Non-science Students Research Articles

Awareness of lifestyle, occupational and host factors with respect to reproductive health among students, Western India

Introduction: Generally, students falsely believe that miscarriage/ preterm birth is uncommon and do not understand its exact causes. Students being the future of the society therefore it is worth to assess their knowledge with respect to fertility. Objectives: This study was conducted to find out the awareness about the host, lifestyle and occupational factors among students with respect to pregnancy, miscarriage and outcome. Material and Methods: Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) survey was conducted during November 2015 to April 2016 among the students who visited the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) as an observer. A total of 744 students with mean Age of 21.8±0.1 [452 from science and 292 from non-science background (comprising 312 male and 432 female)] were participated. The students were mostly from the state of Gujarat, India. Results: The results indicated that more than 83% students were aware that lifestyle habits such as smoking, tobacco chewing and alcohol consumption have adverse effects upon fertility and pregnancy. Most of the students (male- 81%; female- 86%) were also aware that depression can affect the fertility and its outcomes. Further, 75% students were knowing that stress affects pregnancy. The awareness of most of the variables was more among the female as compare to male students except only 37% female students know thatsexually transmitted diseases (STD) reduces fertility as compared to 55% male students. However, overall 63% students have correct knowledge of reproductive health variables asked. The data with respect to educational background revealed that science graduates had more knowledge regarding fertility than non-science graduates. Conclusion: Awareness about the fertility related aspects were more among female and science students as compared to male and non-science students. More knowledge among science students reflects the role of education system in imparting the knowledge about fertility. However, 37% unaware students can't be ignored and it means that awareness with respect to reproductive health still needed.

A few ideas for teaching environmental physics

Unlike a typical university physics course there is no standardised syllabus for environmental physics. The topics covered also range beyond what is normally part of the physics curriculum, requiring the instructor to become knowledgeable about fields outside of physics. Some of these issues are complex and, unlike the laws of physics, change rapidly over time. This paper, based on 15 years experience teaching undergraduate environmental physics courses, both for non-science students and for students with strong backgrounds in the sciences, attempts to present a reasonable range of concepts and educational resources which could be included in an environmental physics course or added to an existing physics course as motivation for learning traditional physics concepts. An additional goal is to warn the reader of pitfalls they may encounter in trying to include material with which they may not be familiar. The approach is different from environmental courses taught in the social sciences in that the focus of an environmental physics course is on physical constraints to environmental solutions rather than limitations imposed by culture or politics.

Citizen Science: The Small World Initiative Improved Lecture Grades and California Critical Thinking Skills Test Scores of Nonscience Major Students at Florida Atlantic University.

Course-based undergraduate research is known to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics student achievement. We tested “The Small World Initiative, a Citizen-Science Project to Crowdsource Novel Antibiotic Discovery” to see if it also improved student performance and the critical thinking of non-science majors in Introductory Biology at Florida Atlantic University (a large, public, minority-dominant institution) in academic year 2014–15. California Critical Thinking Skills Test pre- and posttests were offered to both Small World Initiative (SWI) and control lab students for formative amounts of extra credit. SWI lab students earned significantly higher lecture grades than control lab students, had significantly fewer lecture grades of D+ or lower, and had significantly higher critical thinking posttest total scores than control students. Lastly, more SWI students were engaged while taking critical thinking tests. These results support the hypothesis that utilizing independent course-based undergraduate science research improves student achievement even in nonscience students.

Teaching Science to Non-Science Students with Science Classics

In Dialogue with Nature is a compulsory course on reading science-related classic texts for all students in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The course aims to provide an opportunity for students to be familiar with the nature of science and develop their critical thinking skills. As the students are from diversified academic background, this situation has provided both positive and negative effects on the pedagogical strategies in this general education foundation course. For instance, while the course has provided a cross-disciplinary environment to stimulate the students to think beyond their own academic specialty, it has been speculated that students without prior scientific knowledge in high school could be disadvantaged in their academic performance. The intention of this paper is to report the current situation of this course and investigate the effectiveness of providing supplementary materials specifically to the non-science students. The preliminary analysis shows positive indicators on the effect.

