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Childhood psychological trauma is currently gleaning attention in many fields of study. Subsequently, Trauma-Informed Practice (TIP) is becoming integral to many organizations that service children and families. A gap, however, is noted in literature between this approach to practice and pre-service early years professionals who study to work in care and education settings as either early childhood educators or teachers. Furthermore TIP, using Self-Study (SS) methodology, is deficient in literature. Thus, a Self-Study was enacted by four pre-service early years professionals, in their fourth and final year of their degree, to investigate their preparedness to employ TIP in their work post-graduation. A Critical Friend, versed in this topic, engaged in this study as this is habitual to SS methodology. Findings of this research convey that TIP is covertly addressed in course content, indicating that this area of pedagogy requires more explicit attention in pre-service curriculum. Outcomes of this study also illuminate the urgency for early years professionals to address their own adverse experiences so that they are situated to cultivate attuned and responsive trauma-informed climates in their pedagogical practice.

In the last decades spectroscopy began to play an essential role in physics education research with the recognition that atomic spectra constitute a good occasion to study the concepts of quantum mechanics. Moreover, activities in which atomic spectra are studied in order to understand star structure and evolution have proved particularly engaging for students. In this sense, the hydrogen atom spectrum is especially important in astronomy. Other researchers showed how interdisciplinary experimental activities involving interferometry and applied optics offer a good occasion to teach fundamental concepts of radiation-matter interaction.

The purpose of this article is to provide special educators with significant and perhaps surprising recent lessons in special education law. These lessons under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act range from the threshold issues of child find and eligibility through the central obligation of free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environments to specialized issues, such as discipline and the statute of limitations. The conclusion emphasizes that legal requirements in special education are often not absolute and constitute a bottom boundary, different from the generally advisable guiding norm of best practice.

Secondary students with persistent mathematics difficulties need the most intensive intervention in order to improve their mathematics outcomes. One approach to intensifying and individualizing intervention is through data-based individualization (DBI). The present study used a single-subject, multiple-baseline-across-participants, replicated-across-skills design to investigate the effectiveness of DBI process on mathematics computation and mathematics concept and application performance of high school students who had intense needs in mathematics. Results suggest the interventions guided by the DBI process improved mathematics computation and mathematics concept and application performance of the participants. Implications of these findings and indications for future research are discussed.

Background: Arts and culture have proven benefits. However, access to arts and culture is not consistent. For people with learning disabilities, arts and culture are often considered therapeutic activities, and therefore, the needs of people with learning disabilities in accessing mainstream arts and culture are often overlooked. This research explores how people with learning disabilities experience culture, the barriers they experience in accessing it and how cultural sector organisations can improve access to their activities and events. Methods: A participatory action research approach was adopted for the study. Interviews and focus groups were conducted. The findings were analysed and resulting themes discussed with the peer research team. The group codelivered a workshop aimed at representatives from the cultural sector to share their findings. Results: The results from the focus groups and interviews indicated that for people with learning disabilities, community is central to their experience of arts and culture. The study found that transport, cost and needing support to attend cultural activities were barriers to access, whereas consideration of physical access and "emotional access" needs improved access for people with learning disabilities. Recommendations include improved consultation with people with learning disabilities about cultural opportunities and the formation of cocreated training delivered with people with learning disabilities to support cultural sector staff to offer a warm and safe environment. Conclusions: The findings from the study provided useful learning for cultural sector organisations. However, both the findings of the research and the process of participatory action research were noted as being significant for how the cultural sector can build an ethos of inclusivity to ensure their offer is relevant and accessible to people with learning disabilities.

