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Both nanopore-based DNA sequencing and CRISPR/Cas-based gene editing represent groundbreaking innovations in molecular biology and genomics, offering unprecedented insights into and tools for working with genetic information. For students, reading, editing, and even writing DNA will be part of their everyday life. We have developed a laboratory procedure that includes (i) the biosynthesis of a guide RNA for, (ii) targeting Cas9 to specifically linearize the pBR322 plasmid, and (iii) the identification of the cutting site through nanopore DNA sequencing. The protocol is intentionally kept simple and requires neither living organisms nor biosafety laboratories. We divided the experimental procedures into separate activities to facilitate customization. Assuming access to a well-equipped molecular biology laboratory, an initial investment of approximately $2,700 is necessary. The material costs for each experiment group amount to around $130. Furthermore, we have developed a freely accessible website (https://dnalesen.hs-mittweida.de) for sequence read analysis and visualization, lowering the required computational skills to a minimum. For those with strong computational skills, we provide instructions for terminal-based data processing. With the presented activities, we aim to provide a hands-on experiment that engages students in modern molecular genetics and motivates them to discuss potential implications. The complete experiment can be accomplished within half a day and has been successfully implemented by us at high schools, in teacher training, and at universities. Our tip is to combine CRISPR/Cas gene targeting with nanopore-based DNA sequencing. As a tool, we provide a website that facilitates sequence data analysis and visualization.

The ability to interact or engage with the instructor, other students, and the content i.e., to experience online student engagement, is one main difference between traditional and digital media employed in teaching and learning processes. As literature on this topic in the Turkish context has proliferated, to date, virtually no systematic reviews of this research have been carried out in order to identify potential gaps in the literature. To address this issue, this study investigated previously conducted research in chronological order on student engagement at the post-secondary level in the Turkish context using a PRISMA-based systematic review screening process. The results show that online engagement research and practices have clearly increased and diversified over time. Specifically, online engagement research in the Turkish context has tended to focus on computer science students studying in online-only, LMS-supported environments where their behavioral engagement has been investigated quantitatively. Considering these findings, this systematic review suggests that future studies in the Turkish context should examine other fields besides computer science education, focus more on collaborative tools and the social dimension of engagement, use more qualitative methods, and investigate blended environments as well as online-only.

This article describes a conceptual and empirical approach for estimating a human capital production function of child development that incorporates mother- or child-fixed effects. The use of mother- or child-fixed effects is common in this applied economics literature, but its application is often inconsistent with human capital theory. We outline the problem and demonstrate its empirical importance with an analysis of the effect of Head Start and preschool on child and adult outcomes. The empirical specification we develop has broad implications for a variety of applied microeconomic analyses beyond our specific application. Results of our analysis indicate that attending Head Start or preschool had no economically or statistically significant effect on child or adult outcomes.

Research Findings: In the present study, we investigated the roles of children's social competence and immigrant background in the prediction of the quality of children's relationships with peers and teachers and school adjustment. Participants were N = 212 children (M[subscript age] = 58.32 months, SD = 10.72; n = 98 with an immigrant background) and their teachers (two per class). One teacher in each class assessed children's social competence and behavior problems, whereas the other rated the quality of their attachment relationships with the children and their adaptation to school. Social acceptance was assessed via peer sociometric nominations. Among the results, children with an immigrant background evidenced greater conflict and dependence in their relationships with teachers, poorer social acceptance, and less pleasure in school. Among children with an immigrant background, externalizing behaviors were associated with conflict in relationships with teachers, whereas internalizing behaviors were associated with dependence. Practice or Policy: The study highlights how social behaviors and immigrant background can affect the quality of attachment relationships with teachers in the preschool classroom.

This article introduces the development process of social presence-enabled augmented reality (SPEAR) tool, an innovative augmented reality (AR) based learning application tailored for online engineering education. SPEAR focuses on a learning module of structural beam-bending, empowering users to seamlessly integrate 3-D virtual beams into their real-world environment, using the AR Foundation framework within the Unity game engine. Learners can explore structural mechanics by manipulating loads and positions. SPEAR leverages a custom C# script based on the finite element method to offer a real-time simulation of beam deformation, accompanied by visualizations of the moment/shear diagrams and bending stresses. In addition, the integration of a cloud-based voice chat feature, photon unity networking 2, enhances social presence, fostering collaborative learning. Usability testing conducted with extended reality developers and structural engineers, utilizing the system usability scale, confirmed SPEAR's user-friendliness and intuitive interface. Results indicate high levels of participant satisfaction, validating its design and functionality. This study contributes to the field by highlighting SPEAR's pedagogical potential to enhance online engineering education through immersive AR experiences and social interaction. It offers a promising avenue for improving student engagement, comprehension, and performance. In addition, SPEAR facilitates future research into new learning theories and materials design strategies. Its versatility makes it a valuable tool for innovative online education approaches, potentially revolutionizing the learning experiences for students worldwide.

