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Book part
Publication date: 2 August 2006

Matthias Gross

This chapter uses the concept of real-world experiments to describe ecological activity that occurs in the wider human community. The case discussed is an ecological restoration…

Abstract

This chapter uses the concept of real-world experiments to describe ecological activity that occurs in the wider human community. The case discussed is an ecological restoration project at Montrose Point, a peninsula in Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago. In the restoration of Montrose Point, the scientific importance of ecological science is not juxtaposed with the seemingly irrational ideas of the human community, but the human community becomes a part of scientific work. Like experiments in the laboratory, real-world experiments often bring surprises. However, if ecological restoration is recognized to be inherently uncertain, surprises become opportunities to learn rather than failures. The chapter concludes with a discussion how a real-world experimental strategy can help to handle surprises via alternate phases of corroboration by recursive practice.

Details

Community and Ecology
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-410-2

Article
Publication date: 25 March 2021

Chui-Man Lo, Jie Han, Emily S.W. Wong and Chin-Cheung Tang

This paper aims to report a case study in flexible learning with multicomponent blended learning mode in an undergraduate chemistry course. Traditional chemistry courses usually…

2017

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to report a case study in flexible learning with multicomponent blended learning mode in an undergraduate chemistry course. Traditional chemistry courses usually include lectures, tutorials and laboratory sections. For a course “Advances in Organic Synthesis” at undergraduate level, it consists of advanced information in organic chemistry such as reaction mechanisms, asymmetric catalysis, retrosynthesis and applications in synthesis of natural products. This course is a difficult subject and requires deep understanding of contents. After learning this course, students should have comprehensive knowledge in advanced strategies of organic synthesis and have an ability to apply them to real cases. This “flexible learning with multicomponent blended learning mode” was implemented by the authors to enhance student engagement and self-motivation in their studies.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors hoped to enhance students’ engagement in “flexible learning” – a mixed concept with “blended learning” and “flipped classroom” – and called this approach as “multicomponent blended learning mode.” Blended learning combines face-to-face and e-learning components with interactive Web-based components and technical experimental videos were developed. The knowledge integrated in different components provides a natural environment to link the different synthetic methods together, which help students to get a better understanding of the complicated knowledge and strengthen their skills. For flipped classroom, students participated in the case studies of the organic synthesis and shared their findings to other classmates in oral presentations.

Findings

In this study, both course evaluation score and students’ academic performance in the “multicomponent blended learning mode” were increased significantly when comparing with traditional teaching methods in 2011. It was found that students’ engagement and their self-motivation in learning were enhanced.

Originality/value

The positive feedback from the students and the enhancement of their academic performance supported the value in this research. Besides, most universities in Hong Kong have suspended all face-to-face classes and conducted all teaching in online mode during COVID-19 outbreak. As the multicomponent blended learning mode of this course has already been conducted for eight cohorts, the authors are confident that this feature can minimize the sudden change in the learning habits for the students. As social factors and individual variations in students’ learning and study mode may affect the learning outcomes, these interactive multicomponent e-learning components in this special period make students excited when they can study and digest the knowledge according to their own pace.

Details

Interactive Technology and Smart Education, vol. 18 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-5659

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Modelling Our Future: Population Ageing, Health and Aged Care
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-808-7

Article
Publication date: 18 April 2016

Jose Paulo Marques dos Santos, Marisa Martins, Hugo Alexandre Ferreira, Joana Ramalho and Daniela Seixas

This paper aims to explore brain-based differences in national and own-label brands perceptions. Because price is a differentiating characteristic, able to discriminate between…

1448

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore brain-based differences in national and own-label brands perceptions. Because price is a differentiating characteristic, able to discriminate between national and own-label brands, its influence is also studied.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses the Save Holdings Or Purchase (SHOP) task with functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the differences in brain functioning for national versus own-label branded products.

Findings

For the same product, the higher priced national brands and the lower priced own-label brands lead to more buying decisions. It is also found that there are brain structures that are more active/deactive for national than for own-label brands, both marked with real market prices. Price is a powerful driver of buying decisions and has its neural correlates. Parietal regions activate when brand information is subtracted from brand-plus-price information. The most surprising finding is that visual and visual associative areas are involved in the contrasts between branded products marked with switched prices and marked with real market prices.

Originality/value

The activation/deactivation brain patterns suggest that accepted models of brain functioning are not suitable for explaining brand decisions. Also, to our knowledge, this is the first time that a study directly addresses the brain’s functioning when subjects are stimulated with national versus own-label brands. It paves the way for a new approach to understanding how such brand categories are perceived, revealing the neural origins of the associated psychological processes.