Recognising that traditional approaches to education, and in turn a teaching and learning pedagogy which focus on the triumvirate of predefined knowledge, situationally applied understanding and domain specific skills were no longer appropriate, in 2009 I embarked upon an exploration of the myriad effects of an engagement with a pedagogy designed to facilitate Collaborative Group Learning (CGL) within a History classroom in a North London Secondary School. Following an identification of the recorded benefits of collaborative learning, I sought to isolate the principles of collaborative group learning, apply these principles to classroom practices of both the educator and learner and over a period of twenty-four weeks capture and narrate the benefits of "actively engaging" in CGL. Central to the narrative were the experiences and perceptions of the thirty Year 8 boys (aged 12-13 years) who experienced CGL over a period of twenty-four weeks. The study identified a range of benefits of engaging in and with this form of inclusive pedagogy including, effective self-directed and autonomous learning, interdependence, enhanced verbal communication skills and social-cohesion. An unintended outcome has also been academic success measured through progress and attainment.

We propose to reconsider the well-known experiment about the interference of white light from a thin soap film by adopting as an illuminating source the RGB triad produced by a LED projector. The interference pattern shows up in a particularly fascinating way and it contains direct, essential information about both the wave nature of light and of the physical thickness of the soap film.

Crystallography is a fascinating subject and an argument of great importance in the study of structure of matter and fundamental physics. Moreover, many characteristics of crystals, as well as other organic and inorganic substances, are analyzed with x-ray diffraction. In order to introduce at a basic level the above mentioned subjects, and also interference and diffraction of wave light, here we present some simple and new inexpensive optical experiments, analogous to the Laue diffraction of x-rays and electrons. We also propose an elementary geometric model to explain the two-dimensional pattern of diffractions by grating.

We propose the use of a smartphone based apparatus as a valuable tool for investigating the optical absorption of a material and to verify the exponential decay predicted by Beer's law. The very simple experimental activities presented here, suitable for undergraduate students, allows one to measure the material transmittance including its dependence on the incident radiation wavelength.

We propose the use of smartphone-based slow-motion video analysis techniques as a valuable tool for investigating physics concepts ruling mechanical wave propagation. The simple experimental activities presented here, suitable for both high school and undergraduate students, allows one to measure, in a simple yet rigorous way, the speed of pulses along a spring and the period of transverse standing waves generated in the same spring. These experiments can be helpful in addressing several relevant concepts about the physics of mechanical waves and in overcoming some of the typical student misconceptions in this same field.

We propose the use of a smartphone based time-lapse and slow-motion video techniques together with tracking analysis as valuable tools for investigating thermal processes such as the response time of a thermometer. The two simple experimental activities presented here, suitable also for high school and undergraduate students, allow one to measure in a simple yet rigorous way the response time of an alcohol thermometer and show its critical dependence on the properties of the surrounding environment giving insight into instrument characteristics, heat transfer and thermal equilibrium concepts.

The lifetimes of the photoluminescent compounds contained in the coating of fluorescent compact lamps are usually measured using specialised instruments, including pulsed lasers and/or spectrofluorometers. Here we discuss how some low cost apparatuses, based on the use of either sensors for the educational lab or commercial digital photo cameras, can be employed to the same aim. The experiments do not require that luminescent phosphors are hazardously extracted from the compact fluorescent lamp, that also contains mercury. We obtain lifetime measurements for specific fluorescent elements of the bulb coating, in good agreement with the known values. We also address the physical mechanisms on which fluorescence lamps are based in a simplified way, suitable for undergraduate students; and we discuss in detail the physics of the lamp switch-off by analysing the time dependent spectrum, measured through a commercial fiber-optic spectrometer. Since the experiment is not hazardous in any way, requires a simple setup up with instruments which are commonly found in educational labs, and focuses on the typical features of the exponential decay, it is suitable for being performed in the undergraduate laboratory.

Background: This study aimed to develop a self-report measure of paid caregivers' empathy towards people with intellectual disabilities. Materials and Methods: Following questionnaire development, 194 staff working in services for people with intellectual disabilities completed self-report questionnaires, including the new empathy measure. The measure's factor structure and psychometric properties were investigated. Results: A three factor solution suggested two key processes in empathizing: experiencing commonality between one's own and people with intellectual disabilities' psychological experiences and efforts to attune to their internal worlds. The final factor represented whether carers find it challenging to empathize. Correlations with beliefs about the self and others in caregiving relationships provided initial evidence of validity, although further investigation is needed. Conclusions: The most salient processes in empathizing with people with intellectual disabilities may be different from empathy in other contexts. Establishing determinants of carer empathy may facilitate the development of psychological interventions to promote and enhance this important quality.