Educational reform priorities such as emphasis on quantitative modelling (QM) have positioned undergraduate biology instructors as designers of QM experiences to engage students in authentic science practices that support the development of data-driven and evidence-based reasoning. Yet, little is known about how biology instructors adapt to the pedagogical movement towards incorporating QM opportunities for students in the courses they teach. This study presents the development of the Quantitative Modelling Observation Protocol (QMOP), a classroom observation instrument designed to support the need to characterise various approaches that instructors use to implement QM instruction in undergraduate biology. QMOP provides information about the breadth and depth of QM implementation across three dimensions -- authentic instruction, teaching for understanding, and quantitative approach to teaching biology. We present an interpretive argument, the chain of assumptions we made in relation to the intended use of the instrument, and evidence to assess the validity of our assumptions and inferences about observation scores generated using the instrument. Strengths and weaknesses of evidence pertaining to assumptions about scoring, generalisability, extrapolation, and implications will be discussed to build a validity argument for observations and demonstrate how the instrument can be used for investigating QM instruction in undergraduate biology courses.

In this article, we contribute to a discussion of ethics within school bullying research by reflecting on our own recent ethnographic study into the relations between school bullying and the institutional context of schooling conducted at three elementary schools and one lower-secondary school in Sweden. We argue for a reflexive, responsive, and flexible adult researcher role when conducting ethnographic research into school bullying; what we term the "caring adult role." The caring adult role provides a means of ethically conducting research by helping to facilitate access, navigate power relations, provide a consistent starting point for deciding when to intervene in ethically questionable situations, and a way for adult researchers to differentiate themselves from those adults in schools who may be perceived by students as non-caring. We argue that this is an ethically sounder approach than one that suspends all adult-like characteristics and avoids directing or correcting the behaviour of children.

The University of Southern California (USC) Democracy Project responds to the inadequacies of traditional civics education, particularly its failure to engage marginalized students in meaningful democratic participation. Grounded in the theories of John Dewey and Paulo Freire, the project uses an action civics model to connect students with real-world issues, promoting critical thinking, collaboration, and civic responsibility. This article describes the curriculum development process, highlighting partnerships with teachers and community stakeholders and a pilot study involving 23 diverse educators. Using a mixed methods approach--including pre-surveys, classroom feedback, and artifact analysis--the pilot revealed strong alignment with civics education standards. Notably, 95% of teachers rated the curriculum highly relevant, and students showed increased engagement and leadership in addressing issues like environmental justice and reproductive rights. Action civics helped bridge equity gaps by empowering students from underserved communities to take localized civic actions, such as public campaigns and advocacy projects. This research underscores the potential of action civics to revitalize civics education. The project calls for expanding across grade levels, integrating media literacy to help students critically navigate digital spaces, and scaling the curriculum to prepare students for the complex challenges of democratic life.

School climate is crucial for understanding everyday school life. For pupils, breaktime seems to be associated with how they feel about their school climate. To better understand school climate and what social processes pupils address, this study explores pupils' perspectives on school climate with attention on how they perceive their breaktimes. The study was based on 29 focus group interviews (n = 164) with pupils from two public schools in grades 1-9 (i.e. 7-15 years old). Constructivist grounded theory guided data gathering and analysis. Findings revealed how breaktime was an indicator of how pupils perceived their school climate, but their perceptions were dynamic. We conceptualised breaktime as a social process influenced by three main categories: peer climate, levels of unsafe incidents, and availability of activities. We adopted a social-ecological perspective to conceptualise how pupils' perceptions of breaktimes varied due to how breaktimes were nested within different social-ecological systems.

