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Full-Text Articles in Education

Four Functions Of Statistical Significance Tests, Xinshu Zhao Dec 2016

Four Functions Of Statistical Significance Tests, Xinshu Zhao

Professor Xinshu ZHAO

Statistical significance test, one of the most important contributions of mathematical statistics, was designed for projection, namely to project from a sample to its population, by estimating the probability (p) that a difference
observed in a probability sample does not exist in the population from which the sample has been drawn. In social sciences, however, researchers have used the significance tests for three other functions, namely proof, prescreen, and prototyping.


Toy Blocks And Rotational Physics, Gabriele U. Varieschi, Isabel R. Jully Dec 2016

Toy Blocks And Rotational Physics, Gabriele U. Varieschi, Isabel R. Jully

Gabriele Varieschi

Have you ever observed a child playing with toy blocks? A favorite game is to build towers and then make them topple like falling trees. To the eye of a trained physicist this should immediately look like an example of the physics of “falling chimneys,” when tall structures bend and break in mid-air while falling to the ground. The game played with toy blocks can actually reproduce well what is usually seen in photographs of falling towers, such as the one that appeared on the cover of the September 1976 issue of The Physics Teacher.1 In this paper we describe …


Intonation And Compensation Of Fretted String Instruments, Gabriele U. Varieschi, Christina M. Gower Dec 2016

Intonation And Compensation Of Fretted String Instruments, Gabriele U. Varieschi, Christina M. Gower

Gabriele Varieschi

We discuss theoretical and physical models that are useful for analyzing the intonation of musical instruments such as guitars and mandolins and can be used to improve the tuning on these instruments. The placement of frets on the fingerboard is designed according to mathematical rules and the assumption of an ideal string. The analysis becomes more complicated when we include the effects of deformation of the string and inharmonicity due to other string characteristics. As a consequence, perfect intonation of all the notes on the instrument cannot be achieved, but complex compensation procedures can be introduced to minimize the problem. …


Toy Models For The Falling Chimney, Gabriele U. Varieschi, Kaoru Kamiya Dec 2016

Toy Models For The Falling Chimney, Gabriele U. Varieschi, Kaoru Kamiya

Gabriele Varieschi

In this paper we review the theory of the ‘‘falling chimney,’’ which deals with the breaking in mid-air of tall structures when they fall to the ground. We show that these ruptures can be caused by either shear forces typically developing near the base, or by the bending of the structure which is caused primarily by the internal bending moment. In the latter case the breaking is more likely to occur between one-third and one-half of the height of the chimney. Small scale toy models are used to reproduce the dynamics of the falling chimney. By examining photos taken during …


Connecting Self-Efficacy And Views About Nature Of Science In Undergraduate Research Experiences, Gina M. Quan, Andrew Elby Nov 2016

Connecting Self-Efficacy And Views About Nature Of Science In Undergraduate Research Experiences, Gina M. Quan, Andrew Elby

Gina Quan

Undergraduate research can support students’ more central participation in physics. We analyze markers of two coupled shifts in participation: changes in students’ views about the nature of science coupled to shifts in self-efficacy toward physics research. Students in the study worked with faculty and graduate student mentors on research projects while also participating in a seminar where they learned about research and reflected on their experiences. In classroom discussions and in clinical interviews, students described gaining more nuanced views about the nature of science, specifically related to who can participate in research and what participation in research looks like. This …


From Enrollment To Employment: A Dacum Approach To Information Systems And Information Security And Assurance Curriculum Design, Leila Halawi, Wendi M. Kappers, Aaron Glassman Oct 2016

From Enrollment To Employment: A Dacum Approach To Information Systems And Information Security And Assurance Curriculum Design, Leila Halawi, Wendi M. Kappers, Aaron Glassman

Leila A. Halawi

Issues associated with information security are numerous and diverse. Since the majority of organizational actions rely greatly on information and communication technologies, Information Systems (IS) security is now a main concern for firms, governments, institutes, and society as a whole. As a result, a plethora of graduate programs have been created, covering nearly every aspect of IS security. The authors review the current state of the IS industry presented in the literature, and identify a panel of IS experts in which to explore current job skill needs using a “Developing a Curriculum,” DACUM, process to support curriculum design for two …


Longitudinal Success Of Calculus I Reform, Doug Bullock, Kathrine E. Johnson, Janet Callahan Oct 2016

Longitudinal Success Of Calculus I Reform, Doug Bullock, Kathrine E. Johnson, Janet Callahan

Janet M. Callahan

This paper describes the second year of an ongoing project to transform calculus instruction at Boise State University. Over the past several years, Calculus I has undergone a complete overhaul that has involved a movement from a collection of independent, uncoordinated, personalized, lecture-based sections, into a single coherent multi-section course with an activelearning pedagogical approach. The overhaul also significantly impacted the course content and learning objectives. The project is now in its fifth semester and has reached a steady state where the reformed practices are normative within the subset of instructors who might be called upon to teach Calculus I. …


Environmental Efficiency Of Automobile Energy Choices, Peter V. Schwartz, Chiweng Kam, John Ross Dr Aug 2016

Environmental Efficiency Of Automobile Energy Choices, Peter V. Schwartz, Chiweng Kam, John Ross Dr

Peter V. Schwartz

We introduce three efficiency metrics to compare two alternative transportation energy technologies: internal combustion engines (ICE) using bioethanol versus battery electric vehicles (BEV) charged from solar thermal electric (STE) generation. Both technologies require the use of the land surface area, consume water, and emit CO2. Travel efficiencies are measured in km per square meter of land used annually, km/L of water used, and km/kg of emitted CO2. Solar-electrical transportation utilizes land more than 200 times as efficiently, water more than 100 times as efficiently (when dry cooling of turbines is used), and emits less than 1/60 …