Wind musical instruments are affected in their intonation by temperature. We show how to account for these effects in a simple experiment, and provide results in languages accessible to both physics and music professionals.

We discuss the popular question concerning the difference in weight between 1 kg of iron and 1 kg of feathers, by taking into account the non-trivial aspect of the semantic interpretation of "weight" and the weighting procedure. The inclusion of air buoyancy makes the correct answer an interesting one. We describe and comment on the experimental setup needed to obtain such an answer.

The well-known experiment of the rapid expansion and cooling of the air contained in a bottle is performed with a rapidly responsive, yet very cheap thermometer. The adiabatic, low temperature limit is approached quite closely and measured with our apparatus. A straightforward theoretical model for this process is also presented and discussed. Both the experimental setup and the associated theoretical interpretation of the cooling phenomenon are suited for a standard general physics course at undergraduate level. (Contains 6 figures.)

We construct a thermometer exploiting the electric resistance of the filament of a small lamp used in micro-illumination settings. The instrument may guarantee a response time better than 10 ms, i.e. much faster than commercial thermocouples or other quite expensive devices. This makes our thermometer a useful one in several processes which are characterized by a rapid time evolution. (Contains 1 table and 6 figures.)

From 2005 through 2008, we undertook a participatory research project involving graziers from 8 farms in Southern Wisconsin, all of whom practice management intensive grazing. We used semi-structured interviews and participant observation during research and field days to investigate graziers' engagement with university research. Grazing farms demonstrate rich variability and individuality as a result of their position within a number of biophysical and social contexts. Graziers emphasized the importance of finding ways to work with the variables of their specific context, rather than trying to control that variability. This effort entails the development and use of local knowledge, as graziers respond to the idiosyncrasies of their farms. It also leads graziers to reject mainstream agricultural research that has produced formulas for agricultural uniformity. The picture of grazing that emerged from our interviews leads us to propose the search for "agroecological principles" and "agroecological tools," embedded in context, as an alternative to conventional research. We argue that this proposal speaks to the greater conundrum of how to relate the general knowledge of science to the place-specific, experience-based knowledge of grass-based farmers.

The forces acting on a ball in an air jet have been measured using simple equipment. Such measurements allow quite a precise, non-ambiguous description and understanding of the physical mechanism which explains the famous levitating ball experiment. (Contains 7 figures.)

The authors extend the literature on the efficacy of high school economics instruction in two directions. First, they assess how much economic knowledge that California students acquired in their compulsory high school course is retained on their entering college. Second, using as a control group some college students from the state of Washington, where there is no mandate for high school economics instruction, the authors evaluate the impact of California's high school economics mandate on students' economic literacy when they enter college. The testing instrument is the "Test of Economic Literacy" (TEL). (Contains 3 tables and 9 notes.)

We propose a simple, direct estimate of the Sun's diameter based on penumbra observation and measurement in a two-level approach, the first for middle-school pupils and making use of simple geometrical arguments, the second more appropriate to high-school students and based on a slightly more sophisticated approach. (Contains 5 figures.)

At near-threshold levels of stimulation, identical stimulus parameters can result in very different phenomenal experiences. Can we manipulate which stimuli reach consciousness? Here we show that consciousness of otherwise masked stimuli can be experimentally induced by sensory entrainment. We preceded a backward-masked stimulus with a series of rapid visual events presented at 12 Hz for 800 ms. Peaks in visual sensitivity ("d'") were observed when the target appeared at the time that the next entraining stimuli would have occurred. Observers' sensitivity for identical masked near-threshold stimuli increased by factors as large as 55%, but only at this precise moment in time. These data thus reveal that awareness of near-threshold stimuli can be manipulated by entrainment to rhythmic events, supporting the functional role of induced oscillations in underlying cortical excitability, and suggest a plausible mechanism of temporal attention. (Contains 3 figures.)

