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Teaching Physics at High Schools and University – Key Problems
Get PDFThe paper deals with the problem of physics education at high schools and problems that university students have in the first year of their study. Physics is a core subject in STEM education (STEM- science, technology, engineering, mathematics). The aim of the research was focused on parts of the physics curriculum that are difficult to teach and learn (concepts heat, temperature, density). Our research was provided in 2019-2022 at high schools (grammar schools) in the Czech Republic and in 2020-2022 at universities as part of the project Bridge2Teach solution.
The goal of the research was to answer two questions: 1. What are the critical places in the study program of the subject physics at high schools? 2. Can bridging courses at universities be helpful for pre-service science teacher students to overcome gaps in knowledge during the first term of the studies? The findings of this study are discussed in this manuscript. Examples of ways to prepare study materials for high school students are given
Exhuming Samuel Huntington’s theorems: Civilizational clashes, world order, and the impact on Europe
Get PDFIn the summer 1993 Foreign Affairs issue Samuel Huntington published a pathbreaking article titled “The Clash of Civilizations.” He followed it up in 1996 with a book carrying the modified title The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. What was the reason for listing a fuller title? This article focuses therefore on the remaking of world order calling into question Huntington’s second theorem instead of his celebrated first – civilizational clashes. It provides greater explanatory power to the unipolarity-versus-multipolarity debate that dominates international relations and, presumably, was behind Huntington’s title extension. As a potential civilization clash Huntington categorized Ukraine as a cleft state divided along significant ethnic, linguistic, regional, religious, and urban-rural lines. But the conversion from cleft state to a rebranded Western national identity was not part of his analysis and was instead confirmed following Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territories. Much overlooked by contemporary scholars today is the banal fact that territorial contiguity was regarded by many international relations specialists as the chief cause of conflict proneness between neighboring states. The remaking of world order leading to a multipolar system was not what Huntington had predicted and overshadows his ‘clash-of-civilizations’ theorem. Inadvertently, this article maintains, his logic was sidetracked by a more crucial development emerging in international relations, the matter of multipolarity
How do Australian health authorities use social media to target youth with COVID-19 messages? A content analysis.
No full textTitle: How do Australian health authorities use social media to target youth with COVID-19 messages? A content analysis.
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of social media to disseminate health information to the public. Health authorities can harness social media to target messages to priority populations, such as young people, in a timely and accessible way.
Aims: This study investigated the content of COVID-19 social media posts by Australian health authorities targeting young people (16-29 years old).
Methods: COVID-19 posts from all Australian State and Territory health department Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok accounts were extracted over the month of September 2021. Youth-targeted posts were subsequently extracted and their content analysed thematically with metrics subject to descriptive statistics.
Results: In total, 238 youth-targeted posts were identified from 1059 COVID-19 posts extracted. All health departments used Facebook, five used Instagram, and only one used TikTok. The majority of posts implicitly targeted youth; only 14.7% explicitly mentioned age. The COVID-19 ‘outbreak’ states most commonly posted about testing and vaccination (38% and 27% of posts), whilst non-outbreak states concentrated on vaccination (72% of posts). All posts included accompanying visuals; 77% were still images whilst 23% were videos. Engagement strategies were present, but rarely used; only 6% of posts were memes and 16% used humour. Priority groups such as cultural or chronic health and disability groups were rarely targeted in posts.
Conclusions: There is a need for greater health communication explicitly targeting young people on social media to cut through misinformation. Health authorities can leverage popular social media phenomena like memes, humour and virality to effectively deliver public health messages to this target group
Avoiding God’s waiting room: Lessons from the lived experiences of older people who use technology to support physical activity
No full textBackground: Digital technologies provide new opportunities to promote, incentivise and support physical activity for healthy ageing, but their potential is yet to be fully realised. There is mixed information about older people’s capacity to use new technologies to support physical activity and about how it can benefit them.
Aims: To explore the characteristics and influences of older people’s ‘successful’ uses of technology to support physical activity.
Methods: We conducted narrative interviews with 17 purposively sampled people aged 70+ who, in a previous survey, reported using technology to support physical activity. We sought to identify transferable lessons from their experiences and to explain how these experiences were shaped by contextual factors, including ageing and the COVID-19 pandemic. Data was analysed inductively and deductively.
Results: Interviewees perceived technology as a facilitator and motivator for physical activity, describing multiple benefits. Many disparaged their technical skills yet used technology creatively to access and enhance physical activity. They were driven by philosophies of active living which underpinned their refusal to “sit in God’s waiting room”. Most reported navigating challenges associated with ageing in a discriminatory society, compounded by COVID-19 impacts. Technology use was influenced by social and health relationships. We identified four ‘lessons’: 1. Embrace technology, 2. Find your thing, 3. Be adaptive and 4. Resist ‘being old’.
Conclusions: Older people’s use of technology to support physical activity may be encouraged by leveraging trusted social and health relationships to model and promote technology-supported physical activity, and strengthening the value proposition of technology via co-design
social-ABI-lity - using an online training program and a private Facebook group for social media communication practice and peer support after brain injury
No full textTitle: social-ABI-lity - using an online training program and a private Facebook group for social media communication practice and peer support after brain injury
Background: Social media may offer an important way for people with an acquired brain injury (ABI) to connect meaningfully with others. However, people with an ABI can find it challenging to use social media due to changes in their cognition and communication skills, and rehabilitation clinicians can be concerned about the risks associated with social media use. Furthermore, clinicians have limited resources available to target social media use during rehabilitation.
