Science Postgraduate Students Research Articles

A Study on the Assessment of Knowledge about Basic Life Support among Undergraduate and Post graduate Science Students

Aim: To assess the knowledge about basic life support among undergraduate and post graduate science students. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted among the students of different colleges with various science courses. A total of 140 study participants were included in the study based on the study criteria. The data was collected using a questionnaire designed with the google form. The questionnaire consists of 20 questions regarding the basic life support. The google form was circulated among the social media groups and the responses recorded were analysed and interpreted. Students of both the genders of age above 18 years studying various science courses were included and students other than the life science courses in various colleges were excluded from the study. Results: A total of 140 study participants were included in this study. Among them, 45 (32.1%) were found to be males and 95 (67.9%) were found to be females. Most of the study participants were in the age group 21-25 years (56.4%). In this study, a total of 20 questions were given in order to assess the knowledge of the students in the aspect of basic life support. Among the 140 study participants, 59 (42.1%) were observed to be with good knowledge, 75 (53.6%) were observed with moderate knowledge and 6 (4.3%) were observed to be with poor knowledge in the aspect of basic life support. Conclusion: In this study, most of the study participants were having moderate knowledge (53.6%) followed by good knowledge (42.1%) in the aspect of basic life support. Almost 95.7% were having ample knowledge in the aspect of dealing the basic life support measures which seems to be very good sign and lack of knowledge in dealing these aspects among the various science background students will definitely impact the society in a negative way. In conclusion, we recommend the training in CPR/BLS should be implemented in the curriculum of all the students itself which will definitely be a valuable life saving skill set to the society.

Use of instructional resources and academic performance of library and information science (LIS) postgraduate students in South-South, Nigeria

The study examined use of instructional resources and academic performance of library and information science (LIS) postgraduate students in South-South, Nigeria. Three research questions were answered in the study. The research involved postgraduate students from three state-owned universities located in Delta, Edo, and Rivers States, Nigeria, using a correlational research design. The population consisted of 152 postgraduate students who also constituted the sample size through total enumeration sampling. A questionnaire was the only tool used to collect data. Out of 152 copies of questionnaire distributed, a total of 133 were completed and returned, representing an 86% response rate. The collected data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson’s product moment correlation (PPMC) with a significance level of 0.05 applied to address the research questions. The results showed no significant difference in the use of instructional resources between M.Sc. and PhD LIS students (f {131} = 5.416, p = 0.21; p < 0.05), nor were there significant differences in resource usage among different institutions (F = 2, 130 = 10.704, P = 0.000; p < 0.05). Additionally, the study found that use of instructional resources did not have a statistically significant impact on the academic performance of the library and information science postgraduate students (r = .111, P = .204 ˃ 0.05). The conclusion drawn was that there is no significant difference in the use of instructional resources between M.Sc. and PhD students as well as across different institutions, indicating similar needs and consistent availability of resources. The study recommended that institutions should standardize the provision of instructional resources for both M.Sc. and Ph.D. students since their needs and usage patterns are alike, regardless of their level of study.

Postgraduate Student‘s Open Educational Practices and Hurdles among Faculty of Science at Alagappa University during the Pandemic

This study aims to analyze the practices and hurdles of open educational resources (OER) among faculty of science postgraduate students at Alagappa University, Tamilnadu, India, during the pandemic period. The present study has employed the “questionnaire” as a tool developed by the investigator through a systematic and comprehensive approach in the research design of the questionnaire forms for the survey in various phases. The investigator conducted a pilot study in different Alagappa University, India, departments. The faculty of science students of Alagappa University, Tamilnadu, India, has been selected for the population of the study. A total of 396 postgraduate faculty of science students from the departments chosen at Alagappa University, Tamilnadu, India, were initially collected. However, 30 samples were excluded due to incompleteness. A simple random sampling method was employed to select 366 data for the study. All faculty of science students at Alagappa University, Tamilnadu, India were aware of OER. However, one-fourth of students rarely used OER per day, and only a few students used it monthly. OER was taught to students by faculty at Alagappa University, which created awareness and usage of OER. More announcements or news about OERs being posted on official university websites would increase student awareness of OERs. The significant hurdles shared by students in this study in using OERs are the low quality of OER, limited technology, the OER repository, and the time-consuming to download OER resources.

