematics subjects in form four National examinations…

Resilience Among Students at the Basic Enlisted Submarine School

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-12-01

reported resilience. The Hayes’ Macro in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SSPS) was used to uncover factors relevant to mediation analysis... Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to uncover factors relevant to mediation analysis. Findings suggest that the encouragement of...to Stressful Experiences Scale RTC Recruit Training Command SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SS Social Support SWB Subjective Well

CosmoQuest Collaborative: Galvanizing a Dynamic Professional Learning Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cobb, Whitney; Bracey, Georgia; Buxner, Sanlyn; Gay, Pamela L.; Noel-Storr, Jacob; CosmoQuest Team

2016-10-01

The CosmoQuest Collaboration offers in-depth experiences to diverse audiences around the nation and the world through pioneering citizen science in a virtual research facility. An endeavor between universities, research institutes, and NASA centers, CosmoQuest brings together scientists, educators, researchers, programmers—and citizens of all ages—to explore and make sense of our solar system and beyond. Leveraging human networks to expand NASA science, scaffolded by an educational framework that inspires lifelong learners, CosmoQuest engages citizens in analyzing and interpreting real NASA data, inspiring questions and defining problems.The QuestionLinda Darling-Hammond calls for professional development to be: "focused on the learning and teaching of specific curriculum content [i.e. NGSS disciplinary core ideas]; organized around real problems of practice [i.e. NGSS science and engineering practices] … [and] connected to teachers' collaborative work in professional learning community...." (2012) In light of that, what is the unique role CosmoQuest's virtual research facility can offer NASA STEM education?A Few AnswersThe CosmoQuest Collaboration actively engages scientists in education, and educators (and learners) in science. CosmoQuest uses social channels to empower and expand NASA's learning community through a variety of media, including science and education-focused hangouts, virtual star parties, and social media. In addition to creating its own supportive, standards-aligned materials, CosmoQuest offers a hub for excellent resources and materials throughout NASA and the larger astronomy community.In support of CosmoQuest citizen science opportunities, CQ initiatives (Learning Space, S-ROSES, IDEASS, Educator Zone) will be leveraged and shared through the CQPLN. CosmoQuest can be present and alive in the awareness its growing learning community.Finally, to make the CosmoQuest PLN truly relevant, it aims to encourage partnerships between scientists and educators, and offer "just-in-time" opportunities to support constituents exploring emerging NASA STEM education, from diverse educators to the curious learner of any age.

Twenty-first century approaches to toxicity testing, biomonitoring, and risk assessment: perspectives from the global chemical industry.

PubMed

Phillips, Richard D; Bahadori, Tina; Barry, Brenda E; Bus, James S; Gant, Timothy W; Mostowy, Janet M; Smith, Claudia; Willuhn, Marc; Zimmer, Ulrike

2009-09-01

The International Council of Chemical Associations' Long-Range Research Initiative (ICCA-LRI) sponsored a workshop, titled Twenty-First Century Approaches to Toxicity Testing, Biomonitoring, and Risk Assessment, on 16 and 17 June 2008 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The workshop focused on interpretation of data from the new technologies for toxicity testing and biomonitoring, and on understanding the relevance of the new data for assessment of human health risks. Workshop participants articulated their concerns that scientific approaches for interpreting and understanding the emerging data in a biologically relevant context lag behind the rapid advancements in the new technologies. Research will be needed to mitigate these lags and to develop approaches for communicating the information, even in a context of uncertainty. A collaborative, coordinated, and sustained research effort is necessary to modernize risk assessment and to significantly reduce current reliance on animal testing. In essence, this workshop was a call to action to bring together the intellectual and financial resources necessary to harness the potential of these new technologies towards improved public health decision making. Without investment in the science of interpretation, it will be difficult to realize the potential that the advanced technologies offer to modernize toxicity testing, exposure science, and risk assessment.

Finding Common Ground Between Earth Scientists and Evangelical Christians

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grant Ludwig, L.

2015-12-01

In recent decades there has been some tension between earth scientists and evangelical Christians in the U.S., and this tension has spilled over into the political arena and policymaking on important issues such as climate change. From my personal and professional experience engaging with both groups, I find there is much common ground for increasing understanding and communicating the societal relevance of earth science. Fruitful discussions can arise from shared values and principles, and common approaches to understanding the world. For example, scientists and Christians are engaged in the pursuit of truth, and they value moral/ethical decision-making based on established principles. Scientists emphasize the benefits of research "for the common good" while Christians emphasize the value of doing "good works". Both groups maintain a longterm perspective: Christians talk about "the eternal" and geologists discuss "deep time". Both groups understand the importance of placing new observations in context of prior understanding: scientists diligently reference "the literature" while Christians quote "chapter and verse". And members of each group engage with each other in "fellowship" or "meetings" to create a sense of community and reinforce shared values. From my perspective, earth scientists can learn to communicate the importance and relevance of science more effectively by engaging with Christians in areas of common ground, rather than by trying to win arguments or debates.

Comparison of three web-scale discovery services for health sciences research.

PubMed

Hanneke, Rosie; O'Brien, Kelly K

2016-04-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relative effectiveness of three web-scale discovery (WSD) tools in answering health sciences search queries. Simple keyword searches, based on topics from six health sciences disciplines, were run at multiple real-world implementations of EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS), Ex Libris's Primo, and ProQuest's Summon. Each WSD tool was evaluated in its ability to retrieve relevant results and in its coverage of MEDLINE content. All WSD tools returned between 50%-60% relevant results. Primo returned a higher number of duplicate results than the other 2 WSD products. Summon results were more relevant when search terms were automatically mapped to controlled vocabulary. EDS indexed the largest number of MEDLINE citations, followed closely by Summon. Additionally, keyword searches in all 3 WSD tools retrieved relevant material that was not found with precision (Medical Subject Headings) searches in MEDLINE. None of the 3 WSD products studied was overwhelmingly more effective in returning relevant results. While difficult to place the figure of 50%-60% relevance in context, it implies a strong likelihood that the average user would be able to find satisfactory sources on the first page of search results using a rudimentary keyword search. The discovery of additional relevant material beyond that retrieved from MEDLINE indicates WSD tools' value as a supplement to traditional resources for health sciences researchers.

Comparison of three web-scale discovery services for health sciences research*

PubMed Central

Hanneke, Rosie; O'Brien, Kelly K.