Spanish students’ conceptions about NOS and STS issues: A diagnostic study

Spanish students' beliefs on themes of Science-Technology-Society (STS) and nature of science (NOS) are assessed. The sample consisted of 1050 science and non-science students who had concluded their pre-university education (18-19 years old). Each participant anonymously answered 30 items drawn from the Questionnaire of Opinions on Science, Technology and Society, which were presented within two different booklets to cover the main STS-NOS issues. The students’ direct responses were scaled by means of a multiple response model and a metric into a set of quantitative indices that represent the adequateness of the student’s answer to current scholar knowledge on STS-NOS. The indices form the baseline variables on items, categories, and sentences for the quantitative and qualitative analyses of students’ beliefs. The overall mean results display neutral positions, although a detailed scrutiny of the mean indices across items, categories, and sentences allows to pinpoint further rich details, such as the students' highest positive and lowest negative beliefs to be identified. The versatility of the method makes also possible to implement hypothesis testing, which in the present case do not find significant differences between science and non-science students. Some implications for research on the issues concerning the STS-NOS issues and its teaching and learning are discussed.

Measuring the Effectiveness of Global Immersive Study Tours to Attract Non-Scientific Working Professionals to the Bio-Enterprise

While the focus in the global biotechnology industry is often on scientific breakthroughs, emergent industry trends suggest that bio-enterprise success requires essential non-scientific expertise. This includes business, law, government and information systems, with an orientation to cross-disciplinary insights within the life science industry as a whole. This paper documents recent industry research on workforce need, and utilizes the Bio-Enterprise Innovation Expertise Model (BIEM) as a basis for the spectrum of expertise needed in the science-to-product life cycle. As the BIEM model drives the courses taught in the Business of Biotechnology (BoB) Program at the University of San Francisco (USF), and since these courses serve both science and non-science working professionals, the authors posited that student experience might be examined to measure attitudinal changes in relevant expertise areas along with cross-disciplinary insights. If non-science students registered statistically significant increases in confidence levels, the likelihood of entering the bio-enterprise workforce would arguably be increased. One-week BoB immersive study tours were selected for assessment, and adjustments made within the ongoing Gunn-Lorton Attitudinal Surveys (GLAS) Project, which seeks to measure STEM++ avoidance/affinity attitudes. Confidence levels were recorded both pre-and post-study tours in six (6) areas: general business, bio-business, information systems, law, federal government and science. Four (4) study tours reflecting 48 student experiences were evaluated. All non-science, first-time BoB students registered a statistically significant rise in confidence with respect to bio-business, signaling a rise in affinity for the biotechnology industry. All degree programs tested: MBA, JD/MBA, MSIS and PSM/Biotechnology, registered statistically significant confidence increases in every expertise area not central to students’ primary field of study, wherein confidence remained essentially unchanged. Qualitative measures confirmed appreciation for cross-disciplinary expertise. This research demonstrates that academic programs based on the BIEM expertise model can meet emergent industry needs for both non-science and science professionals. Keywords: BIEM, Bio-Enterprise Innovation Expertise Model, bio-entrepreneurship education, BoB, Business of Biotechnology Program, immersive study tours, industry-relevant education, non-science bio-entrepreneurship skills, professional skills development.

1G1-K1 文系学生を対象とした自由研究の実施と科学的思考の理解度(高等科学教育・教育方法と評価(1),一般研究発表,学びの原点への回帰-イノベーティブ人材育成のための科学教育研究-)

1G1-K1 文系学生を対象とした自由研究の実施と科学的思考の理解度(高等科学教育・教育方法と評価(1),一般研究発表,学びの原点への回帰-イノベーティブ人材育成のための科学教育研究-)

Making Sense of Scientific Biographies: Scientific achievement, nature of science, and storylines in college students’ essays

In this article, the educative value of scientific biographies will be explored, especially for non-science major college students. During the ‘Scientist’s life and thought’ course, 66 college students read nine scientific biographies including five biologists, covering the canonical scientific achievements in Western scientific history. Students’ essays were initially analysed in terms of four dimensions of scientific achievement: personal traits and talent, socio-cultural environment, scientific inquiry and debate, and historical significance. Further analysis focused on noticeable aspects in the nature of science (NOS). Based on the analyses, the idea of a story grid was devised in order to identify major storylines that show students various ways of making sense of scientific biographies. The analysis shows the aspects in which biographies are instrumental for students to identify and engage critically with issues related to the NOS. The article concludes with some implications for designing history of science courses for non-science major college students.

