http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig Sun, 12 Apr 2026 10:19:49 -0400 http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/39/testing-red-box-rules http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/39 Thu, 15 Jun 2023 21:43:20 -0400 http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/37/some-blog http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/37 Tue, 31 Mar 2020 16:45:15 -0400 http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/32/test2 http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/32 Tue, 25 Dec 2018 14:23:21 -0500 http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/31/test http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/31 Tue, 25 Dec 2018 12:52:32 -0500 http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/29/test-of-blog-function http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/29
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]]> Sun, 08 Jul 2018 01:08:06 -0400 http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/28/notes-on-new-moderation-functionality http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/28
Moderators now have a support system to automate most of the manual work that has taken place behind the scenes.   The new system will be largely transparent to members - especially if one is never suspended.   Most of the new functionality will only be seen (and used) by the moderators.
The most visible change to members will be the flagging icons (and behavior) and the new moderation area.
Flagging

The flagging icons and behavior are as follows:

Available .   Flagging is available.   A red flag indicates that you can flag the associated item.   Clicking on this flag offers the usual menu where you can indicate the reason for the flag.   Once a flag is issued for an item it is considered flagged .
Flagged .   Flag has been issued.   A lowered green flag indicates that you have flagged the associated item.   Now it is up to the moderators to rule on the flag.   They will either accept the flag and issue a ticket (rule in favor of the flag) to the author or they will accept the item as is (rule against the flag).   In either case, no further flagging will be available for this item.   When a moderator has ruled, the flagging for this item (site-wide) will be disabled .
Disabled .   Flagging is no longer possible.   A lowered grey flag indicates that you can no longer flag this item. Note that a flag icon may not even appear on some items.   For example, you will never see a flag on any of the articles or comments you have authored.    Also, items that have grown stale (from prior months) will no longer have a flag icon. Moderation
In the past, moderation comments were accomplished by moderators editing the offending comment and inserting 'purple ink' along with the initials of the moderator.   With the new system, moderators are still free to edit comments and insert notes as they see fit.   However, there is a special area (where the flags reside) that holds the ruling of the moderator and the name of the moderator who has acted.   Thus when a moderator acts on a comment, the ruling and moderator name will appear in purple on the lower right corner of the comment.   Purple ink in the body of the comment will be rare. There are two symbols indicating the nature of the ruling:
Violation .   This symbol notes that the associated item has violated the CoC.   In result, points have been added towards a potential suspension.
Warning .   This indicates that the item has a problem as noted, but this has no points associated with it and thus does not lead to a suspension. Suspension
Suspensions will work as always.   That is, the decision to suspend will be made explicitly by a moderator.   The key difference is that all record keeping and administrative tasks are now automated.   Suspension email messages are automatically generated and will include a list of all outstanding tickets that contributed to the suspension.   In addition, suspension (and expiration of same) are handled automatically including the email message informing the member that the suspension is now over. ]]> Mon, 25 Jun 2018 15:24:07 -0400 http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/27/blog-redirect http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/27 Sat, 12 May 2018 19:16:15 -0400 http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/26/new-blog http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/26
Introductory lab courses are ubiquitous in science education, but there has been little evidence of how or whether they contribute to learning. They are often seen as primarily "cookbook" exercises in which students simply follow instructions to confirm results given in their textbooks, while learning little.
In a  study  published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , scientists from Stanford and the University of British Columbia show that guiding students to autonomous, iterative decision-making while carrying out common physics lab course experiments can significantly improve students' critical thinking skills.
In the multi-year, ongoing study, the researchers followed first-year students in co-author Douglas Bonn's introductory physics lab course at the University of British Columbia. They first established what students were, and were not, learning following the conventional instructional approach, and then systematically modified the instructions of some lab experiments to change how students think about data and their implications.
One of the first experiments the researchers tackled involved swinging a pendulum and using a stopwatch to time the period between two angles of amplitude. Students conducting the traditional experiment would collect the data, compare them to the equation in the textbook, chalk up any discrepancies to mistakes and move along.
In the modified course, the students were instructed to make decisions based on the comparison. First, what should they do to improve the quality of their data, and then, how could they better test or explain the comparison between data and the textbook result? These are basic steps in all scientific research.
Students chose improvements such as conducting more trials to reduce standard error, marking the floor to be more precise in measuring the angle, or simply putting the team member with the best trigger finger in charge of the stopwatch.
As their data improved, so did their understanding of the processes at work, as well as their confidence in their information and its ability to test predicted results.
"By actually taking good data, they can reveal that there's this approximation in the equation that they learn in the text book, and they learn new physics by this process," said Natasha Holmes, the lead author on the study, who began the research as a doctoral candidate at UBC and is building upon it as a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford.
"By iterating, making changes and learning about experimental design in a more deliberate way, they come out with a richer experience."
Researchers found that students taking an iterative decision-making approach to the experiment were 12 times more likely to think of and employ ways to improve their data than the students with the traditional instruction. Similarly, the experimental group was four times more likely to identify and explain the limits of their predictive model based on their data.
Even more encouraging, these students were still applying these same critical thinking skills a year later in another physics course.
"This is sort of a radical way to think about teaching, having students practice the thinking skills you want them to develop, but in another way it's obvious common sense," said co-author  Carl Wieman , a professor of physics and of education  at Stanford. "Natasha has shown here how powerful that approach can be." 
The ability to make decisions based on data is becoming increasingly important in public policy decisions, Wieman said, and understanding that any real data have a degree of uncertainty, and knowing how to arrive at meaningful conclusions in the face of that uncertainty, is essential. The iterative teaching method better prepares students for that reality.
"Students leave this class with fundamentally different ideas about interpretation of data and testing against model predictions, whether it's about climate change or vaccine safety or swinging pendulums," Wieman said.
At Stanford, Holmes is expanding her research, applying these lessons to a range of undergraduate courses at different levels and subjects. 
If iterative design can get first-year students to employ expert-like behaviors, the gains could be greater in advanced courses, she said. When students embark on an independent project, for instance, they'll be much better prepared to face and clear any hurdles. 
"Students tell me that it helped them learn what it means to do science, and helped to see themselves as scientists and critical thinkers," Holmes said. "I think it's done a whole lot for their motivation and attitudes and beliefs about what they're capable of. So at least from that perspective, I think experiment design that encourages iterative thinking will have huge benefits for students in the long run."
]]> Sat, 12 May 2018 19:03:58 -0400 http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/23/new-sans-image http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/23 Thu, 12 Apr 2018 13:33:04 -0400 http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/15/second-create-blog http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/15 Wed, 04 Apr 2018 16:02:26 -0400 http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/14/first-created-blog http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/14 Wed, 04 Apr 2018 15:52:00 -0400 http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/9/iphone-authoring http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/9
This was created on my iPhone.

Plenty of tools available.  
Here is a quote



Ending with a list first
second
third
This is the final sentence indented.
]]> Wed, 27 Sep 2017 22:58:50 -0400 http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/8/filter-test http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/8 Mon, 25 Sep 2017 12:48:05 -0400 http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/3/a-brand-new-blog-now-with-a-ridiculously-long-name-because-some-authors-seem-to-think-this-is-a-good-idea http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/3
This is the opening comment for a thrilling blog on science.
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]]> Tue, 12 Sep 2017 02:20:38 -0400 http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/1/welcome-to-jamroom http://alphathenewstalkerscom.jamroomhosting.com/tig/blog/1 Sun, 27 Aug 2017 14:47:38 -0400