2016-01-01

Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the relative effectiveness of three web-scale discovery (WSD) tools in answering health sciences search queries. Methods Simple keyword searches, based on topics from six health sciences disciplines, were run at multiple real-world implementations of EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS), Ex Libris's Primo, and ProQuest's Summon. Each WSD tool was evaluated in its ability to retrieve relevant results and in its coverage of MEDLINE content. Results All WSD tools returned between 50%–60% relevant results. Primo returned a higher number of duplicate results than the other 2 WSD products. Summon results were more relevant when search terms were automatically mapped to controlled vocabulary. EDS indexed the largest number of MEDLINE citations, followed closely by Summon. Additionally, keyword searches in all 3 WSD tools retrieved relevant material that was not found with precision (Medical Subject Headings) searches in MEDLINE. Conclusions None of the 3 WSD products studied was overwhelmingly more effective in returning relevant results. While difficult to place the figure of 50%–60% relevance in context, it implies a strong likelihood that the average user would be able to find satisfactory sources on the first page of search results using a rudimentary keyword search. The discovery of additional relevant material beyond that retrieved from MEDLINE indicates WSD tools' value as a supplement to traditional resources for health sciences researchers. PMID:27076797

Does it matter what we call it?

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Agronomy, soil science, plant science, crop science, agricultural science, computer science, environmental science, environmental engineering, agricultural and irrigation engineering, hydrology, meteorology – all are names that describe fields of study relevant to agriculture and the environment in ...

Questioning the Relevance of Model-Based Probability Statements on Extreme Weather and Future Climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, L. A.

2007-12-01

We question the relevance of climate-model based Bayesian (or other) probability statements for decision support and impact assessment on spatial scales less than continental and temporal averages less than seasonal. Scientific assessment of higher resolution space and time scale information is urgently needed, given the commercial availability of "products" at high spatiotemporal resolution, their provision by nationally funded agencies for use both in industry decision making and governmental policy support, and their presentation to the public as matters of fact. Specifically we seek to establish necessary conditions for probability forecasts (projections conditioned on a model structure and a forcing scenario) to be taken seriously as reflecting the probability of future real-world events. We illustrate how risk management can profitably employ imperfect models of complicated chaotic systems, following NASA's study of near-Earth PHOs (Potentially Hazardous Objects). Our climate models will never be perfect, nevertheless the space and time scales on which they provide decision- support relevant information is expected to improve with the models themselves. Our aim is to establish a set of baselines of internal consistency; these are merely necessary conditions (not sufficient conditions) that physics based state-of-the-art models are expected to pass if their output is to be judged decision support relevant. Probabilistic Similarity is proposed as one goal which can be obtained even when our models are not empirically adequate. In short, probabilistic similarity requires that, given inputs similar to today's empirical observations and observational uncertainties, we expect future models to produce similar forecast distributions. Expert opinion on the space and time scales on which we might reasonably expect probabilistic similarity may prove of much greater utility than expert elicitation of uncertainty in parameter values in a model that is not empirically adequate; this may help to explain the reluctance of experts to provide information on "parameter uncertainty." Probability statements about the real world are always conditioned on some information set; they may well be conditioned on "False" making them of little value to a rational decision maker. In other instances, they may be conditioned on physical assumptions not held by any of the modellers whose model output is being cast as a probability distribution. Our models will improve a great deal in the next decades, and our insight into the likely climate fifty years hence will improve: maintaining the credibility of the science and the coherence of science based decision support, as our models improve, require a clear statement of our current limitations. What evidence do we have that today's state-of-the-art models provide decision-relevant probability forecasts? What space and time scales do we currently have quantitative, decision-relevant information on for 2050? 2080?

New Center Links Earth, Space, and Information Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aswathanarayana, U.

2004-05-01

Broad-based geoscience instruction melding the Earth, space, and information technology sciences has been identified as an effective way to take advantage of the new jobs created by technological innovations in natural resources management. Based on this paradigm, the University of Hyderabad in India is developing a Centre of Earth and Space Sciences that will be linked to the university's super-computing facility. The proposed center will provide the basic science underpinnings for the Earth, space, and information technology sciences; develop new methodologies for the utilization of natural resources such as water, soils, sediments, minerals, and biota; mitigate the adverse consequences of natural hazards; and design innovative ways of incorporating scientific information into the legislative and administrative processes. For these reasons, the ethos and the innovatively designed management structure of the center would be of particular relevance to the developing countries. India holds 17% of the world's human population, and 30% of its farm animals, but only about 2% of the planet's water resources. Water will hence constitute the core concern of the center, because ecologically sustainable, socially equitable, and economically viable management of water resources of the country holds the key to the quality of life (drinking water, sanitation, and health), food security, and industrial development of the country. The center will be focused on interdisciplinary basic and pure applied research that is relevant to the practical needs of India as a developing country. These include, for example, climate prediction, since India is heavily dependent on the monsoon system, and satellite remote sensing of soil moisture, since agriculture is still a principal source of livelihood in India. The center will perform research and development in areas such as data assimilation and validation, and identification of new sensors to be mounted on the Indian meteorological satellites to make measurements in those spectral bands and with those polarizations that are needed to address water resources management issues.

Dynamics of Supercritical Flows

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-26

to Supercritical Environment of Relevance to Rocket, Gas turbine , and Diesel Engines,” 37th AIAA Aerospace Science Meeting and Exhibit, AIAA...Visual Characteristics of a Round Jet into a Sub- to Supercritical Environment of Relevance to Rocket, Gas turbine , and Diesel Engines,” 37th AIAA...Relevance to Rocket, Gas turbine , and Diesel Engines,” 37th AIAA Aerospace Science Meeting and Exhibit, AIAA, Washington, DC, 11-14 Jan. 1999. 26Chehroudi

The Business of Co-Production: Assessing Efforts to Bridge Science and Decision-Making for Adaptation in California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Webber, S.; MacDonald, G. M.

2016-12-01

The last decades have seen scholars argue for a greater integration of science and decision-making in order to more effectively respond to climate change. It has been suggested that overcoming the gap between science, on the one hand, and policy-making and management, on the other, requires building bridges through methods of co-production, creating actionable science, or through boundary organizations. In this paper, we review attempts at co-production for policy-making and management in the context of climate change adaptation in California. Building on field research, including numerous interviews conducted with scientists and decision-makers who are co-producers of adaptation projects, we make three arguments. First, we show that an emphasis on co-production and science-informed climate change adaptation decision-making has bolstered a contract-oriented, and decentralized network-based model of producing climate science. Second, reviewing successes and failures in co-production - as reported in interviews - indicates that it is principally in cases of neatly defined, and spatially and temporarily narrow decision-making contexts, and with highly motivated decision-makers, that climate science is used. Finally, we suggest that the ideas of co-production and actionable science may have increased the institutional and organizational burden at the science-decision interface, lengthening the boundary-organization-chain rather than necessarily facilitating adaptive policy-making and management.

Teaching science to English Language Learners: Instructional approaches of high school teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frank, Betty-Vinca N.

