Tangible symmetry elements and space-group models to guide from molecular to solid-state composition

The ability to imagine symmetry and the spatial arrangement of atoms and molecules is crucial in chemistry in general. Teaching and understanding crystallography and the composition of the solid state therefore require understanding of symmetry elements and their relationships. To foster the student's spatial imagination, models representing a range of concepts from individual rotation axes to complete space groups have been designed and built. These models are robust and large enough to be presented and operated in a lecture hall, and they enable students to translate conventional 2D notations into 3D objects and vice versa. Tackling them hands-on means understanding them.

Virtual Simulation

Virtual simulation is a learning tool that employs specific hardware and software technology for simulation-based provider training within a digital domain. Extended reality or XR software includes virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) programs that represent a rapidly growing area within the field of virtual simulation. This training may provide either provider- or patient-centered learning modules, with dedicated hardware and software centered on skill-based, 3D modeling or case-based learning. Demand for these learning programs in healthcare education was fueled by the remote learning needs of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to this growing demand, there is a significant role for many virtual simulation software programs within the traditional classroom and lecture hall. This is a previously untapped resource for simulation education. The flipped classroom model provides an opportune framework for the incorporation of immersive, virtual simulation learning programs within spaces previously limited to the more passive, podium-based lecture.

Der Raum der Vorlesung: Vom Auditorium zum „multi media hub“

The present paper is concerned with the lecture hall as the natural home of lecturing. We will focus on constructed, designed and equipped space as a material and communicative manifestation of science which fundamentally contributes to the multimodal practice of lecturing. Taking an interactionist point of view, we start off with introducing our concept of architecture-for-interaction which aims at spatial built-in features as a resource for social interaction, namely for situational anchoring among those present. In a second step, we identify key architectural elements of the lecture hall as material sediments of communicative problems connected with the social practice of lecturing. In doing so, we will also give a high-level overview of the historical development of the lecture hall (and its precursors) since the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age. Turning to current data from lecturing in times of the pandemic, we will then deal with so called „ghost lectures“ behind closed doors. This current development brings out a refiguration process due to which the lecture hall undergoes a change from the classical auditorium with copresent participants to a multi-media hub allowing for tele-present participants.

Vorlesung und Hörsaal als Symptomwörter für Geschichte und Gegenwart der deutschen Sprache

The article starts with the etymology of the words Vorlesung („lecture“) and Hörsaal (“lecture hall”). On the one hand, it turns out that the two expressions are deeply anchored in the history of the old Latin scientific language. They transmit Latin structures and perspectives in German neologisms. On the other hand, the two words arose exactly at the time when the sciences were moving from Latin to German, thus distancing themselves from the traditional forms of Latin scholarship. In this light, they exemplify an epochal change in the history of the German language, but at the same time they represent a great European continuity. Against this background, the two words can be interpreted as symptomatic words associated with the Enlightenment’s confident outlook on the future relationship between science and society. Further corpus linguistic surveys also show how productively the two words appear in word formation processes. In particular, these surveys show by way of example that and how German standard language has benefited from the emergence of German academic language.

Kommunikationsgeschichte der Vorlesung: Linguistische Zugänge zur historischen Wissenschaftskommunikation im akademischen Hörsaal

The analysis of historical lecture practice in the context of a history of academic communication requires a multi-perspective approach. Different manifestations of communication from a historical lecture hall must be brought together and examined on the basis of a broad selection of source materials. The linguistic analysis of texts/languages, images, objects, spaces and bodies promises new insights into a long-lived communicative genre whose significance in the history of language and culture has so far only been explored in rudimentary form.

Virtual inverted classroom to replace in-person radiology lectures at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic - a prospective evaluation and historic comparison

Background In the time of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, in-person lectures had to be shifted to online learning. This study aimed to evaluate students’ and lecturers’ perception and effectiveness of a virtual inverted classroom (VIC) concept on clinical radiology in comparison to a historic control. Methods In the winter semester 2020/21, 136 fourth year medical students who completed the clinical radiology VIC during the pandemic, were included in the single centre, prospective study. Results were compared with a historic control that had finished the physical inverted classroom (PIC) in the immediately preceding year. The VIC consisted of an initial phase of self-determined preparation with learning videos and a second interactive phase of clinical case studies alternating between the virtual lecture hall and virtual buzz groups. At the end of the lecture series, students rated the lecture on a scale of 1 (most positive assessment) to 6 (most negative assessment) through an online survey platform. Additionally, they reported their impressions in free-form text. Lecturers were invited to comment on the VIC in a group interview. Main outcomes were final grades and student perception of the VIC. Results Students’ general impression of VIC was lower than that of PIC (median value of 3 [IQR 4, 2] and 1 [IQR 0, 0], p < 0.001), respectively, p < 0.001). The highest rating was achieved concerning use of the audience response system (median 1 [IQR 1, 0]), and the lowest concerning the buzz groups (median 4 [IQR 5, 3]). Students stated that they would have appreciated more details on reading images, greater focus on plenary case studies, and provision of exam related scripts. Lecturers would have liked better preparation by students, more activity of students, and stronger assistance for group support. Exam grades after VIC were better than after PIC (median 1 [IQR 2, 1] and 2 [IQR 2,1], respectively, p < 0.001). Conclusions Students’ overall perception of VIC was satisfactory, although worse than PIC. Final grades improved compared to PIC. Provided an adapted buzz group size and support, VIC may serve as complement in medical education once the pandemic is over.