Does the Farsi version of attitude toward plagiarism questionnaire have acceptable psychometric properties?

This study aims to assess the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Attitudes Toward Plagiarism Questionnaire (ATPQ) among Iranian medical sciences postgraduate students and faculty members.In this study, the ATPQ developed by Mavrinac et al. in 2010 was translated into Persian. After assessment of face and content validity, we distributed the ATPQ draft among 286 Iranian medical science postgraduate students and faculty members. Explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis were applied, and Cronbach's alpha was used to measure the reliability of the ATPQ. All the items of our English version of the ATPQ were approved by the developer of the original ATPQ, and two were revised in the cognitive interview. Construct validity assessment showed that three items were not seriously involved in the extracted factors. The Persian version of the ATPQ had 26 items, five factors and a Cronbach's alpha of 0.81%, and the combined value explained 38.24% of the total variance of this scale.Two new factors of “perceived control” and “attitude toward self-plagiarism” were extracted and incorporated into the Persian version.To conclude, the ATPQ is a valid, reliable, and convenient instrument to determine attitudes toward plagiarism among Iranian medical science postgraduate students and faculty members.

Postgraduate Science Students’ Impressions and Experiences of Online Pedagogical Practices: Implications for Technology-Enhanced Pedagogy

This study explores the postgraduate science teachers’ conceptions and experiences of online pedagogical practices in diverse school contexts. Embracing technology-enhanced pedagogy remains a key strategic imperative within the context of evolving pedagogical benefits associated with the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). As key agents of educational change, science teachers face the key imperative to harness the pedagogical affordances of online platforms with a view to realizing the achievement of envisaged educational outcomes. Furthermore, research studies on online teaching have predominantly focused on technological aspects and very little on their impact on humans. The empirical investigation adopted a qualitative case study design and involved 20 purposively selected postgraduate science students from diverse school contexts in South Africa. Data were collected through the administration of an open-ended survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Key findings emanating from the empirical investigation indicated that postgraduate science teachers’ coherent adoption of appropriate online pedagogical strategies was largely hampered by a lack of technological resources and inadequate professional capacity to implement online teaching and learning in diverse school contexts. Sustainable teacher professional development opportunities on the utilization of virtual digital platforms ought to be provided with a view to enabling postgraduate science teachers to harness the pedagogical affordances of online teaching and learning.

Clinical decision-making in complex endodontic cases between postgraduate students across dental specialties at a UK dental school: A pilot study.

Treatment decisions for a heavily restored endodontically treated tooth vary amongst clinicians owing to multitude of factors. This phenomenon not only often poses dilemmas to clinicians of different clinical backgrounds, but also exerts a degree of treatment difficulty to the treating clinician. Previous studies indicated that specialty training and clinical experience significantly impacted clinical decision-making process. Master of Science postgraduate students in endodontics, prosthodontics, periodontics, oral surgery and implantology participated in a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study. The dental specialties were further categorised into restorative and surgical dentistry. A multiple-choice questionnaire with three clinical cases was distributed to the students. Data were analysed for trends using descriptive statistics. There was a 44% response rate; the majority of respondents were from restorative dentistry specialties. Cases 1 and 2 were rated as moderate to high difficulty, and Case 3 was predominantly rated as high difficulty with procedure predictability being the main factor affecting their clinical decision-making in three cases. Endodontic retreatment was selected as the preferred treatment in Cases 1 and 2 and periradicular surgery in Case 3. The students were fairly confident in managing Cases 1 and 2, but not in Case 3. Referral patterns were consistent in Cases 1 and 2 with endodontists being the first choice of referral except for Case 3 where 48% preferred to refer to oral surgeons and 35% choosing endodontists. Some indication of differences between specialties were noted throughout. Years in practice appeared to be related to the importance of predictability in Case 3 only. Considerable inter-clinician variability was noted whereby specialty postgraduate training impacted on clinical decision-making. Overall, procedural predictability, technical difficulty, risk of damage to the tooth and patient preference were the most highly ranked factors affecting clinical decision-making. Evidence-based treatment guidelines and dental curricula should be reviewed to enhance inter-clinician agreement in clinical decision-making, ultimately improving patient care.