Students who are English Language Learners (ELLs) form the fastest growing segment of the American school population. Prompted by the call for scientific literacy for all citizens, science educators too have investigated the intersection of language and science instruction of ELLs. However these studies have typically been conducted with elementary students. Few studies have explored how high school science teachers, particularly those who have not received any special training, approach science instruction of ELLs and what supports them in this endeavor. This was a qualitative case study conducted with five science teachers in one small urban high school that predominantly served ELLs. The purpose of this study was to examine instructional approaches used by teachers to make science accessible to ELLs and the factors that supported or inhibited them in developing their instructional approaches. This goal encompassed the following questions: (a) how teachers viewed science instruction of ELLs, (b) how teachers designed a responsive program to teach science to ELLs, (c) what approaches teachers used for curriculum development and instruction, (d) how teachers developed classroom learning communities to meet the needs of ELLs. Seven instructional strategies and five perceived sources of support emerged as findings of this research. In summary, teachers believed that they needed to make science more accessible for their ELL students while promoting their literacy skills. Teachers provided individualized attention to students to provide relevant support. Teachers engaged their students in various types of active learning lessons in social contexts, where students worked on both hands-on and meaning-making activities and interacted with their peers and teachers. Teachers also created classroom communities and learning spaces where students felt comfortable to seek and give help. Finally, teachers identified several sources of support that influenced their instructional approaches including, the structure of the school, working on instructional teams, collaborating and working with other teachers especially English teachers and including science teachers, and participating in various professional development activities. The findings indicated that the instructional approaches used by teachers were largely supported by literacy education and science education done at elementary level. Findings also revealed that teachers in this study encouraged their ELLs to participate in classroom conversations and involved them in answering open-ended questions. However, not all teachers in this study had the same repertoire of instructional strategies for their ELL students and some teachers demonstrated a better understanding of these approaches than others. All teachers perceived that the structure of the school as well as collaborating and working with other teachers, especially English teachers, as their main source of support in designing instructional approaches. This study suggests that teacher educators and professional development providers need to develop courses and programs to help high school teachers learn about how to design instructional activities that simultaneously promote both academic science and English literacy. Also, administrators need to create conditions at their schools that would allow teachers to interact, collaborate, and learn from each other.

The relationship between immediate relevant basic science knowledge and clinical knowledge: physiology knowledge and transthoracic echocardiography image interpretation.

PubMed

Nielsen, Dorte Guldbrand; Gotzsche, Ole; Sonne, Ole; Eika, Berit

2012-10-01

Two major views on the relationship between basic science knowledge and clinical knowledge stand out; the Two-world view seeing basic science and clinical science as two separate knowledge bases and the encapsulated knowledge view stating that basic science knowledge plays an overt role being encapsulated in the clinical knowledge. However, resent research has implied that a more complex relationship between the two knowledge bases exists. In this study, we explore the relationship between immediate relevant basic science (physiology) and clinical knowledge within a specific domain of medicine (echocardiography). Twenty eight medical students in their 3rd year and 45 physicians (15 interns, 15 cardiology residents and 15 cardiology consultants) took a multiple-choice test of physiology knowledge. The physicians also viewed images of a transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) examination and completed a checklist of possible pathologies found. A total score for each participant was calculated for the physiology test, and for all physicians also for the TTE checklist. Consultants scored significantly higher on the physiology test than did medical students and interns. A significant correlation between physiology test scores and TTE checklist scores was found for the cardiology residents only. Basic science knowledge of immediate relevance for daily clinical work expands with increased work experience within a specific domain. Consultants showed no relationship between physiology knowledge and TTE interpretation indicating that experts do not use basic science knowledge in routine daily practice, but knowledge of immediate relevance remains ready for use.

The role of metrology in mediating and mobilizing the language and culture of scientific facts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fisher, W. P., Jr.; Stenner, A. J.

2015-02-01

The self-conscious awareness of language and its use is arguably nowhere more intense than in metrology. The careful and deliberate coordination and alignment of shared metrological frames of reference for theory, experiment, and practical application have been characteristics of scientific culture at least since the origins of the SI units in revolutionary France. Though close attention has been focused on the logical and analytical aspects of language use in science, little concern has been shown for understanding how the social and historical aspects of everyday language may have foreshadowed and influenced the development and character of metrological language, especially relative to the inevitably partial knowledge possessed by any given stakeholder participating in the scientific enterprise. Insight in this regard may be helpful in discerning how and if an analogous role for metrology might be created in psychology and the social sciences. It may be that the success of psychology as a science will depend less on taking physics as the relevant model than on attending to the interplay of concepts, models, and social organization that make any culture effective.

Connecting the Science User With Science Data and Services via the BCube Broker and Crawler

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khalsa, S. J. S.

2015-12-01

BCube, an NSF EarthCube Building Block project, aims to improve efficiency and productivity of geoscientists who work across disciplinary boundaries by facilitating discovery and access of geoscience data, linking major data facilities, and creating a new paradigm for data advertising and discovery. In this presentation we describe the achievements to date of the BCube brokering and web crawling efforts, addressing focus areas and outcomes in both cyberinfrastructure and geocsciences. We describe science scenarios illustrating the research in the ocean, climate, hydrology and polar domains that is being supported by the BCube Broker. By providing mediation between a diversity of standards and protocols the broker makes it possible for the geoscientists working in these demains to discover and access high-value datasets via a cloud-based interface. An Accessor Development Kit (ADK) enables the community to develop modules that extend the capabilities of the broker. In addition, we describe the web crawling and semantic technologies that are being applied to find new geoscience-relevant datasets and services on the web.

Epidemiology and causation: a realist view.

PubMed Central

Renton, A

1994-01-01

In this paper the controversy over how to decide whether associations between factors and diseases are causal is placed within a description of the public health and scientific relevance of epidemiology. It is argued that the rise in popularity of the Popperian view of science, together with a perception of the aims of epidemiology as being to identify appropriate public health interventions, have focussed this debate on unresolved questions of inferential logic, leaving largely unanalysed the notions of causation and of disease at the ontological level. A realist ontology of causation of disease and pathogenesis is constructed within the framework of "scientific materialism", and is shown to provide a coherent basis from which to decide causes and to deal with problems of confounding and interaction in epidemiological research. It is argued that a realist analysis identifies a richer role for epidemiology as an integral part of an ontologically unified medical science. It is this unified medical science as a whole rather than epidemiological observation or experiment which decides causes and, in turn, provides a key element to the foundations of rational public health decision making. PMID:8138775

Science and Sandy: Lessons Learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Werner, K.

