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PubMed2006

An evaluation of the influence of natural science in regional-scale restoration projects.

Regional-scale restoration is a tool of growing importance in environmental management, and the number, scope, and complexity of restoration programs is increasing. Although the importance of natural science to the success of such projects generally is recognized, the actual use of natural science in these programs rarely has been evaluated. We used techniques of program evaluation to examine the use of natural science in six American and three Western European regional-scale restoration programs. Our results suggest that ensuring the technical rigor and directed application of the science is important to program development and delivery. However, the influence of science may be constrained if strategies for its integration into the broader program are lacking. Consequently, the influence of natural science in restoration programs is greatest when formal mechanisms exist for incorporating science into programs, for example, via a framework for integration of science and policy. Our evaluation proposes a model that can be used to enhance the influence of natural science in regional-scale restoration programs in the United States and elsewhere.

Conservation of Natural Resources↗
PubMed2004

Learning from education to communicate science as a good story.

Science communicators must learn from science educators in their crusade to counteract the traditional boring and inefficient approaches to convey science. Educators encounter a need for methods of teaching that portray science as 'hard fun' and resources that encourage students' minds to burst into action. Narratives are considered by several authors as highly valuable resources for science education. However, little research has been undertaken to measure the efficiency of narratives in the context of science communication to the general public. Recent work however, suggests that narratives are indeed an alternative and an important means for science communication to convey information in an accurate, attractive, imaginative and memorable way. To present scientific information through stories, novels, comics and plays should be regarded as an important means to transmit information in the repertoire of both science teachers and science communicators.

Curriculum↗
PubMed2006

Despite their inevitable conflicts--science, religion and New Age spirituality are essentially compatible and complementary activities.

Until recently it seemed that the continued expansion of scientific ways of thinking was destined to render religion extinct and spirituality unfeasible. But the example of the United States disproves this, since America is the most successful scientific nation of this era, church-going remains strong and New Age spiritualities are thriving. Therefore, despite the obvious conflicts; science, religion and spirituality are essentially compatible. Future science will continue to win territory from religion since its validation procedures are more objective and reliable. However, churches can survive and grow by dropping those aspects of doctrine which clash with science, and expanding their social functions. The fast-growing US 'mega-church' movement shows the way - since these organizations are minimally dogmatic but instead provide a family-orientated and morally-cohesive social milieu. Like organized religion, New Age spirituality comes into conflict with science when it makes incredible or bizarre factual claims. However, in practice modern spirituality is based on subjective evaluations which do not clash with the procedures of science. Indeed, the reliance upon individual, emotion-based evaluations (e.g., 'my truth', 'whatever works for you') renders New Age spirituality 'science-proof', and has enabled it to expand massively in an age of science. Science, religion and spirituality perform different functions in the modern world, and their relationship is therefore one of mutual-dependence. Borderline disputes will inevitably occur, but as part of a broader context of complementarity. Science, 'social' churches and New Age spirituality all have a bright future.

Conflict, Psychological↗
PubMed2001

Basic science curriculum in vascular surgery residency.

Recognizing the importance of basic science teaching in surgical education, the leadership of the Association of Program Directors in Vascular Surgery (APDVS) appointed a panel to gather information and to present its findings at the 1999 annual fall meeting of the Apdvs. A questionnaire was distributed to the program directors present. In addition, information was gathered from the American Board of Surgery regarding the basic science content in the vascular surgery item pool on the vascular surgery qualifying examination (VQE). The vascular surgery unit of the surgical resident curriculum was also analyzed. Fifty-three program directors (64%) completed the questionnaire. Although only two program directors felt that their residents were better prepared to answer basic science questions, the results of the Vqe showed that the examinees do not, as a group, perform differently on basic science items than on clinical management questions. In addition, only a minority of program directors (15%) use a specific method to monitor the learning process of their residents. The majority of the program directors responding (75%) felt that they were capable of teaching basic science to residents. Interestingly, almost half the 53 respondents (47%) said that a basic science curriculum should be comprehensive, not exclusively relevant to the clinical setting. Vqe content outline and the vascular surgery unit of the surgical resident curriculum revealed great emphasis on clinically relevant basic science information. The Apdvs panel recommends that a basic science curriculum should be comprehensive, yet clinically pertinent, and completely integrated with the clinical curriculum. In terms of how to teach basic science in vascular residencies, the panel supports teaching conferences that are problem-based with a faculty member acting as the "resource person" and with specific goals set for the conferences. The panel also suggested establishing a Web site that provides a series of questions, the answers of which could be readily available to trainees and program directors. such immediate feedback could be of great help to program directors to focus the learning process of their residents and monitor its progress.

