scholarly journals Pre-university informal engagement with mathematical activities and the decision to study mathematics at university

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 10-22
Author(s):  
Katie Steckles ◽  
Peter Rowlett ◽  
Angharad Ugonna

A survey was created to investigate the experiences of mathematics undergraduates with informal mathematical activity prior to starting university, and links these with the decision to study mathematics. A questionnaire was completed by a small sample of first-year undergraduates at two UK universities. Generally, incoming undergraduates are shown to have a high level of enjoyment of mathematics and engagement with informal mathematical activity. Popular activities included mathematical puzzles and games, and online videos about maths. Students were often engaged with family or via social media, playing computer, tablet or phone games, watching TV game shows with mathematical aspects and participating in organised competitions. Only around half engaged via talks or workshops organised through school and watching more structured documentaries or videos of lectures. Few participated in organised clubs. It seems there was greater engagement with ‘fun’ aspects of mathematics than with activities which demonstrate mathematics linked to career choice. The link to goals of outreach and similar initiatives is discussed, with further research indicated.

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-45
Author(s):  
Margarita Jaitner

The increased adoption of social media has presented security and law enforcement authorities with significant new challenges. For example, the Swedish Security Service (SÄPO) asserts that a large proportion of radicalization takes place in open fora online. Still, approaches to contain social media-driven challenges to security, particularly in democratic societies, remain little explored. Nonetheless, this type of knowledge may become relevant in European countries in the near future: Amongst other factors, the challenging economic situation has resulted in increased public discontent leading to emergence or manifestation of groups that seek to challenge the existing policies by almost any means. Use of social media multiplies the number of vectors that need law enforcement attention. First, a high level of social media adaption allows groups to reach and attract a wider audience. Unlike previously, many groups today consist of a large but very loosely connected network. This lack of cohesion can present a challenge for authorities, to identify emerging key actors and assess threat levels. Second, a high level of mobile web penetration has allowed groups to ad-hoc organize, amend plans and redirect physical activities. Third, the tool social media is as not exclusive to potential perpetrators of unlawful action, but is as well available to law enforcement authorities. Yet, efficient utilization of social media requires a deep understanding of its nature and a well-crafted, comprehensive approach. Acknowledging the broad functionality of social media, as well as its current status in the society, this article describes a model process for security authorities and law enforcement work with social media in general and security services work in particular. The process is cyclic and largely modular. It provides a set of goals and tasks for each stage of a potential event, rather than fixed activities. This allows authorities to adapt the process to individual legal frameworks and organization setups. The approach behind the process is holistic where social media is regarded as both source and destination of information. Ultimately, the process aims at efficiently and effectively mitigating the risk of virtual and physical violence.


Open Medicine ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 502-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmond Girasek ◽  
Regina Molnár ◽  
Edit Eke ◽  
Miklós Szócska

AbstractSome decades ago being a medical doctor was characterized unambiguously as a profession that offers help and serves the patients’ needs during medical treatment. In today’s society, this image of the medical profession has been substantially changed. The present paper aims to examine medical career choice motivations and preferences of choosing speciality, in the light of current social and economic changes in Hungary. The study was carried out by using a voluntary, self-administrated, questionnaire among first-year medical students and resident doctors in four medical faculties in Hungary. The career choice motivations of the first-year medical students and resident doctors are similar and match to the traditional health profession career choice motivations. Nevertheless the first-year students consider high income as one of the most important factors. They appear more conscious and more ambitious regarding their future speciality choice. The Hungarian health care system and medical education must be prepared for the presence of students that are aware of the high market value of a medical diploma, have excellent language skills, and consider migration as one main factor in their motivation when choosing a medical profession.


