1025 research outputs found
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Exploration of Abandoned Mine Shafts by means of Seismic Refraction, Electrical Resistivity Tomography, and Ground Penetrating Radar: Case study at Centralia, PA
Get PDFNear surface geophysical methods have been heavily used in mapping geological structures, and in the identification of mine shafts and underground void spaces. In this study, a site in Centralia, PA, was selected as an experimental site to study the relative effectiveness of Seismic Refraction (SR), Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT), and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to detect abandoned mine shafts. Centralia is well known for its extensive mine fire, as well as many abandoned mines. All surveys were performed along the same transect at Centralia. SR and ERT were appeared to be the effective methods of mine shaft detection. Dipole-Dipole and Wenner ERT inversions detected the presence of 4 mine shafts with their respective placement in the subsurface. Standard Seismic Refraction Tomography (SRT) and SR Time-Distance Curves both identified the mine shafts in the subsurface. In travel-time curves, deviations from anticipated resultant velocities were indicative of P-wave propagation in void spaces. In SRT, graphical “depressions” across the 2D transect illustrate the location of the cavities. These indications of void surveys were seen in multiple SR transverses at Centralia and in a model survey. The study showed that both SR methods can image void spaces in the subsurface. The use of a GPR point-survey has indicated 5 mine shafts but had inconsistencies in the boundaries of the shafts. The study showed that a combination of ERT and SR seemed to be more effective for this survey than any other the combination of the three methods
The Teacher the Student Became: How Formative School Experiences Impact Future Teaching Practice
Get PDFA teacher is a critical figure in the lives of many children, partially due to the sheer amount of time they spend with their students compared to other figures in the children’s lives, but also due to the fact that a good teacher can do a lot of good, while a bad teacher can do a lot of damage. The experiences a teacher has with their own teachers during childhood can greatly inform the kind of teacher they become, their teaching philosophy, and their identity as an educator. The purpose of this self-study is to learn more about how my own formative school experiences impacted my current teaching practice and how reflecting on those experiences and their impacts can help me improve the quality of their practice and become a more self-aware and effective educator
Role Consistency Across Self-Selected Groups
Get PDFPeople typically occupy at least one role in groups to which they belong. We hypothesized that when allowed to choose their roles, people will show role consistency across groups and they will rate those roles more positively. Our 108 participants identified the main role they played in three self-selected groups, indicated whether each role was freely chosen, and rated satisfaction. Results did not show role consistency, but participants felt more positively about freely chosen roles
How Does the Use of Personal Relationships with Students Affect my Teaching Practice?
Get PDFResearchers have found that positive student-teacher relationships lead to a more effective teaching practice. In order to investigate this theory, I conducted an investigation in the second grade classroom in which I student taught at Reed Elementary School which is classified as a Title I school where all of the students qualify for free meals. The school is culturally diverse and has limited resources. I investigated the question of whether student-teacher relationships impact my teaching practice. I used reflective work and charts to conduct my study. I found that positive student-teacher relationships positively impact one’s teaching practices, if and only if every student is treated equally. Some limitations of this study is the length due to COVID-19, biases, and the depth of data collected
Sleep and its Effects on Teaching Practices
Get PDFThe purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between sleep and effective teaching practices. Qualitative and quantitative data were both used to examine ratings of school days as well as amount of hours slept per night. Findings showed that when the amount of hours slept per night increased, the reported success of a school day was more frequent. In addition, it was found that more hours slept per night resulted in a better mood when compared to the nights where 7 hours of sleep or less were achieved
Developmental and Sex Differences in Sericophily in the Wolf Spider Pardosa milvina
Get PDFMale spiders are attracted to silk (sericophily) from unmated adult females. Detection of female silk induces localized searching behavior and male courtship displays but sericophily may occur in other contexts as well. Both males and females show genitalic development two instars prior to maturity and both sexes produce dragline silk as late-instar juveniles and adults. It is unclear if adolescent male and female spiders show sex-specific attraction to each other’s silk or if adult females are responsive to silk from adult or subadult males. We tested whether subadult male and female spiders were attracted to silk from conspecific subadult or adult males and females. We also tested adult male and female responses to silk from adult and subadults of the same or opposite sex. Using a 7x 4 design (28 unique treatments), we tested subadult and adult male and female attraction or repellency to pairs of silk substrates or no silk in the following seven treatment pair combinations: (1) adult male/adult female, (2) adult female/blank, (3) adult male/blank, (4) subadult male/subadult female, (5) subadult female/blank, (6) subadult male/blank, (7) blank/blank. For each spider, we measured time on each substrate within each pair over one hour. We found that adult male spiders were significantly attracted to female silk and avoided male silk while adult females were indifferent to silk from adult males and actively avoided silk from subadult males. Subadult females showed no responses to silk from males or females of any age class but subadult males showed attraction to silk from adult females and avoidance of silk from adult males. Collectively these results show that silk-mediated communication can occur prior to sexual maturity and that silk can serve as a repellent as well as an attractant depending on the sex and age of the spider
