A study of Nigerian pupils' understanding of selected biological concepts

120 Nigerian Secondary school biology pupils, mostly aged 16–18, were interviewed individually to assess their level of understanding of a range of biological concepts. The concepts were related to growth, reproduction, and transport mechanisms within living organisms. The responses of each pupil were scored and examined to determine whether they revealed concrete or formal operational thinking. Given 21 opportunities to do so, almost 50 per cent of pupils either failed to exhibit formal thinking at all, or revealed it on only one occasion. Fewer than 5 per cent exhibited formal thinking on ten or more occasions. There was no significant difference in the performance of boys as compared with girls, nor between pupils whose parents were from different socio-economic groups. Pupils from urban schools performed significantly better than those from rural schools. Pupils' common misconceptions were identified. The importance of ascertaining pupils' misconceptions and their levels of understanding of biological concepts is discussed from the viewpoint of the classroom teacher.     

Levels of selection and the formal Darwinism project

Understanding good design requires addressing the question of what units undergo natural selection, thereby becoming adapted. There is, therefore, a natural connection between the formal Darwinism project (which aims to connect population genetics with the evolution of design and fitness maximization) and levels of selection issues. We argue that the formal Darwinism project offers contradictory and confusing lines of thinking concerning level(s) of selection. The project favors multicellular organisms over both the lower (cell) and higher (social group) levels as the level of adaptation. Grafen offers four reasons for giving such special status to multicellular organisms: (1) they lack appreciable within-organism cell selection, (2) they have multiple features that appear contrived for the same purpose, (3) they possess a set of phenotypes, and (4) they leave offspring according to their phenotypes. We discuss why these rationales are not compelling and suggest that a more even-handed approach, in which multicellular organisms are not assumed to have special status, would be desirable for a project that aims to make progress on the foundations of evolutionary theory.     

Characteristics of Authorial Thinking in Young Schoolchildren

One of the relevant problems of educational psychology is the study of conditions ensuring the development of independent thinking in schoolchildren in the course of formal learning. On the one hand, this means that it is necessary to encourage studies in an area traditional to educational psychology, namely, cultivation of techniques of independent problem-solving in schoolchildren. On the other hand, I think it follows from this that new studies are necessary, particularly in the area of teaching children the techniques of independently formulating problems on various topics in their school subjects, i.e., cultivation of techniques of an author's mode of thought.     

Paradoxical Aspects of Human Thinking

The work is devoted to study of amazing peculiarities of two different (and, in a way, mutually excluding) forms of human thinking, which are often are opposed to each other as empirical and theoretical thinking. On the example of solution of simple syllogisms, it has been shown that at different states of the left and right hemispheres of the human brain the same person gives principally different answers to the posed question. At domination of the left hemisphere, the answers turn out to be strictly formal, regardless of the real knowledge (or ignorance) of the object. At domination of the right hemisphere, the answer is based on the person's own experience rather than on formal logic. Whereas the formal-logic thinking provides for the breakthrough of the thought to new spheres of knowledge, the empirical thinking controls correspondence of the thought and reality. The integrity of the thinking activity at the combined work of both hemispheres is emphasized. The possibilities and limitations of the empirical and theoretical thinking in various spheres of the human activity are discussed from the point of view of sign systems.     

The neural mechanism of logical thinking

A theory of such neural circuits is developed which provide for formal logical thinking. As a by-product of this study, a neural mechanism is indicated which provides for the conception of ordinal numbers. A quantitative theory of the probability of erroneous reasoning and of the speed of reasoning in its relations to other psychological phenomena is suggested.     

东北地区绿色发展水平时空动态演变与障碍因素

以"人地协调"发展理念和"过程+格局+机制"思维范式为切入点,构建了基于DPSIR模型的绿色发展水平指标体系,运用熵权TOPSIS模型、障碍度模型和GIS空间可视化等方法对2008-2017年东北地区各城市的绿色发展水平时空分异特征与障碍因素进行实证研究。结果表明：①研究期内东北地区各城市绿色发展水平总体呈现从"小差距低水平"逐渐向"大差距高水平"转变的时序特征,空间分布大致呈现自北向南阶梯式递减的格局特征,且空间集聚效应显著。②东北地区各城市经济发展水平与绿色发展水平之间并非完全呈正相关关系,即,经济发展水平越高的城市,绿色发展水平不一定越高;而经济发展水平较低的城市,绿色发展反而达到较高的水平。这可能与区域资源环境承载力的大小有关。③东北地区各城市绿色发展水平时空分异的作用机制不尽相同,其中,资源禀赋条件、经济发展状况、政府投资规模在绿色发展水平的变化中起着重要的作用,同时也是导致东北地区绿色发展水平不同阶段呈现不同进化特征的主要原因。     