Details

Journal of Product & Brand Management, vol. 25 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1061-0421

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 24 October 2018

Andrej Svorenčík

Economics laboratories have become the primary locations of experimental economics research by the 1990s. They were a result of a decade long development from ad hoc opportune…

Abstract

Economics laboratories have become the primary locations of experimental economics research by the 1990s. They were a result of a decade long development from ad hoc opportune places to dedicated, purpose designed spaces. The distinctive feature of the economics laboratory and its key instrument became networked computers running custom-built software. However, the history of the economics laboratory is not just a history of evolving technology. I argue in this article that it is mainly a history of learning how to build an experimental economics community. Only a functioning community was able to change a physical place to a laboratory space. The distinction between place and space originates in the work of Michael de Certeau and I use it to analyze the evolution of economics laboratories. To this end, I analyze the case of Austin Hoggatt’s Management Science Laboratory at Berkeley in the 1960s as it illustrates the indispensability of creating a community centered on the laboratory. In contrast, the laboratories in Arizona and at Caltech since the 1980s, and in Amsterdam since the 1990s have become successful spaces, because, unlike Hoggatt, they focused equally on community building as on infrastructure and technology. This gave rise to social infrastructure and division of labor in the laboratory space.

Details

Including a Symposium on Mary Morgan: Curiosity, Imagination, and Surprise
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-423-7

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 12 October 2015

Les Kirkup

A review of the first year physics laboratory program in 1991 at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) revealed that student laboratory experiences did not: resemble the…

Abstract

A review of the first year physics laboratory program in 1991 at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) revealed that student laboratory experiences did not: resemble the practice of physicists; give a realistic picture of the contribution of physics to everyday life, or; enhance students’ capabilities of broad value, such as their communication skills. Physics academics at UTS committed themselves to reforming students’ laboratory experiences with inquiry-oriented learning as a center-piece of the reform. This chapter explores the drivers that led to the reconceptualization of the role of the laboratory in the undergraduate curriculum and the strategies and processes we adopted over more than 20 years to embed inquiry-oriented activities into first year physics laboratory programs.

Details

Inquiry-Based Learning for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (Stem) Programs: A Conceptual and Practical Resource for Educators
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-850-2

Book part
Publication date: 3 June 2008

Glenn W. Harrison and E. Elisabet Rutström

We review the experimental evidence on risk aversion in controlled laboratory settings. We review the strengths and weaknesses of alternative elicitation procedures, the strengths…

Abstract

We review the experimental evidence on risk aversion in controlled laboratory settings. We review the strengths and weaknesses of alternative elicitation procedures, the strengths and weaknesses of alternative estimation procedures, and finally the effect of controlling for risk attitudes on inferences in experiments.

Details

Risk Aversion in Experiments
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-547-5

Book part
Publication date: 9 December 2016

Klaus Thestrup and Sarah Robinson

This chapter demonstrates how Humanities students in a blended learning course become active learners, use an entrepreneurial approach, and reflect on the achievement of an…

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter demonstrates how Humanities students in a blended learning course become active learners, use an entrepreneurial approach, and reflect on the achievement of an entrepreneurial mindset. Students at the Master's ICT-based Educational Design, where they work with information- and communication technology in an educational context, were challenged to create value for themselves and others in their professional life by experimenting with ways to combine the online with the offline with their own students/pupils.

Methodology/approach

We present a case study over the period of one semester of five entrepreneurial teams of Masters students on an ICT-based Educational Design. Effectuation, as a process, was combined with a design structure to help guide the students. Data were drawn from observations, written material in the form of blogs and assignments, as well as recorded conversations on Google Hangout with groups of students.

Findings

The use of reflection, collaboration, and the effectual process in the open laboratory provide the vehicle to nurture and support the achievement of a creative and innovative ways of working with real life practices. We suggest that nurturing experimental communities of practice in open learning laboratory settings may provide an opportunity for establishing an entrepreneurial mindset in students and as such has to the potential as a method to confront future societal challenges.

Originality/value

This chapter makes an important contribution to entrepreneurship education in general by demonstrating how the combination of particular online/offline strategies can support the enhancement of entrepreneurial mindsets that will serve learners throughout the life course.

Details

Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Education
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-068-8

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2007

Sabine Cikic, Sabina Jeschke, Nadine Ludwig, Uwe Sinha and Christian Thomsen

Cooperative knowledge spaces create new potentials for the experimental fields in natural sciences and engineering because they enhance the accessibility of experimental setups…

Abstract

Cooperative knowledge spaces create new potentials for the experimental fields in natural sciences and engineering because they enhance the accessibility of experimental setups through virtual laboratories and remote technology, opening them for collaborative and distributed usage. A concept for extending existing virtual knowledge spaces for the means of the technological disciplines (“ViCToR‐Spaces” ‐ Virtual Cooperation in Teaching and Research for Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Engineering) is presented. The integration of networked virtual laboratories and remote experiments (“NanoLab Approach”), as well as an approach to community‐driven content sharing and content development within virtual knowledge spaces (NanoWiki) are described.

Details

Interactive Technology and Smart Education, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-5659

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1994

Derek Mozley

Three events of significance to this country took place in 1899 – the British Food Journal was launched, Australia retained the Ashes, and the Boer War hostilities commenced. If…

1001

Abstract

Three events of significance to this country took place in 1899 – the British Food Journal was launched, Australia retained the Ashes, and the Boer War hostilities commenced. If challenged on the order of their importance, cricketers and Empire‐builders may be excused their preference. However, looking at it purely from the standpoint of pro bono publico, the dispassionate observer must surely opt for the birth of a certain publication as being ultimately the most beneficial of the three.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 96 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

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