Amateur Scientists: Unique Characteristics and Possible Factors Supporting Japanese Amateur Scientists’ Continuous Scientific Practices

Krishi Vigyan Kendra laid down Front Line Demonstration in the year 2010-11 and 2011-12 introducing new, high yielding and scented variety “Pusa Sugandha-3” and applying scientific practices in their cultivation. The FLDs were carried out in village “Dainiha” of Sidhi district in supervision of KVK scientist. The productivity and economic returns of paddy in improved technologies were calculated and compared with the corresponding farmer's practices (local check). Improved practices recorded higher yield as compared to farmer's practices. The improved technology recorded higher yield of 30.83 q/ha and 32.65 q/ha in the year 2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively than 22.13 and 24.21 q/ha. The average yield increase was observed 37.15 per cent. In spite of increase in yield of paddy, technology gap, extension gap and technology index existed. The improved technology gave higher gross return (37020 and 39180 Rs./ha), net return (16820 and 18920 Rs./ha) with higher benefit cost ratio (1.83 and 1.93) as compared to farmer's practices. The variation in per cent increase in the yield was found due to the poor management practices, lack of knowledge and poor socio economic condition. Under sustainable agricultural practices, with this study it is concluded that the FLDs programmes were effective in changing attitude, skill and knowledge of improved package and practices of HYV of paddy adoption.

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Genes, cognition, and social behavior: Next steps for foundations and researchers

Politics and the Life Sciences ◽

10.2990/30_2_65 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 65-87 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Arthur Lupia

Keyword(s):

Social Behavior ◽

Political Science ◽

National Science Foundation ◽

Scientific Practices ◽

Social Scientists ◽

Research Areas ◽

Unpublished Report ◽

Summary Statement ◽

The One ◽

Scientific Value

Editor's note This well circulated but heretofore unpublished report is the summary statement of an interdisciplinary meeting of scholars convened by the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia on June 28, 2010. The workshop, which was funded by the NSF's Political Science Program (Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences Grant #1037831), was convened to answer two compelling questions: Are studies of social behavior that build from discoveries about genes and/or cognition of greater social and scientific value than studies of the same topics that ignore such factors? And, how can fundable research on genes, cognition, and politics generate transformative scientific practices, infrastructure, and findings of high social value? Assembled for the workshop were a group of scholars representing diverse yet increasingly connected research areas, including genetics, cognitive science and neuroscience, decision making and risk analysis, economics, political science, and sociology. The resulting report outlines the substantial challenges facing interdisciplinary research but also describes the considerable contributions to knowledge that could result from sustained collaborations between biologists, geneticists, and brain scientists on the one hand and social scientists on the other. Following this main report are three white papers by Jeremy Freese. Elizabeth Hammock, and Rose McDermott, which address importmant considerations related to the discussion. For a download of the full report, see http://www.isr.umich.edu.cps/workshop.Welcome.html.

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Chemistry instructors’ intentions toward developing, teaching, and assessing student representational competence skills

Chemistry Education Research and Practice ◽

10.1039/d0rp00329h ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Maia Popova ◽

Tamera Jones

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Coding Theory ◽

Assessment Practices ◽

Self Awareness ◽

Scientific Practices ◽

Information Processing Model ◽

Representational Competence ◽

Evidence Based Practices ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

The Us

Representational competence is one's ability to use disciplinary representations for learning, communicating, and problem-solving. These skills are at the heart of engagement in scientific practices and were recognized by the ACS Examinations Institute as one of ten anchoring concepts. Despite the important role that representational competence plays in student success in chemistry and the considerable number of investigations into students’ ability to reason with representations, very few studies have examined chemistry instructors’ approaches toward developing student representational competence. This study interviewed thirteen chemistry instructors from eleven different universities across the US about their intentions to develop, teach, and assess student representational competence skills. We found that most instructors do not aim to help students develop any representational competence skills. At the same time, participants’ descriptions of their instructional and assessment practices revealed that, without realizing it, most are likely to teach and assess several representational competence skills in their courses. A closer examination of these skills revealed a focus on lower-level representational competence skills (e.g., the ability to interpret and generate representations) and a lack of a focus on higher-level meta-representational competence skills (e.g., the ability to describe affordances and limitations of representations). Finally, some instructors reported self-awareness about their lack of knowledge about effective teaching about representations and the majority expressed a desire for professional development opportunities to learn about differences in how experts and novices conceptualize representations, about evidence-based practices for teaching about representations, and about how to assess student mastery of representational competence skills. This study holds clear implications for informing chemistry instructors’ professional development initiatives. Such training needs to help instructors take cognizance of relevant theories of learning (e.g., constructivism, dual-coding theory, information processing model, Johnstone's triangle), and the key factors affecting students’ ability to reason with representations, as well as foster awareness of representational competence skills and how to support students in learning with representations.

