Reflection is alive and well, but not what you think

More and more, Business and Management students (and those in other disciplines) are being asked to undertake written reflection upon their learning as part of assessed course-work. This paper examines this trend and explores the thinking behind it: why lecturers see reflection as valuable to students, whether they undertake reflection themselves, what theoretical underpinning they perceive as justifying and explaining their views. The results of a survey undertaken among Business and Management lecturers are reported, which appear to show that the most influential writer on the subject of reflection in learning – the one most frequently cited by the respondents – is David A. Kolb, author of the well-known Experiential Learning Theory (1984), and one of the moving forces behind experiential learning in general. His ideas have attracted a good deal of criticism, but are still current, having been suitably updated and defended, (2005). The paper critically re-examines Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory, challenging its relevance to most of Higher Education, as characterised by Peter Jarvis in his useful table of learning situations as “formal and intended” (2004; 108). Other criticisms of Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory are advanced that are entirely new. Returning to the survey, the papers discusses the reasons lecturers believe reflection is valuable to students and concludes that Kolb’s model, and others such as Schön’s (1987), fail to adequately explain or even identify them.

Structured reflection breaks embedded in an online course – effects on learning experience, time on task and performance

The purpose of this article is to gain an insight into the effects of practicing short, frequent,and structured reflection breaks interspersed with the learning material in a computer-based course. To that end, the study sets up a standardized control trial with two groups of secondary school pupils. The study shows that while performance is not affected by these embedded “reflection rituals,” they significantly impact time on task and perceived learning. The study also suggests that the exposure to such built-in opportunities for reflection modifies the engagement with the content and fosters the claimed readiness for application of a similar reflective approach to learning in other occasions.

Surface plasmon polariton propagation length: A direct comparison using photon scanning tunneling microscopy and attenuated total reflection

The propagation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPP's) is studied using a photon scanning tunneling microscope (PSTM) and conventional attenuated total reflection (ATR). The PSTM experiment uses localized (focused beam) launching or SPP's at a wavelength of 632.8 nm. Propagation of the SPP is observed as an exponentially decaying tail beyond the launch site acid the 1/e propagation length is measured directly for a series of Ag films of different thicknesses. The ATR measurements are used to characterize the thin film optical and thickness parameters, revealing, notably, the presence of a contaminating adlayer of Ag2S of typical dielectric function, 8.7 + i2.7, and thickness 1-2 nm. Values of the SPP propagation length, based on the ATR- derived film parameters used in the four-media implicit SPP dispersion relation, show very good agreement with those based on the PSTM images for the case of undercoupled or optimally coupled SPP modes. The observed propagation lengths are quantitatively analyzed taking explicit account of additional intrinsic damping due to the growth of the Ag2S layer and of reradiation of the SPP back into the prism outside the launch site. Finally, the PSTM images show excellent SPP beam confinement in the original propagation direction.

Male Infertility: A Clinical Reflection

The introduction of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has led to an inappropriate decrease in interest in male fertility. It is apparent that light microscopy provides limited information and molecular techniques show that DNA abnormalities need to be considered further. Abnormalities include not only Yq11 deletions but also DNA strand breaks. Increases in advanced glycation end-products in sperm from well controlled diabetics may provide a mechanism for this damage in non-diabetics. In addition, much publicity is given to decreased male fertility: this is NOT confirmed as technical variations and differences in study populations make it difficult to draw conclusions. The generation of stem cell derived germ cells provides hope for men without germ cells but this is currently only experimental.

Optical Fiber Sensing Based on Reflection Laser Spectroscopy

An overview on high-resolution and fast interrogation of optical-fiber sensors relying on laser reflection spectroscopy is given. Fiber Bragg-gratings (FBGs) and FBG resonators built in fibers of different types are used for strain, temperature and acceleration measurements using heterodyne-detection and optical frequency-locking techniques. Silica fiber-ring cavities are used for chemical sensing based on evanescent-wave spectroscopy. Various arrangements for signal recovery and noise reduction, as an extension of most typical spectroscopic techniques, are illustrated and results on detection performances are presented.