Curriculum↗
PubMed1982

Teaching clinical skills to pre-clinical medical students: integration with basic science learning.

Clinical skills are usually learned by pre-clinical students in a manner divorced from their basic science foundations. The value of previously learned basic sciences thus fails to be re-enforced. A clinical skills course was developed for an experimental curriculum of medical students in their first year. It was organized and taught by a team of basic and clinical scientists and emphasized the basic pathophysiological principles underlying clinical skills. Sessions were supported by related basic science audiovisual resources and a series of clinical problems with questions obliging the student to reason through basic-science mechanisms. Over the span of the course, students' interest shifted dramatically from a focus on proficiency in motor skills to an understanding of basic pathophysiological mechanisms underlying observed phenomena. Compared to conventional curriculum students, those in the experimental curriculum failed to show a diminution in perceived value of basic sciences in their future career and, on cumulative, cognitive examinations, scored equally in basic science, but significantly higher in clinical science subjects. A clinical skills course integrating both teachers and concepts from basic, as well as clinical sciences can improve student attitudes toward basic sciences.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1999

Do the social sciences create phenomena?: the example of public opinion research.

This paper is an investigation into the philosophy and the history of the social sciences. Some philosophers of the social sciences have suggested that a key feature of the natural sciences is their capacity to create phenomena, and that the social sciences do not meet this criterion. We suggest, to the contrary, that the social sciences can and do create phenomena, in the sense of new ways of describing and acting that have been used to produce all sorts of effects. Like the natural sciences, the social sciences create their phenomena through the procedures that are established to discover them. But the creation of phenomena is a complex, technically difficult and contested process and its success rare. Historically, this argument is developed through a case-study of the development and evolution of public opinion research in the USA and Britain. We argue that by the 1950s public opinion produced a version of the world that had entered 'into the true'. Special attention is given to technical considerations in the development of public opinion research, especially the genealogy of a particular research technology, that of the representative sample. Whilst we are not concerned with demarcation criteria, we argue that there are some important differences between the social and the natural sciences; that the former have a less concentrated 'spatial mix' and a slower 'tempo of creativity'. None the less, in this particular case, the social sciences have played a key role in the creation of opinioned persons and an opinionated society.

Behavioral Research↗
PubMed1998

The basic science teaching experience in the Nordic countries.

The article concerns the dental education at 10 different faculties in Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. The information is based upon a questionnaire to the faculties concerning the definition, the structure and succession of the basic science subjects/courses/themes/topics in the dental curriculum, the time span of the basic science teaching, and the methods of teaching. Furthermore, there is information about integration among the basic science subjects and the coordination/integration between the basic science teaching and the clinical teaching. Finally, the teachers' educational background and the cowork with the medical education is elucidated. The main findings are: the basic science teaching is structured in different ways in the Nordic countries. In Reykjavik, Bergen, and Aarhus this teaching is subject specific, while in Copenhagen it is mainly subject specific, as it has few integrated courses. In Gothenburg, Stockholm, and Umeå, the basic science teaching consists of a mixture of integrated courses and subject specific teaching. In Helsinki, Oslo and Malmö the basic sciences are theme and topic based, and for the two last-mentioned institutions, integrated with the clinic, except at the faculty in Malmö. Here the basic science teaching is totally integrated in the clinical teaching throughout the study. Usually, the basic science teaching is placed mainly in the first part of the curriculum; however, in Umeå, Copenhagen, and Oslo, some integration takes place.

Curriculum↗
PubMed1999

Is integrative science necessary to improve nursing practice?

This article explores integrative science as a perspective for overcoming intellectual barriers between nurses' valuing of the holistic person and the science and technology that drives advances in health care. Several meanings of integrative science are reflected in health science literature. One use of integrative science refers to comprehensive and unifying theories (or viewpoints) that draw together interrelated aspects of a field. Another use of integrative science pertains to efforts to formulate models that accommodate the special dualities that exist in studying humans. Integrative science as a perspective addresses overcoming intellectual separation of knowledge relevant to understanding of persons or populations by an open-ended sharing and juxtaposing of knowledge relevant to solving that problem. For nursing, integrative science may pose a threat to nursing knowledge. Failure to thrive, a nutritional and psychosocial phenomenon, is presented as an example of a topic manifesting the need for an integrative science perspective.

Holistic Health↗
PubMed2005

The science centre movement in India: a conspectus.