Utilization Pattern of Social Media for Education Among Veterinary Science Post-Graduate Students

Social media proved decisive in keeping the people connected to one another, especially the academic community during the COVID-19 pandemic period across the world. The present study was conducted in Kerala by selecting two Veterinary Colleges i.e., Veterinary College, Thrissur and Wayanad respectively. Among the two colleges selected 120 Veterinary Post-graduate students were selected randomly. The result of the study indicate that majority of students had medium level of utilization pattern of social media (75.83%) for education. Youtube were the most frequently used social media site (MPS=86.29).Time on social media was 1–2 hrs per day. Preferred time for usage were, after college hours at 6.00pm to 9.00pm (MPS=63.79) for sharing and retrieving of Lectures, PPT, Notes, other Institutional materials related to field of study. Also Smart phones are preferable devices to access (MPS=91.84),data pack were the major mode of access (MPS=89.60). Hostels were the preferable place for accessing social media (MPS=77.97). PDF holds first in files for downloading from internet/Social media.

Knowledge Sharing through Social Networking Sites (SNSs): A Study of Pakistani Research Students

The present study investigated the knowledge-sharing behavior of library and information management researchers, using the lens of the theory of planned behavior. The study is quantitative and adopted a survey questionnaire as a data collection technique. The snowball sampling technique was considered suitable to recruit respondents to the study. Data were analyzed with the help of SPSS (20.0) and the ADANCO (2.0.1). The research findings confirm that subjective norms and perceived behavioral control have a significant impact on intentions to share knowledge, whereas knowledge sharing intentions have a statistically significant positive impact on knowledge sharing behavior through SNS among postgraduate students. Attitude towards knowledge sharing directly triggers knowledge sharing practices through social media networking sites. Intentions to share knowledge do not mediate the relationship of attitude and knowledge sharing behavior. The theory of planned behavior has widely been used to measure knowledge-sharing behavior in different sectors. However, the relationship between attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavior control, intentions to share knowledge within the domain of social media is explored first time in this study, particularly in the context of the library and information science post-graduate students.

When one says yes and the other says no; does calcineurin participate in physiologic cardiac hypertrophy?

Developing engaging activities that build skills for understanding and appreciating research is important for undergraduate and postgraduate science students. Comparing and contrasting opposing research studies does this, and more: it also appropriately for these cohorts challenges higher level cognitive processing. Here, we present and discuss one such scenario, that of calcineurin in the heart and its response to exercise training. This scenario is further accentuated by the existence of only two studies. The background is that regular aerobic endurance exercise training stimulates the heart to physiologically adapt to chronically increase its ability to produce a greater cardiac output to meet the increased demand for oxygenated blood in working muscles, and this happens by two main mechanisms: 1) increased cardiac contractile function and 2) physiologic hypertrophy. The major underlying mechanisms have been delineated over the last decades, but one aspect has not been resolved: the potential role of calcineurin in modulating physiologic hypertrophy. This is partly because the existing research has provided opposing and contrasting findings, one line showing that exercise training does activate cardiac calcineurin in conjunction with myocardial hypertrophy, but another line showing that exercise training does not activate cardiac calcineurin even if myocardial hypertrophy is blatantly occurring. Here, we review and present the current evidence in the field and discuss reasons for this controversy. We present real-life examples from physiology research and discuss how this may enhance student engagement and participation, widen the scope of learning, and thereby also further facilitate higher level cognitive processing.

