Background Knowledge

Intelligent design theorist William Dembski hasproposed an``explanatory filter''fordistinguishing between events due to chance, lawful regularity or design. We show that ifDembski's filter were adopted as a scientificheuristic, some classical developments inscience would not be rational, and thatDembski's assertion that the filter reliablyidentifies rarefied design requires ignoringthe state of background knowledge. Ifbackground information changes even slightly, the filter's conclusion will vary wildly. Dembski fails to ...

Word sense disambiguation (WSD) is the problem of determining the sense of a multi-sense word in a given context. It is one of the important processes needed for natural language processing applications. Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) is the area of artificial intelligence which contains machine learning and logic programming. It aims to build first- order theories from examples and background knowledge, which are also represented by first- order clauses. The richness of first order logic employed in ILP can hopefully provide advantages for NLP applications such as WSD. In this study, a corpus-based WSD application is improved by using ILP.

The SOFIA and SIRTF EPO Programs have partnered with the Conceptual Astronomy and Physics Education Research (CAPER) Team in designing, evaluating, and facilitating an online program for K-12 teachers to experience multiwavelength astronomy. An aggressive approach to online course design and delivery has resulted in a highly successful learning experience for teacher-participants. Important aspects of the Invisible Universe Online will eventually be used as a part of SOFIA's Airborne Ambassadors Program for pre-flight training of educators. The Invisible Universe Online is delivered via WebCT through the Montana State University National Teacher Enhancement Network (http://btc.montana.edu/). Currently in its fourth semester, the course has served 115 K-12 teachers. This distance learning online class presents our search for astronomical origins and provides an enhanced understanding of how astronomers use all energies of light to unfold the secrets of the universe. We cover the long chain of events from the birth of the universe through the formation of galaxies, stars, and planets by focusing on the scientific questions, technological challenges, and space missions pursuing this search for origins. Through textbook and internet readings, inquiry exploration with interactive java applets, and asynchronous discussions, we help our students achieve the following course goals: develop scientific background knowledge of astronomical objects and phenomena at multiple wavelengths; understand contemporary scientific research questions related to how galaxies formed in the early universe and how stars and planetary systems form and evolve; describe strategies and technologies for using non-visible wavelengths of EM radiation to study various phenomena; and integrate related issues of astronomical science and technology into K-12 classrooms. This course is being developed, evaluated, and offered through the support of SOFIA and SIRTF EPO Programs, two NASA infrared missions associated with the Origins program.

We experimented with introduction of medical ontology and other background knowledge into the process of association mining. The inventory used consisted of the LISp-Miner tool, the UMLS ontology, the STULONG dataset on cardiovascular risk, and a set of simple qualitative rules. The experiment suggested that an ontology may bring benefits to all phases of the KDD cycle as described in CRISP-DM.

As the carbon dioxide concentration in the air is increasing, the oceans are changing: they are getting warmer (global warming) and more acidic (ocean acidification). These threats are very likely to have substantial impacts on marine ecosystems and on terrestrial species that depend on the oceans (e.g. human beings). To prevent the most dramatic consequences of such changes to the climate, citizens need to take collective actions. In that respect, education is a key factor to increase our awareness and understanding of climate change. Within the educational project Inquiry-to-Insight (I2I) we have developed, implemented, and tested Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools addressing the climate change issue with high school students. One such tool that we have developed is an open access virtual animation and laboratory on ocean acidification (OA). This tool allows students to improve their background knowledge of OA and to become virtual scientists, conducting and analysing research on the effect of ocean acidity on a key and well known marine organism: sea urchin. Our results from a pilot study in two high schools in Sweden and California indicate that the OA I2I activities in particular, and other I2I tools in general, increase students’ awareness and understanding of OA.

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development 1703 N. Beauregard St. • Alexandria, VA 22311-1714 USA Telephone: 800-933-2723 or 703-578-9600 • Fax: 703-575-5400 Web site: http://www.ascd.org • E-mail: member@ascd.org Gene R. Carter, ...

What is critical thinking? It is rather difficult to give an exact definition of this interesting phenomenon as the opinions of scholars vary. The majority of linguists consider that critical thinking is a complex
process using inquiry strategies, forming questions, and seeking answers to these questions. It implies not only fixing facts but also clearing up their reasons and results. The essence of critical thinking can be defined as taking care of one’s own thinking. Critical thinking starts as soon as the information reaches our mind and ends when we already have our own standpoint regarding this information. The
aim of this paper is to study the importance of critical thinking in text understanding. Critical reading strategies, in their way, develop critical thinking skills that are essential for a deeper and successful
perception of a text. It supports and encourages pupils and students to be more aware of reading comprehension skills, to explore how to read between lines and behind the words. Critical thinking is
independent thinking. When teaching is built on the principle of critical thinking, each pupil or student is able to formulate his/her own ideas, estimations, and convictions independently. Consequently,
thinking is critical only when it carries individual character. A pupil or a student should have enough freedom in order to think and solve different problems independently. It is true that people who are able
to think critically, always ask a set of questions formulated in a proper way, try to pick up information from different people and make proper conclusions about this or that person, thing, or phenomenon.
Critical thinking is not a child’s innate quality. Some individuals can develop it as a result of training.
In order a person to think critically, an individual has to have a rich imagination, be rather creative, and have background knowledge. All these three qualities are absolutely necessary for a good critical
thinker. Critical thinking is an attempt to see through things. It is challenging the existence and making counter-arguments. The main function of critical thinking is to enable a thinker to see the effectiveness
of an argument by exploring the reasons, assumptions, and warrants behind a particular stand. One of the most significant peculiarities of critical thinking is that it enables a person to make a claim with a
perspective to appreciate the strength of others’ arguments and helps recognize how one has reached a particular point while developing arguments. It is worth mentioning that the basic components of critical
thinking are properly formulated why and how questions to make pupils/students think profoundly and penetrate into the essence of any kind of text, which leads to its full comprehension.