Aims: To investigate the outcomes of a multicomponent social media communication skills intervention.
Methods: A mixed-methods, pre-post intervention design was used. Participants completed a short, self-guided course about social media skills (social-ABI-lity program), and then participated in a private, moderated Facebook group over a 12-week period (social-ABI-lity Facebook group). Data were collected on social media use and quality of life and participants provided feedback on their experiences via a post-intervention interview. Statistical analysis compared pre-intervention and post-intervention measures and qualitative content analysis was conducted on post-intervention interview data.
Results: 16 participants completed the 12-week intervention. At post-intervention, there were significant improvements in confidence in using Facebook (p = .002) and enjoyment of using Facebook to connect with others (p = .013). Although there was no significant change in reported quality of life, participants reported multiple benefits from the intervention.
Conclusions: This pilot study provided preliminary evidence that this intervention improved outcomes for people with ABI and will inform future intervention development and research to assist people with ABI to build their social media skills for communication and social participation
The Future Technology in Patient Reconstructive Surgery: 4D printing.
No full textPurpose: Bone augmentation is a procedure in a patient who has been affected by tissue defects. The aim of this study is to demonstrate which technique and materials are suitable for tissue reconstruction by using novel printing technologies.
Methodology: A literature search was performed using the PubMed and Medline databases, with the keywords of ((((((3D printing) AND (4d printing)) OR (5d printing))) AND (materials)) AND (techniques)) AND (surgery) has performed. A total of 18 papers were included in the following review until March 2022.
Results: Shape-memory polymers using in recent bioprinters are useable as the prosthesis’s fabrications due to the treatments of patients in reconstructive surgeries. These methods exhibit the precise hard and soft tissue implanted in orthopedic sites as well as the oral and maxillofacial region. 3D and recent 5D printed tissue grafts permit precise design in complex human body defects, due to trauma or cancer. The accuracy to cover the defect, modified these techniques, from the range of diagnostics towards ultimate treatment plans, for a patient; with the feature of less post-operative discomfort and expedited human body tissue healing.
Conclusion: Recent research on different techniques of multi-dimension applications have shown positive results in the tissue engineering field, which needs more researches in the case of quality, efficiency, and accessibility to surgeons
High digital literacy in Patients Requesting Radiological Studies
No full textBackground: Easy internet access to health information has significantly changed how people obtain health-related information. Patients are increasingly taking an active role as health consumers. We studied patients who request referrals from their doctors for radiology examinations. Such patient-initiated referral requests have been recognised as a disruptor to the traditional healthcare model.
Aims: This study aimed to understand individuals who sought online health information (OHI) and to explore the relationship between accessing OHI, and patients securing their requests for radiological referrals from doctors.
Methods: Individuals who had had a radiological procedure in the past five years were invited to complete a 20-minute, anonymous online survey exploring the aims. Included in the survey was a validated digital health literacy measurement scale, eHEALS.
Results: Individuals who scored higher on the eHEALS measure were most likely to request radiological referrals. These individuals were under 55 years old and unconcerned about the credibility of the OHI they sourced. However, notably, most participants with higher scores, secured the desired outcome from their radiological requests.
Conclusions: Increasing digital health literacy due to the availability of OHI, enables patients to be consumers of health through requests for radiological imaging and radiological interventions from their doctors. Those participating, and particularly the higher eHEALS scorers, were comfortable and confident in making their requests and reported obtaining the anticipated outcome from their requested studies. As such, doctors are operating under a new paradigm of healthcare, with the availability of OHI disrupting traditionally fashioned model of care
Making Inroads: Trial of An Online Early Intervention To Address Co-Occurring Anxiety And Alcohol Use Problems Among Young People
No full textBackground/Aims: The transition to adulthood is a unique period characterised by numerous role changes and increased opportunities for alcohol consumption. Using alcohol to cope with anxiety symptoms is common, and young people with anxiety are at a greater risk of risky alcohol use and progression to alcohol use disorder. A randomised controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the Inroads program, an internet-delivered early intervention that targets anxiety, alcohol use, and the interconnections between these problems.
Method: Participants (aged 17-24; n=123) experiencing anxiety symptoms and harmful alcohol use were randomised to Inroads or a psychoeducation control. The Inroads intervention comprised 5 online CBT modules and weekly therapist support via email or phone. Primary outcomes assessed 2- and 6-months after baseline were standard drinks consumed in the past month, severity of alcohol-related consequences, and anxiety symptoms. Secondary outcomes were social anxiety and alcohol expectancies. Analyses were intention-to-treat using multi-level modeling for repeated measures.
Results: The Inroads program reduced anxiety and corrected alcohol expectancies relative to control. Alcohol consumption and related consequences reduced in both conditions; however, benefits were greater and sustained at 6 months for participants in the Inroads condition.
Conclusion: The study is the first to evaluate the benefits of early intervention to interrupt the trajectory to co-occurring anxiety and alcohol use disorders. The online format combined with therapist support is aligned with youth treatment preferences, and has the potential for wide dissemination to reach those who are not able or willing to access face-to-face treatment