2013-12-01

Following Hurricane Sandy's impact on the mid-Atlantic region, President Obama established a Task Force to '...ensure that the Federal Government continues to provide appropriate resources to support affected State, local, and tribal communities to improve the region's resilience, health, and prosperity by building for the future.' The author was detailed from NOAA to the Task Force between January and June 2013. As the Task Force and others began to take stock of the region's needs and develop plans to address them, many diverse approaches emerged from different areas of expertise including: infrastructure, management and construction, housing, public health, and others. Decision making in this environment was complex with many interests and variables to consider and balance. Although often relevant, science and technical expertise was not always at the forefront of this process. This talk describes the author's experience with the Sandy Task Force focusing on organizing scientific expertise to support the work of the Task Force. This includes a description of federal activity supporting Sandy recovery efforts, the role of the Task Force, and lessons learned from developing a science support function within the Task Force.

Mathematics and Astronomy: Inquire Based Scientific Education at School

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Castro, Ana I. Gómez

2010-10-01

Mathematics is the language of science however, in secondary and high school education students are not made aware of the strong implications behind this statement. This is partially caused because mathematical training and the modelling of nature are not taught together. Astronomy provides firm scientific grounds for this joint training; the mathematics needed is simple, the data can be acquired with simple instrumentation in any place on the planet and the physics is rich with a broad range of levels. In addition, astronomy and space exploration are extremely appealing to young (14-17 years old) students helping to motivate them to study science doing science, i.e. to introduce Inquiry Based Scientific Education (IBSE). Since 1997 a global consortium is being developed to introduce IBSE techniques in secondary/high school education on a global scale: the Global Hands-On Universe association (www.globalhou.org) making use of the astronomical universe as a training lab. This contribution is a brief update on the current activities of the HOU consortium. Relevant URLS: www.globalhou.org, www.euhou.net, www.houspain.com.

The many meanings of evidence: a comparative analysis of the forms and roles of evidence within three health policy processes in Cambodia.

PubMed

Walls, Helen; Liverani, Marco; Chheng, Kannarath; Parkhurst, Justin

2017-11-10

Discussions within the health community routinely emphasise the importance of evidence in informing policy formulation and implementation. Much of the support for the evidence-based policy movement draws from concern that policy decisions are often based on inadequate engagement with high-quality evidence. In many such discussions, evidence is treated as differing only in quality, and assumed to improve decisions if it can only be used more. In contrast, political science scholars have described this as an overly simplistic view of the policy-making process, noting that research 'use' can mean a variety of things and relies on nuanced aspects of political systems. An approach more in recognition of how policy-making systems operate in practice can be to consider how institutions and ideas influence which pieces of evidence appear to be relevant for, and are used within, different policy processes. Drawing on in-depth interviews undertaken in 2015-2016 with key health sector stakeholders in Cambodia, we investigate the evidence perceived to be relevant to policy decisions for three contrasting health policy examples, namely tobacco control, HIV/AIDS and performance-based salary incentives. These cases allow us to examine the ways that policy-relevant evidence may differ given the framing of the issue and the broader institutional context in which evidence is considered. The three health issues show few similarities in how pieces of evidence were used in various aspects of policy-making, despite all being discussed within a broad policy environment in which evidence-based policy-making is rhetorically championed. Instead, we find that evidence use can be better understood by mapping how these health policy issues differ in terms of the issue characteristics, and also in terms of the stakeholders structurally established as having a dominant influence for each issue. Both of these have important implications for evidence use. Contrasting concerns of key stakeholders meant that evidence related to differing issues could be understood in terms of how it was relevant to policy. The stakeholders involved, however, could further be seen to possess differing logics about how to go about achieving their various outcomes - logics that could further help explain the differences seen in evidence utilisation. A comparative approach reiterates that evidence is not a uniform concept for which more is obviously better, but rather illustrates how different constructions and pieces of evidence become relevant in relation to the features of specific health policy decisions. An institutional approach that considers the structural position of stakeholders with differing core goals or objectives, as well as their logics related to evidence utilisation, can further help to understand some of the complexities of evidence use in health policy-making.

Making Sense of Natural Selection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Passmore, Cynthia; Coleman, Elizabeth; Horton, Jennifer; Parker, Heather

2013-01-01

At its core, science is about making sense of the world around us. Therefore, science education should engage students in that sense-making process. Helping students make sense of disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts by engaging in scientific practices is the key innovation of the "Next Generation Science Standards"…

Understandings of the nature of science and decision making on science and technology based issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bell, Randy L.; Lederman, Norman G.

2003-05-01

The purpose of this investigation was to explicate the role of the nature of science in decision making on science and technology based issues and to delineate factors and reasoning associated with these types of decisions. Twenty-one volunteer participants purposively selected from the faculty of geographically diverse universities completed an open-ended questionnaire and follow-up interview designed to assess their decision making on science and technology based issues. Participants were subsequently placed in one of two groups based upon their divergent views of the nature of science as assessed by a second open-ended questionnaire and follow-up interview. Profiles of each group's decision making were then constructed, based on participants' previous responses to the decision making questionnaire and follow-up interviews. Finally, the two groups' decisions, decision influencing factors, and decision making strategies were compared. No differences were found between the decisions of the two groups, despite their disparate views of the nature of science. Participants in both groups based their decisions primarily on personal values, morals/ethics, and social concerns. While all participants considered scientific evidence in their decision making, most did not require absolute proof, even though many participants held absolute conceptions of the nature of science. Overall, the nature of science did not figure prominently in either group's decisions. These findings contrast with basic assumptions of current science education reform efforts and call for a re-examination of the goals of nature of science instruction. Developing better decision making skills - even on science and technology based issues - may involve other factors, including more value-based instruction and attention to intellectual/moral development.

Students' Knowledge of Nuclear Science and Its Connection with Civic Scientific Literacy in Two European Contexts: The Case of Newspaper Articles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsaparlis, Georgios; Hartzavalos, Sotiris; Nakiboglu, Canan

2013-01-01

Nuclear science has uses and applications that are relevant and crucial for world peace and sustainable development, so knowledge of its basic concepts and topics should constitute an integral part of civic scientific literacy. We have used two newspaper articles that deal with uses of nuclear science that are directly relevant to life, society,…

Climate sensitivity estimated from temperature reconstructions of the Last Glacial Maximum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmittner, A.; Urban, N.; Shakun, J. D.; Mahowald, N. M.; Clark, P. U.; Bartlein, P. J.; Mix, A. C.; Rosell-Melé, A.