... Concerning the research side, the issue of discrimination in credit, mortgage, insurance, labor market, education and other human activities has attracted much interest of re-searchers in economics and human sciences since late '50s, when a theory on the ... data miners want to ...

In January-February 1939, a secret German expedition visited Dronning (or Queen) Maud Land, Antarctica, apparently with the intention inter alia of establishing a base there. Between 1943 and 1945 the British launched a secret wartime Antarctic operation, code-named Tabarin. Men from the Special Air Services Regiment (SAS), Britain's covert forces for operating behind the lines, appeared to be involved. In

The purpose of this research is to help readers identify the importance of background knowledge in reading comprehension as well as suggest some effective strategies to activate it before reading. A questionnaire was designed and given to 70 students in English department at Hanoi University in the third week in March. The final result signifies that background knowledge is considered to be an essential factor influencing reading comprehension by almost respondents. Besides, it is also reasonably vital to activate prior knowledge beforehand. In like manner, a large number of respondents react positively toward the effectiveness of some recommended strategies (brainstorming, interactive discussion, answering questions, the K-W-L strategy, CONTACT-2: computer-assisted strategy and visual aids).

Numerous studies have noted the importance of background knowledge and vocabulary in reading comprehension. In teaching reading, approach a teacher uses will count on these two important factors whether to compensate more on the students' background knowledge or vocabulary use for successful reading comprehension. This study aims to investigate the separate and simultaneous contribution of students' background knowledge and vocabulary knowledge toward reading comprehension as predictors of reading comprehension, as well as to examine the better variable serving as predictor of the students' reading comprehension. 33 students were involved as the research participants in which they took three different tests respectively to elicit their background knowledge, vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. The results of the study reveal that, separately background knowledge contributed as much as 14.5% in explaining the variance in reading comprehension, whereas vocabulary contributed 21.7%. Meanwhile, Simultaneous contribution of both predictor variables accounted for 27.7% of variance in the reading comprehension. This result suggests that both background knowledge and vocabulary knowledge contribute to students' reading comprehension. Students' vocabulary knowledge is the better predictor of the students' reading comprehension than their background knowledge. This was also confirmed by looking at the regression coefficient of each predictor variable in which vocabulary is equal to 0.409 and background knowledge is 0.398. The result of the study provides educators with a potentially powerful way to structure instruction in reading class.

Reading is said to be the training of the mind and the means to attain a deeper meaning of reality. Utilization of Metacognitive Strategy into Reading skills are essential in teaching reading for the students to enhance their reading comprehension skills. Relative to this, the study is intended to investigate the utilization of Metacognitive Strategy in Teaching English for Academic and Professional Purposes and Reading Comprehension among the Senior High School of Tanauan City College, SY. 2020-2021. Further, it aspired to determine any significant difference in the pre-test and post-test scores of the respondents in reading comprehension before and after utilizing the metacognitive strategy. This is experimental in nature as it investigate the Metacognitive Strategy(planning, monitoring and evaluating) in teaching English of Academic and Professional Purposes and Reading Comprehension with a great emphasis on the three(3) reading skills (vocabulary, sentence structure, and reasoning or background knowledge). Thirty (30) students from Academic track-STEM were used and the study covered in one month. The researcher used a teacher-made pre-test post-test, and exemplars as the instruments of the study. Statistical treatment utilized in the study was mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentages, and sample t-test. Based on the findings, the researcher concludes that there is a significant difference in the pre-test and post-test scores of the respondents in reading comprehension before and after utilizing the metacognitive strategy. The probability value, are all higher that the level of significance at .05, thus the null hypothesis is rejected. Metacognitive Strategy utilization as validated by the significant difference between in the pre-test and post-test scores of the respondents in reading comprehension before and after utilizing the metacognitive strategy, hence remarkably improving their reading skills which greatly contributes to the reading comprehension skills. Additionally, the Metacognitive Reading Strategy may be adopted in teaching especially in other disciplines.

While research on cognitive and metacognitive abilities of bilingual and biliterate students has been advancing, limited studies have examined these influences in the Arabic context. The current study explores the influences of cognitive and metacognitive abilities on the bilingualism and biliteracy of Emirati fifth-grade students whose mother tongue is Arabic but who are learning core subjects in English. This is an explanatory sequential mixed method study where quantitative data from Grade 5 students (n = 350), and their Arabic and English teachers (n = 200; and n = 150 respectively) were first collected, followed by in-depth interviews with three students, two English teachers, and two Arabic teachers. Findings showed that students used their cognitive and metacognitive abilities more freely in Arabic lessons as compared to English. However, Arabic teachers reported that students use background knowledge in their first language in a better way but also demonstrated insufficient transfer strategy between the two languages.

Background knowledge is one of the important factors in L2 reading. Culture knowledge is a background knowledge which is concerned about culture of the content in reading material. By activating culture background knowledge, the students can comprehend text easily because they can have prior knowledge before they start to read. Knowing the students reading preference is also necessary and it can be seen from their attitude and the culture familiarity in reading comprehension process.