留学生医学遗传学教学中教学新模式的构建

以发展外国留学生教育为主要标志的教育国际化,是当今世界教育发展的一大趋势。为了提高我校的教学水平和办学层次,我校医学院自2005年秋季开始招收外国留学生。留学生的学习方法和思维模式与中国学生相比有很大差异,而传统的教学模式不能适应留学生的教学的需求。因此构建新型教学模式在留学生医学遗传学教学中至关重要。     

“Macroscopic pattern analysis” based on formal analogies as a scientific methodology for complex systems

Bioprocess engineering at present concentrates on the enormous problems in the environment. What is therefore needed is a sound methodology, which should be based on the interactions between the physiology of biological reaction networks and physical processes in the environment and which should be an analogy to bioreactor performance. The conventional methodology is empirically oriented, using pilot plant data for the experimental estimates of process economics, where all further details are elucidated following the mechanistic approach on the microscopic level based on assumed mechanisms (causalities). According to the new view, the new systems-based methodology uses mathematical models as approximations and includes all the interactions. Pilot plant data are needed for model falsification, using analogies on the formal macroscopic level. Bioreactor scale-up as one application is a more rapid procedure of reasonable accuracy, where both the biokinetics as well as the fluid dynamics are quantified using formal macroscopic analogies. Model consistency and plausibility are the basic criteria when using model computer simulations as a decisive aid, while experiments lose their central role and are on longer the basis for evaluating the scientific work; they are simply the basis of the researcher's intuition. Another typical feature of complex systems is that model parameters are interdependent. The final decisive fact will be the mental experiment (“thinking” with the left and right side of the brain), which can be supported using computer simulations. This evolutionary interplay between the three realities of thinking, experimenting and simulating leads to a holistic progress towards the better understanding of highly complex systems. It offers the solution to the problems, which is needed in future.     

发展的生态观:弹性思维

弹性思维是国际恢复联盟特别推荐的资源管理新思维方式,是面对可持续发展而提出的新生态观,被许多学者评价为可持续发展管理的理论基础。国际恢复联盟项目主管Walker教授和Salt博士合编的《弹性思维》是这一理论的代表作。介绍弹性思维的思想基础和几个主要的观点,以及富有弹性的复合生态-社会系统的主要属性,并对其应用前景进行评述。     

From disease to development to cell biology and back

Nowadays, the focus of developmental studies is shifting away from formal models of developmental pathways that are characterised by flow charts of controlling factors connected by arrows, to mechanistic models that explain developmental processes at the cellular level. Surprisingly, this shift towards a cellular view of developmental biology is occurring simultaneously across a range of model organisms. One consequence of taking such a cell biological view of development is that many model organisms are now becoming good models for studies of human disease and therapy.     

Learning biology through research papers: a stimulus for question-asking by high-school students

Question-asking is a basic skill, required for the development of scientific thinking. However, the way in which science lessons are conducted does not usually stimulate question-asking by students. To make students more familiar with the scientific inquiry process, we developed a curriculum in developmental biology based on research papers suitable for high-school students. Since a scientific paper poses a research question, demonstrates the events that led to the answer, and poses new questions, we attempted to examine the effect of studying through research papers on students' ability to pose questions. Students were asked before, during, and after instruction what they found interesting to know about embryonic development. In addition, we monitored students' questions, which were asked orally during the lessons. Questions were scored according to three categories: properties, comparisons, and causal relationships. We found that before learning through research papers, students tend to ask only questions of the properties category. In contrast, students tend to pose questions that reveal a higher level of thinking and uniqueness during or following instruction with research papers. This change was not observed during or following instruction with a textbook. We suggest that learning through research papers may be one way to provide a stimulus for question-asking by high-school students and results in higher thinking levels and uniqueness.     