ESSAYS ON ECLIPSES, TRANSITS AND OCCULTATIONS AS TEACHING TOOLS IN THE INTRODUCTORY ASTRONOMY COLLEGE COURSE

Nós ocasionalmente incluímos projetos em nosso curso universitário introdutório centrado no aluno para permitir aos estudantes que pertencem às carreiras não científicas explorar alguns conceitos astronômicos em mais detalhes do que o normal. Tais projetos também enfatizam eventos astronômicos em curso ou futuros. Esperamos que os alunos se sintam mais interessados na astronomia através de projetos ligados a eventos astronômicos. No termo de Primavera de 2012 (EUA), propomos ensaios curtos focados em eclipses, trânsitos e ocultações para promover o raro trânsito de Vênus que ocorreu no dia 5 de junho de 2012. Pedimos aos alunos que escrevessem dois ensaios curtos dentre três que foram propostos. Os ensaios continham partes descritivas e conceituais. Eles foram feitos para servir como ferramentas de ensino. 62% de 106 ensaios de 55 alunos ganhou graus A, B ou C. 21% dos 47 entrevistados que responderam ao levantamento posterior sentiu que os ensaios aumentaram seu interesse na astronomia. 49% dos inquiridos consideraram que os ensaios não eram benéficos para a educação e que não devem ser propostos novamente. As respostas escritas mais comuns da nossa pesquisa indicaram que os alunos precisam de mais orientação e melhor preparação para escrever ensaios bem sucedidos. Como os alunos consideraram difíceis os aspectos conceituais dos ensaios, no futuro iremos fornecer atividades relevantes antes dos ensaios para ajudar os alunos a escrevê-los com sucesso.

Exploring the consequences of combining medical students with and without a background in biomedical sciences.

Medical schools have tended to admit students with strong backgrounds in the biomedical sciences. Previous studies have shown that those with backgrounds in the social sciences can be as successful in medical school as those with science backgrounds. However, the experience of being a 'non-science' student over time has not been well described. A mixed-methods study was developed and run with the aim of elucidating the personal experiences of science and non-science students at our institution. Data were generated from a student survey that focused on participants' self-identification as science or non-science students, and on their sense of preparedness and stress, and from a series of student focus groups exploring participants' experiences of science and non-science issues in all aspects of their training. Descriptive statistics were generated for structured survey data. Focus group data and unstructured survey data were analysed to identify common themes. End-of-module and end-of-year examination data for the four class cohorts in the programme were also analysed to compare science and non-science student performance over time. There were clear differences between the experiences and performance of science and non-science students. We found dichotomies in students' self-reported sense of preparedness and stress levels, and marked differences in their examination performance, which diminished over time to converge around the third year of their studies. Combining science and non-science students in the same class affected the students to different extents and in different ways. The potential disruption of mixing science and non-science students diminished as their levels of performance converged. The psychosocial stress experienced by non-science students and the challenges it posed, in both their academic and their personal lives, have implications for how such students should be supported, and how curricula can be configured to afford quality learning for all medical students.

A Comparative Study of Frustration Level among Science and Non-Science Students

Our today daily life based on the scientific environment. Science Plays an important role in our day to day life and living. Definitely Science has provided us multiple physical comforts but it has challenged our psychological calmness and composedness. The more the inventions for new medicines and new methods for psychotherapy are being made, the more varieties of frustrations are being evinced. Frustration is an important psychological, construct which is universally cosmopolitan variable among the mankind this especially plays vital role among the secondary and higher secondary science and non science students, who always struggle with critical and chaotic situations for the survival and to stand on the academic firmament. A magnitude of the factors are responsible for developing frustration among the students a mild degree of frustration, to conquare the situation is essential but the higher degree of the same is venomous for persons and especially for the student’s achievements. In this situation person is paralised to a greater extent with reference to his achievement . It is due to fact that he is not in position to channelise his energy in right direction.

