Hasil untuk "Education (General)"

Y. Kovas, C. Haworth, Philip S. Dale et al.

Despite the importance of learning abilities and disabilities in education and child development, little is known about their genetic and environmental origins in the early school years. We report results for English (which includes reading, writing, and speaking), mathematics, and science as well as general cognitive ability in a large and representative sample of U.K. twins studied at 7, 9, and 10 years of age. Although preliminary reports of some of these data have been published, the purpose of this monograph is to present new univariate, multivariate, and longitudinal analyses that systematically examine genetic and environmental influences for the entire sample at all ages for all measures for both the low extremes (disabilities) and the entire sample (abilities). English, mathematics, and science yielded similarly high heritabilities and modest shared environmental influences at 7, 9, and 10 years despite major changes in content across these years. We draw three conclusions that go beyond estimating heritability. First, the abnormal is normal: Low performance is the quantitative extreme of the same genetic and environmental influences that operate throughout the normal distribution. Second, continuity is genetic and change is environmental: Longitudinal analyses suggest that age-to-age stability is primarily mediated genetically, whereas the environment contributes to change from age to age. Third, genes are generalists and environments are specialists: Multivariate analyses indicate that genes largely contribute to similarity in performance within and between the three domains--and with general cognitive ability--whereas the environment contributes to differences in performance. These conclusions have far-reaching implications for education and child development as well as for molecular genetics and neuroscience.

F. Connelly, D. Clandinin

N. Dogra, Olivia Carter-Pokras

BackgroundCultural diversity teaching is increasingly present in both undergraduate and postgraduate training programmes. This study explored the views of stakeholders in medical education about the potential outcomes of cultural diversity teaching and how they thought cultural diversity programmes might be effectively evaluated.MethodsA semi-structured interview was undertaken with 61 stakeholders (including policymakers, diversity teachers, students and users). The data were analysed and themes identified.ResultsMany participants felt that clinical practice was improved through 'cultural diversity teaching' and this was mostly as a result of improved doctor-patient communication. There was a strong view that service users need to participate in the evaluation of outcomes of cultural diversity teaching.ConclusionThere is a general perception, rather than clear evidence, that cultural diversity teaching can have a positive effect on clinical practice. Cultural diversity teaching needs to be reviewed in undergraduate and postgraduate medicine and better evaluation tools need to be established.

David R. Williams, Yan Yu, J. Jackson et al.

C. Brewin, B. Andrews, J. Valentine

A. Hamosh, A. F. Scott, J. Amberger et al.

Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM™) is a comprehensive, authoritative and timely knowledgebase of human genes and genetic disorders compiled to support human genetics research and education and the practice of clinical genetics. Started by Dr Victor A. McKusick as the definitive reference Mendelian Inheritance in Man, OMIM (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/omim/) is now distributed electronically by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, where it is integrated with the Entrez suite of databases. Derived from the biomedical literature, OMIM is written and edited at Johns Hopkins University with input from scientists and physicians around the world. Each OMIM entry has a full-text summary of a genetically determined phenotype and/or gene and has numerous links to other genetic databases such as DNA and protein sequence, PubMed references, general and locus-specific mutation databases, HUGO nomenclature, MapViewer, GeneTests, patient support groups and many others. OMIM is an easy and straightforward portal to the burgeoning information in human genetics.