Although more is known about how general parenting practices predict social-emotional strengths in children, less research has looked at parent involvement in education and children's social-emotional strengths. This study examined the extent to which parent involvement, specifically home-based involvement, parent-teacher trust, and home-school communication, predicted children's social-emotional strengths in kindergarten. The study featured both parent (n = 120) and teacher ratings (n = 156) of children's social-emotional strengths. We examined the association between parent involvement and social emotional strengths while controlling for child age and gender, socioeconomic status, and general parenting (positive verbal discipline and harsh/inconsistent discipline). Parents' reports of home-based involvement were a moderate to strong positive predictor of their child's social-emotional strengths over the kindergarten year. For teacher ratings of social-emotional strengths, parents' trust of the teacher was associated with higher social-emotional strengths. The findings may inform essential components in parenting or school-based interventions for social-emotional development, as well as differences in what parents and teachers perceive as related to social-emotional development in young children.

A systematic review was conducted using PsychInfo, ERIC, and Google Scholar using the terms "classroom" and "direct observation". The search yielded 1,006 articles published between 1935 and 2022 with a total of seven observation codes (Behavioral Observation of Students in Schools, Classroom Observation of Engagement, Disruptive and Disrespectful Behavior, Direct Observation Form, Revised Edition of the School Observation Coding System, Response to Interpersonal and Physically Provoking Situations and the State-Event Classroom Observation System) meeting full inclusion criteria. The current article reviews the structure, content, training requirements and available psychometric evidence of each of the seven aforementioned observation codes. Each observation code was evaluated using criteria for each indicator for psychometric evidence. A synthesis of the reviewed literature indicates the need for increased attention to the psychometric evidence of observation codes, measurement invariance across racial/ethnic groups, and the acceptability of observation methods for school-based practitioners. Recommendations for the use of each observation code based on a synthesis of the reviewed studies and future directions for research in observational assessment are provided.

Misinformation around scientific issues is rampant on social media platforms, raising concerns among educators and science communicators. A variety of approaches have been explored to confront this growing threat to science literacy. For example, refutations have been used both proactively as warning labels and in attempts to inoculate against misconceptions, and retroactively to debunk misconceptions and rebut science denialism. Refutations have been used by policy makers and scientists when communicating with the general public, yet little is known about their effectiveness or consequences. Given the interest in refutational approaches, we conducted a comprehensive, pre-registered meta-analysis comparing the effect of refutation texts to non-refutation texts on individuals' misconceptions about scientific information. We selected 71 articles (53 published and 18 unpublished) that described 76 studies, 111 samples, and 294 effect sizes. We also examined 26 moderators. Overall, our findings show a consistent and statistically significant advantage of refutation texts over non-refutation texts in controlled experiments confronting scientific misconceptions. We also found that moderators neither enhanced nor diminished the impact of the refutation texts. We discuss the implications of using refutations in formal and informal science learning contexts and in science communications from three theoretical perspectives.

This study explores faculty beliefs about teaching and learning in different institutional settings and over time. This study surveyed faculty at two Canadian universities, one research-intensive, the other teaching-intensive, using a conceptual replication of a survey originally administered in 1976. Some results differ from the original survey, but most striking are the similarities. While much has changed in higher education over the last 40+ years, including demographic compositions at Canadian universities, the findings reveal the majority of faculty continue to believe: their teaching is very good or outstanding; it is difficult to reward good teaching; the responsibility for teaching quality rests with individual instructors; the most important motivator for teaching improvement is personal satisfaction; the most important ways to improve teaching are through updating course materials and reducing class sizes. These results provide further insights into why changes to teaching beliefs and in turn, teaching practices, are difficult to achieve.

Democracy and capitalism are two of the most consequential institutional systems in the world. However, their dynamic complexity, current turmoil, and evolution make them challenging to study. High-engagement teaching can bring the subjects alive, motivate student exploration, inform choices, animate sensible policy recommendations, and make a deep impression capable of recall well after the course. In this article, the author reviews why teaching about democracy and capitalism can be challenging, how high-engagement teaching can respond to the challenges, and what kinds of strategies and materials can promote high engagement. Case studies afford excellent opportunities for high-engagement instruction and for doing economic analysis in realistic contexts. The article concludes with a review of examples of cases that focus on data analysis and decision-making.

