Eleven schools in the south of England took part in a trial of 'Safe in the Sun', a curriculum programme for primary school aged pupils. Case study methodology and the 'draw and write' technique were combined to evaluate changes in pupils' perceptions of the effects of the sun on their skin. Teachers were free to use the materials, consisting of a teacher's handbook and video, as they wished. Pupils in all schools showed higher levels of awareness of sun-safety measures in post-intervention studies compared with the levels recorded 4 months earlier. Chi-square analysis revealed that those pupils whose teachers had used the materials as recommended by the authors had significant increases in awareness and knowledge about keeping safe in the sun, compared with other levels of intervention. More pupils also appeared able to transfer their awareness to the context of the school playground, although the differences were not significant for any level of intervention. The discussion focuses on the value of the 'draw and write' technique as a tool for illuminative evaluation, on the factors which contributed to the pupils increased awareness of sun safety and on the importance of a whole school approach to sun safety.
In the first four months of 2014, two major vulnerabilities were announced affecting operation of the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol, which is used by applications to secure Internet communications. The 'goto fail' bug affected Apple's iOS and OS X software and the 'Heartbleed' bug affected versions of the OpenSSL software. Whilst the Apple bug was serious because it affected a wide range of Apple products, the Heartbleed bug was of greater significance due to widespread use of the OpenSSL library. This paper considers the lessons to be learned from these incidents. It examines how the use of the Trustworthy Software Framework (TSF) developed by the authors could have helped to reduce the risk of a major bugs like 'goto fail' and Heartbleed. It also examines the responsibilities of developers where they use third party libraries and the need for appropriate due diligence. The paper also makes recommendations about how incidents like this should be handled to avoid confusing and contradictory messages being given.
This paper presents a rationale for a way of introducing first-year mechanical engineering students to engineering design. Emphasis is placed on practical design considerations and small group discussion during laboratory exercises, providing an experience of the process of making engineering judgements. Knowledge of component terminology and operating principles is tested. The exercise supports the findings of educational researchers on the effectiveness of small group learning in relation to practical and diagnostic tasks.
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