Homework Assignments Research Articles

Cellular Biophysics and Modeling: A Required Course in the Neuroscience Program at William and Mary

Cellular Biophysics and Modeling is a required mathematical course in William and Mary's neuroscience program. The course curriculum was initially developed as part of an NSF CAREER grant to this poster's author. For approximately a decade, Cellular Biophysics and Modeling has been taught once per academic year to 50-100 undergraduate students. The course is an introduction to dynamic phenomena of cellular and systems neuroscience, electrophysiology and computational neuroscience. Topics include: the biophysics of excitable membranes, the gating of voltage- and ligand-gated ion channels, neuronal calcium signaling, Hodgkin-Huxley-style mathematical modeling of the neuronal action potential, the geometry of electrical bursting, central pattern generation, and the role of inhibition, network connectivity, synaptic dynamics, and synchronization in brain function. Cellular Biophysics and Modeling is an integrated exposition of electrophysiology of excitable cells and introductory nonlinear dynamics. The course includes challenging readings from the primary literature and weekly homework assignments. The prerequisites are caculus and a 200-level introduction to cell and molecular biology. The course notes have recently been developed into a 400-page textbook: “Cellular Biophysics and Modeling: A Primer on the Computational Biology of Excitable Cells.” This cellular biophysics primer is currently in production at Cambridge University Press and is expected to be published in March and available for review at the Biophysical Society annual meeting.

Homework and Academic Achievement in Latin America: A Multilevel Approach.

The relationship between homework and academic results has been widely researched. Most of that research has used English-speaking, European or Asian samples, and to date there have been no detailed studies into that relationship in Latin America and the Caribbean. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of quantitative homework characteristics on achievement in science. The sample comprised 61,938 students at 2,955 schools in the 15 Latin American countries (plus the Mexican state of New Leon) which participated in the Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (TERCE), carried out by the Latin American Laboratory for Educational Quality (LLECE) in 2013. The mean age was 12.42 years old (±0.94). Within each country, three hierarchical-linear models were applied at two levels: student and school. The individual level considered time spent doing homework and the school level considered the amount and frequency of homework assignment. In addition, ten control variables were included in order to control the net effect of the characteristics of the homework on the result. The results confirmed that homework is widely assigned in the Latin American region. At the individual level, time spent on homework had little effect on academic performance, while in the quantitative homework characteristics it was the frequency of homework assignment which demonstrated a clearer effect rather than the amount of homework assigned.

Regional trade of medicinal plants has facilitated the retention of traditional knowledge: case study in Gilgit-Baltistan Pakistan

BackgroundThe ethnic groups in Gilgit-Baltistan have been utilizing local resources in their centuries-old traditional healing system. Most tribes within these ethnic groups still rely on traditional healing systems. We aim to understand the current status, uses, and abundance of medicinal plants, associated traditional knowledge, and trade.Materials and methodsThe study incorporated over 300 local community members (70% men and 30% women) in focused group discussions, semi-structured interviews, and homework assignments for 8th to 12th grade students to document traditional knowledge (TK) in six districts in Northeast Pakistan. We calculated various indices such as informant consensus factor, use value, relative frequency of citation, and CoKriging. These indices, along with repetitively used medicinal plants, were used to analyze differences in studied locations.ResultsMost of the community members still rely on traditional medication in the study areas. However, we found the highest number of medicinal plants used in Skardu and Gilgit compared to other districts and these two districts also represent trade centers and a highly populated area regarding medicinal plants. Results indicate connection amongst the surveyed villages signifying mixing of knowledge from different sources, with certain areas more influenced by traditional Chinese medicine and others more by Ayurveda and Unani.ConclusionTK is mostly retained with elder community members; however, those directly linked with market value chain retain rich knowledge on traditional use of the medicinal plants from the region. Major trade centers in the region also coincide with a high density of medicinal plant occurrence, knowledge, and higher utilization. Therefore, with the increasing trade in medicinal plant in the region, there is potential for rejuvenation of this knowledge and of plant use in the region.

