Search results for "mental models"
showing 10 items of 21 documents
Finnish Secondary Students’ Mental Models of Magnetism
2020
We examined Finnish lower secondary students’ mental models of magnetism through their drawings, written explanations and interviews. Secondary students in Finland (N=12) engaged in six lessons designed specifically to target three key concepts in understanding magnetism: structure and organization (magnetic domains), magnetic fields and magnetic interactions. We describe how, with a finite number of key concepts introduced, students reflected upon and revised their mental models of magnetism and magnetic interactions towards more sophisticated and normative scientific views. We found two new categories of students’ models: the pole model and pole/field model. The critical moments in evolvi…
Towards a learning community: understanding teachers’ mental models to support their professional development and learning
2021
Amidst societal, demographic and educational changes, teachers are expected to engage in professional development and learning (PDL) throughout their careers. This study explores school teachers’ mental models about their work in the framework of Senge’s learning organisation, aiming to support their PDL during curriculum reform and organisational changes. The study’s data comprise 41 semi-structured interviews with each teacher in one school community. These interviews were analysed using qualitative, data-driven yet theory-informed content analysis. In the first analysis phase, fragments of mental models concerning teachers’ work and their school community were explored. These fragments i…
Describir y dibujar en ciencias. La importancia del dibujo en las representaciones mentales del alumnado
2015
El presente trabajo pretende valorar los resultados obtenidos mediante la utilización del dibujo y de las descripciones a lo largo de una actividad basada en la observación de la morfología de las hormigas. Se plantea un trabajo individual y autónomo donde los participantes, en 3 etapas diferentes, deben tratar de dibujar o describir su observación de muestras vivas de hormigas. Los resultados de la investigación son muy significativos, puesto que encontramos diferencias estadísticas entre la utilización de las dos estrategias, así como entre las producciones de cada etapa, pudiendo ver cómo evolucionan sus representaciones mentales. Evidenciamos, de esta manera, que la estrategia de dibuja…
A conceptual model of feedback mechanisms in adjusted affordances – Insights from usage of a mental mobile health application
2023
Affordance theory provides one of the most prominent lenses through which the socio-technical aspects of a system’s use can be investigated and understood. In this context, the literature has proposed that perceived and actualized affordances may be adjusted over time. Yet, how the adjustment of affordances occurs has not been explained in detail. Thus, in this article, we develop a conceptual model of feedback mechanisms that includes a more explicit description of how affordances are perceived by users, whether actualized and adjusted. With the model, we introduce the central concept of a generative base, out of which affordance perceptions emerge and which can be updated through affordan…
Comparison of adjuvant and adjuvant-free murine experimental asthma models
2009
Introduction The most widely used protocol for the induction of experimental allergic airway inflammation in mice involves sensitization by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of the antigen ovalbumin (OVA) used in conjunction with the adjuvant aluminium hydroxide (alum). Although adjuvants are frequently used, there are questions regarding the necessity of alum for murine asthma studies due to the non-physiological nature of this chemical. Objective The objective of this study was to compare experimental asthma phenotypes between adjuvant and adjuvant-free protocols of murine allergic airway inflammation in an attempt to develop a standardized alternative to adjuvant use. Method An adjuvant-…
An Inquiry-Based Approach to Physics Teacher Education: the Case of Sound Properties
2014
In this paper we describe some results of an experimentation on Pre-Service Physics Teacher Education performed with a group of non-Italian Trainee Teachers engaged in one-month mobility activities at University of Palermo, in the framework of the EU Project “Move’in Science”. Some preliminary results of the experimentation of a Teaching/Learning Unit about Mechanical Wave propagation are presented, with particular reference to mental models about wave propagation evidenced by Trainee Teachers. Their understanding of the relevance of pupils’ mental model knowledge, in the framework of what a teacher should do to be an “effective” teacher, is also discussed.
Play together, think alike: Shared mental models in expert music improvisers
2015
International audience; When musicians improvise together, they tend to agree beforehand on a common structure (e.g. a jazz standard) which helps them coordinate. However, in the particular case of collective free improvisation (CFI), musicians deliberately avoid having such a referent. How, then, can they coordinate? We propose that CFI musicians who have experience playing together come to share higher-level knowledge, which is not piece-specific but rather task-specific: an implicit mental model of what it is to improvise freely. We tested this hypothesis on a group of 19 expert improvisers from the Parisian CFI community, who had various degrees of experience playing with one another. D…
Asiantuntijat uusien toimintamallien oppijoina
2003
Työ muuttuu ja sitä kautta myös työssä tarvittavien toimintatapojen pitäisi muuttua. Ajattelumallien tai toimintatapojen muuttaminen ei ole aina helppoa, sillä käytössä olevat mallit rutinoituvat nopeasti. Ihmisillä ei ole kykyä, halua tai aikaa tarkastella omaa työtään uusien silmälasien läpi, arvioida tapojensa toimivuutta tai jopa kokonaan kyseenalaistaa niiden järkevyyttä. Mielenkiintoisen ratkaisun etsiä uusia toimintamalleja ennakkoluulottomasti edustaa seuraava esimerkki Englannista. – Artikkelissa kuvataan brittiläisessä sairaalassa toteutettua kehittämisprosessia, jossa lääkärien visuaalisen hahmottamisen apuna on käytetty taiteilijoita.
Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the mental models deployed by undergraduate students in explaining thermally activated phenomena
2017
In this contribution we describe a research aimed at pointing out the quality of mental models undergraduate engineering students deploy when asked to create explanations for phenomena/processes and/or use a given model in the same context. Student responses to a specially designed written questionnaire are initially analyzed using researcher-generated categories of reasoning, based on the Physics Education Research literature on student understanding of the relevant physics content. The inferred students’ mental models about the analyzed phenomena are categorized as practical, descriptive, or explanatory, based on an analysis of student responses to the questionnaire. A qualitative analysi…
Obstructive sleep apnea and cancer: a complex relationship
2020
Purpose of review Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has been recognized as a risk factor for cancer mainly through hypoxia, based on studies that did not distinguish among cancer types. The purpose of this review is to discuss the most recent data on epidemiology and pathophysiology of the OSA-cancer association. Recent findings According to epidemiological studies, OSA may have different influences on each type of cancer, either increasing or decreasing its incidence and aggressiveness. Time spent with oxygen saturation below 90% appears the polysomnographic variable most strongly associated with unfavorable effects on cancer. Experimental studies support the role of hypoxia as an important ri…