Influence of Gender and Age on Science and Non-Science Students’ Evaluation of Teaching Effectiveness of University Lecturers

The study focused on university students’ evaluation of the teaching effectiveness of their lecturers with a view to providing diagnostic feedback to lecturers about the effectiveness of their teaching. A descriptive survey research design was employed in carrying out the study. Moreover, a stratified random sampling technique was used to select fifty second year students from each of the Faculties of Science and Arts of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria. A total of 100 students were eventually asked to evaluate the best lecturer among those teaching them during the semester by rating such lecturer using valid and reliable instrument named University Students’ Evaluation of Teaching Effectiveness Scale (USETES). The students rated the lecturers on a five-point scale of very poor, poor, moderate, good and very good. The instrument was made up of forty-six items that were divided into sections of students’ interest, classroom organization, and fairness to students, preparation, giving of assignments, assessment/appearance and commitment. Percentages, frequency count and t-test were used to analyze the data. The study revealed that most of the students rated their lecturers above average with respect to sympathy, friendliness, good relationship with students, readiness to assist students, respect for the view of students, good interaction with students and good sense of judgment. However, most students rated the lecturers low on traits such as supervision of projects, regular class attendance and use of instructional materials. The study further found out that there were no significant influence of sex and age of the students on their evaluation of their lecturers’ teaching effectiveness in some traits while significant influence of sex and age were recorded in other traits. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n14p491

Relationship between Anxiety, Attitude and Motivation of Tertiary Students in Learning English as a Second Language

The aim of this paper is to determine the relationship between anxiety, attitude and motivation of tertiary students in learning English as a second language with regards to discipline, gender and language proficiency. The respondents were 60 first year undergraduates students studying at the Faculty of Education in a local university in Malaysia. The data was collected using a questionnaire (adapted from Gardner and Smythe's AMTB survey) and semi structured interviews. Data obtained were analysed using SPSS software to determine the relationship between anxiety, attitude and motivation of tertiary students in learning English as a second language while the interviews conducted was transcribed and were used to triangulate the findings. The findings from this study indicated that there is a negative but significant relationship in learning English as a second language between the three main variables of discipline, gender and language proficiency among the tertiary students. Findings also revealed that Science major students have slightly higher positive attitude towards learning English than the Non-Science students but interestingly, low proficiency students have higher and significant relationship in attitude and motivation than high proficiency students.

Students’ Preconceptions and Perceptions of Science-Oriented Studies

Do non-science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students’ views about STEM studies correspond with how STEM students actually perceive these studies? This paper deals with this issue by comparing higher education students’ attitudes towards STEM studies between those who actually did a STEM study and those who did not. The attitudes of the first category of students have been referred to as perceptions and the attitudes of the second category as preconceptions. The study included 1,935 students in higher education. The results confirm both small and large differences between the preconceptions and perceptions, and show significant differences between suitably qualified students (i.e. eligible for STEM studies) and other students. At the end of this paper, we will discuss the implications of this study for future research and offer some suggestions for practice.

Fertility Awareness with regard to Lifestyle and Age: A Survey among University Students in Vienna

Fragestellung: The aim of this study is to investigate university students' (medical students on one hand and non-science students on the other hand) understanding about and perceptions of fertility issues, their awareness of the effect of age and certain lifestyle factors (caffeine consumption, alcohol consumption, smoking, weight, exercise, nutrition) on fertility, their own lifestyle and their intentions of childbirth.

Utilizing active learning strategies to enhance learning in first year university chemistry courses

Teaching chemistry to non-science majors can be a challenge in higher education owing to students’ perceptions of the subject’s difficulty, and of its usefulness. In order to address these challenges, the authors applied active learning techniques in a first year free-elective general chemistry course for non-science students at the American University of Sharjah. These techniques included group work activities, student-led discussions, and problem solving sessions. The students were surveyed at the end of the course to assess their perceptions of the usefulness of the techniques used in class, and their overall impressions were that the activities were useful for them and helped them to better understand the subject.