Somalia

The CBS has taken steps to establish important pillars of a proper policy framework for financial reporting, auditing, and internal controls by approving the Internal Audit and Audit Committee Charters and is committed to address the remaining shortcomings in these areas. The Internal Audit Department (IAD) has made progress by initiating risk assessments of the various CBS business units and recruiting an Information Technology (IT) professional to join the team. The Accounting and Finance Department (AFD) is making progress in implementing accrual accounting, and accounting for foreign exchange operations (International Accounting Standard (IAS) 21), and has created a new role of Reconciliation Officer to ensure all cash transactions are recorded properly. However, the IAD functions without a director, which places the internal audit staff at a severe disadvantage to other departments and limits their authority to effectively implement their program. Also, while the mission team has stressed the importance of adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) during this mission and the previous mission, the CBS has not formally indicated that it will adopt this framework.2 High priority recommendations were made to address these shortcomings. See Table 1 for homework assignments and high priority tasks.3

Revising Online Assignments and the Impact on Student Performance at a Community College

ABSTRACTRecent developments in technology allow instructors to design meaningful customized homework assignments that enhance student performance, while reducing the time and resources required for grading and feedback. In particular, online assignments allow the instructor to utilize various setting options including auto-grading, number of attempts, and timing of access to answer keys that result in assignments that uniquely fit student needs. This study investigates the impact of using such options by comparing single submitted and multiple submitted online assignments in an introductory economics course at a community college. Using the grades on multiple-choice homework assignments, quizzes, and a final exam as the performance measures, the authors tested hypotheses concerning the performance improvement of students at Kingsborough Community College who were allowed to revise and resubmit homework. Results indicate that (a) additional submissions yielded better results, even when students were not told which questions were incorrect on prior attempts; (b) single submitted attempts were not worse off than multiple submitted attempts; and (c) student perception of multiple submission opportunities was extremely positive. The data suggest that resubmitting assignments may serve both as a powerful learning tool to replace or supplement traditional study tools and as a catalyst for student growth mindset cultivation.

Low-cost experiments with everyday objects for homework assignments

We describe four classical undergraduate physics experiments that were done with everyday objects and low-cost sensors: mechanical oscillations, transmittance of light through a slab of matter, beam deformation under load, and thermal relaxation due to heat loss. We used these experiments to train students for experimental homework projects but they could be used and expanded in a variety of contexts: lecture demonstrations, low cost students’ labs, science projects, distance learning courses...

Incorporating Meaningful Reflection into Calculus Assignments

At the college level, it can be difficult to engage students outside the classroom through the use of effective homework assignments. Although it is straightforward to create assignments that test the ability to carry out computations as discussed in class, it is more challenging to create assignments that encourage students to think more creatively and deeply about course ideas. I discuss my implementation of written homework assignments in two calculus courses at a small liberal arts college, describe four of the written assignments I gave my students to engage them at a deep level, and explain what challenges I faced and how I attempted to resolve these issues.

Punching a Ticket to Cooperstown

ABSTRACTWhen exposed to principal components analysis for the first time, students can sometimes miss the primary purpose of the analysis. Often the focus is solely on data reduction and what to do after the dimensions of the data have been reduced is ignored. The datasets discussed here can be used as an in-class example, a homework assignment, or a written project, with a focus in this article as an in-class example. The data give the students an opportunity to perform principal components analysis and follow-up analyses on a real dataset that is not necessarily the easiest to handle.

The Salvation of Habits

“I promise you, Mrs. Duckworth. Tomorrow, you're gonna have my homework assignment on time. This is a whole new me. Just watch.” When I taught middle school math, many of my struggling students would swear up and down that they were going to turn around their performance in my class. This year is going to be different. Some of them did exactly that. But many others did not. Likewise, it's possible you're following through on every plan you made at the start of 2019—or you may have already fallen off the wagon. In the long run, the superpower that enables people of all ages to realize their aspirations is habit. What is a habit, exactly?