A simple experiment is presented to visualize inferior and superior mirages in the laboratory. A quantitative analysis is done using ray tracing with both photographic and computational techniques. The mirage's image, as seen by the eye or the camera lens, can be used to analyse the deflection and inversion of light rays. (Contains 6 footnotes, 1 table and 10 figures.)

The tendency of fluids to follow, in certain conditions, curved profiles is often referred to as the Coanda effect. A simple experiment modeling the common teapot effect, the curling of the liquid around the beak when it is poured, can be used in the classroom to illustrate simple dynamic principles and basic fluid dynamics concepts as well.

We discuss some simple experiments dealing with intriguing properties of light and its interaction with matter. In particular, we show how to emphasize that light reflection, refraction and scattering can provide a proper, physical description of human perception of the "colour" white. These experiments can be used in the classroom with an enquiry approach, and it is in this spirit that we will present them. (Contains 3 footnotes and 4 figures.)

We discuss three methods of measuring the density of air most commonly used in a teaching context. Emphasis is put on the advantages and/or difficulties of each method. In particular, we show that the 'rubber balloon' method can still be performed with meaningful physical insight, but it requires a very careful approach. (Contains 4 figures and 3 tables.)

How do students enrolled in online courses perform relative to those who choose a more traditional classroom environment? What student characteristics help explain differences in student academic achievement in the two modes of instruction? What factors affect the students' choice of instruction mode? The authors address these questions in relation to the teaching of introductory economics courses. They find that the two groups of students are significantly different in age, gender composition, marital status and number of children, GPA, previous economics exposure, planned major, and other important characteristics. The raw data suggested a higher mean score for the online class sections. But after considering course selection bias, the findings indicated that age and GPA positively affect students' performance in the course, whereas the online teaching mode has a narrowly insignificant, or even negative, effect. Semester effects are most important for the online subsample, and male students enjoy a premium in the traditional classroom setting. (Contains 7 tables and 19 notes.)

A simple experimental device for high precision differential pressure measurements is presented. Its working mechanism recalls that of a hydraulic press, where pressure is supplied by insufflating air under a funnel. As an application, we measure air pressure inside a soap bubble. The soap bubble is inflated and connected to a funnel which is placed, upside down, in a container filled with distilled water, placed on a scale. Our method provides a theoretical precision for the pressure measurement of the order of 0.01 Pa. Beyond this, the advantage of this method relies on the simplicity of the materials used and on the opportunity to discuss, at an undergraduate level, basic concepts regarding all those phenomena in which low or very low differential pressures are relevant. (Contains 5 figures, 1 table, and 10 footnotes.)

In this paper we describe and discuss simple, inexpensive optical experiments used to simulate x-ray and electron diffraction according to the Debye-Scherrer theory. The experiment can be used to address, at the high school level, important subjects related to fundamental quantum and solid-state physics.

We present a simple computer-aided experiment for investigating Coulomb's law of sliding friction in a classroom. It provides a way of testing the possible dependence of the friction coefficient on various parameters, such as types of materials, normal force, apparent area of contact and sliding velocity.

This article examines children's living arrangements when parents separate, during a period of rapid increase in shared physical custody in the 1990s. With prospective data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (N= 758 families) and a sample of families experiencing parental separation between successive survey cycles, we use multinomial logistic regression techniques to explore how characteristics of parents in intact families (mother's employment, income, and so on) influence physical custody outcomes at separation. Findings indicate that although the way couples share roles while living together has a strong influence on how they divide responsibilities when they separate, other factors also have important roles to play.

In this article we show how to verify that in a fluid surface or film the value of the surface tension (i.e. the free energy per unit area) does not depend on the area of the film itself. The experimental evidence discussed can be obtained extremely simply yet with great accuracy. This experiment is important in that it leads to a deeper understanding of the actual microscopic nature of the fluid state of matter and to its comparison with the solid state, as well as to a practical example of a differential (zero) measurement procedure.

