scholarly journals Revision workshops in elementary mathematics enhance student performance in routine laboratory calculations

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny L. Sawbridge ◽  
Haseeb K. Qureshi ◽  
Matthew J. Boyd ◽  
Angus M. Brown

The ability to understand and implement calculations required for molarity and dilution computations that are routinely undertaken in the laboratory are essential skills that should be possessed by all students entering an undergraduate Life Sciences degree. However, it is increasingly recognized that the majority of these students are ill equipped to reliably carry out such calculations. There are several factors that conspire against students' understanding of this topic, with the alien concept of the mole in relation to the mass of compounds and the engineering notation required when expressing the relatively small quantities typically involved being two key examples. In this report, we highlight teaching methods delivered via revision workshops to undergraduate Life Sciences students at the University of Nottingham. Workshops were designed to 1) expose student deficiencies in basic numeracy skills and remedy these deficiencies, 2) introduce molarity and dilution calculations and illustrate their workings in a step-by-step manner, and 3) allow students to appreciate the magnitude of numbers. Preworkshop to postworkshop comparisons demonstrated a considerable improvement in students' performance, which attenuated with time. The findings of our study suggest that an ability to carry out laboratory calculations cannot be assumed in students entering Life Sciences degrees in the United Kingdom but that explicit instruction in the form of workshops improves proficiency to a level of competence that allows students to prosper in the laboratory environment.

Author(s):  
Ricardo Tejeiro ◽  
Dimitrios Vlachopoulos ◽  
Anthony Edwards ◽  
Estefania Campos

Whilst there is consensus in the current literature that feedback plays a fundamental role to student performance and learning, there is also debate about what makes it effective. Particularly, some assessment instruments, like the National Student Survey in the United Kingdom, reveal that evaluation and feedback are systematically amongst the areas that students are less satisfied with. This paper aims to describe the ‘indirect feedback’ (IF) technique, which was utilised by the principle author in his previous tenure as a Professor at the University of Cadiz (Spain) and to reflect on how it can be applied to overcome some of the limitations presented in a different ‘context of practice’. It is argued that indirect feedback meets many of the principles of good practice, as it “facilitates the development of self-assessment (reflection) in learning, delivers high quality information to students about their learning, encourages teacher and peer dialogue around learning … provides opportunities to close the gap between current and desired performance [and] provides information to teachers that can be used to help shape their teaching” (Nicol & MacFarlane-Dick, 2006, p. 205).


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (13) ◽  
pp. 122-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Chase ◽  
Lucinda Soares Gonzales

This article will describe the approach to dysphagia education in a classroom setting at the University of Connecticut (UCONN), explore the disparity between student performance in schools vs. health care settings that was discovered at UCONN, and offer suggestions for practicum supervisors in medical settings to enhance student acquisition of competence.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 206-219
Author(s):  
Louay Qais Abdullah ◽  
Duraid Faris Khayoun

The study focused basically on measuring the relationship between the material cost of the students benefits program and the benefits which are earned by it, which was distributed on college students in the initial stages (matinee) and to show the extent of the benefits accruing from the grant program compared to the material burdens which matched and the extent of success or failure of the experience and its effect from o scientific and side on the Iraqi student through these tough economic circumstances experienced by the country in general, and also trying to find ways of proposed increase or expansion of distribution in the future in the event of proven economic feasibility from the program. An data has been taking from the data fro the Department of Financial Affairs and the Department of Studies and Planning at the University of Diyala with taking an data representing an actual and minimized pattern and questionnaires to a sample of students from the Department of Life Sciences in the Faculty of Education of the University of Diyala on the level of success and failure of students in the first year of the grant and the year before for the purpose of distribution comparison. The importance of the study to measure the extent of interest earned in comparision whit the material which is expenseon the program of grant (grant of students) to assist the competent authorities to continue or not in the program of student grants for the coming years.


2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. LUCAS

Shortly before he died, John Lindley decided to dispose of his herbarium and botanical library. He sold his orchid herbarium to the United Kingdom government for deposit at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and then offered his library and the remainder of his herbarium to Ferdinand Mueller in Melbourne. On his behalf, Joseph Hooker had earlier unsuccessfully offered the library and remnant herbarium to the University of Sydney, using the good offices of Sir Charles Nicholson. Although neither the University of Sydney nor Mueller was able to raise the necessary funds to purchase either collection, the correspondence allows a reconstruction of a catalogue of Lindley's library, and poses some questions about Joseph Hooker's motives in attempting to dispose of Lindley's material outside the United Kingdom. The final disposal of the herbarium to Cambridge and previous analyses of the purchase of his Library for the Royal Horticultural Society are discussed. A list of the works from Lindley's library offered for sale to Australia is appended.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7673
Author(s):  
Tarquino Sánchez-Almeida ◽  
David Naranjo ◽  
Raquel Gilar-Corbi ◽  
Jessica Reina

In Ecuador, affirmative action policies enable students from vulnerable groups to preferentially enter universities. However, these policies are limited to admission and do not include academic or socio-economic support mechanisms that, according to the literature, promote student insertion in the higher education system. In this study, the effects of socio-academic intervention on the academic performance of vulnerable students are presented. For this, 41 students were selected among 164 vulnerable students entering the Escuela Politécnica Nacional in the second term of 2019. The 41 students attended a socio-academic intervention course for one term, while the remaining 123 attended the Escuela Politécnica Nacional levelling course directly. Once both groups of students finished the levelling course, their performance in each of the course subjects was compared. The results showed that the academic performance of the students in the intervention was significantly higher in mathematics and geometry compared to the students who had no intervention. These results show that the socio-academic intervention promotes the real insertion of vulnerable students in the university system.


2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian M. Billing

In this article Christian M. Billing considers the relationship between female lament and acts of vengeance in fifth-century Athenian society and its theatre, with particular emphasis on the Hekabe of Euripides. He uses historical evidence to argue that female mourning was held to be a powerfully transgressive force in the classical period; that considerable social tensions existed as a result of the suppression of female roles in traditional funerary practices (social control arising from the move towards democracy and the development of forensic processes as a means of social redress); and that as a piece of transvestite theatre, authored and performed by men to an audience made up largely, if not entirely, of that sex, Euripides' Hekabe demonstrates significant gender-related anxiety regarding the supposedly horrific consequences of allowing women to speak at burials, or to engage in lament as part of uncontrolled funerary ritual. Christian M. Billing is an academic and theatre practitioner working in the fields of ancient Athenian and early modern English and European drama. He has worked extensively as a director and actor and has also taught at a number of universities in the United Kingdom and the USA. He is currently Lecturer in Drama at the University of Hull.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document