The present article is about the development of the science museum net in India started in 1956, when the government of that country created the Industry and Technology Museum in Calcutta. In the 1960's and 1970's, due to the need of simple programs for rural communities and small villages, the idea of Mobile Science Exhibits (MSE) started. In order to take universal scientific concepts to those who could not visit museums, the Museobus was projected. At that time, the educational focus in museums changes from exhibiting artifacts to encouraging learning through "doing". The Exploratorium in San Francisco influenced the approach of museums in India. While the first Science Centre was built in Mumbai, the Planning COmmission of the Indian government created a task force to study the development of Sciences Museums. In 1978, the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) was created as an independent institution, which later became part of the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare. Twenty-five years after the creation of the Council, the movement for informal science teaching had acquired a solid background. In 1978, their priority was to expand the net of science Centres and Museums. Now, the priority is to achieve better quality and more efficient communication. Nowadays, Indian Science Centres evaluate the impact their activities have on individual, social and economic reality. With new technologies and approaches, they try to emphasize their relevance in a society that is characterized by having a great number of languages and poor education in science.

Education↗
PubMed1999

The challenge for basic science education in problem-based medical curricula.

There has been intense debate about medical curriculum reform since the early 1950s. The last 25 years have seen a steady shift ward problem-based learning curriculum design in schools of medicine and allied health sciences. This trend has been less challenging for clinical departments than for departments of basic science, where it has often evoked anxiety, antipathy, lack of cooperation, and general mistrust. This appears paradoxical, as problem-based learning (PBL) is promoted as an improved method of integrating scientific concepts, and the advances that drive much of modern medical practice are advances in the basic sciences. While proponents of PBL argue that the approach promotes better integration and use of scientific concepts, the evidence, such as it is, is against this. As well, other evidence suggests that clinicians do not use basic science concepts extensively in their practice. This then questions the utility of scientific knowledge in a medical curriculum. This article examines this notion of utility (the quality or state of being useful), to establish some ground rules for what does, and does not, possess utility, and to present strategies to develop specific objectives from general statements concerning utility. Understanding of biologic and pathologic processes becomes of central importance and arguably possesses utility. If it is both required and evaluated, such understanding necessitates mastery of basic science concepts. Previously, the presentation of the basic sciences in medical curricula has emphasized the acquisition of knowledge rather than its use. Such learning has been perceived to lack utility; strategies to enhance the value of studying basic science concepts are suggested. If the importance of objectives in the basic medical sciences is accepted, these objectives should be achieved early in training, maintained at exit from medical school, and revisited in continuing medical education. The process of change in medical education initiated by Abraham Flexner early in this century remains incomplete. One reason why curricular changes have proved frustrating to basic scientists is that much of clinical medicine remains unnecessarily unscientific. Until clinical medicine itself changes, the utility of science in the training of a physician will remain difficult to demonstrate.

Curriculum↗
PubMed1995

[Practising the history of science in the Netherlands in the second half of the nineteenth century].

History of science as it was practised in the Netherlands in the second half of the nineteenth century in many respects differed from the way present day historians of science define their field. Whereas today only books and articles count as history of science, a century ago also statues, banquets and ceremonial speeches were regarded as serious ways of reviving the past. In addition, there is the fact that historical considerations were integrated quite naturally into many other activities, such as the teaching of science itself. This was both a measure of the importance of the history of science and an explanation of the invisibility of the history of science as we know it. The differences are illustrated by sketching the way history of science was practised by three leading scientists who were no historians of science: the professor of zoology and microscopy Pieter Harting, the physician and medical professor Barend Joseph Stokvis and the professor of chemistry Jan Willem Gunning. When all is taken in consideration, one might argue that the second half of the nineteenth century was a golden age for the history of science in the Netherlands.

Historiography↗
PubMed2001

The success of science and social norms.

In this paper I characterize science in terms of both invisible hand social organization and selection. These two processes are responsible for different features of science. Individuals working in isolation cannot produce much in the way of the warranted knowledge. Individual biases severely limit how much secure knowledge an individual can generate on his or her own. Individuals working in consort are required, but social groups can be organized in many different ways. The key feature of the social organization in science is that only working scientists can confer the most important reward in science--use--and scientists must use each other's work in order to succeed in realizing this goal. An analysis of science as a selection process serves quite a different function. Individual scientists strive to come up with novel solutions to significant problems. The question then becomes how to be creative. From a selective perspective, science as a process involves the production of numerous alternatives and a selection among them. A single scientist solving an important problem makes science look very efficient. Treating science as a selection process casts it in a very different light. In this paper I combine an invisible hand mechanism with a selective perspective in order to explain why science is as successful as it is. I do not make recourse to evolutionary epistemology in any of its traditional senses.