2011-12-01

In 1959 IJ Good published the discussion "Kinds of Probability" in Science. Good identified (at least) five kinds. The need for (at least) a sixth kind of probability when quantifying uncertainty in the context of climate science is discussed. This discussion brings out the differences in weather-like forecasting tasks and climate-links tasks, with a focus on the effective use both of science and of modelling in support of decision making. Good also introduced the idea of a "Dynamic probability" a probability one expects to change without any additional empirical evidence; the probabilities assigned by a chess playing program when it is only half thorough its analysis being an example. This case is contrasted with the case of "Mature probabilities" where a forecast algorithm (or model) has converged on its asymptotic probabilities and the question hinges in whether or not those probabilities are expected to change significantly before the event in question occurs, even in the absence of new empirical evidence. If so, then how might one report and deploy such immature probabilities in scientific-support of decision-making rationally? Mature Probability is suggested as a useful sixth kind, although Good would doubtlessly argue that we can get by with just one, effective communication with decision makers may be enhanced by speaking as if the others existed. This again highlights the distinction between weather-like contexts and climate-like contexts. In the former context one has access to a relevant climatology (a relevant, arguably informative distribution prior to any model simulations), in the latter context that information is not available although one can fall back on the scientific basis upon which the model itself rests, and estimate the probability that the model output is in fact misinformative. This subjective "probability of a big surprise" is one way to communicate the probability of model-based information holding in practice, the probability that the information the model-based probability is conditioned on holds. It is argued that no model-based climate-like probability forecast is complete without a quantitative estimate of its own irrelevance, and that the clear identification of model-based probability forecasts as mature or immature, are critical elements for maintaining the credibility of science-based decision support, and can shape uncertainty quantification more widely.

Experiments using Semantic Web technologies to connect IUGONET, ESPAS and GFZ ISDC data portals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ritschel, Bernd; Borchert, Friederike; Kneitschel, Gregor; Neher, Günther; Schildbach, Susanne; Iyemori, Toshihiko; Koyama, Yukinobu; Yatagai, Akiyo; Hori, Tomoaki; Hapgood, Mike; Belehaki, Anna; Galkin, Ivan; King, Todd

2016-11-01

E-science on the Web plays an important role and offers the most advanced technology for the integration of data systems. It also makes available data for the research of more and more complex aspects of the system earth and beyond. The great number of e-science projects founded by the European Union (EU), university-driven Japanese efforts in the field of data services and institutional anchored developments for the enhancement of a sustainable data management in Germany are proof of the relevance and acceptance of e-science or cyberspace-based applications as a significant tool for successful scientific work. The collaboration activities related to near-earth space science data systems and first results in the field of information science between the EU-funded project ESPAS, the Japanese IUGONET project and the GFZ ISDC-based research and development activities are the focus of this paper. The main objective of the collaboration is the use of a Semantic Web approach for the mashup of the project related and so far inoperable data systems. Both the development and use of mapped and/or merged geo and space science controlled vocabularies and the connection of entities in ontology-based domain data model are addressed. The developed controlled vocabularies for the description of geo and space science data and related context information as well as the domain ontologies itself with their domain and cross-domain relationships will be published in Linked Open Data.[Figure not available: see fulltext.

The Single Sex Debate for Girls in Science: a Comparison Between Two Informal Science Programs on Middle School Students' STEM Identity Formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hughes, Roxanne M.; Nzekwe, Brandon; Molyneaux, Kristen J.

2013-10-01

Currently, there are policy debates regarding the efficacy and legality of single sex formal and informal education programs. This issue is particularly poignant in science education due to the historical marginalization of women in these fields. This marginalization has resulted in women being positioned as a stigmatized group within many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related fields. Research points to adolescence as the age where this sense of marginalization begins to develop. As a result, policy responses have utilized various frameworks such as: increased access for women, changing pedagogy to address women's learning styles, changing the language and culture of science to prevent marginalization of stigmatized groups, and finally exploring the role that individual identity plays in the marginalization of women. This study adds to the policy debate as it applies to single sex education by comparing middle school participants' STEM identity formation during two informal science learning environments (an all girls' STEM camp and a co-educational STEM camp). Additionally, this study focuses on the influence of camp activities within two informal science education programs: particularly the provision of role models and authentic STEM research activities, as means to improve STEM identity and make these fields relevant to the lives of middle school students. The results indicate that both camps improved girls' STEM identities. These findings suggest that the single sex environment is not as important to STEM identity as the pedagogy used within the program.

How Contexts and Issues Influence the Use of Policy-Relevant Research Syntheses: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis

PubMed Central

Moat, Kaelan A; Lavis, John N; Abelson, Julia

2013-01-01

Context Evidence briefs have emerged as a promising approach to synthesizing the best available research evidence for health system policymakers and stakeholders. An evidence brief may draw on systematic reviews and many other types of policy-relevant information, including local data and studies, to describe a problem, options for addressing it, and key implementation considerations. We conducted a systematic review to examine the ways in which context- and issue-related factors influence the perceived usefulness of evidence briefs among their intended users. Methods We used a critical interpretive synthesis approach to review both empirical and nonempirical literature and to develop a model that explains how context and issues influence policymakers’ and stakeholders’ views of the utility of evidence briefs prepared for priority policy issues. We used a “compass” question to create a detailed search strategy and conducted electronic searches in CINAHL, EMBASE, HealthSTAR, IPSA, MEDLINE, OAIster (gray literature), ProQuest A&I Theses, ProQuest (Sociological Abstracts, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, PAIS, Political Science), PsychInfo, Web of Science, and WilsonWeb (Social Science Abstracts). Finally, we used a grounded and interpretive analytic approach to synthesize the results. Findings Of the 4,461 papers retrieved, 3,908 were excluded and 553 were assessed for “relevance,” with 137 included in the initial sample of papers to be analyzed and an additional 23 purposively sampled to fill conceptual gaps. Several themes emerged: (1) many established types of “evidence” are viewed as useful content in an evidence brief, along with several promising formatting features; (2) contextual factors, particularly the institutions, interests, and values of a given context, can influence views of evidence briefs; (3) whether an issue is polarizing and whether it is salient (or not) and familiar (or not) to actors in the policy arena can influence views of evidence briefs prepared for that issue; (4) influential factors can emerge in several ways (as context driven, issue driven, or a result of issue-context resonance); (5) these factors work through two primary pathways, affecting either the users or the producers of briefs; and (6) these factors influence views of evidence briefs through a variety of mechanisms. Conclusions Those persons funding and preparing evidence briefs need to consider a variety of context- and issue-related factors when deciding how to make them most useful in policymaking. PMID:24028700

Where Did You Come From? Where Will You Go? Human Evolutionary Biology Education and American Students' Academic Interests and Achievements, Professional Goals, and Socioscientific Decision-making

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schrein, Caitlin M.