It\u27s All Fun and Games
Get PDFThe question that I decided to do for my self-study was: How does the use of play-based activities impact my teaching practice? I had originally decided on the question of: How does the use of play-based activities in math impact my teaching practice? I decided to change my question during the fall semester because in my regular education classroom, math is at the end of the day. It was very difficult for me to get into the classroom to see the end of the day because of the way my classes were scheduled at Susquehanna. I was not able to interact much with my original self-study question because of this. The days that I was able to go into my placement to see math were very slim and I did not feel comfortable taking anything over, as it is a co-taught class, as well. I felt uneasy having a self-study question that I was not really interacting with. All of these reasons helped me to decide to adjust my self-study question. I then decided on a question about how play-based activities, in any subject, can impact my teaching. I wanted to work with my self-study question in the fall as well which is why I decided to change the question. Before I even changed my question, I noticed myself using play-based activities in my placement already in other subjects like reading, spelling, and science. I would find new spelling games for my students to use to practice their spelling words before a spelling test. I was also able to do an Oreo activity in science to help my students understand the different phases of the moon. I also chose this question because I love games and play-based activities myself and I want to be able to incorporate my creativity and passion for games and play into my cooperating classroom to see if that affects my teaching practices. I have interacted with this question during my work in a summer school program as well, so the question seemed to flow naturally with my teaching preferences. I noticed that many times in my observations students get bored in school or say they hate school because it is boring. I wanted to help my students learn to love learning and school. Through the use of play, I wanted to help students learn more and see if it has an impact on my teaching practice as a pre-service teacher. Before I began this study, I believed that play-based activities were a way to help students learn without them realizing they were even learning anything. I also wanted to make school more understandable for students who struggled, and I believed using play-based activities was just another way for me to help reach all students no matter what their struggles may have been. Play-based activities can be differentiated for lower and higher-level learners which is what I strived for in my classroom. My question is aligned with my self-study research because my research is based on play in the classroom. After changing my question, I felt a lot better about what I needed to accomplish, and I found myself interacting with my question a lot more in a more impactful way
Socially-Facilitated Antipredator Responses in the Wolf Spider Pardosa milvina
Get PDFAnimals use diverse sources of information to assess predation risk. Many may use direct information such as visual or odor cues associated with a predator. Additionally, social species may use indirect sources of information such as observing antipredator responses of nearby conspecifics even when they themselves have no direct information about risk. The relative value and interaction of direct predator cues and indirect social information about predation risk is unclear, particularly when these sources provide conflicting information. The wolf spider, Pardosa milvina, displays effective antipredator behavior (freezing) when detecting silk from adults of another co-occurring wolf spider, Tigrosa helluo. Pardosa also occurs at high densities in agricultural fields where encounters with Tigrosa vary spatially and temporally. We tested how Pardosa antipredator responses varied when detecting Tigrosa silk cues directly compared to social cues from conspecifics with or without access to predator silk. Using an automated digital tracking system, we measured activity of Pardosa under six different social and predator cue conditions including variations of when the subject does or does not have access to predator cues directly, and/or is able to observe conspecifics with or without access to these same predator cues. We found spiders walked significantly less in the presence of direct predator cues independent of social cues, however mean speed of movement and freezing responses were both significantly influenced by both direct predator cues and social cues. When nearby conspecifics had access to predator silk but the subject did not, the subject increased antipredator responses. When the subject had direct exposure to predator silk cues but nearby subjects did not, the subject reduced antipredator responses. Although Pardosa mediate some defensive behavior based on social cues, direct information about a predator generally had a stronger effect on antipredator behavior. Our results suggest that behaviors of nearby conspecifics can influence the intensity and prevalence of antipredator behaviors of this spider in complex ways