Stakeholders and perspectivism in qualitative policy evaluation: A realist reflection

This paper examines the epistemological bases for the inclusion of stakeholders in policy research. While it concedes that the input of stakeholders provides essential expert and experiential knowledge for the understanding of complex policies and programmes, it contends that the approach which assumes that all interpretations of policy including those of stakeholders should be afforded equal validity, which we term relativist perspectivism, undermines the possibility of robust research by allowing power to replace methodological rigour as the primary research dynamic. It is noted that this problem tends to be more acute when the research is qualitative. A study into the gendered effects of Common Agricultural Policy reforms is used as an illustrative example of how research can be compromised by relativist perspectivism. It is argued that realist research methodologies uniquely provide the capacity to maintain epistemological robustness, while also being able to take due account of the perspectives of stakeholders.

FREQUENCY SELECTIVE SURFACE WITH DUAL BAND SWITCHABLE REFLECTION AND TRANSMISSION CHARACTERISTICS

A pin diode-loaded active doubly periodic flat strip FSS is shown to act as a dynamic screen. It is shown that by means of d.c. bias control, we can utilize the screen in, (1) transmission mode as a dual band electromagnetic shutter, or with the inclusion of a ground plane in reflection mode, (is (2) it dual band refection canceller. (3) an amplitude shift keying (ASK) spatial modulator. The properties of the FSS are characterized using a specially designed parallel plate waveguide simulator that permits normal incidence excitation of the FSS under test. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals. Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 51: 2059-2061, 2009; Published online in Wiley Inter-Science (www. interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24547

Coherent X-ray production via pulse reflection from laser-driven dense electron sheets

A scheme to obtain brilliant x-ray sources by coherent reflection of a counter-propagating pulse from laser-driven dense electron sheets is theoretically and numerically investigated in a self-consistent manner. A radiation pressure acceleration model for the dynamics of the electron sheets blown out from laser-irradiated ultrathin foils is developed and verified by PIC simulations. The first multidimensional and integral demonstration of the scheme by 2D PIC simulations is presented. It is found that the reflected pulse undergoes Doppler-upshift by a factor 4?z2, where ?z = (1- vz2/c2)-1/2 is the effective Lorentz factor of the electron sheet al ong its normal direction. Meanwhile the pulse electric field is intensified by a factor depending on the electron density of the sheet in its moving frame ne/?, where ? is the full Lorentz factor.

Towards Educational Inclusion in a Contested Society: From Critical Reflection to Cultural Action

This paper is written by democratic educators who stand for the idea that is it worth developing, through classrooms and schools, a socially just (egalitarian), anti-discriminatory society where interdependent relationships are valued. This paper significantly develops some of the ideas explored in the authors’ earlier contribution concerned with progress in Northern Ireland towards educational inclusion, and how this might more effectively advance in a post-conflict transforming society. In particular, the paper poses the ‘so what’ question, and it responds by exploring the practical implications of six key ideas thought essential for transforming learning environments supportive of cultural diversity, equity and excellence for all. In addition, it includes examples of how school staff, along with collaborating partners, might utilize these key principles in order to facilitate school improvement.

Physical modelling of millimetre wave signal reflection from forward biased PIN diodes

This paper examines the DC power requirements of PIN diodes which, with suitable applied DC bias, have the potential to reflect or to permit transmission of millimetre wave energy through them by the process of inducing a semiconductor plasma layer in the i-region. The study is conducted using device level simulation of SOI and bulk PIN diodes and reflection modelling based on the Drude conduction model. We examined five diode lengths (60–140 µm) and seven diode thicknesses (4–100 µm). Simulation output for the diodes of varying thicknesses was subsequently used in reflection modelling to assess their performance for 100 GHz operation. It is shown that substantially high DC input power is required in order to induce near total reflection in SOI PIN diodes at 100 GHz. Thinner devices consume less DC power, but reflect less incident radiation for given input power. SOI diodes are shown to have improved carrier confinement compared with bulk diodes.