2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 429-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark P. Bowden ◽  
Subhash Abhayawansa ◽  
John Bahtsevanoglou

Purpose – There is evidence that students who attend Technical and Further Education (TAFE) prior to entering higher education underperform in their first year of study. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of self-efficacy in understanding the performance of students who completed TAFE in the previous year in a first year subject of microeconomics in a dual sector university in Melbourne, Australia. Design/methodology/approach – The study utilises data collected by surveys of 151 students. Findings – A student’s self-efficacy is positively associated with their marks in a first year subject of microeconomics. However, the relationship between final marks and self-efficacy is negative for those students who attended TAFE in the previous year suggesting that they suffer from the problem of overconfidence. When holding self-efficacy constant, using econometric techniques, TAFE attendance is found to be positively related to final marks. Research limitations/implications – The findings are exploratory (based on a small sample) and lead to a need to conduct cross institutional studies. Practical implications – The research points to the need for early interventions so that TAFE students perform well in their first year of higher education. It also points to potential issues in the development of Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) programs. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the inter-related impact of attendance at TAFE in the previous year and self-efficacy on the subsequent academic performance of TAFE students.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolin Siepmann ◽  
Lisa Carola Holthoff ◽  
Pascal Kowalczuk

Purpose As luxury goods are losing their importance for demonstrating status, wealth or power to others, individuals are searching for alternative status symbols. Recently, individuals have increasingly used conspicuous consumption and displays of experiences on social media to obtain affirmation. This study aims to analyze the effects of luxury and nonluxury experiences, as well as traditional luxury goods on status- and nonstatus-related dimensions. Design/methodology/approach After presenting the theoretical foundation, the authors conduct a study with 599 participants to compare status perceptions elicited by the conspicuous consumption of luxury goods, luxury experiences and nonluxury experiences. The authors investigate whether experiences that are visibly consumed on Instagram are replacing traditional luxury goods as the most important status symbols. Furthermore, the authors examine the effects of the content shown on nonstatus-related dimensions and analyze whether status perceptions differ between female and male social media communicators. Finally, the authors analyze how personal characteristics (self-esteem, self-actualization and materialism) influence the status perceptions of others on social media. Findings The results show that luxury goods are still the most important means of displaying status. However, especially for women, luxury experiences are also associated with a high level of social status. Thus, the results imply important gender differences in the perceptions of status- and nonstatus-related dimensions. Furthermore, the findings indicate that, in particular, the individual characteristics of self-actualization and materialism affect status perceptions depending on the posted content. Originality/value While the research has already considered some alternative forms of conspicuous consumption, little attention has been given to experiences as status symbols. However, with their growing importance as substitutes for luxury goods and the rise of social media, the desire to conspicuously consume experiences is increasing. The authors address this gap in the literature by focusing on the conspicuous display of luxury and nonluxury experiences on social media.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 119
Author(s):  
Anita Akhirruddin

high growth of online shopping in Indonesia gave rise to many onlien websites and platforms in Indonesia. Facebook, which is one of the social networks that many people use around the world, is one of the online selling media that is in great demand because it can reach more people. Shopping online on Facebook in addition to providing benefits for sellers and buyers. Online shopping on Facebook requires a high level of trust from buyers regarding the quality of products and serv ices, and ease in obtaining product information and payments because there are no guarantees such as online shop platforms such as shoope, tokopedia, lazada and others which before the goods are received by the customer, then the money from the buyer can not be disbursed. So researchers are interested in researching online shopping interests on the social media site facebook. The results obtained are variable trust, ease of transaction and quality of information positively affect the interest in buying online on facebook.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (025) ◽  
pp. 1-59
Author(s):  
Leland D. Crane ◽  
◽  
Ryan A. Decker ◽  
Aaron Flaaen ◽  
Adrian Hamins-Puertolas ◽  
...  