Choosing Management Information Systems As A Major: Understanding The Smifactors For Mis, Thomas W. Ferratt, Stephen R. Hall, Jayesh Prasad, Donald E. Wynn Aug 2016

Choosing Management Information Systems As A Major: Understanding The Smifactors For Mis, Thomas W. Ferratt, Stephen R. Hall, Jayesh Prasad, Donald E. Wynn

Donald Wynn

Given declining management information systems (MIS) enrollments at our university, we seek to understand our students‘ selection of a major. Prior studies have found that students choose a major based on a number of factors, with subject matter interest consistently being most important. We contribute to the literature by developing a deeper understanding of what is meant by subject matter interest, which we refer to as smiFactors, for MIS as a major and career. Based on a qualitative analysis of open-ended survey questions completed by undergraduate business students, we confirm a number of smiFactors for MIS gleaned from recent studies …


Choosing Management Information Systems As A Major: Understanding The Smifactors For Mis, Thomas W. Ferratt, Stephen R. Hall, Jayesh Prasad, Donald E. Wynn Aug 2016

Choosing Management Information Systems As A Major: Understanding The Smifactors For Mis, Thomas W. Ferratt, Stephen R. Hall, Jayesh Prasad, Donald E. Wynn

Thomas Ferratt

Given declining management information systems (MIS) enrollments at our university, we seek to understand our students‘ selection of a major. Prior studies have found that students choose a major based on a number of factors, with subject matter interest consistently being most important. We contribute to the literature by developing a deeper understanding of what is meant by subject matter interest, which we refer to as smiFactors, for MIS as a major and career. Based on a qualitative analysis of open-ended survey questions completed by undergraduate business students, we confirm a number of smiFactors for MIS gleaned from recent studies …


Attending To Scientific Practices Within Undergraduate Research Experiences, Gina M. Quan, Chandra Anne Turpen, Andrew Elby Jun 2016

Attending To Scientific Practices Within Undergraduate Research Experiences, Gina M. Quan, Chandra Anne Turpen, Andrew Elby

Gina Quan

Ford (2015) argues for viewing "scientific practice" not as a list of particular skills, but rather, as "sets of regularities of behaviors and social interactions" among scientists.  This conceptualization of scientific practices foregrounds how they 1) meaningfully connect to one another, 2) are purposefully employed in their ability to explain nature and 3) prospectively adapt based on critique. While Ford focused on practices in K-12 classrooms, we apply this framework to understand how undergraduate physics majors do or do not make progress toward more central participation in physics research experiences.  Using video from interviews with students and research mentors, and classroom and …


Transformative Education For Sustainability Transition At Edith Cowan University: A Discussion Paper, Sandra Woolltorton Jun 2016

Transformative Education For Sustainability Transition At Edith Cowan University: A Discussion Paper, Sandra Woolltorton

Sandra Wooltorton

"Recently the Australian Government released a National Action Plan for sustainability education (DEWHA, 2009) that prescribes for universities a reorientation to sustainability through teaching and learning, research and campus management. It specifies a transformative approach to education, together with a whole‐of‐school, whole‐of‐system philosophy. In this paper I define ‘transformative education’ in the context of sustainability and discuss the implications of the National Action Plan for Edith Cowan University. I also conduct a reconnaissance of the sustainability websites of a small sample of international universities to consider the depth of their transformative approaches to teaching and learning. Finally, I ‘throw down …


An Overview Of Recreation And Parks Professional Preparation Programs In Higher Education, Jennifer Y. Mak Apr 2016

An Overview Of Recreation And Parks Professional Preparation Programs In Higher Education, Jennifer Y. Mak

Jennifer Y Mak

The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of recreation and parks professional preparation programs in higher education. This paper will (a) help to understand the framework of recreation and parks professional preparation programs, (b) discuss the factors which influence the professional preparation outcomes, and (c) help to identify future research needs. The discussion is based on the framework for studying professional preparation programs by Stack, et al. (1986). The key element of the framework for studying recreation and parks professional preparation programs is the recreation and parks professional preparation environment which was the product of external, internal …


An Overview Of Recreation And Parks Professional Preparation Programs In Higher Education, Jennifer Y. Mak Apr 2016

An Overview Of Recreation And Parks Professional Preparation Programs In Higher Education, Jennifer Y. Mak

Jennifer Y Mak

The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of recreation and parks professional preparation programs in higher education. This paper will (a) help to understand the framework of recreation and parks professional preparation programs, (b) discuss the factors which influence the professional preparation outcomes, and (c) help to identify future research needs. The discussion is based on the framework for studying professional preparation programs by Stack, et al. (1986). The key element of the framework for studying recreation and parks professional preparation programs is the recreation and parks professional preparation environment which was the product of external, internal …


Derting Et Al 2016 Science Advances 2016 Full.Pdf, Terry Derting Feb 2016

Derting Et Al 2016 Science Advances 2016 Full.Pdf, Terry Derting

Terry Derting

Faculty professional development programs are critical components of efforts to improve teaching and learning in the sciences, but reliable evidence of sustained impacts of these programs is lacking. By definition, if a professional development program is effective then desired outcomes are sustained by participants after program completion. We tested the effectiveness of Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching (FIRST IV), a professional development program for postdoctoral scholars, by conducting a study of program alumni. Expected outcomes of the FIRST project were that participants would adopt learner-centered beliefs about teaching, implement learner-centered courses, and use assessments that incorporated questions requiring higher-order …


Tracie Salinas.Jpg, Tracie Mclemore Salinas Dec 2015

Tracie Salinas.Jpg, Tracie Mclemore Salinas

Dr. Tracie McLemore Salinas

No abstract provided.