INITIATIVES AND ROLE OF WOMEN SCIENTIST FORUMS WITH MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES IN STEM

Women scientists are strategically positioned to drive the current initiatives for achieving targeted sustainable development goals (SDGs). Many women are celebrated today, who have made significant contributions in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), despite hurdles they have been faced with in their science careers. Engaging in normal scientific collaborations was difficult for some of them and simply impossible for others. They were not encouraged by the predominantly male environments of university and business worlds, barred from the communities in which male scientists met and conversed, these women in science struggled against discrimination based on gender. While many of these women have been nearly lost to history in a changing world, some achieved such pinnacles as the Nobel Prize by surmounting these hurdles. This paper investigates factors that inhibit women in science. To this end, a survey design based on random sampling technique using a questionnaire instrument was designed, to retrieve information from individuals engaged in science careers. The study population involved one hundred and fourteen post-graduate science students of the University of Benin. Data was collected and analyzed using SPSS 20.0 for descriptive and inferential statistics. The result revealed that females view mentorship as a very important factor towards their career progression in STEM, but 29% lacked mentors. 73% of the women were not aware of women scientist forums with mentorship opportunities. They were faced with the barrier of funding, lack of mentors and personally encountered gender bias amongst other barriers. From our result, it is evident that the role of mentors to mentees and women scientist initiatives alongside forums with mentoring activities, cooperation, networking and collaborative groups is needed to increase the participation of women and girls in STEM. It is recommended that mentoring forums and strategies should be adopted in schools and organizations to encourage girls and women in science.

Is the 2019 Water Revolution a lesson of emancipatory education? A Rancièrean invitation

This paper starts with an apparently provocative question – can we call the 2019 Water Revolution in Hong Kong a lesson of emancipatory education which awakens students’ critical consciousness and brings the postcolonial regime into democratic renewal? The mass social unrest, which was initially triggered by a controversial extradition legislation, has prompted local journalism and political discourse to speak of ‘the failure of education’: an outmoded form of citizenship education, lack of Chinese History as a core subject, radicalisation in school, regression in science and technology education, to name just few examples of crisis talk. Our discussion explores this question through the philosophical lens of Jacques Rancière. In Rancière’s understanding, ‘emancipation’ occurs in the ephemeral moments of subjectification in which individuals resist existing identity positions in the ‘police’ order, but speak on their own terms through ‘dissensual’ responses, under the supposition of ‘equality’ of ‘intelligence’. Episodes of the movement may look defiant but are not the rare moments of ‘dissensus’ in which people are unshackled from the prevalent distribution of the sensible. An example from this movement that borders on what Rancière means by ‘emancipation’ is the redistribution of chemistry knowledge about tear gas on a social media platform, which is initiated and crowdfunded by a group of anonymous postgraduate science students and circulated by a chemistry tutor from a private tuition school.

Relationship Between Information Literacy Skills Acquisition and Research Self-Efficacy of Library and Information Science Postgraduate Students in Southeast Nigerian Universities

The study investigated the relationship between information literacy skills acquisition and research self-efficacy of Library and Information Science (LIS) postgraduate students in Southeast Nigerian Universities. A correlational research design was adopted for the study. The population comprised 326 postgraduate students which included all 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 Ph.D. and Masters Degree students from the Departments of LIS in Southeast Nigerian universities that offer the postgraduate programme in LIS. The entire population was studied. Two validated instruments which included cognitive ability test for Information Literacy Skills (ILST) and Research Self-Efficacy Scale (RSES) adopted from Buyukozturk, Atalay, Sozgunc, and Kebapci were used for data collection. The internal consistency of ILST and RSES were established using Kudder-Richardson and Cronbach's alpha coefficient which yielded 0.85 for ILST and 0.86 for RSES. Data collected were analysed using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation (r). The study found out that there is a negative relationship between information literacy skills and research self-efficacy scores of LIS postgraduate students. Also, no significant relationship exists between information literacy skills and research self-efficacy scores of LIS postgraduate students. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that the assessment of students’ information literacy skills by the LIS Department, LIS educators, and LIS professionals should be employed frequently. This will help determine their strength and weakness and with that, the students will be able to know their stand which will encourage them to acquire these skills where it is lacking as well as instill confidence in their ability to conduct research.