Biological Evolution↗
PubMed2000

Enhancing Science Literacy for All Students With Embedded Reading Instruction and Writing-to-Learn Activities.

Reading and writing in science have been frequently maligned but infrequently studied since the 1960s move toward hands-on science. Current interest in the printed-based language arts in science is supported by contemporary educational reforms and the realization that simply doing more hands-on activities may not improve meaningful learning. Students need opportunities to consolidate their science experiences and to contrast their understandings with the interpretations of the science establishment. Science literacy means that students learn about the "big" ideas of science and how to inform and persuade others about these ideas. This article attempts to sketch a substantive framework for using science reading and science writing with deaf students based on research and informed practice with hearing students.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Principles and guidelines for the development of a science-based decision making process facilitating the implementation of the 3Rs by governmental regulators.

National government establishments, including regulatory agencies, are part of national science systems, which are a subset of larger national innovation systems. The forces that have influenced the basic roles of national government establishments in five countries over the past 10 yr are reviewed on the basis of a study commissioned by Industry Canada in 1999 for the Council of Science and Technology Advisors to the Canadian government. The most significant response among countries has been found to be the financial and managerial restructuring of government science and technology establishments driven by the push toward self-financing. Trends in the roles of government science and technology in six areas are also ranked, with increasing the health and safety of the nation, providing support to industry and participating in international cooperation occupying the first three positions. Potential ramifications of these trends on the implementation of the concept of replacement, reduction, and refinement (the 3Rs) in ensuring the ethical use of animals in regulatory testing are discussed. Science advice and its role in governmental decision making is reviewed on the basis of the 1999 Report of the Council of Science and Technology Advisors, Science Advice for Government Effectiveness. Six principles developed for the effective use of science advice in making regulatory decision have been adapted and are proposed with accompanying guidelines as a framework for the development of a science-based decision making process to facilitate the implementation of the 3Rs by governmental regulators. The proposed series of principles and guidelines are designed to reflect the rapidly evolving and complex context for government decision making, and to remain consistent across government departments and across nations.

Animal Testing Alternatives↗
PubMed2006

Internal Medicine Clerkship Directors' opinion regarding clinical input in the preclinical years: the 2002 CDIM basic science survey results.

BACKGROUND: Input from both basic science and clinical faculty members is needed to promote further integration of medical curricula. PURPOSE: To assess current views of clerkship directors about the role and relationship of the basic sciences to clinical years in medical education. METHODS: As part of the 2002 Annual CDIM Survey, questions regarding basic science curriculum were included; 89 of 123 CDIM members responded (72%). RESULTS: Overall, respondents felt participation from both basic science and clinical faculty members is necessary to define basic science course content. Nearly 89% of clerkship directors indicated curricular review should be collaborative and interdepartmental; 93% felt that this review effort should occur frequently. Supporting the growing philosophy that the structure of the preclinical years should involve increased clinically relevant integration, 58% favored an integrated organ system approach rather than the traditional departmental structure (18%). In addition, in order of ranking, respondents felt that small group (M = 2.0 +/- 0.9) and problem-based learning (M = 2.1 +/- 1.1) are better approaches than the standard lecture format (M = 2.8 +/- 1.2). Although clerkship directors recognized the need for increased clinical input in the preclinical years, many reported a lack of knowledge regarding the amount of clinical exposure students received in the basic science years (33%), frequency of peer review of the basic science courses (20%), and who performed peer review of the basic science courses at their institution (36%). CONCLUSION: Medical clerkship directors believe that basic science education should be developed collaboratively, organized by organ system, and presented in small groups.

Administrative Personnel↗
PubMed1999

Rho Chi lecture. Pharmaceutical sciences in the next millennium.