Education Guidelines Fail to Inspire

Seldom in the special section on Grand Challenges in Science Education (19 April, p. [290][1]) do I see the words inspiration or excitement. The News story Transformation is possible if a university really cares (J. Mervis, p. [292][2]) suggests starting asking what the faculty member wants students to know how to do at the end of the and approves of applying concepts to real-life situations. That is suitable for an engineering course or for basic physics, but what if your goal for nonscience students is to foster inspiration, excitement about what they have learned, and enthusiasm for supporting science by reading newspaper or magazine articles on STEM topics or by voting for candidates demonstrate scientific experience or understanding? The Review Physical and virtual laboratories in science and engineering (T. de Jong et al. , p. [305][3]) acknowledges the importance of enthusiasm by suggesting that actual labs are more successful than virtual ones in creating young people are skillful in and enthusiastic about science, but the article is aimed at those who view science as their future career field. Meanwhile, the Review Outside the pipeline: Reimagining science education for (N. W. Feinstein et al. , p. [314][4]) describes the goal of can access and make sense of science relevant to their lives. I agree that we want nonscientists to judge the credibility of scientific claims, but I contend that teaching about exciting, mind-bending, and current results can inspire students to do better in all their studies, not just those in science courses. ![Figure][5] CREDIT: AAAS I suggest adding several components to the list of Next Generation Standards listed in the Venn diagram in Opportunities and challenges in next generation standards (E. K. Stage et al. , Education Forum, p. [276][6]). Students should recognize that many scientific questions are currently unsolved. They should study current trailblazers and the sequence of discovery. Courses should emphasize the importance of current research. Each topic should end with a summary of some outstanding questions. Without context, students may leave school thinking that physical science ended with Newton and that it isn't important to support our current research efforts. They may believe that scientific problems have been solved and can all be dealt with in classroom-quality laboratories. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.340.6130.290 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.340.6130.292 [3]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1230579 [4]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1230855 [5]: pending:yes [6]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1234011

LACK OF INTEREST IN SCHOOL SCIENCE AMONG NON-SCIENCE STUDENTS AT THE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL

This study investigated the factors that contribute to the non-science students’ lack of interest in school science through the use of a 27-item questionnaire. This assisted in comparing the male and female non-science students’ lack of interest in school science. There were 259 male and female students from three senior high schools in three District Assemblies of the Ashanti Region of Ghana who participated in the study. Quantitative data were collected from the 259 students through a cross-sectional survey. The research questions were answered with mean, standard deviation, percentage, boxplot, and independent-samples t-test. The results of the study have shown that the factors that contribute to students’ lack of interest in school science include as higher demands of students’ time in learning science, less practical nature of science teaching and learning, failure of science students with larger aggregate from high school to gain admission into tertiary institutions, too broad nature of science content, lack of sponsorship for science students, school science as difficult subject compared to others, and teaching of science is a transmission of knowledge from science teachers or textbooks to students. The results of the study have further shown that there was a statistical significant difference between the mean scores of male and female non-science students’ lack of interest in school science. Science teachers are therefore encouraged to adopt strategies that could encourage students to develop and show interest in science related subjects and courses. Key words: factors; lack of interest; male and female; non-science students; school science.

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Autistic Traits in the UK, India and Malaysia

The disorder of autism is widely recognised throughout the world. However, the diagnostic criteria and theories of autism are based on research predominantly conducted in Western cultures. Here we compare the expression of autistic traits in a sample of neurotypical individuals from one Western culture (UK) and two Eastern cultures (India and Malaysia), using the Autism-spectrum Quotient (AQ) in order to identify possible cultural differences in the expression of autistic traits. Behaviours associated with autistic traits were reported to a greater extent in the Eastern cultures than the Western culture. Males scored higher than females and science students scored higher than non-science students in each culture. Indian students scored higher than both other groups on the Imagination sub-scale, Malaysian students scored higher than both other groups on the Attention Switching sub-scale. The underlying factor structures of the AQ for each population were derived and discussed.

The Relationship Between Exposure to Pseudoscientific Television Programmes and Pseudoscientific Beliefs among Taiwanese University Students

This study explores the relationship between exposure to pseudoscientific television (TV) programmes and pseudoscientific beliefs among Taiwanese university students. The ‘scale of attitude toward pseudoscience’ instrument was used to measure the attitudes of 380 Taiwanese university students who served as subjects for the study. The data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression for quantitative analysis. The results showed exposure to pseudoscientific TV programmes was the predictive factor for pseudoscientific beliefs among university students. Non-science students expressed more favorable attitudes toward pseudoscientific beliefs than science students. Majoring in science had a moderating effect on the relationship between exposure to pseudoscientific TV programmes and pseudoscientific beliefs. Finally, some suggestions are proposed for how future scientific instruction could counteract pseudoscientific beliefs among students.