Improving the indoor air quality (IAQ) in naturally ventilated lecture hall with a single facade by solar chimneys

In this paper, the indoor air pollution was investigated inside an educational building which contains air pollutants with elevated concentrations. A field study was conducted in a naturally ventilated, single-faceted lecture’s hall to evaluate the indoor air quality (IAQ). Both air velocity and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations were measured at the respiratory area level to compare these values with ASHRAE standard (62.01-2019). The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) 3D model was utilized to predict the air velocity, and CO2 concentrations, and to validate the measured air concentrations. The measured results fairly agree with the numerical CFD data with a 6.2% difference between both values. This paper deals with experimental work to study the effect of the cross-section area, the number, and the height of the solar chimneys. The results showed that using solar chimneys improved the natural ventilation in the hall and minimized the CO2 concentrations. Additionally, using the chimney cross-section area of 0.25*0.25 m, 0.30*0.30 m, and 0.40*0.40 to 0.50*0.50 m can reduce the CO2 concentrations to (3%, 6.2%, 6.4%, and 6.7%, respectively). While using three chimneys instead of only one, the ventilation flow rate increased from 61 to 70.9%. The effect of the height of the chimney on the average of CO2 concentrations inside the hall was examined. The modeled height rates (1, 3, 5, and 7 m, respectively) were improved to 26%, 33.6%, and 48.7%, respectively.

High COVID-19 vaccine coverage allows for a re-opening of European universities

Returning universities to full on-campus operations while the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing has been a controversial discussion in many countries. The risk of large outbreaks in dense course settings is contrasted by the benefits of in-person teaching. Transmission risk depends on a range of parameters, such as vaccination coverage, number of contacts and adoption of non-pharmaceutical intervention measures (NPIs). Due to the generalised academic freedom in Europe, many universities are asked to autonomously decide on and implement intervention measures and regulate on-campus operations. In the context of rapidly changing vaccination coverage and parameters of the virus, universities often lack the scientific facts to base these decisions on. To address this problem, we analyse a calibrated, data-driven simulation of transmission dynamics of 10755 students and 974 faculty in a medium-sized university. We use a co-location network reconstructed from student enrolment data and calibrate transmission risk based on outbreak size distributions in other Austrian education institutions. We focus on actionable interventions that are part of the already existing decision-making process of universities to provide guidance for concrete policy decisions. Here we show that with the vaccination coverage of about 80\% recently reported for students in Austria, universities can be safely reopened if they either mandate masks or reduce lecture hall occupancy to 50\%. Our results indicate that relaxing NPIs within an organisation based on the vaccination coverage of its sub-population can be a way towards limited normalcy, even if nation wide vaccination coverage is not sufficient to prevent large outbreaks yet.

The Effects of Environment on Memory and Reasoning Skills: Comparing Natural and Artificial Environments

The attention restoration theory suggests that directed attention is subject to fatigue, and the presence of nature and natural environments allows recovery from that fatigue, consequently improving cognitive function. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the mental processes of memory and reasoning were enhanced when exercised concurrently in a natural environment outdoors vs. an artificial environment such as an indoor classroom or lecture hall. Three hundred and eighty degree-seeking students at Texas State University were tested using modified forms of the Sentence Repetition Test and the California Verbal Learning Test to test verbal memory and a modified form of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV Matrix Reasoning Test to evaluate nonverbal reasoning/fluid intelligence. Half of the subjects (190) were tested in their classroom at the regularly scheduled class time or one located in the same building at a predetermined date and time. Half of the subjects (190) were tested in an outdoor garden classroom at a predetermined date and time. No significant difference was found to exist between in either the memory or reasoning scores of the two groups. However, comparisons of subjects in the same demographic categories produced one significant difference. Students classified as seniors (P = 0.035) who were tested in the natural environment performed significantly better on the Sentence Repetition Test compared with those tested in the artificial environment. Research generally supports the premise that exposure to nature or natural environments can have beneficial effects on physical and mental health and also improve cognitive function. Further studies should possibly include more than one meeting time and additional testing time for participants to sit and observe in the natural vs. artificial environment before testing.