In the United States, there is a national agenda to increase the number of qualified science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) professionals and a movement to promote science literacy among the general public. This project explores the association between formal human evolutionary biology education (HEB) and high school science class enrollment, academic achievement, interest in a STEM degree program, motivation to pursue a STEM career, and socioscientific decision-making for a sample of students enrolled full-time at Arizona State University. Given a lack of a priori knowledge of these relationships, the Grounded Theory Method was used and was the foundation for a mixed-methods analysis involving qualitative and quantitative data from one-on-one interviews, focus groups, questionnaires, and an online survey. Theory development and hypothesis generation were based on data from 44 students. The survey instrument, developed to test the hypotheses, was completed by 486 undergraduates, age 18--22, who graduated from U.S. public high schools. The results showed that higher exposure to HEB was correlated with greater high school science class enrollment, particularly for advanced biological science classes, and that, for some students, HEB exposure may have influenced their enrollment, because the students found the content interesting and relevant. The results also suggested that students with higher K--12 HEB exposure felt more prepared for undergraduate science coursework. There was a positive correlation between HEB exposure and interest in a STEM degree and an indirect relationship between higher HEB exposure and motivation to pursue a STEM career. Regarding a number of socioscientific issues, including but not limited to climate change, homosexuality, and stem cell research, students' behaviors and decision-making more closely reflected a scientific viewpoint---or less-closely aligned to a religion-based perspective---when students had greater HEB exposure, but this was sometimes contingent on students' lifetime exposure to religious doctrine and acceptance of general evolution or human evolution. This study has implications for K--12 and higher education and justifies a paradigm shift in evolution education research, such that more emphasis is placed on students' interests, perceived preparation for continued learning, professional goals and potential contributions to society rather than just their knowledge and acceptance.

What History Tells Us about the Distinct Nature of Chemistry.

PubMed

Chang, Hasok

2017-11-01

Attention to the history of chemistry can help us recognise the characteristics of chemistry that have helped to maintain it as a separate scientific discipline with a unique identity. Three such features are highlighted in this paper. First, chemistry has maintained a distinct type of theoretical thinking, independent from that of physics even in the era of quantum chemistry. Second, chemical research has always been shaped by its ineliminable practical relevance and usefulness. Third, the lived experience of chemistry, spanning the laboratory, the classroom and everyday life, is distinctive in its multidimensional sensuousness. Furthermore, I argue that the combination of these three features makes chemistry an exemplary science.

Toward an instructionally oriented theory of example-based learning.

PubMed

Renkl, Alexander

2014-01-01

Learning from examples is a very effective means of initial cognitive skill acquisition. There is an enormous body of research on the specifics of this learning method. This article presents an instructionally oriented theory of example-based learning that integrates theoretical assumptions and findings from three research areas: learning from worked examples, observational learning, and analogical reasoning. This theory has descriptive and prescriptive elements. The descriptive subtheory deals with (a) the relevance and effectiveness of examples, (b) phases of skill acquisition, and (c) learning processes. The prescriptive subtheory proposes instructional principles that make full exploitation of the potential of example-based learning possible. Copyright © 2013 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

On framing the research question and choosing the appropriate research design.

PubMed

Parfrey, Patrick S; Ravani, Pietro

2015-01-01

Clinical epidemiology is the science of human disease investigation with a focus on diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. The generation of a reasonable question requires definition of patients, interventions, controls, and outcomes. The goal of research design is to minimize error, to ensure adequate samples, to measure input and output variables appropriately, to consider external and internal validities, to limit bias, and to address clinical as well as statistical relevance. The hierarchy of evidence for clinical decision-making places randomized controlled trials (RCT) or systematic review of good quality RCTs at the top of the evidence pyramid. Prognostic and etiologic questions are best addressed with longitudinal cohort studies.

Designing pedagogy incorporating executive function.

PubMed

Wasserman, Theodore

2013-01-01

The National Academy of Neuropsychology defines clinical neuropsychology as "a sub-field of psychology concerned with the applied science of brain-behavior relationships. Clinical neuropsychologists use this knowledge in the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and/or rehabilitation of patients across the lifespan with neurological, medical, neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions, as well as other cognitive and learning disorders" (National Academy of Neuropsychology, 2011 ). Pediatric neuropsychologists have long been concerned about another area of functionality, making their recommendations educationally relevant. This article describes accommodated metacognitive instruction, a pedagogy based on cognitive neuropsychological principles of learning and used to instruct college faculty on a methodology for teaching in all-inclusive environments.

Crazy like a fox. Validity and ethics of animal models of human psychiatric disease.

PubMed

Rollin, Michael D H; Rollin, Bernard E

2014-04-01

Animal models of human disease play a central role in modern biomedical science. Developing animal models for human mental illness presents unique practical and philosophical challenges. In this article we argue that (1) existing animal models of psychiatric disease are not valid, (2) attempts to model syndromes are undermined by current nosology, (3) models of symptoms are rife with circular logic and anthropomorphism, (4) any model must make unjustified assumptions about subjective experience, and (5) any model deemed valid would be inherently unethical, for if an animal adequately models human subjective experience, then there is no morally relevant difference between that animal and a human.

[Web of Science production quality indicators of ten professors' at the area of personality, assessment and psychological treatment: additional contributions to Olivas-Ávila y Musi-Lechuga study].

PubMed

Aluja, Antón; Becoña, Elisardo; Botella, Cristina; Colom, Roberto; Echeburúa, Enrique; Forns, María; Pérez, Miguel; Vila, Jaime

2011-04-01

Rankings of scientific productivity are increasingly relevant both from an individual and a collective perspective. Therefore, making sure they are based on reliable and exhaustive information is really important. This study clearly shows that available rankings change dramatically when internationally acknowledged bibliometric indices are considered. Data from the 10 Professors belonging to the 'Personality, Assessment, and Psychological Treatment' Department considered in the recent analysis by Olivas-Ávila y Musi-Lechuga ( Psicothema 2010. Vol. 22, nº 4, pp. 909-916) are revisited here for illustrative purposes.

Regional Geology Web Map Application Development: Javascript v2.0

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

Russell, Glenn

This is a milestone report for the FY2017 continuation of the Spent Fuel, Storage, and Waste, Technology (SFSWT) program (formerly Used Fuel Disposal (UFD) program) development of the Regional Geology Web Mapping Application by the Idaho National Laboratory Geospatial Science and Engineering group. This application was developed for general public use and is an interactive web-based application built in Javascript to visualize, reference, and analyze US pertinent geological features of the SFSWT program. This tool is a version upgrade from Adobe FLEX technology. It is designed to facilitate informed decision making of the geology of continental US relevant to themore » SFSWT program.« less

On framing the research question and choosing the appropriate research design.