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Data-Texts in the Sciences

Science & Education ◽

10.1007/s11191-021-00225-y ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Richard Duschl ◽

Lucy Avraamidou ◽

Nathália Helena Azevedo

Keyword(s):

Science Education ◽

Learning Environments ◽

Knowledge Building ◽

Data Transformation ◽

Scientific Practices ◽

Construction Of Knowledge ◽

Alternative Approach ◽

Current Reform ◽

Design Of Learning Environments ◽

Collective Construction

AbstractGrounded within current reform recommendations and built upon Giere’s views (1986, 1999) on model-based science, we propose an alternative approach to science education which we refer to as the Evidence-Explanation (EE) Continuum. The approach addresses conceptual, epistemological, and social domains of knowledge, and places emphasis on the epistemological conversations about data acquisitions and transformations in the sciences. The steps of data transformation, which we refer to as data-texts, we argue, unfold the processes of using evidence during knowledge building and reveal the dynamics of scientific practices. Data-texts involve (a) obtaining observations/measurements to become data; (b) selecting and interpreting data to become evidence; (c) using evidence to ascertain patterns and develop models; and (d) utilizing the patterns and models to propose and refine explanations. Throughout the transformations of the EE continuum, there are stages of transition that foster the engagement of learners in negotiations of meaning and collective construction of knowledge. A focus on the EE continuum facilitates the emergence of further insights, both by questioning the nature of the data and its multiple possibilities for change and representations and by reflecting on the nature of the explanations. The shift of emphasis to the epistemics of science holds implications for the design of learning environments that support learners in developing contemporary understandings of the nature and processes of scientific practices.

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Scientific Reforms, Feminist Interventions, and the Politics of Knowing: An Auto‐ethnography of a Feminist Neuroscientist

Hypatia ◽

10.1111/hypa.12112 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 755-773 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Sara Giordano

Keyword(s):

Science Studies ◽

Scientific Practice ◽

Social Activism ◽

Scientific Practices ◽

Policy Reforms ◽

Research Subjects ◽

Feminist Science ◽

Auto Ethnography ◽

Doctoral Work ◽

Cultural Contingency

Feminist science studies scholars have documented the historical and cultural contingency of scientific knowledge production. It follows that political and social activism has impacted the practice of science today; however, little has been done to examine the current cultures of science in light of feminist critiques and activism. In this article, I argue that, although critiques have changed the cultures of science both directly and indirectly, fundamental epistemological questions have largely been ignored and neutralized through these policy reforms. I provide an auto‐ethnography of my doctoral work in a neuroscience program to a) demonstrate how the culture of science has incorporated critiques into its practices and b) identify how we might use these changes in scientific practices to advance feminist science agendas. I critically analyze three areas in current scientific practice in which I see obstacles and opportunities: 1) research ethics, 2) diversity of research subjects and scientists, and 3) identification of a project's significance for funding. I argue that an understanding of the complicated and changing cultures of science is necessary for future feminist interventions into the sciences that directly challenge science's claim to epistemic authority.

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Calibration: A Conceptual Framework Applied to Scientific Practices Which Investigate Natural Phenomena by Means of Standardized Instruments

Journal for General Philosophy of Science ◽

10.1007/s10838-013-9231-7 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 44 (2) ◽

pp. 263-317 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Léna Soler ◽

Frédéric Wieber ◽

Catherine Allamel-Raffin ◽

Jean-Luc Gangloff ◽

Catherine Dufour ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Conceptual Framework ◽

Scientific Practices ◽

Natural Phenomena

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Psychology Exceptionalism and the Multiple Discovery of the Replication Crisis

Review of General Psychology ◽

10.1177/10892680211046508 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 108926802110465

Author(s):

Nicole C. Nelson ◽

Julie Chung ◽

Kelsey Ichikawa ◽

Momin M. Malik

Keyword(s):

Subject Matter ◽

Common Core ◽

Early Years ◽

Institutional Factors ◽

Scientific Practices ◽

Incentive Structure ◽

Biomedical Sciences ◽

Current Crisis ◽

Replication Crisis ◽

Crisis In Psychology

This article outlines what we call the “narrative of psychology exceptionalism” in commentaries on the replication crisis: many thoughtful commentaries link the current crisis to the specificity of psychology’s history, methods, and subject matter, but explorations of the similarities between psychology and other fields are comparatively thin. Historical analyses of the replication crisis in psychology further contribute to this exceptionalism by creating a genealogy of events and personalities that shares little in common with other fields. We aim to rebalance this narrative by examining the emergence and evolution of replication discussions in psychology alongside their emergence and evolution in biomedicine. Through a mixed-methods analysis of commentaries on replication in psychology and the biomedical sciences, we find that these conversations have, from the early years of the crisis, shared a common core that centers on concerns about the effectiveness of traditional peer review, the need for greater transparency in methods and data, and the perverse incentive structure of academia. Drawing on Robert Merton’s framework for analyzing multiple discovery in science, we argue that the nearly simultaneous emergence of this narrative across fields suggests that there are shared historical, cultural, or institutional factors driving disillusionment with established scientific practices.

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Design and development of an intelligent system based on the Internet of Things for the early detection of forest fires

International Journal of Organizational and Collective Intelligence ◽

10.4018/ijoci.286174 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 0-0

Keyword(s):

Neural Network ◽

Early Detection ◽

Forest Fires ◽

Mobile Applications ◽

Intelligent System ◽

The Internet ◽

Scientific Practices ◽

Depth Analysis ◽

Neural Network Algorithm ◽

The Internet Of Things

Automatic environmental monitoring is a field that encompasses several scientific practices for the assessment of risks that may negatively impact a given environment, such as the forest. A forest is a natural environment that hosts various forms of plant and animal life, so preserving the forest is a top priority. To this end, the authors of this paper will focus on the development of an intelligent system for the early detection of forest fires, based on an IoT solution. This latter will thus facilitate the exploitation of the functionalities offered by the Cloud and mobile applications. Detecting and predicting forest fires with accuracy is a difficult task that requires machine learning and an in-depth analysis of environmental conditions. This leads the authors to adopt the forward neural network algorithm by highlighting its contribution through real experiments, performed on the prototype developed in this paper.

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