Minds at Play: Using an Online Protein Folding Game, FoldIt, To Support Student Learning about Protein Folding, Structure, and the Scientific Process.

Structure-function relationships of biological molecules are foundational to undergraduate biology education. In this article and supplemental information, an in-class activity is presented that uses a freely available online game to visualize the nature of chemical bonds as they relate to protein folding and structure. Activity questions and discussion guide students through a consideration of common structural elements as well as the nature of the scientific process. The activity was used in a lab section but could also work as a homework assignment. Student comments from a survey at the end of the course were overwhelmingly positive and indicated the activity helped them appreciate the complexity of protein folding as well as the scientific processes used to solve protein structures.

Soft

Soft Kim Henderson (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Photo by eXage Photography [End Page 64] Shar took the afternoon off work to sit in a circle of student desks with four of her daughter's teachers. Mrs. Burrows, who had called the meeting, handed her an attendance record and pointed out the seven days her daughter had been late for first period just this month. Mr. Garcia added that her grades were slipping, and one by one the teachers showed Shar the zeroes in their grade books next to her daughter's name. They passed her a few of the girl's shoddy essays and unfinished homework assignments and talked about Jemma quitting her extracurriculars, which Shar considered mostly pointless clubs anyway—the dance decorating committee, the new-student welcoming club, the unseen branch of the pep squad that made posters to promote upcoming football games. Shar didn't grieve her quitting those, but she couldn't deny that something was off with the girl. [End Page 65] "You might have to dig a little to find out what's really going on," Mrs. Burrows said toward the end of their meeting in a soft voice that Shar imagined she reserved for when she really wanted to make a point. "Be her friend, to a degree. Be on her side." Shar sighed and stood. Be her friend. That was exactly what was wrong with parents nowadays. "I appreciate your concern. I'll look into things." She shook the teachers' hands firmly, taking in the "No Sniveling" poster and the student- drawn ancient history timelines tacked to the walls, another assignment her daughter hadn't completed. As she was leaving, Shar spotted a flyer advertising a dance class on a bulletin board of community events. Ever since she was little, Jemma had wanted to take one of those expensive classes, and Shar had always turned her down, saying it was too costly, though the real reason had more to do with her own dread of sitting with a bunch of beaming mothers, looking on as their tutu-clad daughters received praise for twirling in circles. She would have preferred that her daughter ask for a basketball hoop, or a horse, or even a dirt bike, something with some teeth to it. Now, she sighed and tucked the flyer into her purse. When she got home, the girl was asleep on the couch with the TV on. Shar shook her awake. "Oh, God," Jemma said, covering her face with her hands. "How did it go?" "How do you expect? Your teachers think you're a wreck." Jemma flushed and sat up. "Well, it's going to stop today. I'm not going to be tardy again, I promise." She pursed her lips as she yanked her backpack open. "I'm getting it together, starting now. I need to do my math homework, for one thing." She set her book on the coffee table and leafed through it, took out a notebook and dull pencil. "Sounds like you need to do more than that. Do I need to ask again what's going on with you?" Shar had told the teachers she knew she was supposed to suspect drugs in a situation like this and that she would investigate it, but it just didn't add up. The girl's room was still splattered with princess décor and horse posters, and the wildest music she listened to was her late stepfather's old Guess Who albums. Her friends were the same nervous little rule-followers she'd hung out with since elementary school. [End Page 66] Jemma yawned and rubbed her eyes, then groaned in frustration. "Why can't I wake up?" "Come on, girl," Shar said, slapping her back. "Let's get to work." Shar sat beside Jemma as she did her geometry. Not that she could help—she had never even memorized her times tables and was fortunate that it hadn't affected her ability to make a decent living, thanks to her mechanical skills. But Jemma enjoyed school, even the subjects she wasn't great at, and she loved sitting and working out proofs for half...