Oral care-related challenges are well documented in the autistic community. This review examined interventions designed to improve oral health in autistic individuals across the lifespan. Through a systematic process, 36 studies were identified which focused on improving home-based oral care skills and routines, and reducing fear, anxiety, and/or negative behaviors in the dental clinic. Studies incorporated preparatory interventions to support home-based hygiene activities or improve an approaching dental encounter (n = 29), most often using visual aids, and/or strategies to manage behavioral difficulties exhibited in the dental office (n = 17). Some studies used both approaches (n = 10), combining visual aids prior to a visit with behavior management in the dental office. Using an evidence-based rubric, methodological quality of most articles was only "adequate" (n = 8) or "weak" (n = 23). Findings provide preliminary support for preparatory home-based visual interventions to improve toothbrushing and/or ready patients for dental visits, and distraction or sensory-reducing interventions to improve experiences in the dental clinic. Only one study purposefully recruited autistic adults and no studies included intervention elements tailored to race/ethnicity, culture, and/or socioeconomic status. This review highlights the need for high-quality studies investigating the impact of oral care-related interventions for autistic individuals and identifies a gap in interventions for autistic adults and those from minoritized populations.

Just as children have fairly consistent attachment styles toward parents, we argue that parents have fairly consistent attachment styles toward children. It generally will be easiest for gifted children to develop their gifts and display them successfully if their parents were securely attached to them. But the children who have experienced insecure forms of attachment from their parents -- avoidant, anxious, or inconsistent/fearful -- may be able to turn these forms of insecure attachment into bases that actually enhance their creative work.

Background: Mental disorders most likely manifest during adolescence, providing opportunities for schools and professionals to implement standardized mental health literacy (MHL) interventions to support improvement of mental health outcomes. Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of an MHL intervention (the Guide) on knowledge, stigma, help-seeking and overall mental health among grade 8-9 students. Methods: We developed a longitudinal cohort study to evaluate the Guide among 523 students, delivered across subsequent grade levels within a Catholic school board in Canada. We utilized validated measures to assess mental health knowledge, stigma, help-seeking attitudes, and mental health across four time-points: baseline, end of grade 8, beginning of grade 9, and end of grade 9. Teachers undertook training to learn how to administer the intervention, utilize included teaching aids, and collect data. Results: Students demonstrated improvements on knowledge and stigma at all measurement intervals, however statistically significant differences in help-seeking and well-being outcomes were not observed. Discussion: This study suggests the plausibility of longer-term delivery of the Guide and similar resources in enhancing knowledge and reducing stigma among similar youth cohorts. Translation to Health Education Practice: Certified Health Education Specialists may adapt the Guide to accommodate youth mental health needs in different contexts.

Pedagogical agents are virtual characters that instructional designers include in learning environments to help students learn. Research in the area has flourished for thirty years, yet there are still critical questions about the efficacy of pedagogical agents for influencing learning and affect. As such, we conducted an umbrella review to synthesize the field. We located 17 systematic reviews or meta-analyses focused on the use of pedagogical agents in educational settings. We found that agents can have small positive effects on learning, motivation, and other affective variables. However, we still cannot say how one should design a pedagogical agent for any given educational context. We highlight the limitations of existing theory in the area, as well as existing reviews from a practical and methodological perspective, and highlight productive areas for future research.

With the growing importance of the United Nations' SDGs, many EFL textbooks addressing the goals have been developed. However, these textbooks generally discuss the applicability of the SDGs in Global South countries, and for university students in Japan, this has resulted in "SDG burnout," as they study the topic but often fail to find meaningful connections to the materials. This article builds on previous research into the efficacy of culturally familiar materials, and it takes SDG education in a new direction through the creation of materials in dialogue with social justice issues. Four lessons were created by the researchers, and as part of the post-reading assignment, learners had the autonomy to choose between culturally familiar or unfamiliar activities related to either the news or popular culture. A 6-point Likert scale was used to gauge student interest, which indicated that the inclusion of social justice issues may positively affect interest. A series of binomial tests revealed that learners preferred culturally familiar activities and activities related to the news. These findings provide important implications for teaching the SDGs as they suggest learners might be most receptive to culturally familiar materials that are based on the news and connected to issues of social justice.

In our Open Educational Resources (OER) advocacy work, we have encountered various challenges considering formulating a vision and policy on Open Education and implementing these visions and policies. Among these issues are a lack of proper definitions and terminology and lack of support for formulating and implementing a vision and policies for Open Education. To tackle these issues, two frameworks are proposed. One framework addresses the categorisation and definition of learning materials (including OER) within an educational ecosystem, emphasising the importance of distinguishing various types of resources. The other framework is meant to support defining a vision on Open Education in a specific context, bridging instrumental characteristics with value-driven goals. Several use cases are described to illustrate practical use of these frameworks. Both frameworks should provide clarity and practical guidance for stakeholders, from governments to individual educators, navigating the complexities of OER adoption and Open Education.

