1,261 research outputs found
Summative Assessment Practices of Solomon Islands Year Nine Science Teachers
No full textThe aim of this exploratory study was to investigate the perceptions, experiences, and practices of six Solomon Islands secondary science teachers, based on the types of assessment they use in their science classrooms to serve a summative purpose. The study was divided into two parts. The first part involved a baseline study which explored the teachers’ existing summative assessment practices with the intent to understand how their views and knowledge of the summative assessments influenced their practices, and to identify their professional learning needs in creating assessment tools. The second part of the study involved a small-scale professional development intervention, which aimed to enhance the science teachers’ skills and confidence in summative assessment as well as to identify the factors that influenced teachers’ development and transfer of new assessment skills to their classroom practices in the Solomon Islands context.
The study adopted a qualitative-interpretive research approach and used methods of teacher interviews, participant observation and documentary analysis to generate data related to the teachers’ existing summative assessment practices, and the new or revised processes that they adopted as a result of the professional development intervention. Various analytical procedures including thematic analysis procedures and frameworks that researchers have used previously to study teachers’ classroom practices were employed to analyse the collected data.
The findings of the baseline study indicated that the science teachers employed summative assessments to compare students’ ability through grading and reported their students’ achievements to parents and students. The unit test is the dominant form of assessment used by teachers to assess year nine students’ learning, performance and achievements in science. Examinations are administered to students at the end of each school term. An analysis of the test and examination questions indicated that teachers focused on assessing mainly low cognitive skills. Teachers’ views indicated that neither they nor the school leaders have used student achievement results in the past or present time as a basis to review and evaluate their teaching practices or plan ways they might improve student achievement and school performance.
The science teachers generally expressed varying levels of satisfaction in their conduct of assessment activities but also perceived the need for professional support in certain areas of assessment such as construction of a test using a test blueprint, grading, analysis and interpretation of student assessment results. The study also identified a range of factors that influenced the six science teachers’ classroom-based summative assessment practices. Factors that tend to have impacted positively on their summative assessment practices include; their initial teacher education experiences, knowledge and beliefs about teaching, learning and assessment, and colleagues in the school. However, the teachers also reported certain contextual factors that impacted negatively on their assessment practices. These included institutional and extracurricular responsibilities, heavy teaching loads, large class size, lack of clear assessment policy guidelines, lack of exemplary assessment resources, and national examination pressures.
Findings of the impact of professional development intervention indicated that the teachers made small to moderate changes in their summative assessment practice. Their involvement in the group activities during the professional development workshop made them become more reflective on their assessment practices and also indicated that the professional development activities enhanced their knowledge about alternative assessment strategies, and increased their confidence in carrying out summative assessments in class. However, the existing contextual factors that were identified during the baseline study continued to impede their transfer of new assessment ideas and procedures into their classroom practices
Israel's worst king? : the story of Ahab in light of its relationship to the stories of Saul, David and Solomon
Get PDFIn the story of King Ahab (I Kgs 16.29-22.40), Ahab is declared to be the worst person in the Hebrew Bible(I Kgs 21.25)seemingly because he repeats the infamous crimes of King Saul, King David and King Solomon. Because of the similarities in the behaviour of Ahab with his three predecessors, however, the story is a story about these three kings as well. As a result of the associations, Ahab's evil status is challenged. Views of the character Ahab in other literary traditions lend credence to the suggestion that Ahab does not live up to his bad name, and a close reading of the text of the story supports the suggestion. Such a reading leads to seeing King Ahab as a character who
is a composite of Saul, David and Solomon at their worst. These correspondences between the four kings lead to several results. Without saying that Ahab is not wicked, the correspondences (relatively) normalise the moral character of Ahab (in that Saul, David and Solomon may be considered 'normal'), while they diminish the moral character of the three kings by their association with Ahab. As a result, Ahab is viewed in a different and better light than what he is declared to be, while Saul, David and Solomon are viewed
in a lesser light. The diminishing after-effect also leads to rereading the stories of Saul, David and Solomon in the light of the story of Ahab. Read from such a perspective, their stories become stained by the stigma of being associated with Ahab
What’s Love Got to Do with it: The Evolution of Monogamy
No full textThis eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contac
What’s Love Got to Do with it: The Evolution of Monogamy
No full textThis eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contac
Les professeurs strasbourgeois de la galerie des portraits de la Faculté de pharmacie de Nancy
No full textDie Porträtgalerie der pharmazeutischen Fakultät von Nancy : die strassburger Professoren in Nancy.
