Search results for "Sand"
showing 10 items of 2366 documents
Towards a Comprehension of University Dropout in Catalonia: the Case of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
2015
The article presents the results of a research that aims to unfold the reasons behind students’ dropout at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Data is analyzed, and interviews and focus groups with students who have dropout, study degree’s coordinators and institutional authorities are carried out. Results indicate that part of the abandonment taking place is voluntary, natural and even necessary, when the student does not enter the desired option or discovers that the studies do not fi t with their vocational interests, but it also represents a misalignment between the academic offer and the students’ capabilities, performance and motivation.
The effects of water absorption and salt fog exposure on agglomerated cork compressive response
2022
The replacement of synthetic foams with agglomerated cork in sandwich composites can meet the increasing environmental concerns. Its peculiar morphology and chemical composition lead to outstanding dimensional recovery that endorsed a broad investigation of its compressive behavior. The knowledge of neat material response is fundamental to obtain a reliable design dataset, but it is necessary to consider all the environmental factors (water, moisture and sunlight) that significantly modify material mechanical properties. In view of this, the present work investigates the effect of distilled and seawater absorption and salt fog exposure on the compressive behavior of two agglomerated corks w…
Combining Academic Education With Soft Skills Development: Some Common Aspects of Educational Preparation of IT Professionals and Schoolteachers
2021
In the modern educational process aimed on preparing professionals in the applied areas, it’s crucial, along with purely professional training, to provide students both with solid theoretical background and help them to develop “soft skills” that will facilitate their smooth and efficient adaptation to the industry realities when they start their professional careers. In this paper we consider practical cases of acquiring soft skills through intensive field experience in two areas related to mathematical education.
Action research as a school-based strategy in intercultural professional development for teachers
2011
Abstract Teacher professional development is a key factor for transforming professional and school culture. This article describes a case study undertaken in a Spanish school during the 2007–2008 academic year. Our aim is to explain how action research methodology was applied to encourage professional and school culture towards an intercultural and inclusive approach. Our results show that the training process challenged teachers’ pre-existing deficit theory perspectives and empowered them as leaders for school change. The conclusions identify the key factors that enabled teachers to engage in critical reflection, and to implement strategies for collaborative work and community participatio…
Personal variables, motivation and avoidance learning strategies in undergraduate students
2014
Abstract This study examines the relationships among students' personal variables, their initial motivation and the avoidance learning strategies they used during the teaching/learning process followed in the Educational Psychology subject matter. The sample comprised 195 Spanish undergraduate students who studied Educational Psychology. A questionnaire was administered at the beginning of the academic year to measure students' personal variables and their initial motivation, while another was administered at the end of the academic year to measure students' involvement in their learning process through the avoidance strategies they used. The data analysis was done by using structural equat…
Biodiversity, evolution and adaptation of fungi in exstreme environments
2013
Fungi play irreplaceable roles for ecosystem functioning. They may adopt different life styles, for example saprotrophs, symbionts or parasites: some species are cosmopolitan with a wide distribution and others, thanks to they ecological plasticity, may adapt to harsh environments precluded to most of life forms. In stressing conditions, their role is even more crucial for the recycling of organic matter or favouring nutrients uptake. When the conditions become really extreme and competion is low, fungi focus on extremotollerance and evolve peculiar competences to exploit natural or xenobiotic resources in the particular constraints imposed by the environment. This paper focuses on three di…
Combining gestures and vocalizations to imitate sounds
2015
International audience; Communicating about sounds is a difficult task without a technical language, and naïve speakers often rely on different kinds of non-linguistic vocalizations and body gestures (Lemaitre et al. 2014). Previous work has independently studied how effectively people describe sounds with gestures or vocalizations (Caramiaux, 2014, Lemaitre and Rocchesso, 2014). However, speech communication studies suggest a more intimate link between the two processes (Kendon, 2004). Our study thus focused on the combination of manual gestures and non-speech vocalizations in the communication of sounds. We first collected a large database of vocal and gestural imitations of a variety of …
Active Learning Methods and Strategies to Improve Student Conceptual Understanding: Some Considerations from Physics Education Research
2020
Active learning methods and strategies are credited to be an important means for the development of student cognitive skills. This paper describes some forms of active learning common in Physics Education and briefly introduces some of the pedagogical and psychological theories on the basis of active learning. Then, some evidence for active learning effectiveness in developing students’ critical cognitive skills and improving their conceptual understanding are examined. An example study regarding the effectiveness of an Inquiry-based learning approach in helping students to build mechanisms of functioning and explicative models, and to identify common aspects in apparently different phenome…
Educating to inspire active learning approaches in mathematics in Norwegian universities
2021
This is a report of an analysis of some of the data generated by a national survey of teaching approaches used in higher education mathematics courses. The overall purpose of the survey was to explore how widespread is the use of teaching approaches that might promote students’ active learning of mathematics. The paper includes a brief presentation of the authors meaning of the expression “teaching actions that have the potential to promote active learning”. The analysis focuses on the responses of 95 lecturers working in 13 Norwegian HE institutions. The goal is to expose underlying patterns in lecturers’ responses to questions about the teaching actions they may incorporate in their pract…
Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFRs) travelers and imported malaria in the Palermo district (Sicily).
2014
Abstract Introduction. Although Italy has been malaria-free since 1970, the infection is commonly introduced into the country by travelers and immigrants from endemic areas. The term VFRs refers to immigrants from malaria-endemic countries who are regularly resident in a malaria-free area, and who travel to their countries of origin to visit friends and relatives (VFRs). This group is at special risk of malaria as they are unaware of having lost their transitory immunity to the disease. Methods. We conducted a retrospective study at the International Travelers Department of Palermo (Italy), examining records of malaria cases (67) reported over the period from 1998 to 2013. Results. VFRs rep…