USING PICTURES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS' COMPREHENSION OF DESCRIPTIVE TEXT TO THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS OF SMP NEGERI 6 MANADO

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the use of images can improve students' understanding of explanatory texts. It was held at SMP Negeri 6 Manado. One group pre-test-a quantitative study through post-test design. The teaching method used for treatment was to use images. The respondents of this study consisted of 7 classes in the second grade, and the sample of this study consisted of VII1, and 25 students. They analyzed statistically, taking into account the average score of the test. The results of this study showed that the post-examination score was higher than the pre-examination. The average score for the post-test (T2) is 8,52 and the average score for the pre-test (T1) is 5. This shows that the use of diagrams improves the student's comprehension of the explanatory text. The results of can conclude that it is effective to use figures when teaching explanatory texts.

The Effectiveness of the Flipped Classroom in a 300 Level Terrorism Class

This study compares a 300 level terrorism class taught using a flipped classroom to the same class taught one year earlier in the traditional, face to face method. While one examination score was better for the face to face class, the flipped class did better than the traditional class on the final examination. Every other point of comparison showed no difference between the classes, except for the end of semester student evaluations, which were significantly higher for the face to face class than the flipped classroom.

An Evaluation on Dental Students’ Performance during the First Year of Covid-19 Pandemic

As with other university programs, dental school has been affected during the Covid-19 pandemic due to physical distancing and clinical restriction. Covid-19 pandemic changes the original method of study with the swift shift to online learning, which may affect students’ performance. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of online learning methods on the final examination performance for dental undergraduate students in their clinical years in a public university in Malaysia. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc Tukey tests were conducted to compare the effect of learning methods on the mean examination score, by comparing clinical students from the year of 2018 and 2019 face-to-face (f2f) learning method as compared to fully online learning in 2020. The analysis shows that there is a statistically significant difference on final exam performance at p < 0.05 for Year 3 [F (2, 102) = 11.68] and Year 5 [F(2, 95) = 22.32]. Post-hoc Tukey HSD test indicates that the mean examination result for 2019 is significantly different from 2020 and 2018 even though the same learning method was employed for the latter. There was also no statistically significant difference for when the 2020 cohort is compared to the 2018 cohort for both Year 3 and Year 5. There was no statistically significant difference in mean examination score across all cohorts for Year 4 students. Although limited in scope, the conclusion of this study was that, f2f learning method has no significant difference with online learning in terms of final examination performance.

Comparison of medical student performance in summative undergraduate paediatric examinations and a clinician-designed minimum accepted competency (MAC) assessment

Background It is recognised that newly qualified doctors feel unprepared in many areas of their daily practice and that there is a gap between what students learn during medical school and their clinical responsibilities early in their postgraduate career. This study aimed to assess if undergraduate students and junior paediatric doctors met a Minimum Accepted Competency (MAC) of knowledge. Methods The knowledge of undergraduates and junior paediatric doctors was quantitatively assessed by their performance on a 30-item examination (the MAC examination). The items within this examination were designed by non-academic consultants to test ‘must-know’ knowledge for starting work in paediatrics. The performance of the students was compared with their official university examination results and with the performance of the junior doctors. Results For the undergraduate student cohort (n = 366) the mean examination score achieved was 45.9%. For the junior doctor cohort (n = 58) the mean examination score achieved was significantly higher, 64.2% (p < 0.01). 68% of undergraduate students attained the pass mark for the MAC examination whilst a significantly higher proportion, 97%, passed their official university examination (p < 0.01). A Spearman’s rank co-efficient showed a moderate but statistically significant positive correlation between students results in their official university examinations and their score in the MAC examination. Conclusion This work demonstrates a disparity between both student and junior doctor levels of knowledge with consultant expectations from an examination based on what front-line paediatricians determined as “must-know” standards. This study demonstrates the importance of involvement of end-users and future supervisors in undergraduate teaching.

Pelatihan Penggunaan Perangkat Lunak GeoGebra dalam Pembelajaran Matematika bagi Guru-guru SMA di Wilayah Insana dan Biboki

Average National Examination score in 2019 for Mathematics Study Program territory North Central Timor (TTU) was 31.15. This achievment is the lowest average score of the other exams, both at the level TTU district, NTT province, and Nationals. Low learning innovation and teacher creativity often become problems in learning mathematics. Some schools in TTU have average scores below the district average that is Biboki dan Insana selected and trained to utilize software GeoGebra. This training begins with an introduction about GeoGebra and followed by training to solve various mathematical problems using GeoGebra. Then the proses follow-up with distribution of GeoGebra tutorial videos and ongoing mentoring and guidance. After training, 52.38% of partisipants ready to use GeoGebra in their lessons.

Dopaminergic imaging and clinical predictors for phenoconversion of REM sleep behaviour disorder

This is an international multicentre study aimed at evaluating the combined value of dopaminergic neuroimaging and clinical features in predicting future phenoconversion of idiopathic REM sleep behaviour (iRBD) subjects to overt synucleinopathy. Nine centres sent 123I-FP-CIT-SPECT data of 344 iRBD patients and 256 controls for centralized analysis. 123I-FP-CIT-SPECT images were semiquantified using DaTQUANTTM, obtaining putamen and caudate specific to non-displaceable binding ratios (SBRs). The following clinical variables were also analysed: (i) Movement Disorder Society-sponsored revision of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale, motor section score; (ii) Mini-Mental State Examination score; (iii) constipation; and (iv) hyposmia. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed to estimate conversion risk. Hazard ratios for each variable were calculated with Cox regression. A generalized logistic regression model was applied to identify the best combination of risk factors. Bayesian classifier was used to identify the baseline features predicting phenoconversion to parkinsonism or dementia. After quality check of the data, 263 iRBD patients (67.6 ± 7.3 years, 229 males) and 243 control subjects (67.2 ± 10.1 years, 110 males) were analysed. Fifty-two (20%) patients developed a synucleinopathy after average follow-up of 2 years. The best combination of risk factors was putamen dopaminergic dysfunction of the most affected hemisphere on imaging, defined as the lower value between either putamina (P &lt; 0.000001), constipation, (P &lt; 0.000001) and age over 70 years (P = 0.0002). Combined features obtained from the generalized logistic regression achieved a hazard ratio of 5.71 (95% confidence interval 2.85–11.43). Bayesian classifier suggested that patients with higher Mini-Mental State Examination score and lower caudate SBR asymmetry were more likely to develop parkinsonism, while patients with the opposite pattern were more likely to develop dementia. This study shows that iRBD patients older than 70 with constipation and reduced nigro-putaminal dopaminergic function are at high risk of short-term phenoconversion to an overt synucleinopathy, providing an effective stratification approach for future neuroprotective trials. Moreover, we provide cut-off values for the significant predictors of phenoconversion to be used in single subjects.