Field-based education is an integral component of undergraduate geoscience curricula and provides educational and social benefits associated with enhanced learning. But field excursions can too often end up as simple show-and-tell events and fall short of implementing effective teaching practices and achieving desired student learning gains. Moreover, logistical and economic pressures tend to discourage or create obstacles for the inclusion of field-based activities in undergraduate geoscience programs, especially in commuter-based colleges and universities. This case study shares how a one-day field trip offered at a commuter-based undergraduate campus of Indiana University was deconstructed to identify content-specific learning outcomes, and then reconstructed to a unit-based learning progression. The site-specific geologic content focused on describing and correlating outcrops of Paleozoic sedimentary strata in the Starved Rock area of Illinois. Shifting from a single-day field trip to a multi-session learning progression focused on instructional scaffolding and emphasized formative assessments that integrate cognitive learning theories including retrieval practice, elaboration, spaced practice and dual coding. Common practices of field geologists such as creating sketches of outcrops (dual-coding) were purposefully integrated as meaningful activities with opportunities for peer mentoring and reflection. Restructuring to a three-week unit included pre- and post-trip assessments to enable instructors to identify and address knowledge gaps and facilitate self-driven learning opportunities for students.

Utilizing a lottery-based natural experiment, this study assessed the longer-term impact of early colleges on postsecondary degree attainment. It found that early colleges significantly increased the overall degree completion and associate degree completion rates within 10 years of expected high school graduation. While the impact on bachelor's degree or advanced degree attainment was no longer significant 10 years after high school, results from earlier years suggest that early college students attained these degrees at a higher rate and faster pace than control students. This study also found that the early college impact on bachelor's degree attainment was significantly stronger for underrepresented minorities and that the impact on associate degree attainment was significantly stronger for students with higher prior achievement.

Advanced placement (AP) physics performance is an important metric for examining precollege student preparation for post-secondary study. The present study examined potential predictors of AP Physics 1 performance including gender, teacher, and school-level characteristics. A theoretical framework proposed teacher preparation and experiential variables are predictive of student outcomes, in addition to contextual variables that include demographics and academic offerings. Data showed that AP Physics 1 participants varied statistically from the overall high school population in terms of gender and ethnicity, with more women, White, and Asian students enrolled. AP Physics 1 teachers tended to be more experienced than other physics teachers. A multivariable linear regression model indicated significant negative predictors included female gender and socioeconomic status; the sole positive academic predictor was whether the school offered AP Chemistry. Notably, physics performance was not predicted by physics teacher characteristics including gender, certification type, years of experience, course load in physics, and isolation. Physics performance was also unrelated to school size, AP Physics enrollment, and access to AP Biology and Calculus. Results suggest that targeted resources should be identified to support teachers in high poverty schools, and training them to enact strategies that diminish gender achievement gaps.

Age of Acquisition (AoA) scores approximate the age at which a language speaker fully understands a word's semantic meaning and represent a quantitative measure of the relative difficulty of words in a language. AoA word lists exist across various languages, with English having the most complete lists that capture the largest percentage of the vocabulary. In contrast, other languages have smaller lists making large-scale analyses difficult. Given the usefulness of AoA scores, methods have been developed to leverage the use of Machine Learning models to estimate AoA scores automatically through Age of Exposure (AoE) scores for the entire vocabulary of a language. These generated AoE scores use simulated learning trajectories to evaluate properties similar to AoA. In this work, we propose a method that leverages the greater size of existing English AoA lists to improve the performance of AoE prediction models for other languages. Our main contributions are threefold. First, we introduce a novel AoE regression architecture that uses a Recurrent Neural Network applied to the simulated word exposure trajectories. Second, we consider word embeddings projected into a unified multilingual space. Third, we apply transfer learning on the English AoE regressor to improve the performance of non-English AoE regressors. We show that AoA lists across languages share inherent similarities that enable Machine Learning models to transfer insights from one language to another, thus diminishing the effect of the smaller sample sizes for non-English languages.