Assessment of the Facilities of University Library to Promote Reading Culture among the Users, A Study of Science Postgraduate Students in Karnataka State Akkamahadevi Women’s University, Vijayapura

Assessment of the Facilities of University Library to Promote Reading Culture among the Users, A Study of Science Postgraduate Students in Karnataka State Akkamahadevi Women’s University, Vijayapura

Why are They Not Visiting the Library? Understanding Political Science Postgraduate Students

No abstract.

Attitudes of Library and Information Science (LIS) Postgraduate Students Towards Internet Usage in Selected Library Schools in Nigeria

This study examined the attitude of Library and Information Science Postgraduate students towards Internet usage. Survey research design was adopted, the population was Library and Information Science postgraduate students in two selected library schools. The instrument used for data collection was the questionnaire, two hundred and thirty nine (239) copies of the questionnaire were administered, while two hundred and seven (207) copies were sucessfully retrieved representing 86.6% response rate. Data analysis was done using descriptive and inferencial statistics. Results show that LIS postgraduate students in Nigeria use the Internet for academic endeavours. The study recommended that drastic measures should be taken by LIS educators/administrators to provide functional internet facilities to LIS postgraduate students in their various schools to eliminate any barrier confronting them in order to enhance efficiency and quality of learning and research activities.Keywords: ICTs; Internet; Positive Attitudes; cyberspace; Web use

Postgraduate Science Students’ Perception on Facilities and Services of Tumkur University Library

Libraries always faced the challenge of the existing trend and able to cope with it. Whether it was microform, microfiche, CD-ROM and Database, library has used this format to provide the information. The Digital Technology has open up new challenges and opportunities and Librarians as the custodian are already imbibed these technologies as an assist medium and are able to reach the clients. University Library always is in the forefront to use the new coming learning objects. The ICT revolution and Network world has opened up abundance in providing resources to the users and also changed landscape of the existing organisation. This study is on perception of postgraduate student’s perception about the University Library. The sample population consisted of 150 among which 104(69%) responded to the structured query. The identified aspect in the study is that Library needs a separate building and users are satisfied with facilities and services but demanding more resources and updating.

A comparison of two methods of using a serious game for teaching marine ecology in a university setting

Abstract There is increasing interest in the use of serious games in STEM education. Interactive simulations and serious games can be used by students to explore systems where it would be impractical or unethical to perform real world studies or experiments. Simulations also have the capacity to reveal the internal workings of systems where these details are hidden in the real world. However, there is still much to be investigated about the best methods for using these games in the classroom so as to derive the maximum educational benefit. We report on an experiment to compare two different methods of using a serious game for teaching a complex concept in marine ecology, in a university setting: expert demonstration versus exploration-based learning. We created an online game based upon a mathematical simulation of fishery management, modelling how fish populations grow and shrink in the presence of stock removal through fishing. The player takes on the role of a fishery manager, who must set annual catch quotas, making these as high as possible to maximise profit, without exceeding sustainable limits and causing the stock to collapse. There are two versions of the game. The “white-box” or “teaching” game gives the player full information about all model parameters and actual levels of stock in the ocean, something which is impossible to measure in reality. The “black-box” or “testing” game displays only the limited information that is available to fishery managers in the real world, and is used to test the player's understanding of how to use that information to solve the problem of estimating the optimal catch quota. Our study addresses the question of whether students are likely to learn better by freely exploring the teaching game themselves, or by viewing a demonstration of the game being played expertly by the lecturer. We conducted an experiment with two groups of students, one using free, self-directed exploration and the other viewing an expert demonstration. Both groups were then assessed using the black box testing game, and completed a questionnaire. Our results show a statistically significant benefit for expert demonstration over free exploration. Qualitative analysis of the responses to the questionnaire demonstrates that students saw benefits to both teaching approaches, and many would have preferred a combination of expert demonstration with exploration of the game. The research was carried out among a mix of undergraduate and taught postgraduate science students. Future research challenges include extending the current study to larger cohorts and exploring the potential effectiveness of serious games and interactive simulation-based teaching methods in a range of STEM subjects in both university and school settings.