Lags in official data releases have forced economists and policymakers to leverage "alternative" or "non-traditional" data to measure business exit resulting from the COVID- 19 pandemic. We first review official data on business exit in recent decades to place the alternative measures of exit within historical context. For the U.S., business exit is countercyclical and fairly common, with about 7.5 percent of firms exiting annually in recent years. Both the high level and the cyclicality of exit are driven by very small firms and establishments. We then explore a range of alternative measures of business exit, including novel measures based on paycheck issuance and phone-tracking data, which indicate exit was elevated in certain sectors during the first year of the pandemic. The evidence is mixed, however; many industries have likely seen lower-than-usual exit rates, and exiting businesses do not appear to represent a large share of U.S. employment. Actual exit is likely to have been lower than widespread expectations from early in the pandemic. Moreover, businesses have recently exhibited notable optimism about their survival prospects.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-17
Author(s):  
Momin Kashif ◽  
Mirza Nisar Baig

Background: The rapid growth and availability of smartphones and social media platforms (SMP) have changed the medical students' approach to learn and manage the information about their academic, personal and professional lives. Methods: An online survey was done in undergraduate medical students of PIMS, Karimnagar to collect information about usage pattern and perception of SMP, and willingness to participate for using SMP as a learning tool in medical education. Results: Total 433 (Females – 275) out of 600 students participated in the survey from the first year (125), secondyear (151) and third-year (157) MBBS students. Everyone is using some type of SMP. They find SMP nearly equal to lecture materials and subject notes as a useful learning tool and there was significantly increasing trend of perception of SMP being a useful learning tool from the first-year (79%), second-year (83%) to third-year (92%), (p=0.01). Almost 93% want to see SMP used at institute level in medical education. Female students (52.4%) are significantly more willing for active participation than male students (43%), p=0.04. First-year students (56%) are more ready for active participation followed by third (48.4%) and second (43.7%) year students, p=0.08. Conclusion: Most students are willing to include SMP in medical education as a learning tool and ready to participate in different activities if they get the required training. As all students have smartphones and efficiently utilizing different services on their devices, SMP can become an effective learning tool in medical education.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-136
Author(s):  
Aude Villatte ◽  
Diane Marcotte ◽  
Alexandra Potvin

This study aimed to identify and rank the personal, family-related, social, and academic correlates of depressive symptoms in first-year college students. A questionnaire that included the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) was administered to 389 first-year college students (mean age = 18.9; SD = 3.38; 59.4% female). Eight variables contributed uniquely to the variance of depressive symptoms and were, in decreasing order of importance: (1) the absence of personal goals, (2) a high level of anxiety and (3) of dysfunctional thoughts regarding success, (4) a lack of emotional adjustment to college, (5) being female, (6) receiving little warmth and encouragement of autonomy from one’s mother and (7) from one’s father, and (8) being attracted to members of the opposite or both sexes. These results suggest that a multimodal intervention is required to support students’ mental health.  


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Budi Herminto ◽  
Risa Setia Ismandani

AbstractWater represent compound which is the necessary for all living. Consumption behaviorirrigate society not yet altogether goodness, society consume water when feel thirsty anddo not so pay attention drinking water and amount matching with requirement. Purpose ofthe study to determine the relationship between the knowledge level about fluid bodyrequirement with pattern consume drinking water at student in Academy of Nursing PantiKosala Surakarta.The subject was used as population in the study was all the first year students. The totalpopulation were 139 students, and the sample were 103 students. The samplingtechnique was simple random sampling.This research method represent analytic research with design research of corelasional toknow relationship between knowledge level about fluid body requirement with patternconsume drinking water of student.The results was the high level of knowledge about the fluid body requirment were 74(72%), moderate level of knowledge about the fluid body requirment were 29 (28%), whilethe behavior of consuming appropiate water were 69 (67%), and the behavior ofconsuming inappropiate water were 34 (33%) with a p-value 0.003 <0.05 significant 95%.There was a significant relationship between the knowledge level about fluid bodyrequirement with pattern consume drinking water at student in Academy of Nursing PantiKosala Surakarta.Keywords: knowlegde level, fluid body requirement, pattern consume drinking water.


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