F. Cotton

J. Gerring

Mrunalini V. Kalikar, Pradipta A. Dutta, Shubham S. Nimbhorkar

Background: Good clinical practice (GCP) ensures ethical, as well as scientific quality of clinical trials, thus safeguarding participant safety and data integrity. The drug controller general of India mandates GCP training for healthcare professionals who conduct clinical research. However, limited studies assess the effectiveness of such training programs in India. Aim: This study evaluates the impact of educational intervention on the knowledge and awareness of GCP among healthcare professionals. Settings and Design: A prospective, interventional study was conducted at our tertiary care teaching hospital. Materials and Methods: A total of 180 healthcare professionals participated in a GCP workshop, with 172 completing pre- and post-intervention questionnaires. The workshop covered essential GCP topics, including ethical guidelines, informed consent, regulatory requirements, and serious adverse event reporting. Statistical Analysis Used: Pre- and postintervention responses were analyzed using Fischer’s exact test in GraphPad Prism 8.4.2. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The study revealed a significant improvement in participants’ knowledge across multiple GCP domains. However, gaps remained in understanding specific regulatory timelines. Conclusion: Educational interventions, such as GCP workshops, significantly enhance healthcare professionals’ knowledge and awareness, improving compliance with ethical and regulatory requirements in clinical research. Integrating GCP training into medical education may further strengthen research practices.

Oluseyi Olukola, Nick Rahimi

Reinforcement learning (RL) is increasingly used to personalize instruction in intelligent tutoring systems, yet the field lacks a formal framework for defining and evaluating pedagogical safety. We introduce a four-layer model of pedagogical safety for educational RL comprising structural, progress, behavioral, and alignment safety and propose the Reward Hacking Severity Index (RHSI) to quantify misalignment between proxy rewards and genuine learning. We evaluate the framework in a controlled simulation of an AI tutoring environment with 120 sessions across four conditions and three learner profiles, totaling 18{,}000 interactions. Results show that an engagement-optimized agent systematically over-selected a high-engagement action with no direct mastery gain, producing strong measured performance but limited learning progress. A multi-objective reward formulation reduced this problem but did not eliminate it, as the agent continued to favor proxy-rewarding behavior in many states. In contrast, a constrained architecture combining prerequisite enforcement and minimum cognitive demand substantially reduced reward hacking, lowering RHSI from 0.317 in the unconstrained multi-objective condition to 0.102. Ablation results further suggest that behavioral safety was the most influential safeguard against repetitive low-value action selection. These findings suggest that reward design alone may be insufficient to ensure pedagogically aligned behavior in educational RL, at least in the simulated environment studied here. More broadly, the paper positions pedagogical safety as an important research problem at the intersection of AI safety and intelligent educational systems.

Mohey Eldeen H. H. Ali, Ahmed F. Tayel, Hossam M. Ezzat et al.

Energy plays a crucial role in national development, influencing critical sectors such as industry, agriculture, healthcare, and education. Accurate energy consumption prediction is essential for efficient energy management, helping prevent imbalances between supply and demand and potential energy shortages. This study aims to forecast the total primary energy supply (TPES), using Egypt as a case study for the first time in literature and utilizing several models (ordinary differential equations (ODEs), regression, and ANN models). Although ordinary differential equations (ODEs) offer flexibility and convenience, their application in energy forecasting remains limited. One of the main objectives of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of ODEs in predicting energy consumption. Various ODE and regression models are employed to identify the most suitable model amongst each category for forecasting energy demand. Additionally, an artificial neural network (ANN) is developed, trained, validated, and tested for the same forecasting task. The study compares the performance of the selected ODE model (Mendelsohn), with the selected regression model (Polynomial), and an ANN model predicting Egypt’s TPES until 2035. By assessing multiple forecasting methods, this work improves the accuracy and reliability of energy consumption predictions, which is crucial for sustainable energy planning and policy development.

Hasan Abu-Rasheed, Constance Jumbo, Rashed Al Amin et al.

