Effectiveness of Undergraduate-Generated Animations: Increasing Comprehension and Engagement for Neuroscience Majors and Non-Majors

2021 ◽  
pp. 009862832110230
Author(s):  
Catherine L. Reed ◽  
Emilia Hagen ◽  
Cindy M. Bukach ◽  
Jane W. Couperus
Keyword(s):  
Target Audience ◽  
Student Interest ◽  
Neural Signals ◽  
Educational Tools ◽  
Teaching Tools ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Online Tools ◽  
Teaching Implications

Background: Animations of scientific concepts may improve comprehension by explaining and visualizing the steps of complex processes, but unless they engage student interest in meaningful ways, their effectiveness as teaching tools is limited. We achieve this through a novel approach to animation design that includes the target audience (undergraduates) so that the resultant animations align with their learner characteristics. Objective: This case study investigated whether undergraduate-generated animations were more effective educational tools than informationally equivalent text-and-illustration presentations and whether learners’ background influenced the relative benefits of animations. Method: Incorporating feedback from faculty and undergraduates, we created animations and text-plus-illustration content to explain how neural signals are generated and measured by scalp electrodes. Neuroscience majors and non-majors were presented with either animations or static presentations followed by comprehension and engagement assessments. Results: Both groups showed comprehension and engagement benefits for animations. Although majors showed better overall comprehension, animations improved comprehension for non-majors over static presentations. Conclusion: When educational content is directed for a target audience, animations can be more effective teaching tools for a broader student audience. Teaching Implications: The relevance of online tools for remote instruction makes animations, developed for and by undergraduates, important tools for effectively introducing difficult content.

A Novel Approach to the Automatic Designation of Predefined Census Enumeration Areas and Population Sampling Frames: A Case Study in Somalia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarchil Qader ◽  
Veronique Lefebvre ◽  
Amy Ninneman ◽  
Kristen Himelein ◽  
Utz Pape ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Sampling ◽  
Census Enumeration ◽  
Novel Approach

Empowering professionalism in mission-oriented innovation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus M Bugge ◽  
Fazilat Siddiq
Keyword(s):  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Supply Side ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Teaching Tools

Abstract In the literature on mission-oriented innovation supply side and tech-oriented approaches have been complemented by broader and more inclusive societal approaches. Here, it is highlighted that both directionality and broad anchoring of diverse stakeholders across private, public, and civic domains are key to successful implementation. Still, it is unclear how these dimensions relate and unfold in practice. Using digital literacy in education as an example of mission-oriented innovation, this paper investigates what prerequisites and capabilities are needed to envision and govern such processes. Based upon a case study of innovative teaching practices in twenty-five classes at ten primary schools in Norway, the paper finds that the motivation, dedication, and engagement of the teachers is not primarily related to the digital technologies themselves, but to the professional and pedagogical anchoring of the digital teaching tools. The mobilization of the professionalism of the teachers is enabled by a process of balanced empowerment.

Using hidden Markov models to find discrete targets in continuous sociophonetic data

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Duncan
Keyword(s):  
Hidden Markov Models ◽  
Markov Models ◽  
Hidden Markov ◽  
Abstract Representation ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Single Target ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Speaker

Abstract Advances in sociophonetic research resulted in features once sorted into discrete bins now being measured continuously. This has implied a shift in what sociolinguists view as the abstract representation of the sociolinguistic variable. When measured discretely, variation is variation in selection: one variant is selected for production, and factors influencing language variation and change are influencing the frequency at which variants are selected. Measured continuously, variation is variation in execution: speakers have a single target for production, which they approximate with varying success. This paper suggests that both approaches can and should be considered in sociophonetic analysis. To that end, I offer the use of hidden Markov models (HMMs) as a novel approach to find speakers’ multiple targets within continuous data. Using the lot vowel among whites in Greater St. Louis as a case study, I compare 2-state and 1-state HMMs constructed at the individual speaker level. Ten of fifty-two speakers’ production is shown to involve the regular use of distinct fronted and backed variants of the vowel. This finding illustrates HMMs’ capacity to allow us to consider variation as both variant selection and execution, making them a useful tool in the analysis of sociophonetic data.

“Oh, the Places You Can Go” Gen Z Psychology Students’ Perceived Career Options and Interests

2021 ◽  
pp. 009862832110138
Author(s):  
Brian Collisson ◽  
Brian E. Eck
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Student Interest ◽  
Psychology Majors ◽  
Career Options ◽  
Teaching Implications

Background: Career options available to psychology graduates are often underestimated despite psychology being a marketable and versatile degree with hundreds of career options. Objective: This article identifies which career options students perceive as available to psychology graduates and assesses student interest in psychology-related careers. Method: In Study 1, 12 focus groups consisting of 59 psychology majors were asked to list the career options available to psychology graduates. In Study 2, 430 psychology students rated their interest in 273 psychology-related careers. Results: Study 1 revealed careers perceived as available to psychology graduates were most often in counseling (92%) and applied-settings (50%) with child-related (42%), business (25%), and research (25%) careers listed less often. Study 2 revealed psychology majors were most interested in counseling and child-related careers, with 18 of their top 20 careers of interest involving mental health or working with children. Conclusion: Students are often unaware of career options in psychology beyond counseling. Consequently, they tend to be most interested in careers related to counseling and children, particularly careers involving the mental healthcare of children. Teaching Implications: Findings may encourage psychology departments to communicate the broad range of psychology career options for the recruitment and advising of psychology majors.

scholarly journals How to Use Online Tools to Generate New Hypotheses for Mammary Gland Biology Research: A Case Study for Wnt7b

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yorick Bernardus Cornelis van de Grift ◽  
Nika Heijmans ◽  
Renée van Amerongen
Keyword(s):  
Mammary Gland ◽  
In Silico ◽  
Online Tools ◽  
Mammary Gland Biology ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
In Silico Analyses ◽  
Biology Research ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractAn increasing number of ‘-omics’ datasets, generated by labs all across the world, are becoming available. They contain a wealth of data that are largely unexplored. Not every scientist, however, will have access to the required resources and expertise to analyze such data from scratch. Fortunately, a growing number of investigators is dedicating their time and effort to the development of user friendly, online applications that allow researchers to use and investigate these datasets. Here, we will illustrate the usefulness of such an approach. Using regulation of Wnt7b expression as an example, we will highlight a selection of accessible tools and resources that are available to researchers in the area of mammary gland biology. We show how they can be used for in silico analyses of gene regulatory mechanisms, resulting in new hypotheses and providing leads for experimental follow up. We also call out to the mammary gland community to join forces in a coordinated effort to generate and share additional tissue-specific ‘-omics’ datasets and thereby expand the in silico toolbox.

Student interest in teaching: Implications for recruitment

1985 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-24
Author(s):  
Richard E. Kemper ◽  
John N. Mangieri
Keyword(s):  
Student Interest ◽  
Teaching Implications
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