scholarly journals Science & the Senses: Perceptions & Deceptions

2012 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 145-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
William D. Stansfield
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Confirmation Bias ◽  
Sensory Systems ◽  
Sense Organs ◽  
Cognitive Error ◽  
Biology Textbooks ◽  
Sensory Signals ◽  
Scientific Investigations ◽  
Human Tendency ◽  
Derived Data

Science requires the acquisition and analysis of empirical (sense-derived) data. Given the same physical objects or phenomena, the sense organs of all people do not respond equally to these stimuli, nor do their minds interpret sensory signals identically. Therefore, teachers should develop lectures on human sensory systems that include some common examples of sensory limitations, variations, deficiencies, malfunctions, and diseases (as discussed herein) because they have important implications for conducting scientific investigations, science education, and introspection that are seldom included in biology textbooks. Students need to be made aware of the human tendency to self deception in order to avoid the cognitive error of confirmation bias.

scholarly journals Neuropod Cells: The Emerging Biology of Gut-Brain Sensory Transduction

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 337-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Maya Kaelberer ◽  
Laura E. Rupprecht ◽  
Winston W. Liu ◽  
Peter Weng ◽  
Diego V. Bohórquez
Keyword(s):  
Epithelial Cells ◽  
Vagus Nerve ◽  
Nutritional Value ◽  
Sensory Systems ◽  
Enteroendocrine Cells ◽  
Sensory Transduction ◽  
Sensory Signals ◽  
Passive Release ◽  
The Brain

Guided by sight, scent, texture, and taste, animals ingest food. Once ingested, it is up to the gut to make sense of the food's nutritional value. Classic sensory systems rely on neuroepithelial circuits to convert stimuli into signals that guide behavior. However, sensation of the gut milieu was thought to be mediated only by the passive release of hormones until the discovery of synapses in enteroendocrine cells. These are gut sensory epithelial cells, and those that form synapses are referred to as neuropod cells. Neuropod cells provide the foundation for the gut to transduce sensory signals from the intestinal milieu to the brain through fast neurotransmission onto neurons, including those of the vagus nerve. These findings have sparked a new field of exploration in sensory neurobiology—that of gut-brain sensory transduction.

Sense and Nonsense: Teaching Journalism and Science Students to Be Advocates for Science and Information Literacy

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-226
Author(s):  
Katherine Reed ◽  
Sara Shipley Hiles ◽  
Peter Tipton
Keyword(s):  
Information Literacy ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Confirmation Bias ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Science Students ◽  
Stem Majors ◽  
Final Project ◽  
Vested Interests ◽  
Human Tendency ◽  
And Mathematics

Long before “fake news” became a catchphrase, misguided beliefs about scientific truths undermined the free exercise of democracy and personal decision-making. Journalistic norms such as providing false balance in the name of “objectivity,” deliberate manipulation by vested interests, and the human tendency toward confirmation bias combined to enable the dissemination of damaging misinformation about tobacco, climate change, vaccines, nuclear power, genetically modified foods, and other topics critical to the health and welfare of the modern world. This article examines an innovative new course designed to teach a mixed group of journalism and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors to evaluate expertise and bias, examine data and misrepresentation, and develop evidence-based communication on complex scientific topics. The course covered concepts such as fact-checking, validation, fraud, the “backfire effect,” confirmation bias, limitations of the scientific method, conspiracy theories, misuse of statistics, and the role of journalists and scientists as truth-tellers in society. Journalism and science students learned to communicate with each other and with their respective audiences. A series of critical thinking assignments culminated in a final project where students, working in mixed teams, developed an interactive multimedia project communicating a controversial science topic to the public. This interdisciplinary course is offered as one model for teaching science literacy and information literacy to journalism and STEM students.

