Bojana Boh Podgornik

A comparative study of three teaching methods on student information literacy in stand-alone credit-bearing university courses

Three teaching methods, applied to credit-bearing information literacy (IL) university courses, were evaluated and compared. The effects of lecture-based learning (LBL), project-based learning (PjBL) and problem-based learning (PBL) were investigated using the information literacy test (ILT) as an assessment tool, with regard to the total ILT score, specific IL contents according to the five ACRL standards and students’ mental skills according to the Bloom’s cognitive categories. While all three teaching methods showed a significant improvement in the ILT post-test, the active-learning groups of PjBL and PBL scored significantly better than the LBL group. The most notable positive difference was observed in students’ effective access to information related to database searching skills, in the intellectual property/ethics issues and in the cognitive category of comprehension. The PjBL and PBL post-test results did not differ significantly, indicating that both active learning methods resulted in similar improvements of students’ IL.

Evaluation of Information Literacy of Slovenian University Students

This contribution summarizes the results of the evaluation of information literacy (IL) of 677 higher education students enrolled in study programs of life sciences, health, technologies, and social sciences at six Slovenian faculties. The information literacy test (ILT) that was developed, verified and validated by the authors in a previous work served as the IL measuring instrument. Statistical analyses of ILT responses were performed in SPSS. The results suggest that, on average, Slovenian students’ IL is satisfactory and improves with years of education. On average, students know information sources and adequately evaluate the collected information. They possess skills to use the information in academic work and to synthesize data into knowledge. However, students are less proficient in advanced search strategies available in scientific and patent databases. The main deficit in students’ knowledge is evident in topics related to intellectual property rights and in ethical issues related to acquisition and use of information. Students that participated in an IL-specific study course significantly improved their ILT achievement, most significantly in topics where their pre-knowledge was lower.

Relation between colour- and phase changes of a leuco dye-based thermochromic composite

Reversible colour change of leuco dye-based composites is in general closely related to their phase change, thus the two phenomena should occur at around the same temperature and should be influenced similarly. However, spatial confinement of the analysed sample affects the change in colour differently compared to its phase transition and the most pronounced effects can be observed during cooling. The bulk composite is coloured while still liquid and the colour hysteresis does not exhibit a loop. In an open-porous medium the colouration coincides well with the crystallization and the colour hysteresis widens to about 4 °C. Microencapsulated composite exhibits two crystallization processes, one of them taking place at the bulk crystallization temperature and the other one at about 20 °C lower. Under such conditions the composite is coloured just before the onset of the second crystallization, i.e. about 15 °C below crystallization in the bulk, and the corresponding colour hysteresis widens to 18 °C. The two crystallization forms are thermally independent and have the same crystalline structure. These effects should be taken into account when designing future applications where the phase-changing materials are implemented.

Some Predictors of University Students’ Information Literacy

The study investigated the predictive power of scientific literacy (SL), ICT use, self-concept, self-efficacy and motivation of 139 undergraduate university students on their information literacy (IL) before taking a compulsory credit-bearing IL course. Knowledge tests were administered for IL and SL, and questionnaires for ICT use and psychological factors. All predictors together accounted for 33.3% of the variance in the pre-test IL level. Significant positive predictors included SL and self-concept about learning, while external controlled motivation correlated negatively with IL. ICT tools and Internet confidence were poor predictors of IL. Internal motivation played a suppressor role in the model. The IL study course significantly improved the IL of students, with a mean difference of 16.38%; the students who scored poorly on the pre-test, benefited more than others.

Assessing Content and Cognitive Levels of Information Literacy in a Group of Life Sciences University Students

The present study investigates the initial level of information literacy (IL) of 308 life sciences students from three Slovenian faculties compared to the level achieved by the students after completing a compulsory credit-bearing IL course. A validated information literacy test (ILT) served as an assessment instrument, and the results were statistically analysed by IL topic, cognitive category and year of study. The students achieved significant progress in all main IL topics and all cognitive categories. The greatest improvement was in the subscale of database searching, where the initial IL level was the lowest. Another IL deficiency that was detected and improved relates to legal and ethical issues. With regard to cognitive categories, the students achieved the most evident progress in the category of applying knowledge, where they were initially the least successful. An analysis of the students’ IL achievements by year of study led to the recommendation to include an IL-related study course in the curriculum of life sciences programmes in the second year of study.

Cultivation of Medicinal Fungi in Bioreactors

Abstract The reason that the products of medicinal fungi are not more widespread and more commercialized is that the most effective fungal species with therapeutic properties are extremely rare in nature. The production of medicinal fungi fruit bodies by cultivation on farms has brought greater accessibility and usability of fungal polysaccharides and terpenoids in practice. Comprehensive production of fungal biomass and substances in bioreactors using submerged and solid-state cultivation utilizing a number of secondary raw materials from the agricultural, food, and wood processing industries has enabled faster, more controlled, and higher volume production of fungal biomass and ingredients. Submerged cultivation technology was found to be faster and more appropriate for human use, while solid-state cultivation seems to be most appropriate for the production of pharmaceutically active animal feed supplements, for which the whole fermented substrate can be used as the product.