军队医院科研创新存在的问题及对策分析

科学技术是第一生产力,科技的进步是医学不断发展的基础。随着我国医疗卫生体制改革的不断推进,医院科研管理的作 用越来越突出。近年来,军队医院的科研实力和水平面临着巨大的挑战。因此,建立完善的科研机制,实施科研创新战略是推动卫 生事业改革与发展的动力。科研创新是指在立项、论证、研究方法、数据处理等科研活动中所表现出的与前人不同的思维方式和 行为方式。科研活动本身是以现有的现象、认知和习惯为基础的活动,凭借知识和经验预测科研可能达到的科学目的。在不同层 次对人们熟悉的思维方式高度抽象或转换,是科研创新的主要特征。本研究分析现阶段军队医院科研管理存在的问题,探讨科研 创新的必要性,强调医院科研管理应贯彻系统化思想,建立多元化科研模式。     

Population thinking and tree thinking in systematics

Two new modes of thinking have spread through systematics in the twentieth century. Both have deep historical roots, but they have been widely accepted only during this century. Population thinking overtook the field in the early part of the century, culminating in the full development of population systematics in the 1930s and 1940s, and the subsequent growth of the entire field of population biology. Population thinking rejects the idea that each species has a natural type (as the earlier essentialist view had assumed), and instead sees every species as a varying population of interbreeding individuals. Tree thinking has spread through the field since the 1960s with the development of phylogenetic systematics. Tree thinking recognizes that species are not independent replicates within a class (as earlier group thinkers had tended to see them), but are instead inter-connected parts of an evolutionary tree. It lays emphasis on the explanation of evolutionary events in the context of a tree, rather than on the states exhibited by collections of species, and it sees evolutionary history as a story of divergence rather than a story of development. Just as population thinking gave rise to the new field of population biology, so tree thinking is giving rise to the new field of phylogenetic biology.     

The tacit dimension of clinical judgment

Two distinct views of the nature of clinical judgment are identified and contrasted. The dominant view that clinical judgment is a fully explicit process is compared to the relatively neglected view that tacit knowledge plays a substantial role in the clinician's mental operations. The tacit dimension of medical thinking is explored at length. The discussion suggests severe limits when applying decision analysis, expert systems, and computer-aided cost-benefit review to medicine. The goals and practices of postgraduate medical education are also examined from this perspective, as are various other implications for the clinician. The paper concludes that it is valuable to explore the nature of medical thinking in order to improve clinical practice and education. Such explorations should, however, take cognizance of the often overlooked tacit dimension of clinical judgment. Possible constraints on the medical applicability of both formal expert systems and heavily didactic instructional programs are considered.     

浅谈对医学生临床思维与临床技能提高的培养

为适应目前医学事业发展的需要,医学生的临床思维与临床技能的培养至关重要。在教学中,应不断提高教师自身的业务水平和自身素质,给予学生适当引导和启发,采取灵活多样的教学方式,并鼓励学生学会独立思考能力,激发学生的主动性和创造性,同时理论与实践相结合,推出模拟教学,由此激发学生的学习兴趣;并通过病例的采集归纳和整理,加强基本功的训练。从而提高学生临床思维能力与标准实践技能。     

The emergence of ecological engineering as a discipline

Pioneering efforts in ecological engineering (a precedent setting engineering and applied science discipline in which the self-engineering capabilities of ecosystems are managed for the benefit of the environment and humankind) research and practice have proven to be tremendous strides toward establishing a new engineering discipline with a science base in ecology. Case studies, demonstrations and applications pertaining to restoration, rehabilitation, conservation, sustainability, reconstruction, remediation and reclamation of ecosystems using ecological engineering techniques are numerous. This has brought the field to the current level where many scientists and engineers adequately support the concept of, and need for, ecological engineering, and generally agree that ecological engineering has been sufficiently defined. There is also general agreement that full emergence as an engineering discipline remains a difficult task. Certain general characteristics of existing engineering disciplines can guide the emergence of ecological engineering and thus are a vital context covered in this paper. From the context of engineering practice, three concepts are evident including: (1) establishment of formal foundations for ecological engineering research and development; (2) development of core ecological engineering sciences and curricula; and (3) certification in ecological design. These elements are important components of a formal approach to develop ecological engineering as a principled, quantitative, recognized, practical, novel, and formal engineering discipline that coalesces past and future research and practice into cohesive underpinnings.     

植物木质部发育生物学研究

本文主要介绍植物木质部发生和发育的研究历史及其进展情况，涉及的学科有生理学、系统发育学、遗传学和结构植物学等。评述了从整体、器官、组织细胞直至分子水平的研究方法、研究思路及机理分析的各种结果和假说。企望对植物木质部发育生物学的研究概况有一个比较全面的认识     

大型公立医院学科建设发展战略探索与思考

学科建设发展战略是医院可持续发展的基础和核心竞争力，直接影响医疗质量、技术水平、人才培养能力和综合实力。在总结并介绍北京大学第三医院学科建设发展战略方面的探索的基础上，提出在学科建设方面，应注重学科建设的顶层设计和制定详尽的发展战略、注重人才培养与打造创新管理团队、注重以科学研究带动学科发展、注重完善学科建设的绩效管理与激励体系。