While learning personalization offers great potential for learners, modern practices in higher education require a deeper consideration of domain models and learning contexts, to develop effective personalization algorithms. This paper introduces an innovative approach to higher education curriculum modelling that utilizes large language models (LLMs) for knowledge graph (KG) completion, with the goal of creating personalized learning-path recommendations. Our research focuses on modelling university subjects and linking their topics to corresponding domain models, enabling the integration of learning modules from different faculties and institutions in the student's learning path. Central to our approach is a collaborative process, where LLMs assist human experts in extracting high-quality, fine-grained topics from lecture materials. We develop a domain, curriculum, and user models for university modules and stakeholders. We implement this model to create the KG from two study modules: Embedded Systems and Development of Embedded Systems Using FPGA. The resulting KG structures the curriculum and links it to the domain models. We evaluate our approach through qualitative expert feedback and quantitative graph quality metrics. Domain experts validated the relevance and accuracy of the model, while the graph quality metrics measured the structural properties of our KG. Our results show that the LLM-assisted graph completion approach enhances the ability to connect related courses across disciplines to personalize the learning experience. Expert feedback also showed high acceptance of the proposed collaborative approach for concept extraction and classification.

Michael Fitzgerald, Rachel Freed, Dan Reichart et al.

As astronomy enters an era defined by global telescope networks, petabyte-scale surveys, and powerful computational tools, the longstanding goals of astronomy education, particularly introductory ``ASTRO101'', but equally encompassing both higher and lower level courses, warrant fresh examination. In June 2024, the AstroEdUNC meeting at UNC--Chapel Hill convened 100 astronomers, education researchers, and practitioners to synthesise community perspectives on the purpose, content, and delivery of astronomy education. Beginning with historical vignettes, the meeting's deliberations were organised into six interrelated themes: (1) Context, highlighting astronomy's evolution from classical charting to multi-messenger discovery and its role as a connective thread across STEM and the humanities; (2) Content, exploring how curricula can balance essential concepts with authentic investigations and leverage open-source and AI-augmented resources; (3) Skills, arguing that astronomy should foreground scientific literacy, computational fluency, and communication through genuine data-driven inquiry; (4) Engagement, advocating for active-learning strategies, formative assessment, and culturally inclusive narratives; (5) Beyond the Classroom, emphasising scaffolding, universal-design practices, and K--12/community partnerships; and (6) Astronomy Education Research, outlining priority areas for assessing knowledge, attitudes, and long-term outcomes. We provide concrete recommendations for future astronomy education research development, underscoring the need for approaches to education that are authentic while meeting the learning and life goal needs of the students, a vibrant community of practice and robust researcher-practitioner partnerships to ensure that introductory astronomy is pertinent, applicable and inspiring to a broad student population.

Jinkun Ye, Yuhui Ji, Jinfeng Wang et al.

Specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf dry matter content (LDMC) are key leaf functional traits often used to reflect plant resource utilization strategies and predict plant responses to environmental changes. In general, grassland plants at different elevations exhibit varying survival strategies. However, it remains unclear how grassland plants adapt to changes in elevation and their driving factors. To address this issue, we utilized SLA and LDMC data of grassland plants from 223 study sites at different elevations in China, along with climate and soil data, to investigate variations in resource utilization strategies of grassland plants along different elevational gradients and their dominant influencing factors employing linear mixed-effects models, variance partitioning method, piecewise Structural Equation Modeling, etc. The results show that with increasing elevation, SLA significantly decreases, and LDMC significantly increases (P &lt; 0.001). This indicates different resource utilization strategies of grassland plants across elevation gradients, transitioning from a “faster investment-return” at lower elevations to a “slower investment-return” at higher elevations. Across different elevation gradients, climatic factors are the main factors affecting grassland plant resource utilization strategies, with soil nutrient factors also playing a non-negligible coordinating role. Among these, mean annual precipitation and hottest month mean temperature are key climatic factors influencing SLA of grassland plants, explaining 28.94% and 23.88% of SLA variation, respectively. The key factors affecting LDMC of grassland plants are mainly hottest month mean temperature and soil phosphorus content, with relative importance of 24.24% and 20.27%, respectively. Additionally, the direct effect of elevation on grassland plant resource utilization strategies is greater than its indirect effect (through influencing climatic and soil nutrient factors). These findings emphasize the substantive impact of elevation on grassland plant resource utilization strategies and have important ecological value for grassland management and protection under global change.