This article describes a study of a large urban school's teacher appraisal system to ascertain the teachers' perceptions of the purpose of the appraisal system in use. The study initially involved an examination of government promulgations, which establish the requirement for an appraisal system, and a similar examination of the school's documentation, which contextualise the system for the teachers concerned. A survey questionnaire and interviews were then used to establish the teachers' perceptions. The main finding from the study was that the teachers had no clear sense of purpose for the appraisal system and consequently had little commitment to it. The general view from the teachers was that appraisal in this school was of little value and wasted otherwise valuable time; it is ineffective. The findings may provide a useful insight for schools that are reviewing their appraisal systems and policies.

We discuss how compressed images created by modern digital cameras can lead to even severe problems in the quantitative analysis of experiments based on such images. Difficulties result from the nonlinear treatment of lighting intensity values stored in compressed files. To overcome such troubles, one has to adopt noncompressed, native formats, as we examine in this work. (Contains 6 figures.)

Students become deeply involved in physics classes when spectacular demonstrations take over from abstract and formal presentations. In this paper we propose a simple experimental setup in which the wave behavior of light can be made spectacularly evident along the whole path of the light beam in a practically unlimited number of configurations. The idea is simply that of adopting a fog-making machine to show, by means of light scattering along its path, that diffraction and interference are effective processes, i.e., they do not "switch on" just at the detection screen, as one could somehow be tempted to imagine in a more conventional setup. In our experiment, an ultrasonic mist maker is used to produce a small, homogeneous volume of water vapor fog (see Fig. 1). The fog is produced through water fragmentation caused by the mechanical action of a ceramic electrode that oscillates at ultrasonic frequency.

Reviews recent histories of geriatrics which suggest that early physicians contributed to the degradation of old age by labeling it a disease. Records of the Boston Almshouse Hospital indicated that assessments of the elderly's morbidity were prompted as much by doctors' desires for self-advancement as by the elderly's needs. (JAC)

Contends that organized labor in the United States strongly supported pre-New Deal proposals for state pensions for the elderly. Reviews activities of the highly political state federations and of the campaign for old age pensions in Massachusetts to show that labor, rather than middle class reformers, was responsible for promotion of new public welfare program. (Author/NB)

The measurement of the mass, or the density, of air can easily be done with very simple materials and offers many interesting phenomena for discussion--buoyancy and its effects being the most obvious but not the only one. Many interesting considerations can be done regarding the behavior of gases, the effect of the external conditions in the measurement, and the reason for the choice of the procedure, among others. One of the most widespread approaches makes use of rubber balloons. Such an approach can be misleading if attention is not paid to the effect of the buoyant force on the balloon, exerted by the surrounding air. Air is weightless in an environment full of it. While this fact can usually be neglected in daily, nontechnical weight measurements, it is not the case when we are interested in the weight of air itself. A sketch such as the one depicted in Fig. 1 is often presented in elementary science textbooks, as a demonstration that air has weight. A search of the Internet will reveal that this misleading approach is often presented as the simplest one for this kind of measurement at an elementary level 1 and represents one among other common misconceptions that can be found in K-6 science textbooks as discussed, for instance, in Ref. 2. For a more detailed description of the flaws inherent to the measurement of air's weight with a rubber balloon, see Ref. 3. In this paper we will describe two procedures to measure the density of air: weighing a PET bottle and a vacuum rigid container. There are other interesting ways to estimate the weight of air; see, for instance, the experiment of Zhu and Se-yuen using carbon dioxide and Archimedes' principle. We emphasize the experimental implications and the physical reasons for the accuracy and conceptual correctness of each method. It is important not to undervalue the importance of both simplicity and reliability for any experimental measurement made in a didactic context.

A communal learning experience involves grade school children, residents of a nursing home, and neighborhood volunteers. (MLF)