PubMed

Parfrey, Patrick; Ravani, Pietro

2009-01-01

Clinical epidemiology is the science of human disease investigation with a focus on diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. The generation of a reasonable question requires the definition of patients, interventions, controls, and outcomes. The goal of research design is to minimize error, ensure adequate samples, measure input and output variables appropriately, consider external and internal validities, limit bias, and address clinical as well as statistical relevance. The hierarchy of evidence for clinical decision making places randomized controlled trials (RCT) or systematic review of good quality RCTs at the top of the evidence pyramid. Prognostic and etiologic questions are best addressed with longitudinal cohort studies.

Science and film-making.

PubMed

Gouyon, Jean-Baptiste

2016-01-01

The essay reviews the literature, mostly historical, on the relationship between science and film-making, with a focus on the science documentary. It then discusses the circumstances of the emergence of the wildlife making-of documentary genre. The thesis examined here is that since the early days of cinema, film-making has evolved from being subordinate to science, to being an equal partner in the production of knowledge, controlled by non-scientists. © The Author(s) 2015.

Increasing Student Motivation and the Perception of Chemistry's Relevance in the Classroom by Learning about Tattooing from a Chemical and Societal View

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stuckey, Marc; Eilks, Ingo

2014-01-01

This paper presents a study on tattooing as a topic for chemistry education. The selection of the topic was inspired by a newly suggested framework, which focuses on the question of relevance of science education. The aim of this case was to get evidence on how topics selected based on the suggested model of relevance of science education affect…

Recognition Decisions From Visual Working Memory Are Mediated by Continuous Latent Strengths.

PubMed

Ricker, Timothy J; Thiele, Jonathan E; Swagman, April R; Rouder, Jeffrey N

2017-08-01

Making recognition decisions often requires us to reference the contents of working memory, the information available for ongoing cognitive processing. As such, understanding how recognition decisions are made when based on the contents of working memory is of critical importance. In this work we examine whether recognition decisions based on the contents of visual working memory follow a continuous decision process of graded information about the correct choice or a discrete decision process reflecting only knowing and guessing. We find a clear pattern in favor of a continuous latent strength model of visual working memory-based decision making, supporting the notion that visual recognition decision processes are impacted by the degree of matching between the contents of working memory and the choices given. Relation to relevant findings and the implications for human information processing more generally are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Anticipating the Ethical Challenges of Psychiatric Genetic Testing.

PubMed

Appelbaum, Paul S; Benston, Shawna

2017-07-01

Genetic testing for mental illness is likely to become increasingly prevalent as the science behind it is refined. This article identifies anticipated ethical challenges for patients, psychiatrists, and genetic counselors and makes recommendations for addressing them. Many of the ethical challenges of psychiatric genetic testing are likely to stem from failures to comprehend the nature and implications of test results. Recent studies have identified gaps in the knowledge base of psychiatrists and genetic counselors, which limit their abilities to provide patients with appropriate education. A small number of studies have demonstrated the value of counseling in empowering patients to deal with relevant genetic information. Psychiatrists and other health professionals must be able to assist patients and families in making informed decisions about genetic testing and interpreting test results. Filling their knowledge gaps on these issues will be a critical step towards meeting these responsibilities.

On Roles of Models in Information Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sølvberg, Arne

The increasing penetration of computers into all aspects of human activity makes it desirable that the interplay among software, data and the domains where computers are applied is made more transparent. An approach to this end is to explicitly relate the modeling concepts of the domains, e.g., natural science, technology and business, to the modeling concepts of software and data. This may make it simpler to build comprehensible integrated models of the interactions between computers and non-computers, e.g., interaction among computers, people, physical processes, biological processes, and administrative processes. This chapter contains an analysis of various facets of the modeling environment for information systems engineering. The lack of satisfactory conceptual modeling tools seems to be central to the unsatisfactory state-of-the-art in establishing information systems. The chapter contains a proposal for defining a concept of information that is relevant to information systems engineering.

Designing the Bridge: Perceptions and Use of Downscaled Climate Data by Climate Modelers and Resource Managers in Hawaii

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keener, V. W.; Brewington, L.; Jaspers, K.

2016-12-01

To build an effective bridge from the climate modeling community to natural resource managers, we assessed the existing landscape to see where different groups diverge in their perceptions of climate data and needs. An understanding of a given community's shared knowledge and differences can help design more actionable science. Resource managers in Hawaii are eager to have future climate projections at spatial scales relevant to the islands. National initiatives to downscale climate data often exclude US insular regions, so researchers in Hawaii have generated regional dynamically and statistically downscaled projections. Projections of precipitation diverge, however, leading to difficulties in communication and use. Recently, a two day workshop was held with scientists and managers to evaluate available models and determine a set of best practices for moving forward with decision-relevant downscaling in Hawaii. To seed the discussion, the Pacific Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) program conducted a pre-workshop survey (N=65) of climate modelers and freshwater, ecosystem, and wildfire managers working in Hawaii. Scientists reported spending less than half of their time on operational research, although the majority was eager to partner with managers on specific projects. Resource managers had varying levels of familiarity with downscaled climate projections, but reported needing more information about uncertainty for decision making, and were less interested in the technical model details. There were large differences between groups of managers, with 41.7% of freshwater managers reporting that they used climate projections regularly, while a majority of ecosystem and wildfire managers reported having "no familiarity". Scientists and managers rated which spatial and temporal scales were most relevant to decision making. Finally, when asked to compare how confident they were in projections of specific climate variables between the dynamical and statistical data, 80-90% of managers responded that they had no opinion. Workshop attendees were very interested in the survey results, adding to evidence of a need for sustained engagement between modeler and user groups, as well as different strategies for working with different types of resource managers.

Information retrieval for systematic reviews in food and feed topics: A narrative review.

PubMed

Wood, Hannah; O'Connor, Annette; Sargeant, Jan; Glanville, Julie

2018-01-09

Systematic review methods are now being used for reviews of food production, food safety and security, plant health, and animal health and welfare. Information retrieval methods in this context have been informed by human health-care approaches and ideally should be based on relevant research and experience. This narrative review seeks to identify and summarize current research-based evidence and experience on information retrieval for systematic reviews in food and feed topics. MEDLINE (Ovid), Science Citation Index (Web of Science), and ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/) were searched in 2012 and 2016. We also contacted topic experts and undertook citation searches. We selected and summarized studies reporting research on information retrieval, as well as published guidance and experience. There is little published evidence on the most efficient way to conduct searches for food and feed topics. There are few available study design search filters, and their use may be problematic given poor or inconsistent reporting of study methods. Food and feed research makes use of a wide range of study designs so it might be best to focus strategy development on capturing study populations, although this also has challenges. There is limited guidance on which resources should be searched and whether publication bias in disciplines relevant to food and feed necessitates extensive searching of the gray literature. There is some limited evidence on information retrieval approaches, but more research is required to inform effective and efficient approaches to searching to populate food and feed reviews. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

How Climate Science Lost the Internet - and How We Can Win it Back Again

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tobis, M.