Our children do not have time anymore to learn about medicinal plants: How an ethnobotanical school assignment can contribute to the conservation of Saramaccan Maroon traditional knowledge

Background: When entering primary school, children of remote rural areas have less time to learn about traditional plant uses. In a case study conducted among Saramaccan Maroons in Suriname, we tried to find out how a biology classroom assignment conducted among primary school children could contribute to the conservation of traditional knowledge. Methods: 73 pupils received a homework assignment for which they needed to bring one medicinal plant to school and collect ethnobotanical information about the use. We conducted a content analysis to investigate the type of knowledge generated by the pupils and examined the assignment cards on use of (different) languages. Results: Family members (mostly mothers) shared mainly knowledge on the treatment of physical ailments such as skin fungi, headache, hypertension, stomachache, eye-infections or baby care . Plant use for baby care and women’s health seemed to be primarily shared with girls. Most of the 36 species, were herbs from the disturbed vegetation. Next to Saramaccan, plant names were provided in Sranantongo and Surinamese-Dutch, especially the cultivated species. Conclusions: Our method generated information on physical health issues that occur regularly in the village for which they use common plant species. Spelling of vernacular names and translation of health issues from Saramaccan into Dutch was a challenge, indicating a gap between the official school curriculum (in Dutch), traditional Maroon knowledge and literacy in Saramaccan. The method could be developed further to be used at schools to safeguard traditional knowledge and enhance the intergenerational dialogue on medicinal plants.

Implemented Teaching Methods Based on Interactive Learning Process in Order to Increase the Ability of Learning Foreign Language

Nowadays, the flipped classroom technology has become popular in the educational institutions of developed countries. However, in Russia this approach has not been widely practiced yet due to objective reasons. The purpose of this article is to analyze the effectiveness of using the flipped classroom technology in the system of higher education and specifically in foreign language courses. This article presents the results of the experiment on the implementation of some elements of flipped classroom technology in Kazan Federal University (Russia). The experiment was held with the students of the Law Faculty (60 people) through the course "Foreign language (French) in the sphere of jurisprudence". The idea of making the experiment came after getting very low students’ exam results at the end of the course. In this group traditional methods of SL teaching were used according to state educational standards such as reading professional texts and communication on professional topics. After thorough analysis of the results, the following reasons for unsatisfactory assessments were identified: systematic absence of the students at classes, systematic failure of completing homework assignments, and abuse of electronic translators. Thus, the need to use different teaching approaches became obvious. Taking into account the situation, the authors decided to use the flipped classroom technology to develop students’ core competencies and to improve their language skills.

ISLAMIC ISLAMIC EDUCATION TEACHER'S EFFORTS IN PLANTING THE HONEST ATTITUDE OF INTEGRATED ISLAMIC VOCATIONAL SCHOOL STUDENTS RABBI RADHIYYAH CAWANG BARU

This research is motivated by the number of cheating behaviors in teaching and learningactivities including in making homework assignments, daily assessments, and semesterassessments. Thus a teacher must have efforts or ways to anticipate fraud committedby his students. Because in terms of religion reflects bad character. For this reason RRCawang Baru IT Vocational School needs to instill an honest attitude to its students, byinstilling or correcting honesty with students from now on, we will improve the honestyof the nation in the future. This study aims to find out: 1) What is the effort of Islamicreligious education teachers in instilling honesty in the learning process in Cawang BaruRR IT Vocational School? 2) What are the efforts of Islamic religious education teachers ininstilling honesty outside the learning process in Cawang Baru RR IT Vocational School?3) What are the inhibiting factors in planting honest attitudes of students in CawangBaru RR IT Vocational School ?. The study aims to see how far the teacher instills honestattitudes of students inside and outside the learning process and the inhibiting factors ofplanting honest attitudes in the subjects of Islamic Education in the Cawang Baru RRVocational School, so that fraud can be overcome, and to achieve the purpose above, usedqualitative research methods with descriptive qualitative approaches, data collectiontechniques used were observation, interviews, and documentation. Data is analyzed, byreducing data, describing data and drawing conclusions. The results of the research thathave been investigated are that the planting of honest attitudes through the subjects ofIslamic Religious Education at Cawang Baru RR Vocational High School is as follows.The results of the first formulation are that the teacher instills honest attitudes by usingspies in the class that are trusted, and honesty can be justified, and by training studentsto fast Monday Thursday. Then the method of lecture, discussion, advice, stories andexamples and the results of their achievements from planting honest attitudes studentscan accept and practice the honest attitude that has been given by the teacher. In the thirdformulation of the problem is the inhibiting factor, they are not able to check studentsat all times, because of their limitations, because they are still one day not yet boardingschool so it is difficult for them to monitor the honesty of students when not in school andalso aspects of the student's environment itself starting from the aspect of his friend.