Mthandeki Zhange, Kamleshie Mohangi

IntroductionGender and sexually diverse youth in schools experience exclusion, which detrimentally affects their ability to cope with the consequences of minority stress and may lead to absenteeism or dropout. The purpose of the study is to highlight a pressing need for inclusive policies and practices to aid in enabling LGBTQ+ learners in schools.MethodsThis paper explores how multiple systems intersect to promote a sense of inclusion and engagement within the school environment and impact the resilience of LGBTQ+ youth in a rural school setting. This paper presents findings from a qualitative interpretive phenomenological study with twelve purposively selected self-identifying LGBTQ+ youth residing in a rural South African community. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews.ResultsThis study shows the significance of teacher emotional support, addressing homophobic bullying, moving away from gender-based uniform prescriptions and designating some school bathrooms as gender-neutral to LGBTQ+ learners' resilience.ConclusionThe findings of this study demonstrate how certain schools in rural settings employ innovative methods to support LGBTQ+ learners despite limited resources and the absence of comprehensive, inclusive policies on gender and sexually diverse learners. The findings have implications for LGBTQ+ learners in rural community schools worldwide. Future longitudinal studies could focus on how school ecologies inclusive of teachers, parents and the wider community can foster the resilience of LGBTQ+ learners, particularly in rural community contexts.

Hyojeong Kwon, Youn-Jung Kim, Jae-Ho Lee et al.

Abstract Head trauma is a common reason for emergency department (ED) visits. Delayed intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) in patients with minor head trauma is a major concern, but controversies exist regarding the incidence of delayed ICH and discharge planning at the ED. This study aimed to determine the incidence of delayed ICH in adults who developed ICH after a negative initial brain computed tomography (CT) at the ED and investigate the clinical outcomes for delayed ICH. This nationwide population cohort study used data from the National Health Insurance Service of Korea from 2013 to 2019. Adult patients who presented to an ED due to trauma and were discharged after a negative brain CT examination were selected. The main outcomes were the incidence of ICH within 14 days after a negative brain CT at initial ED visit and the clinical outcomes of patients with and without delayed ICH. The study patients were followed up to 1 year after the initial ED discharge. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was used to estimate the hazard ratio for all-cause 1-year mortality of delayed ICH. During the 7-year study period, we identified 626,695 adult patients aged 20 years or older who underwent brain CT at the ED due to minor head trauma, and 2666 (0.4%) were diagnosed with delayed ICH within 14 days after the first visit. Approximately two-thirds of patients (64.3%) were diagnosed with delayed ICH within 3 days, and 84.5% were diagnosed within 7 days. Among the patients with delayed ICH, 71 (2.7%) underwent neurosurgical intervention. After adjustment for age, sex, Charlson Comorbidity Index, and insurance type, delayed ICH (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.15; 95% confidence interval, 1.86–2.48; p < 0.001) was significantly associated with 1-year mortality. The incidence of delayed ICH was 0.4% in the general population, with the majority diagnosed within 7 days. These findings suggest that patient discharge education for close observation for a week may be a feasible strategy for the general population.

Nadia Khakzad, Ehteramsadat Ilali, AbolfazlHosein Nattaj et al.