Even a cursory survey of this article suggests that the pharmaceutical sciences are being rapidly transformed under the influence of both the new technologies and sciences and the economic imperatives. Of particular importance are scientific and technological advances that may greatly accelerate the critical process of discovery. The possibility of a drug discovery process built around the principles of directed diversity, self-reproduction, evolution, and self-targeting suggests a new paradigm of lead discovery, one based quite directly on the paradigms of molecular biology. Coupled with the principles of nanotechnology, we may contemplate miniature molecular machines containing directed drug factories, circulating the body and capable of self-targeting against defective cells and pathways -- the ultimate "drug delivery machine." However, science and technology are not the only factors that will transform the pharmaceutical sciences in the next century. The necessary reductions in the costs of drug discovery brought about by the rapidly increasing costs of the current drug discovery paradigms means that efforts to decrease the discovery phase and to make drug development part of drug discovery will become increasingly important. This is likely to involve increasing numbers of "alliances," as well as the creation of pharmaceutical research cells -- highly mobile and entrepreneurial groups within or outside of a pharmaceutical company that are formed to carry out specific discovery processes. Some of these will be in the biotechnology industry, but an increasing number will be in universities. The linear process from basic science to applied technology that has been the Western model since Vannevar Bush's Science: The Endless Frontier has probably never been particularly linear and, in any event, is likely to be rapidly supplanted by models where science, scientific development, and technology are more intimately linked. The pharmaceutical sciences have always been an example of use-directed basic research, but the relationships between the pharmaceutical industry, small and large, and the universities seems likely to become increasingly developed in the next century. This may serve as a significant catalyst for the continued transformation of universities into the "knowledge factories" of the 21st century. Regardless, we may expect to see major changes in the research organizational structure in the pharmaceutical sciences even as pharmaceutical companies enjoy record prosperity. And this is in anticipation of tough times to come.

Chemistry, Pharmaceutical↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Brazilian scientific journals in speech-language and hearing science: impact indicator].

BACKGROUND: Global value of scientific papers published in national journals of the Brazilian Speech-language and Hearing Science analyzed through the Impact Factor (IF). PURPOSE: To analyze part of the Brazilian Speech-Language and Hearing Science through its scientific journals: characterization of the impact indicator--in this case the Impact Factor (IF). Seven national Speech-language and Hearing Science journals (1986/ 2001) registered in the Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology (Ibict) and with a given International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) were analyzed. In order to calculate the IF of the scientific journals, the lists of bibliographic references of the published papers were consulted and the original formula of Garfield was used, adapting it to the seven journals. Bibliographic references cited in the research papers, in the case studies, in the review and update articles were considered for analyses. Researches which were cited in the summaries like letters to the editors; editorial, abstracts, commentaries and others were excluded. A total of 9,334 bibliographic references of 549 papers were analyzed, excluding self-citations of authors. It was observed that the resulting IFs revealed practically null values. The obtained results demonstrate that the Brazilian Speech-language and Hearing Science needs to develop a few aspects of its editorial and scientific processes--the researches of the Brazilian Speech-language and Hearing Science are being lost, making it necessary for the editors to raise the access and visibility of their journals and for the speech-language and hearing scientists to cite the work of their antecessors and national partners. According to the obtained data, for the Brazilian Speech-language and Hearing Science, the publication of 11.9 papers is necessary for only one of these papers to be cited in another research. It is observed that the IFs of the Brazilian Speech-language and Hearing Science, among these seven journals, have risen since 1999, suggesting a development of this Science. The follow up of this research, analyzing the years subsequent to 2001, is necessary in order to verify the real raise of the impact of these articles.

Bibliometrics↗
PubMed2002

Coverage and perceptions of Medical Sciences students towards hepatitis B virus vaccine in Sana'a City, Yemen.

OBJECTIVE: The present study was conducted to estimate vaccination coverage against hepatitis B virus and the perceptions of 1198 medical sciences students in Sana'a City, Yemen. METHODS: Only those who practice clinical training or are in contact with body fluids were included. The students were enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sana'a University, Republic of Yemen. Data was collected from 1999-2000. Arabic pre-tested questionnaire forms were completed by 840 students at a response rate of 70.6%. RESULTS: The study revealed a reported vaccination rate of 29.5%. The rate among Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences students was 32.3%, whereas only 21.3% among the students of High Institute of Health Sciences. Students of dentistry attained the highest rate of vaccination (38.8%), while nursing students of the High Institute of Health Sciences achieved the lowest rate (17.1%). Rate of vaccination (46.6%) among female students was significantly higher than male students (22.3%) with a P- value of 0.0001. Medical assistants of the High Institute of Health Sciences scored the best (56%) in terms of knowledge, medical laboratory sciences students achieved the highest (43.6%) in attitude and dentistry students had the highest scores (35.5%) in practices. The mean knowledge of females and males was comparable, however, females achieved higher attitudes and practices. Final stage students attained better attitude scores than the pre-final and intermediate students. CONCLUSION: Vaccination coverage of medical sciences students in Sana'a City, Yemen is low. Knowledge of medical assistants is the best, attitude of medical laboratory sciences students and practices of dental students is the highest. Attitudes and practices of female students are better than that of males.

Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice↗