In a randomized controlled trial (RCT), treatments are assigned randomly and treatments are withheld from participants. Is it ethically permissible to conduct an RCT in a social setting? This paper addresses two conditions for justifying RCTs: that there should be a state of equipoise and that the trial should be scientifically promising.…

The current study sought to determine the effectiveness of video-on-demand podcasts (vodcasts) as a tool for facilitating the understanding of Physiology by first year undergraduate Graduate Entry to Medicine (GEM 1) students. Seventy-three GEM 1 students were provided with full length vodcasts of lecture material in advance of each of nine…

Objective: This paper reports on the use of child participatory approaches to evaluate the implementation and impact of the "Zippy's Friends" emotional wellbeing programme on children in disadvantaged primary schools in Ireland. Design: As part of the overall evaluation study, which comprised a clustered randomised controlled trial,…

Research suggests that there are two major reasons for the low numbers taking Higher Level mathematics in Ireland: namely, ineffective teaching and a subsequent lack of student interest in the subject. Traditional styles of teaching make it difficult for students to take an interest in a confusing topic in which they can see no immediate…

Objective: Innovative public health approaches are required to improve human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) education and prevention among adolescents, one of the most vulnerable groups to HIV/AIDS. Consequently, elearning and classroom instruction was assessed for HIV/AIDS knowledge uptake and internalizing…

The "Organic Chemistry in Action!" ("OCIA!") program is a set of teaching resources designed to facilitate the teaching and learning of introductory level organic chemistry. The "OCIA!" program was developed in collaboration with practicing and experienced chemistry teachers, using findings from Chemistry Education…

The "body inversion effect" refers to superior recognition of upright than inverted images of the human body and indicates typical configural processing. Previous research by Reed et al. using static images of the human body shows that people with autism fail to demonstrate this effect. Using a novel task in which adults, adolescents…

In the Irish education system, there is little continuity between the primary and secondary education systems. The transfer between these systems is particularly problematic in the area of science. In order to alleviate some of these problems, as well as to enhance the cognitive development of students, the Cognitive Acceleration through Science…

This article reports on the outcomes of a study that compared implicit and explicit teaching approaches on the development of contemporary conceptions of the nature of science (NoS). The sample comprised two groups of prospective primary teachers in the Republic of Ireland, all non-specialists in science. Research has shown that contemporary…