Background and purpose: Active aging involves optimizing opportunities to enhance the quality of life in older age. Environmental differences and lifestyle variations between urban and rural areas can significantly affect active aging. This study aimed to compare the indicators of active aging among elderly individuals in urban and rural areas of Behshahr, while also identifying the factors associated with these indicators in 2023. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study employed a proportional quota sampling method to examine 350 elderly individuals from comprehensive health service centers in Behshahr. The tools used included a demographic-social factors form and a 40-item questionnaire on the Iranian Active Aging Index. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 and linear regression tests. Results: The mean age of the elderly participants was 70.96±13.8 years. Among the participants, 52% were men, and 61% were married. The average scores on the Active Aging Index were 111.47±30.48 for urban residents and 93.73±21.66 for rural residents, demonstrating that urban elderly individuals had significantly higher scores than their rural counterparts (P<0.001). Married elderly individuals in both groups scored significantly higher on the Active Aging Index compared to single individuals. Participants with higher education levels and income also achieved significantly greater scores. In contrast, an increase in age and the number of children was associated with a notable reduction in the Active Aging Index score (P<0.05). Conclusion: Attention to geographical, cultural, and social differences is crucial when formulating policies for the elderly. Furthermore, there is an urgent need to develop infrastructure that improves access to health and social services for older adults in rural areas. These findings can guide policymakers in enhancing the quality of life for older adults, highlighting the importance of addressing the unique needs of diverse groups.

Ly Ngoc Yen Nhi* , Nguyen Thi Tuong Vi, Pham Yen Linh, Pham Hoang Bao Vy, Pham Nguyen Ngoc Thu

Today, academic support services have become increasingly important to universities because they can help students develop knowledge and skills to more easily achieve success during university studies, thereby contributing to developing the reputation of training institutions. Therefore, many universities around the world have increasingly focused on developing academic support services. In Vietnam, academic support services at universities have begun to receive attention but have not really reached the quality commensurate with learners' requirements. Through understanding the theoretical basis of the quality of academic support services in higher education, as well as analyzing the current status of the quality of academic support services at a number of domestic and world universities, the study proposes a number of recommendations on improving the quality of academic support services to contribute to the innovation of Vietnamese higher education.

Norma González Ruda, Ibette Alfonso Pérez, Raquel Bermúdez Morris

La orientación educativa en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de la educación superior puede coadyuvar al cumplimiento de las exigencias en la formación de profesionales en el siglo XXI.  No obstante, este espacio no constituye aún, un ámbito privilegiado para programar acciones de orientación educativa, los profesores no cuentan con una guía para realizar esta labor.  El objetivo del trabajo se centra en reflexionar sobre los fundamentos teórico-metodológicos para realizar la orientación educativa en el PEA de la educación superior.  Para estudiar este particular se desarrolló una investigación que permitió la revisión, interpretación y contrastación de diversas fuentes bibliográficas mediante los métodos histórico-lógico, analítico-sintético y el inductivo-deductivo.  Estos métodos permitieron el análisis de la información obtenida y la elaboración de síntesis conclusivas en el plano teórico.  Los resultados obtenidos en el análisis de los modelos estudiados evidencian que la orientación educativa debe ser realizada por un personal especializado o que ha sido preparado para cumplir con esta labor.  Aunque se reconoce en los modelos más actuales al profesor como agente orientador, no quedan esclarecidos los fundamentos teórico-metodológicos para la orientación que debe realizar este agente educativo en el PEA de la educación superior.  Se hace necesario entonces, integrar los fundamentos que aportan los modelos de orientación educativa con los fundamentos de la Didáctica, de manera que se ofrezca una base conceptual y metodológica para la orientación educativa en el PEA de la educación superior. 

Endang Indarini

Educators in carrying out learning planning assignments should consider students' needs. Learning strategy is needed for learners for 21st century life skills in learning planning in order to obtain the meaning of learning.  This study is to determine the impact of the Problem Based Learning model on 21st century skills (4C) in elementary schools from experimental research published by the meta-analysis method. The research sample of the search results was 40 articles with an average pretest of 54.13 and posttest of 74.33 there was an increase of 20.20. The results of the Effect Size test using the Problem Based Learning model on 21st century skills (4C) have a result of 0.717 with a Sig. value of 0.000. These results obtained show that the effect of the Problem Based Learning model on 21st century skills (4C) in elementary schools has a relatively large impact. The relatively large influence can be used as a recommendation for teachers to plan learning with the Problem Based Learning model in training students' cognitive processes through the application of 4C skills.