Where to learn

When Mary took up her appointment in the Institute's Education Department in June 1997, she indicated that she wished to return to teaching in two or three years. We have just heard that in September she will be joining the staff of the Science Department at Camden Girls' School, London.

The latest edition of The Institute of Physics' popular guide to UK higher education in physics has now been distributed to schools and colleges throughout the country. It provides useful information on choices of course and university for sixth-formers and college students wishing to study physics, listing every university, its entrance requirements and the awards given. Another section of the book gives data on the teaching and assessment styles of the Physics Department, special facilities and a contact name and address. Additional copies of Physics on Course 1997 can be obtained from Leila Solomon in the Education Department at The Institute of Physics, 76 Portland Place, London W1N 4AA.

YOUR NEWS WANTED The news section gives updates on what has been happening in physics education worldwide. Items included show how events in one country could be relevant to good practice elsewhere in the world. Contributions are welcome from all our readers and should be about 200 to 300 words and can include a picture.

This paper examines how features affect student persistence or dropout at South African higher education institutions, based on three previous studies. In the previous studies, high school grades were used as a valid predictor of student success. The quality of a high school's learning environment has an effect on almost every aspect of higher education success. Students who are better prepared coming out of high school are ideally suited to do well in higher education institutions, who they are, how much money they have, and where they go don't matter. This review aims to identify effective features that warrant student success from high school grades and choice of academic courses during registration in higher education. The following questions are used to guide this review: How can we define student success? Which features should we focus on? Which models work? Based on data mining techniques such as machine learning models that the previous studies have used to predict student success, it has been revealed that the most important features that influence student success in a Computer Science programme are Prior Computer experience, Mathematics, English from High school and the choice of a course.

The article deals with the process of formation of information and mathematical competence of the higher education of engineering specialties in the general course of physics with the use of the Simscape visual programming package. During the study, the theoretical analysis of scientific literature was carried out; systematized and generalized scientific data for the study of the essence and structure of information and mathematical competence of higher education applicants; the experience of using innovative forms of study in the general course of physics is studied; the proposed approach to the educational process was introduced; Summarized and systematized results. The methodological basis of the study is to examine the process of formation of information and mathematical competences when studying physics using the MatLab software package. The solution of the problem in the study of oscillatory processes in the mechanical system with bound oscillations of two material points with MatLab Simscape is given. The components of the process of formation of information and mathematical competence of future engineers in the general course of physics are highlighted: motivational, creative, operational and technological, activity. These components include an increase in motivation, awakening of interest in the study of physics, mathematics, informatics and desires to self-realize; ability to show creativity, readiness for critical thinking and creative comprehension of the use of knowledge, skills and skills; ability to solve physics problems, selection of techniques and methods for solving non-standard tasks, the use of mathematical and information tools when solving problems, knowledge of integration links of objects of general realization; solving professional tasks with the use of mathematical and information technologies. The main tasks during the study of the general course of physics in the process of formation of information and mathematical competence are: a positive attitude to the study of physical and mathematical disciplines and the use of knowledge gained in future professional activities; ability to correctly choose information and mathematical tools for solving applied tasks; ability in accordance with the set task to interpret and use the information received; ability to organize self-education and self-development. It has been established that this approach allows you to form an information and mathematical competence of higher education for higher education in the general course of physics, promotes the development of critical and algorithmic thinking and creative comprehension of the use of higher education acquisitions, skills and skills in the process of solving physical problems.

The teaching of Physics at all levels must be based on experiment and exploration. Virtual labs prove valuable for distance education the course. The present work has as its object of study the investigation of the readiness of the prospective Primary Education teachers for the distance education of the Physics course. 134 students of the Department of Primary Education of the University of Ioannina participated in the research that was carried out. The questionnaire completed by the students consists of thirty-five multiple-choice, closed-ended questions. According to the results, it seems that, in general, the students, although they are largely familiar with the computer and the internet, do not know how to use the platforms and digital tools to teach a Physics course remotely. However, they are largely familiar with the computer and the internet but do not know how to use the platforms and digital tools to teach a Physics course remotely. Finally, most students consider that they are moderately prepared to face a distance education in Physics.

Massive open online courses promise a convenient, low-cost experience, but high dropout rates threaten to slow their growth.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are experiencing increased interest and enrolments in study programs by international students. For recruitment and retention purposes it is important that HEI managers understand the factors that influence a student’s choice of HEI. Prior studies have found that these factors may differ from country to country and may include culture, educational needs, campus activities, safety, and security, and socio-economic issues (such as an economic downturn and political or social instability). This article reports specifically on research into the influence of safety and security issues on national and international students’ choice of public university in South Africa. Two surveys conducted at different times were used to collect data from local and international students. The results indicate that safety and security, played a deciding role in both local students’ and international students’ choice of university in South Africa, and that the disruption to campus life associated with the #FeesMustFall student protests in South Africa in 2016 may have made international students more aware of safety and security issues on South African university campuses.

What are students expected to learn in physics courses? Eight expert physics teachers and researchers, two from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, Stanford University in the United States of America, and Monash University in Australia, described their perceptions of learning in their courses. Students from the courses were then interviewed for their perceptions of learning in physics courses. In their courses, professors focused on the development of intellectual skills, assuming that students had a specific physics vocabulary. Students, however, were aware of their own limitations and suggested that professors should take nothing for granted. Students considered that to be a good teacher, a professor should know the perspective of the students and should start at the students' level. The results suggested that the intellectual challenge of learning physics merits early explanation.