2012-12-01

The systematic formation of a culturally cohesive opposition to climate science is by now obvious. That this opposition makes effective use of the internet is also clear. Unfortunately, it goes beyond the propagation of reasonable doubt and into obfuscation, distortion, and defamation. It's necessary to play catch-up. A historical perspective may be in order here. The cultural roots of doubts about the proposition that humans are materially disrupting the atmosphere and oceans on the global scale are clear enough. The traditional basis for connecting the skies with the eternal has deep cultural roots. Also, the widespread idea that the marketplace is a sufficient decision-making mechanism for most if not all purposes, a very different basis for opposition, has created deep skepticism regarding any problems which do not immediately map onto the marketplace model. As evidence that global climate disruption actually exists becomes more compelling, it is not surprising that some opposition to the messenger has emerged as well as to the message. How and why this opposition became so well-organized and compelling is a story that needs telling. A community has formed of people whose common interest is casting doubt on the climate-relevant science and distrust on the climate science community. The efforts at producing a counterweight have been inadequate and unsuccessful. This presentation will examine the tactics that have allowed this oppositional group its, and in particular those attached to new media, going back to usenet in the 1990s. This is with an eye to identifying which of those tactics we might adopt, which we need to eschew, and how to counter their successes. Despite recent improvements, we remain far from being a compelling counter-force to the forces of confusion. Both new resources and new strategies are needed.

Teachable Moments in the News - an Online Resource Solar System Science News

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vanhala, H. A. T.; Miller, E. A.; Goldstein, J. J.

2004-12-01

Teachable Moments in the News (www.challenger.org/tmn/) is an online resource developed at Challenger Center for Space Science Education that takes recent news stories related to Solar System science and places them in a context relevant to the grades K-12 science curriculum. Using stories such as the launch of the MESSENGER spacecraft to Mercury, Teachable Moments in the News is meant to provide a seamless pathway from the news desk to the classroom. For each news item, an overview of the story is provided, along with high-quality inquiry-based, standards-driven lessons and links to more in-depth articles. Teachable Moments in the News is also a great tool for scientists who wish to stay informed of the recent events in Solar System exploration. The archived back issues of the quarterly published Web digest allow for a quick refresher on the most important news stories over the past several months. The very accessible nature of the stories makes the resource valuable for college students, and even the general public, as a means to keep up-to-date about current developments in planetary astronomy. Furthermore, college and university teachers can easily adapt many of the lessons to fit into the curriculum of an undergraduate astronomy course. During the poster session, we welcome suggestions from the scientific community on ways to enhance the usefulness of Teachable Moments in the News. For example, researchers could form partnerships with Teachable Moments in the News to provide news stories on their current research to be featured on the Web site. We invite researchers interested in this education and public outreach tool to visit the poster and provide suggestions on how to make the resource work as effectively as possible.

Exploring Metacogntive Visual Literacy Tasks for Teaching Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slater, Timothy F.; Slater, S.; Dwyer, W.

2010-01-01

Undoubtedly, astronomy is a scientific enterprise which often results in colorful and inspirational images of the cosmos that naturally capture our attention. Students encountering astronomy in the college classroom are often bombarded with images, movies, simulations, conceptual cartoons, graphs, and charts intended to convey the substance and technological advancement inherent in astronomy. For students who self-identify themselves as visual learners, this aspect can make the science of astronomy come alive. For students who naturally attend to visual aesthetics, this aspect can make astronomy seem relevant. In other words, the visual nature that accompanies much of the scientific realm of astronomy has the ability to connect a wide range of students to science, not just those few who have great abilities and inclinations toward the mathematical analysis world. Indeed, this is fortunate for teachers of astronomy, who actively try to find ways to connect and build astronomical understanding with a broad range of student interests, motivations, and abilities. In the context of learning science, metacognition describes students’ self-monitoring, -regulation, and -awareness when thinking about learning. As such, metacognition is one of the foundational pillars supporting what we know about how people learn. Yet, the astronomy teaching and learning community knows very little about how to operationalize and support students’ metacognition in the classroom. In response, the Conceptual Astronomy, Physics and Earth sciences Research (CAPER) Team is developing and pilot-testing metacogntive tasks in the context of astronomy that focus on visual literacy of astronomical phenomena. In the initial versions, students are presented with a scientifically inaccurate narrative supposedly describing visual information, including images and graphical information, and asked to assess and correct the narrative, in the form of peer evaluation. To guide student thinking, students are provided with a scaffolded series of multiple-choice questions highlighting conceptual aspects of the prompt.

Quantitative Decision Support Requires Quantitative User Guidance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, L. A.

2009-12-01

Is it conceivable that models run on 2007 computer hardware could provide robust and credible probabilistic information for decision support and user guidance at the ZIP code level for sub-daily meteorological events in 2060? In 2090? Retrospectively, how informative would output from today’s models have proven in 2003? or the 1930’s? Consultancies in the United Kingdom, including the Met Office, are offering services to “future-proof” their customers from climate change. How is a US or European based user or policy maker to determine the extent to which exciting new Bayesian methods are relevant here? or when a commercial supplier is vastly overselling the insights of today’s climate science? How are policy makers and academic economists to make the closely related decisions facing them? How can we communicate deep uncertainty in the future at small length-scales without undermining the firm foundation established by climate science regarding global trends? Three distinct aspects of the communication of the uses of climate model output targeting users and policy makers, as well as other specialist adaptation scientists, are discussed. First, a brief scientific evaluation of the length and time scales at which climate model output is likely to become uninformative is provided, including a note on the applicability the latest Bayesian methodology to current state-of-the-art general circulation models output. Second, a critical evaluation of the language often employed in communication of climate model output, a language which accurately states that models are “better”, have “improved” and now “include” and “simulate” relevant meteorological processed, without clearly identifying where the current information is thought to be uninformative and misleads, both for the current climate and as a function of the state of the (each) climate simulation. And thirdly, a general approach for evaluating the relevance of quantitative climate model output for a given problem is presented. Based on climate science, meteorology, and the details of the question in hand, this approach identifies necessary (never sufficient) conditions required for the rational use of climate model output in quantitative decision support tools. Inasmuch as climate forecasting is a problem of extrapolation, there will always be harsh limits on our ability to establish where a model is fit for purpose, this does not, however, limit us from identifying model noise as such, and thereby avoiding some cases of the misapplication and over interpretation of model output. It is suggested that failure to clearly communicate the limits of today’s climate model in providing quantitative decision relevant climate information to today’s users of climate information, would risk the credibility of tomorrow’s climate science and science based policy more generally.