Information landscapes and sensory ecology of the Cambrian Radiation

Paleobiology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy E. Plotnick ◽  
Stephen Q. Dornbos ◽  
Junyuan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Marine Environment ◽  
Animal Movement ◽  
Energy Content ◽  
Sensory Systems ◽  
Transport Processes ◽  
Sense Organs ◽  
Spatial Complexity ◽  
Major Transitions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Signal Sources

Organisms emit, detect, and respond to a huge array of environmental signals. The distribution of a given signal is dependent, first of all, upon the original spatial distribution of signal sources, thesource landscape.The signal sources can be fixed or moving and their output can be stable or ephemeral. Different sources can also occupy the same general spatial location, such as insects living on a host plant. The emitted signals are modified by relevant transport processes, which are often strongly scale and environment dependent. Chemical signals, for example, are propagated by diffusion and turbulence. The resulting complex, three-dimensional, and dynamic distribution of signals in the environment is thesignal landscape;it is the environment of potentially available information in which sensory systems function and have evolved. Organisms also differ widely in what signals they can actually detect; the distribution of signals that an organism can potentially respond to is itsinformation landscape.Although increasing the kinds and specificity of signals that can be detected and processed can lead to improved decision making, it almost always comes at an increased cost. The greater the spatial and temporal complexity of the environment, the greater are the costs of incomplete information and the more advantageous is the development of improved information-gathering capabilities. Studies with simulation models suggest how variability in the spatial structure of source and signal landscapes may control patterns of animal movement that could be represented in the trace fossil record. Information landscapes and the corresponding sensory systems should have evolved in concert with major transitions in the history of life. The Ediacaran to Cambrian interval is one of the most intensively studied periods in the history of life, characterized by the profound environmental and biological changes associated with the bilaterian radiation. These include the advent of macroscopic predation, an increase in the size and energy content of organisms, and the transition in seafloors from laminated matgrounds to mixgrounds produced by the development of macroscopic infaunal bioturbation. The overall effect of these transitions was to markedly increase the spatial complexity of the marine environment. We suggest that this increased spatial complexity, in turn, drove the evolution of macroscopic sense organs in mobile bilaterians, leading to their first appearance during the Cambrian. The morphology and distribution of these sense organs should reflect the life habits of the animals that possessed them. Our overall hypothesis was that there was a “Cambrian Information Revolution,” a coevolutionary increase in the information content of the marine environment and in the ability of and necessity for organisms to obtain and process this information. A preliminary analysis of the Maotianshan Shale (Chengjiang) biota indicates that the distribution of eyes and antennae in these animals is consistent with predictions based on their life habit.

scholarly journals Secondary eyes mediate the response to looming objects in jumping spiders ( Phidippus audax , Salticidae)

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 949-951 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Spano ◽  
Skye M. Long ◽  
Elizabeth M. Jakob
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Systems ◽  
Field Of View ◽  
Sense Organs ◽  
Jumping Spiders ◽  
Black Circle ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Types Of Information ◽  
Phidippus Audax

Some species have sensory systems divided into subsystems with morphologically different sense organs that acquire different types of information within the same modality. Jumping spiders (family Salticidae) have eight eyes. Four eyes are directed anteriorly to view objects in front of the spider: a pair of principal eyes track targets with their movable retinae, while the immobile anterior lateral (AL) eyes have a larger field of view and lower resolution. To test whether the principal eyes, the AL eyes, or both together mediate the response to looming stimuli, we presented spiders with a video of a solid black circle that rapidly expanded (loomed) or contracted (receded). Control spiders and spiders with their principal eyes masked were significantly more likely to back away from the looming stimulus than were spiders with their AL eyes masked. Almost no individuals backed away from the receding stimulus. Our results show that the AL eyes alone mediate the loom response to objects anterior to the spider.

scholarly journals Att utveckla elevers förmåga att formulera undersökningsbara frågor i naturvetenskap: Mangling av en didaktisk modell

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Planting-Bergloo ◽  
Maria Andrée ◽  
Josefin Reimark ◽  
Emma Henriksson ◽  
Sebastian Björnhammer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
School Science ◽  
Upper Secondary School ◽  
Scientific Investigations ◽  
Video Recordings ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Epistemological Analysis ◽  
Support Students ◽  
Ultimate Purpose

