Improving students’ use of argumentation is front and center in the increasing emphasis on scientific practice in K-12 Science and STEM programs. We explore the construct validity of scenario-based assessments of claim-evidence-reasoning (CER) and the structure of the CER construct with respect to a learning progression framework. We also seek to understand how middle school students progress. Establishing the purpose of an argument is a competency that a majority of middle school students meet, whereas quantitative reasoning is the most difficult, and the Rasch model indicates that the competencies form a unidimensional hierarchy of skills. We also find no evidence of differential item functioning between different scenarios, suggesting
... Show MoreLimestones have considerable commercial importance because they are used as building stones and are widely used for flooring and interior and exterior facings. On the other hand, the reserve calculation reveals the economic effectiveness of the investigation. This study aims to calculate the reserve of the middle Miocene limestone for engineering purposes. The limestone beds of the Nfayil Formation in Central Iraq have been studied over 15 outcrop sections. The Nfayil bed has an average thickness of about 1.64 m, while the overburden has an average of about 0.93 m. The average bulk density of limestone is 2.1 gm/cm3 . Kriging and triangulation method has been adopted and used in the calculation and assessment of reserve. The industrial laye
... Show MoreThis work is a trial to ensure the absolute security in any quantum cryptography (QC) protocol via building an effective hardware for satisfying the single-photon must requirement by controlling the value of mean photon number. This was approximately achieved by building a driving circuit that provide very short pulses (≈ 10 ns) for laser diode -LD- with output power of (0.7-0.99mW) using the available electronic components in local markets. These short pulses enable getting faint laser pulses that were further attenuated to reach mean photon number equal to 0.08 or less.
<span lang="EN-US">Iraqi people have been without energy for nearly two decades, even though their geographic position provides a high intensity of radiation appropriate for the construction of solar plants capable of producing significant quantities of electricity. Also, the annual sunny hours in Iraq are between 3,600 to 4,300 hours which makes it perfect to use the photovoltaics arrays to generate electricity with very high efficiency compared to many countries, especially in Europe. This paper shows the amount of electric energy generated by the meter square of crystalline silicon in the photovoltaic (PV) array that already installed in 18 states in Iraq for each month of the year. The results of the meter-square of PV arr
... Show MoreThe Mauddud Formation was one of the important and widespread Lower Cretaceous period formations in Iraq. It has been studied in three wells (EB. 55, EB. 58, and EB. 59) within the East Baghdad Oil Field, Baghdad, central Iraq. 280 thin sections were studied by microscope to determine fauna, the formation composed of limestone and dolomitized limestone in some parts which tends to be marl in some parts, forty species and genus of benthic foraminifera have been identified beside algae and other fossils, three biozones have been identified in the range which is: Orbitolina qatarica range zone (Late Albian), Orbitolina sefini range zone (Late Albian – Early Cenomanian) and Orbitolina concava range zone (Early Cenomanian), The age of
... Show MoreShiranish has been studied at Hijran section near Erbil city, NE Iraq. Fifty two thin-sections were prepared to study them under polarized microscope, to determine the petrographic component, organic content and digenetic processes. Rock units subdivided into four rock beds, as follows: dolostone, foraminiferal biomicrite, poorly washed biomicrite and micrite. Vertical succession of Shiranish Formation refers to off-shore quite marine environment.
Shiranish Formation (Late Campanian- Maastrichtian) that cropping out north east Iraq, is studied by microfacies analysis of 52 thin section collected from Hijran Section, about 10 km west Shaqlawa Town, Governorate of Erbil. According to petrography, mineralogy and organic contents, rocks are subdivided to crystalline carbonate and microfacies units (biowackstone, packstone, and mudstone facies). Biowackstone facies have high ratio of the rock components, while the other facies have low ratio. Microfacies analysis led to relatively quiet deep marine environment.