Informed consumers? Students, choices and events management degrees

The Usage of Alternative Assessment Techniques in Determination of Misconceptions about Electromagnetic Field-Magnetism Contents and Effects of Video-Based Experiments on Students’ Achievement at Distance Learning Course

Physics learning in universities utilized the Moodle-based e-learning media as an online learning platform. However, the effectiveness of remediating misconception using online media has not been widely researched. Therefore, this study was set to determine the level of misconception percentage reduction through the use of narrative feedback, the e-learning modules, and realistic video. The study was a quantitative approach with a quasi-experimental method involving 281 students who were taking basic physics courses in the Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology Education. The data collection used a three-tier diagnostic test based on e-learning at the beginning of the activity and after the treatment (posttest). The results of the data analysis with descriptive statistics show that the most significant treatment in reducing misconception percentage on the topic of free-fall motion was in the following order: narrative feedback, e-learning modules and realistic video. The misconception percentage reduction in the sub-concept of accelerated free- fall was effective for all types of the treatments.

Research (Davis, Elliot, Hagglung, Johansson, Ritchie, Miller, Inoue, Chua, Sageidet, Young, Cutter-Mackenzie, Ji, Stuhmcke, Mackey, Ohillips, Enggahl, Arlemalm–Hagser, Barrat, Barrat–Hacking, Black, Chawla, Rivkin, Gorman, Sundberg, Ottander, Gilbert, Fuller, Palmer, Rose, Farrell, Danby, 2014) has indicated that very young children are capable of supporting the Agenda for Global Action through transformative and creative pedagogical approaches utilised through their environments, that are informed and practiced by knowledgeable early education practitioners and leaders. The early years offers multiple opportunities to surround young children with the awe and wonder of their world, linking to their local cultures, as they seek to question, challenge and access possibilities to transform their families and communities. Beach Kindy utilises the natural environment of the coastline, at sites that demonstrate the biodiversity of the planet. Water, for example, is recognised not only as an effective medium and tool for education for sustainable development but also its immense capacity to support holistic, interconnected areas within early childhood education. However, it is acknowledged that this approach is not without challenges. The four home nations that make up the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland Scotland and Wales) have distinct early years curriculum frameworks and this paper focuses on the English framework, The Early Years Foundation Stage (The Department of Education (DfE) (2014). The DfE (2014) imposes what is perceived by many as a linear statutory framework and policy makers must try to move towards embedding education for sustainable development and encourage more flexible, creative approaches to learning. The English Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS, DFE 2014) statutory guidance focuses on three Prime areas, (Communication and Language, Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Physical Development and four Specific areas including, Understanding the World (UW). This Specific area (UW), presents a renewed emphasis on a ‘concentric approach to learning’ (Tickell in The early years: foundations for life health and learning (Tickell review), DfE, London 2011, p. 104) where children are guided to ‘make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment’ (DfE 2014, p. 8). Children can become young scientists, utilising the coastlines and becoming “ocean literate”. Early education practitioners can thus provide “a platform to channel their infinite capacities for activism into the creation of a better world”. (2015, p. 12). This paper seeks to explore how Beach Kindy can help implement both the Sustainable Development Goals and the scientific approaches embedded within UW, whilst also recognising the challenges that it may bring.

Event Abstract Back to Event Weak brain connectivity and causality measures A. Perovic1*, W. Klonowski2, W. Duch3, Z. Djordjevic1 and A. Jovanovic1 1 Aston University , Wellcome trust laboratory for MEG studies, United Kingdom 2 Polish Academy of Sciences, Lab. Biosignal Analysis Fundamentals, Nalecz Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, Poland 3 Nicolaus Copernicus University, Department of Informatics, Poland Aim: We are investigating brain connectivity in cases when causality measures become unstable or are close to zero. This is of interest in the BCI based on inner tunes and music. Methods: Two brain loci might be functionally related while majority of local processing is mutually non related. Such relation among the brain signal sources we call weak connectivity. While in case of imagined motor activity brain connectivity patterns are often related to prominent brain signal features engaging larger relative energy, when dealing with high frequency bands related to imagined tunes and music the situation is opposite, becoming elusive for the established connectivity criteria. By their nature these phenomena are related to weak energy features. The recorded brain signals contain other important components, a number of which corresponds to local area processing. This reduces the causality measures values approaching that of level of noise, thus establishing the connectivity patterns by usual means becomes harder or impossible. We are investigating different causality measures behaviour in such situations, showing that some of them differ substantially and propose the alternative method of weak linear dependence, described partially in 1,2,3, which is useful in this context. Results: We established the instability of causality criteria in experiments related to weak connectivity and proposed alternative methods to establish weak connectivity in the case of inner tunes and inner music. Conclusion: We expect that the Weak connectivity pattern is present in a number of brain states involved in cognitive tasks.

Papers from the broad field of “biomedical engineering and applied physics” are published in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. The publication has expanded the international representation of its 39 associate editors: 23 are from outside of the United States and six are from the Pacific Rim. Another biomedical engineering journal is the Institute of Physics’ journal Physiological Measurement, which publishes papers on the narrower field of “sensors, instrumentation and systems in physiology and medicine.” It has also expanded the international representation of its 16-member editorial board; seven members are from the United Kingdom, and three are from the Pacific Rim. The editorial board met 1 October 2004 in London to review the status of the journal and to plan for the future.