Negotiating the terms of engagement: Humor as a resource for managing interactional trouble in after-school tutoring encounters

This paper examines how tutors and tutees negotiate the terms of their engagement within the context of an after-school program in the United States of America that pairs university students with immigrant children from Bangladesh for the purpose of working through the children's homework assignments. Drawing on insights and approaches from linguistic ethnography, it argues that humor plays a meaningful yet overlooked role both in managing the transactional and interpersonal dimensions of homework help sessions and in illuminating the ongoing tensions and uncertainties at various levels of social organization that tutors and tutees encounter as they engage with one another. Likewise, it shows how a focus on humorous talk can illuminate aspects of tutees’ communicative repertoires as emergent bilinguals that may go unnoticed when only serious talk is considered. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications of this study's findings for the preparation of tutors working in bi/multilingual settings.

Energy and water resource simulations for U.S. geography undergraduates

ABSTRACTThis paper describes environmental systems games developed for energy and water resource use designed to be adaptable from high school to undergraduate use. Two of the games are computer simulations with adjustable levels of difficulty that can be done in a computer lab or as a homework assignment. The third is a peer-to-peer roleplayer game designed for an immersive in-class simulation. For the energy and the peer-to-peer water games, we describe (1) the overall strategy or story line adopted, (2) the manner in which the game is played by students in a classroom setting, (3) the use of scientific literature in conceptualizing and parameterizing the game, and (4) possible game extensions. Preliminary data from use at the undergraduate level shows that the games are very well-received by students and, consistent with other research on quasi-experimental simulations, likely enhance learning outcomes.

Sustainability within Technical Engineering Curriculum – A Hydraulic Fracturing Module in Fluid Mechanics

A transferable module is presented that brings sustainability topics into a core chemical engineering fluid dynamics course. A topic was chosen based on technical applicability to the course and currentdebate on the topic. In this case, hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) was chosen for the connection tocourse content (e.g. pumps, porous media flows) and its widespread debate in the United States. Onthe day of the activity, a guest instructor first surveyed the students with questions on theirunderstanding of and opinion on topics within fracking. The students were then shown two short videoson the topic, one from a science-focused group and one from an industrial proponent of the frackingtechnology. After the videos, students were sorted into five theme areas: science/technology,economics, policy, society, and the environment. These areas were chosen to highlight the breadth oftopics that must be engaged in order to approach such complex problems. Further, it is a move towardinterdisciplinary learning within engineering curricula where students consider broader societal themesas part of an engineering solution4. Students brought a research device for this day, and all students hadaccess to laptops or various smart phone devices. During the in-class activity, the students in theirgroups engaged in their own research on the topic using a variety of web-based sources. As they foundinformation relevant to their theme area, they took notes and then brought that into a groupaccumulation of relevant information. With this data compiled, one representative from each areasummarized salient points to the entire class. A course-wide (n ~ 40) discussion ensued with facilitationfrom the guest instructor. Beyond that day of integration, the course instructor aimed to show theimportance of such topics via three practices. First, the course objective ‘Students will analyzeengineering problems in the context of economics, technology, society, and the environment’ wasadded to the course syllabus along with ten other objectives focused on more traditional technicalcontent. Second, after the activity, a homework assignment was given on material balances and pumpsizing requirements associated with a typical hydraulic fracturing site to directly connect the technicalcourse content to the broader focus of the fracking activity. Lastly, a bonus problem on the final examasked students “If you were a landowner, would you allow hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on your land?Briefly explain your answer.” Select survey results from Fall 2017 are chosen to highlight students’ selfreportedunderstand of and support for fracking (pre-post responses), if the class-format was effectivein their learning, and open ended comments relating to changes in their opinion and the course format.The transferability of this module is discussed, along with ways to translate the concept to othercourses, such as into a heat transfer course via a nuclear power module.

