Search results for "DISCIPLINE"

Mathematical skills in undergraduate students. A ten-year survey of a Plant Physiology course

2012

In the health and life sciences, as well as in other scientific disciplines, problem solving depends on mathematical skills. However, significant deficiencies are commonly found in this regard in undergraduate students. In an attempt to understand the underlying causes and to improve students' performance, this paper reports a ten-year survey (2000-2010) on mathematical skills of undergraduate Spanish students enrolled in a Plant Physiology course, based on data from tests performed throughout this time period. The results show that the percentage of correct answers decreases for questions requiring some mathematical skills, particularly those needing some calculations. Interestingly, perce…

Educational dialogue among teachers experiencing different levels of self-efficacy

2021

This study examines the occurrence and quality of educational dialogue in the Grade 1 classrooms of teachers with low, moderate and high self-efficacy beliefs. Video recordings of 24 teachers were analysed based on episodes of educational dialogue and were categorised with respect to patterns of dialogic teaching. Teachers with low levels of self-efficacy conducted educational dialogue the least; they also used less teacher-initiated, high-quality dialogue compared with moderate and high self-efficacy teachers. Teachers with high self-efficacy utilised more child-initiated high-quality dialogue compared with the moderate self-efficacy teachers. The findings are important because they provid…

Japanese in-service teachers’ attitudes toward inclusive education and self-efficacy for inclusive practices

2017

Using a sample of 359 in-service teachers, this study examines Japanese teachers' attitudes toward inclusive education and their self-efficacy for inclusive practices. The results indicate that although teachers’ sentiments toward disabilities were generally positive, the teachers had some concerns about implementing inclusive education in their classroom. The overall level of self-efficacy was relatively low in the Japanese sample compared to that of other countries, particularly in relation to managing problematic student behavior. Self-efficacy regarding managing behavior and collaboration was related to overall attitudes toward inclusive education. The findings can enable useful insight…

Pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices and resilience in Finland

2021

Abstract This study aims to explore Finnish pre-service teachers' self-efficacy in implementing inclusive education and their resilience. Survey data were collected from 105 pre-service teachers studying in a teacher education programme in one university in Finland. The relationships between pre-service teachers' self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices, their perceived resilience, and background variables were examined using structural equation modelling. The results confirmed a three-factor structure for self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices among the pre-service teachers. In addition, pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy was the strongest variable that related to thei…

Sensory Processing in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the Home and Classroom Contexts.

2017

Children with neurodevelopmental disorders often show impairments in sensory processing (SP) and higher functions. The main objective of this study was to compare SP, praxis and social participation (SOC) in four groups of children: ASD Group (n = 21), ADHD Group (n = 21), ASD+ADHD Group (n = 21), and Comparison Group (n = 27). Participants were the parents and teachers of these children who were 5-8 years old (M = 6.32). They completed the Sensory Processing Measure (SPM) to evaluate the sensory profile, praxis and SOC of the children in both the home and classroom contexts. In the home context, the most affected was the ASD+ADHD group. The ADHD group obtained higher scores than the ASD gr…

Neurobiological foundations of multisensory processing integration in people with autism spectrum disorders: The role of the medial prefrontal cortex

2014

This review aims to relate the sensory processing problems in people with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD), especially Multisensory interaction (MSI), to the role of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) by exploring neuroanatomical findings; brain connectivity and Default Network (DN); global or locally directed attention; and temporal multisensory binding. The mPFC is part of the brain’s DN, which is deactivated when attention is focused on a particular task and activated on rest when spontaneous cognition emerges. In those with ASD, it is hypoactive and the higher the social impairment the greater the atypical activity. With an immature DN, cross-modal integration is impaired, resulting in …

Children in Diaspora: Some Anthropological Reflections on Oppression, Hunger and Malnutrition

2017

Over the last few years, the link between health and migration has acquired an increasingly clear and precise social and political significance in the context of relations between Italy and the undeveloped areas of the world.

2018

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that allows the modulation of cortical excitability as well as neuroplastic reorganization using a weak constant current applied through the skull on the cerebral cortex. TDCS has been found to improve motor performance in general and motor learning in particular. However, these effects have been reported almost exclusively for unimanual motor tasks such as serial reaction time tasks, adaptation tasks, or visuo-motor tracking. Despite the importance of bimanual actions in most activities of daily living, only few studies have investigated the effects of tDCS on bimanual motor skills. The objectives …

The value proposition of food delivery apps from the perspective of theory of consumption value

2021

Purpose The theory of consumption values (TCV) has successfully explained much consumer choice behavior, but few studies have investigated the values that drive food-delivery application (FDA) use. This study aims to bridge this gap by extending the TCV to the FDA context to examine food consumption-related values and interpreting and rechristening generic consumption values to adapt the TCV to the FDA context. Design/methodology/approach An explorative mixed-method research approach was taken to conduct focus group discussions with 20 target users to develop the questionnaire and then administer it for a cross-sectional survey (pen and pencil) to FDA users aged 22–65 years; 423 complete r…

La Settimana Santa in Sardegna: alcuni casi di studio

2021

La Settimana Santa rappresenta uno dei periodi festivi più importanti, attesi e partecipati dei calendari cerimoniali sardi. I riti pasquali, e la varietà delle loro forme espressive, ancora oggi registrano il coinvolgimento dei diversi strati delle popolazioni che nel rinnovare le manifestazioni della morte e resurrezione di Cristo, rinnovano il proprio senso di appartenenza e le proprie identità. Nonostante le trasformazioni economiche e i cambiamenti socioculturali intervenuti negli ultimi decenni, e al di là dei differenti significati che possono assumere e possono essere attribuiti ad alcune pratiche rituali, continuano a tramandarsi e a ripetersi riti e simboli di origine remota, che …