In Würdigung der « École supérieure de Pharmacie » von Strasbourg, hat die « École de Pharmacie » von Nancy, deren Erbin sie war, ab 1914, eine Sammlung von Porträts der früheren Professoren beider Städte zusammengestellt. Porträts verschiedener früherer Strassburger sind immer noch in der Fakultät ausgestellt : die von I.-L. Oberlin, E.-T. Jacquemin, C.-F. Schlagdenhauffen, C.-E. Schmitt und G.-M. Bleicher. Der Verfasser schildert die Tätigkeit dieser Professoren in Nancy und reproduziert drei Karikaturen in denen sie erscheinen.The gallery of portraits in the Faculty of Pharmacy in Nancy : Strasburg professors in Nancy.
In homage to the Graduate School of Pharmacy in Strasburg, the School of Pharmacy of Nancy, who became its heir, instituted, beginning in 1914, a collection of portraits of former professors from these two cities. The portraits of several former Strasburgians are still exhibited in the Faculty at this time : those of I.-L. Oberlin, E.- T. Jacquemin, C.-F. Schlagdenhauffen, C.-E. Schmitt and G.-M. Bleicher. The author reviews the activities of these professors in Nancy and reproduces three caricatures in which they are shown.Labrude Pierre. Les professeurs strasbourgeois de la galerie des portraits de la Faculté de pharmacie de Nancy. In: Revue d'histoire de la pharmacie, 84e année, N. 308, 1996. pp. 39-52
Philopatry in prairie voles: an evaluation of the habitat saturation hypothesis
No full textNatal philopatry, or delayed dispersal of sexually mature offspring, may be due to ecological constraints on dispersal. In this study, we manipulated the population density of prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) living in experimental outdoor enclosures to test a prediction from the habitat saturation hypothesis that philopatry and subsequent group formation in this cooperatively breeding mammal is affected by the availability of suitable territories. We detected a significant, positive relationship between the proportion of offspring remaining philopatric and density, with females being more philopatric than males at all densities. This increase in philopatry led to a significant increase in the proportion of social units that were groups as well as a significant increase in group size. These results provide the strongest evidence of a causal effect of density on dispersal and group formation in a mammal. Our findings suggest that habitat saturation is at least a partial explanation for philopatry in prairie voles. However, we cannot eliminate the possibility that other variables, such as benefits accrued from remaining philopatric, may also be factors contributing to philopatry. Nonetheless, these results show that changes in ecological conditions can influence social structure within a population, leading to group formation and a social milieu conducive to the evolution of cooperative breeding. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.
Achieving Foundation Accountability and Transparency: Lessons From the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s \u3ci\u3eScorecard\u3c/i\u3e
Get PDF· The purpose of this article is to help foundations in their accountability and transparency efforts by sharing lessons from one foundation’s journey to develop a scorecard.
· A commitment to funding and sharing the results from rigorous evaluations set the tone for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) accountability.
· The Scorecard is a powerful tool for RWJF to set goals, track organizational effectiveness, and motivate responses to shortcomings.
· Foundations can tailor their scorecard to include what best serves their needs.
· With its Scorecard, RWJF found that comparative and quantitative measures are the most powerful forces to motivate change.
· Setting targets motivates staff to focus their efforts on certain areas and make improvements
Array comparative genomic hybridisation analysis of boys with X-linked hypopituitarism identifies a 3.9 Mb duplicated critical region at Xq27 containing SOX3
Get PDFCopyright © 2007 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.Nicola M Solomon, Shelley A Ross, Susan M Forrest, Paul Q Thomas, Thomas Morgan, Joseph L Belsky, Frans A Hol, Pamela S Karnes, Nancy J Hopwood, Susan E Myers, Anjanette S Tan, Garry L Warn
sj-docx-1-msj-10.1177_13524585231214360 – Supplemental material for A multicenter pilot study evaluating simplified central vein assessment for the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis
No full textSupplemental material, sj-docx-1-msj-10.1177_13524585231214360 for A multicenter pilot study evaluating simplified central vein assessment for the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis by Lynn Daboul, Carly M O’Donnell, Moein Amin, Paulo Rodrigues, John Derbyshire, Christina Azevedo, Amit Bar-Or, Eduardo Caverzasi, Peter A Calabresi, Bruce AC Cree, Leorah Freeman, Roland G Henry, Erin E Longbrake, Jiwon Oh, Nico Papinutto, Daniel Pelletier, Vesna Prchkovska, Praneeta Raza, Marc Ramos, Rohini D Samudralwar, Matthew K Schindler, Elias S Sotirchos, Nancy L Sicotte, Andrew J Solomon, Russell T Shinohara, Daniel S Reich, Pascal Sati and Daniel Ontaneda in Multiple Sclerosis Journal</p
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