WeBWorK as an open online homework system in a second-year material and energy balances course

–Many studies have shown the advantages of dynamic homework tools for student learning. Material and energy balances is a common foundational course in chemical engineering and related disciplines. There are a number of open educational resources that have been developed around material and energy balances such as screencasts, interactive simulations and conceptual multiple choice tests. In order to build upon these resources, we sought to create online homework assignments on an easily accessible platform, with instant feedback and dynamic questions with individual numbers and unique solutions. We selected WeBWorK as a tool for this due to its common use, open and editable nature and the ease to which problems can be shared between authors through the Open Problem Library system built into the software. WeBWorK problem sets were easy to use for students and well received. The switch from pencil and paper to WeBWorK showed no significant effect on student grades or participation in homework assignments. On the Instructors’ side, WeBWorK saved time overall by reducing grading significantly. This allowed greater time for student interaction with instructors. However certain problem types, notably creating diagrams or explaining problem solving methodology could not be accomplished with WeBWorK. A hybrid of pencil and paper homework as well as WeBWorK is recommended for material and energy balances due to the course material and objectives

An outlook on self-assessment of homework assignments in higher mathematics education

BackgroundWe discuss first experiences with a new variant of self-assessment in higher mathematics education. In our setting, the students of the course have to mark a part of their homework assignments themselves and they receive the corresponding credit without that any later changes are carried out by the teacher. In this way, we seek to correct the imbalance between student-centered learning arrangements and assessment concepts that keep the privilege to grade (or mark) completely with the teacher.ResultsWe present results in the form of student feedback from a course on functional analysis for third- and fourth-year students. Moreover, we analyze marking results from two courses on real analysis. Here, we compare tasks marked by the teacher and tasks marked by the students.ConclusionsOur experiments indicate that students can benefit from self-assessment tasks. The success depends, however, on many different factors. Promising for self-assessment seem to be small learning groups and tasks in which a priori weaker students can catch up with stronger students by increasing their practising time.

Homework compliance among substance using male offenders of IPV

PurposeResearch suggests that homework compliance within cognitive behavioral therapy is associated with treatment adherence and positive treatment outcomes through generalization of learned skills. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there were differences in aggression and substance use between participants who did and did not complete therapy homework assignments.Design/methodology/approachSecondary analyses were conducted using data from Easton et al.’s (2017) randomized controlled trial of substance abuse domestic violence (SADV) treatment among substance dependent intimate partner violence (IPV) offenders. Analyses of covariance were conducted in order to determine whether homework completion had a significant effect on aggression and substance use. Correlational analyses were conducted to determine the association between quality of homework and outcomes.FindingsParticipants (n=63) who completed at least two homework assignments had fewer days of alcohol use during treatment compared to those who did not complete any assignments, p=0.03. There was not a difference in the number of days participants engaged in violence based on homework completion. Analyses indicated that those who displayed aggression proximal to alcohol use during treatment completed significantly fewer homework assignments compared to those who did not display aggression proximal to alcohol use (p=0.04).Research limitations/implicationsThis research was limited to a sample of male substance using offenders of IPV within the US additional research utilizing a larger sample size in order to investigate differences in homework completion across treatment groups is needed. Further analysis of the barriers to and predictors of homework compliance among this population is recommended.Originality/valueThis research highlights the need for incorporation of homework and further exploration of methods and treatment modalities to ensure homework compliance among substance using male offenders of IPV.