Restorying for transdisciplinarity: A proposed teaching-learning strategy in a context of Human Rights Education

Human Rights Education can provide a context for transdisciplinary boundary talk as a possible way to create cohesion among the multiple disciplines embedded within the Social Sciences. This article presents a teaching-learning strategy, Empathetic-Reflective-Dialogical Restorying, which can be employed to facilitate such boundary talk. Both self-dialogue and self-narrative are used to create open space stories. This provides a platform for restorying as Social Science postgraduate students at a South African higher education institution engage in the space between, across and beyond academic disciplines. Conversation centres on the human right to gender equality as informed by the individual’s substantial and situational identities. The teaching-learning strategy introducing as it does, communities in conversation, communities in dialogue and communities for transformation, can be used to create possible cohesion among both academics and students in the Social Sciences. It also has the potential to be transformative beyond the Social Sciences and indeed, society at large.

Holistic Global Citizenship Education & Global Entrepreneurship for the Challenge of the 21st Century

In integrating computers in higher education, researchers have proposed that positive attitudes toward computers and high computer self-efficacy levels could be important factors in helping students learn computer skills and use computers. It is also expected that LIS Postgraduate students should be knowledgeable and comfortable with electronic resource usage. It is against these backgrounds that this study was conducted. Suvey research design was adopted, the population was Library and Information Science postgraduate students in two selected library schools in Nigeria. The instrument used for data collection was the questionnaire, two hundred and thirty nine (239) copiesof questionnaire were administered, two hundred and seven (207) were sucessfully retrieved and found to be useable, representing 86.6% response rate. Data analysis was done using descriptive and inferencial statistics. Results showed that in spite of the potentials emerging technologies offers in Library Schools globally, in Nigeria, there is not very evidential that Library Schools are integrating ICTs into their instructions. It was found that among the two library schools studied, there were no operational/functional computer laboratory with internet facilities, access by students were restricted due to limited space as at the time of this study, this go a long way to show that LIS postgraduate students depend solely on their PCs with modem as alternative internet connector or commercial cyber cafe as the last resort. The above confirmed that there was no computer laboratory with functional internet facilities for postgraduate students as the time of this study. Recommendations for the study include that drastic measures should be taken by LIS educators/administrators to provide computers with functional internet facilities to LIS postgraduate students in their various schools to eliminate any barrier confronting them in order to enhance efficiency and quality of teaching, learning and research services. It was also recommended that other researchers should study more library schools in Nigeria on ICT integration and usage.

Assessment of Information Literacy Skills among Science-Post Graduate Students in Universities of Karnataka State: A Study

Information literacy is considered as the crucial skill of the 21st Century in pursuit of knowledge. It is the ability to recognizing when information is needed and being able to efficiently locate, accurately evaluate, legally and ethically use and also clearly communicate information in various formats. The purpose of this paper is to investigate information literacy skills of the Science Post-Graduate students studying in Kuvempu University and Davanagere University of Karnataka State. The survey method is used to conduct the study. A structured questionnaire with 102 questions to measure 102 variables is used to collect the data. The major findings of the study are that majority (92.5%) of the students are skilled to define, develop and revise the information need on a topic, 83.6% identify the different types, formats and 80.2% identify purpose and target audience of information sources and 97.4% understand the organization and production of universe of knowledge. An average 74.1% of students are skilled to identity and use different information retrieval tools, 62.9% evaluate the information sources available both print and electronic formats and 68.1% able to determine the cost and benefit of acquiring information sources effectively; 51.7%of students are skilled to construct and use different information search strategies; 56.9% able to summarize, synthesize and validate the gathered information; 48.3% plan, develop and communicate the information product or performance, 45.7% able to use information ethically and legally and 36.2% able to acknowledge and document consulted information sources properly. On the basis of the findings, some suggestions have been put forward to improve the information literacy skills of the students.