Experiences and expectations: the real reason nobody likes stats

Within undergraduate psychology courses, students often have significant levels of anxiety and negative attitudes toward the statistical element. This has been attributed to poor interaction with teachers, fears about mathematical abilities, and simply being unaware of that portion of the course or its relevance to psychology. To address this, 196 undergraduate psychology students completed a survey on statistics anxiety and attitudes. Additionally, 27 different students in similar situations took part in focus group to share their experiences of introductory statistics courses. Survey results showed that fewer than half were aware of the statistics portion of their course and that the expectation was a key factor in their experiences. Qualitative feedback from the focus groups revealed much about how the teaching may or may not improve attitudes nor decrease anxiety. Findings support various broad strategies (i.e. increase awareness of statistics in psychology and confidence in success in the course) as opposed to skill-specific (better ways of teaching probability or using games to increase participation, for example) classroom interventions to improve statistics education.

Is there a place for e-learning in clinical skills? A survey of undergradute medical students experiences and attitudes

e-learning is established in many medical schools. However the effectiveness of e-learning has been difficult to quantify and there have been concerns that such educational activities may be driven more by novelty, than pedagogical evidence. Where some domains may lend themselves well to e-learning, clinical skills has been considered a challenging area for online learning.

Anomalous helicon wave absorption and parametric excitation of electrostatic fluctuations in a helicon-produced plasma

The nonlinear nature of the rf absorption in a helicon-produced plasma was recently evidenced by the observation that the helicon wave damping as well as the level of short-scale electrostatic fluctuations excited in the helicon plasma increases with rf power. Correlation methods using electrostatic probes as well as microwave back-scattering at the upper-hybrid resonance allow identifying the fluctuations as ion-sound and Trivelpiece– Gould waves satisfying the frequency and wavenumber matching conditions for the parametric decay instability of the helicon pump wave. Furthermore, the growth rates and thresholds deduced from their temporal growth are in good agreement with theoretical predictions for the parametric decay instability that takes into account realistic damping rates for the decay waves as well as a non-vanishing parallel wavenumber of the helicon pump. The close relationship between the rf absorption and the excitation of the fluctuations was investigated in more detail by performing time- and space-resolved measurements of the helicon wave field and the electrostatic fluctuations.

Conflict, Regulation and Marginalisation in the North of Ireland: The Experiences of Children and Young People

Based on primary research and consultations conducted over the last four years in the north of Ireland, this article considers the lives and experiences of children and young people in communities where the legacy of conflict and economic deprivation are most marked. It explores the reality of differential policing in communities where paramilitaries filled the policing deficit during the Conflict through informal 'justice' and punishment beatings. Finally, it considers the potential for change in a climate increasingly hostile towards children and young people, and the realisation of their rights.

Tourism changes on a Mediterranean island: experiences from Mallorca

Mediterranean islands exemplify well the interactions between tourism, heritage and culture on islands. After an introduction that considers their heritage and the pressures which might be applied by tourism because of insular characteristics such as scale, the paper considers the Spanish island of Mallorca as a case study. First its history and consequent heritage is identified and then various stages in its tourism development, which might be recognized in Butler’s model, are treated with particular reference to two very different foreigner commentators on the island, George Sand and Robert Trimnell. The mass market tourism exemplified by Trimnell has brought a reaction and in recent decades Mallorca has given much more consideration to its environment and heritage, illustrated here through the example of the district of Calvià and its Local Agenda 21 policies. This has seen a considerable impact on the island’s tourism and marketing initiatives, as well as upon its natural environment.