En viktig målsättning för naturvetenskaplig undervisning är att utveckla förmågan att formulera undersökningsbara frågor. Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka hur undervisning som utformats med hjälp av metoden Question Formulation Technique (QFT) kan stödja utveckling av elevers förmåga att formulera naturvetenskapligt undersökningsbara frågor.  QFT är en modell för att utveckla elevers förmåga att formulera och värdera sina egna frågor i allmänhet. I studien prövas QFT i en svensk skolkontext och inom ramen för naturvetenskaplig undervisning. Studien genomfördes som en interventionsstudie i gymnasieskolan och inom ramen för kursen Gymnasiearbete. I kursen ska eleverna genomföra en egen naturvetenskaplig undersökning. QFT användes för att utforma undervisning som del av introduktionen till kursen. Data består av videoinspelningar av elevsamtal från undervisning som har analyserats utifrån ett pragmatiskt ramverk med organiserande syften och praktisk epistemologisk analys. Resultaten visar vilka närliggande syften som etableras i elevernas samtal om undersökningsbara frågor i undervisningen: (A) att producera så många frågor som möjligt, (B) att bedöma vilka frågor som är mest relevanta, (C) att kategorisera frågor, (D) att hitta och specificera ett undersökningsobjekt och (E) att planera för att genomföra en undersökning. Slutsatsen är att QFT kan fungera som stöd för lärares planering av undervisning om naturvetenskapligt undersökningsbara frågor under förutsättning att läraren aktivt stödjer eleverna i att uppmärksamma centrala kvaliteter avseende undersökningsbarhet och genom att binda samman närliggande syften med det övergripande syftet.  In English An important goal for science education is to develop students’ ability to formulate questions of inquiry. The aim of this study is to investigate if science teaching designed from the method “Question Formulation Technique” (QFT) can support the development of this ability. QFT is a model for developing students' ability to phrase and evaluate questions in general which has been developed in a US context. In this study QFT is used in a Swedish context and within upper secondary school science education. The study is an intervention study where QFT was used as part of the introduction to Diploma work in the final year of upper secondary school. During the diploma work students are expected to conduct their own scientific investigations. The data consists of video recordings of student conversations while working with the formulation of questions for inquiry as part of a research lesson designed using QFT. Data was analyzed using a pragmatic approach of combining practical epistemological analysis (PEA) and organising purposes. The results show that five proximate purposes were established in the student conversations while the students engaged in formulating and refining questions of inquiry based on the QFT model. The five proximate purposes were: (A) to produce as many questions as possible, (B) to assess which questions are most relevant, (C) to categorize questions, (D) to find and specify the object of inquiry and (E) plan to conduct an inquiry. In conclusion, QFT can support the planning of teaching in relation to the ultimate purpose regarding how to formulate and refine questions of inquiry provided that the teacher actively participates to support students in connecting the established proximate purposes with the ultimate purpose. Fulltext in Swedish.

scholarly journals STARBASE: A Network of Fully Autonomous Telescopes for Hands-on Science Education

2001 ◽  
Vol 183 ◽  
pp. 31-32
Author(s):  
Richard Gelderman ◽  
David Barnaby ◽  
Michael Carini ◽  
Karen Hackney ◽  
Richard Hackney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Space Science ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Scientific Investigations ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Network Of Networks ◽  
Dedicated Hardware

AbstractStudents Training for Achievement in Research Based on Analytical Space-science Experiences (STARBASE) is being established to provide exciting hands-on research opportunities for students. STAR-BASE is a network of networks, consisting of dedicated hardware, universities, professional astronomers, teachers, and students all working together in scientific investigations. Funded through the NASA Office of Space Science, the STARBASE network is working to bring major science research projects to motivated students all over the globe.

scholarly journals Addressing confirmation bias in middle school data science education

2022 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Sarai Hedges ◽  
Kim Given
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Confirmation Bias ◽  
Future Research ◽  
School Students ◽  
Pull Out

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>More research is needed involving middle school students' engagement in the statistical problem-solving process, particularly the beginning process steps: formulate a question and make a plan to collect data/consider the data. Further, the increased availability of large-scale electronically accessible data sets is an untapped area of study. This interpretive study examined middle school students' understanding of statistical concepts involved in making a plan to collect data to answer a statistical question within a social issue context using data available on the internet. Student artifacts, researcher notes, and audio and video recordings from nine groups of 20 seventh-grade students in two gifted education pull-out classes at a suburban middle school were used to answer the study research questions. Data were analyzed using a priori codes from previously developed frameworks and by using an inductive approach to find themes.</p><p style='text-indent:20px;'>Three themes that emerged from data related to confirmation bias. Some middle school students held preconceptions about the social issues they chose to study that biased their statistical questions. This in turn influenced the sources of data students used to answer their questions. Confirmation bias is a serious issue that is exacerbated due to endless sources of data electronically available. We argue that this type of bias should be addressed early in students' educational experiences. Based on the findings from this study, we offer recommendations for future research and implications for statistics and data science education.</p>

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