Latinos in the United States have been disproportionately affected by the intersecting epidemics of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. Using a community-based participatory research approach to problem identification, the objective of this study is to explore sociocultural determinants of HIV/AIDS risk and service use among immigrant Latino…

Although there is a fairly extensive literature on social and educational inclusion of individuals with Down Syndrome (DS) in many countries, very little is produced on the life and education of such individuals in the United Arab Emirates. There is an apparent lack of societal interest in the quality of lives of people with DS. The condition of…

The study investigated the general population's perceived infectivity of asymptomatic and recovered severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patients and factors associated with avoidance and discriminatory attitudes, including demographic background, SARS-related perceptions and emotional response to the SARS epidemic. A population-based survey…

In order to address HIV infection among college students, a comprehensive measure is needed that can be used with samples from culturally diverse populations. Therefore, this paper assessed the reliability and validity of an HIV/AIDS questionnaire that measures fours dimensions of HIV/AIDS awareness--factual knowledge, prejudice, personal risk,…

To soothe faculty distrust and encourage engagement, or reengagement, in exploring applications of digital technology for teaching, the authors believe it is necessary to do three things: (1) create incentives for faculty that balance public service goals with professional and entrepreneurial rewards; (2) clarify ownership and usage rights of…

Diffusion and osmosis are central concepts in biology, both at the cellular and organ levels. They are presented several times throughout most introductory biology textbooks (e.g., Freeman, 2002), yet both processes are often difficult for students to understand (Odom, 1995; Zuckerman, 1994; Sanger "et al.", 2001; and results herein). Students…

Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) combines the best features of traditional in-class instruction with the communication potential available via the Web. We describe here how JiTT has been used in Biology Education and how it can be used in Food Science Education. JiTT uses Web-based "Warm Up" assignments due before class to stimulate critical thinking…

What people mean by randomness should be taken into account when teaching statistical inference. This experiment explored subjective beliefs about randomness and probability through two successive tasks. Subjects were asked to categorize 16 familiar items: 8 real items from everyday life experiences, and 8 stochastic items involving a repeatable…

The candle burning experiment is usually conducted in lower secondary classes to prove the (about) 20% oxygen in air. The aim of this paper is to show that teachers misinterpret the results of the experiment to satisfy the objectives of teaching this experiment. However, when the results of this experiment are interpreted correctly, the objectives…

If there was one theme essential to the historical scholarship of Stanford professor Susan Moller Okin, it was the oppression of females. In imbuing political theory with feminism, Okin wrote, for instance, that modern American women are "second-class" citizens in a society where biological differences should count for nothing. Such declarations…

This paper reports on an investigation into first year students' perceptions of IT as a career. There are many stereotypes of the typical IT professional. These stereotypes are often depicted in the media and affect students' perceptions of the career and whether they should study IT or not. An exploratory study into male and female first year…

This paper examines the problem of delivering a body of knowledge based on biomedical research as a school physical education discourse. The paper attempts to deconstruct the ideology of healthism upon which the discourse is based in order to show how ascetic practices in school physical education are promoted as a way of combating the hedonistic…

Despite the best attempts of academic staff to teach students the mechanics of citation, the rules of referencing continue to be broken, particularly by those new to Western university systems (either first-year undergraduate students or international students from different cultural backgrounds). In late 2003, 16 postgraduate international…

We report the development of an assessment instrument that provides a profile of the attainment and the errors of pre-service primary teachers across the mathematics curriculum. We describe test development, analyses and test validation involving a sample of 426 pre-service teachers in the first year of their training in primary education courses…

Unquestionably, rural schools face many obstacles in their attempts to attract teachers. However, a survey of preservice teachers working in rural districts found that many of these obstacles stem from misconceptions or a lack of knowledge about what it means to live and work in a rural area. Perception, however, is reality and therefore deserves…