by Iliyah Maddox | Dec 2, 2024 | arts and humanities, education & training
Learning a new language as an adult is challenging, especially when the new language has features that differ significantly from one’s native tongue. This phenomenon is key to a new study led by Professor Shanshan Yan at Peking University, which examines how language learning is affected when learners encounter features in their second language that are similar to those in their first language.
by Iliyah Maddox | Nov 28, 2024 | education & training, social and behavioural sciences
Americans generally celebrate the abstract principle of diversity but does this translate into the policies that they support and the friendships that they form? A new study from Prof. Neeraj Rajasekar of the University of Illinois Springfield, Prof. Evan Stewart of the University of Massachusetts and Prof. Douglas Hartmann of the University of Minnesota, examines this. Rajasekar and colleagues find inconsistencies between Americans’ support for diversity in principle versus their attitudes in their day-to-day lives. The findings reveal widespread gaps that exist across demographic groups, with implications for understanding public opinion and advancing diversity efforts in the United States.
by Iliyah Maddox | Nov 18, 2024 | biology, education & training, health and medicine
Our kidneys filter blood to remove waste and can regulate water balance. We’ve all experienced that when we’re thirsty urine becomes concentrated, signalling us to drink more water. When we drink excess water, we urinate more frequently, and the urine is diluted. The kidneys’ ability to concentrate or dilute urine according to our body’s need relies on countercurrent multiplication (or CCM), a complex process that generates a salt concentration gradient in the kidney. However, CCM is challenging to teach and understand. Dr. Serena Kuang, a researcher and educator at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, has developed a more understandable CCM model and clears up errors in existing explanations making CCM easier to understand and teach.
by admin | Feb 28, 2024 | education & training, engineering and tech
Experienced engineers are typically equipped with advanced technical knowledge and a unique professional skillset. These skillskets are often paried with impressive intuition, which allows engineers to devise solutions to complex real-world problems. Engineering faculty at Bucknell University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and The Ohio State University recently engaged in important research to further our understanding of intuition in engineering practice.
by admin | Nov 1, 2023 | education & training, social and behavioural sciences
Studies suggest that children who rely more on vision from their left eye could be more likely to develop dyslexia if they learn to write using pathways in the right brain hemisphere. Dr David Mather, a researcher at the University of Victoria, recently published a paper reviewing these findings. He outlines a proposed approach to teaching writing skills that could prevent these children from developing dyslexia. This approach involves teaching children to write when they are 7 or 8 years old, when the human brain is better at mapping and memorising entire words.
by admin | Mar 22, 2023 | education & training
The development of a talent pool in Science Technology Education and Medicine that is as diverse as our population, has been a difficult goal for decades. Increasing the diversity of scientists from underrepresented communities can drive both innovation and creativity within the sciences. The Molecular & Environmental Toxicology Centre at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, has run a summer research opportunity programme since 2011, providing scientific experiences and promoting scientific careers in the environmental health sciences for aspiring young people from backgrounds historically underrepresented in this field.