The aim of this article is to extend the explanatory power of Martin Thrupp's legacy within the framework of critical realism. Specifically, it argues that critical realism's methodological complement, the morphogenetic approach, provides a metatheoretical toolkit that can deepen and expand Thrupp's realist analysis of school contexts. The article elaborates on how the morphogenetic approach offers a stratified, temporally phased view of causality that integrates structure, agency, and culture (SAC). By foregrounding SAC, it argues for a layered and nuanced understanding of context in education policy analysis, refining Thrupp's conceptualisation of the constraints and opportunities available to school leaders. The article also delineates how the morphogenetic approach offers greater analytical precision in examining how emergent socio-cultural configurations condition agency and change within global educational systems, particularly through its positing of 'situational logics' that predispose agents towards specific courses of action. The final section outlines the potential of the morphogenetic approach for theorising the impact of globalised neoliberalism and managerialism on education, ultimately complementing and sharpening Thrupp's realist contextualism. The article concludes that Thrupp's contextual approach can be 'rebranded' through the morphogenetic framework, enhancing his realist analysis with a stratified understanding of how global neoliberal forces shape local educational contexts while offering strategies to resist managerialism and promote social justice.

This is the protocol for a Campbell systematic review. This review's objectives are to find out (in relation to health and/or social care): (1) What is known about the outcomes and impact of completing (or not completing) a professional doctorate in health and/or social care on the individual professional? (2) What is known about the outcome and impact of completing (or not completing) a professional doctorate in health and/or social care on the employing organisation? (3) What is known about the outcome and impact of completing (or not completing) a professional doctorate in health and/or social care on the profession? (4) What is known about the outcome and impact of completing (or not completing) a professional doctorate in health and/or social care on service users and the wider society? (5) How do we use the findings from this review to inform educators, higher education institutions, professionals, investors in employing organisations and policymakers? (6) What further research will be needed to answer any knowledge gaps or recommendations? (7) Where possible, we will identify and report on any demographic data and discuss their relevance to the impact and outcomes from professional doctorates.

In this paper, we consider the design of capstone courses to prepare university students for secondary school teaching professions in initial training. Our aim is to prepare prospective teachers to develop an approach for doing mathematics which they then impart to their pupils. This posture involves systematically questioning the mathematical work carried out, developing and clarifying general methods, and identifying links between the various aspects of the knowledge involved. This is not a research article as such, but presents a set of reflections and proposals in mathematics didactics. After summarising previous works on Klein's second discontinuity, we specify our aim in terms of the type of mathematical work to be conducted with students and their future pupils before summarizing our theoretical background on learning, practice and training. We then present various axes based on the hypotheses we have adopted regarding our objectives, meaningful representations of mathematics, and discourses fostering subsequent reinvestment. We outline a capstone course dedicated to Arithmetic for prospective French teachers following these principles. The conclusion sets out a discussion on further perspectives.

Intellectual functioning impacts defendants' competence to stand trial, though research on this population remains limited. This study replicated and advanced prior work, focusing on defendants' demographic, clinical, cognitive, and criminal justice variables and their association with length of hospitalization and restoration determinations. Participants were 74 male and female criminal defendants in a midwestern state who were adjudicated incompetent to stand trial, had a diagnosis related to intellectual deficits, and completed competency restoration. Most defendants (83.7%) were restored to competency. Demographic factors were unrelated to restoration outcomes; violence of alleged offense predicted shorter hospitalization. Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve analyses determined an IQ score cut-off of 63.5 for which participants were of greater likelihood to be determined restored, providing guidance on the likelihood of restoration for defendants with intellectual disability related diagnoses. Specifically, this score can be used with clinical data to inform competency determinations for defendants with cognitive deficits.

Depression is common among autistic youth and is associated with worse quality of life in this group. Despite significant need for high-quality efficacious treatments, there has been very limited research on interventions for depression in autistic youth. This single-arm pilot study examined the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a novel, behavior-based approach for treatment of depression symptoms in autistic adolescents without intellectual disability (i.e. Behavioral Activation for Autistic Adolescents, BA-A). BA-A is an individually delivered manualized 12-session treatment that utilizes established BA strategies and incorporates common mental health treatment adaptations for autistic young people. Of the 18 youth (11-16 years old) who enrolled, 15 completed all 12 treatment sessions, as well as pre-treatment, post-treatment, and follow-up assessment visits. Clinician treatment fidelity was quite high. Paired sample t-tests found that depression symptoms decreased pre- to post-BA-A according to multiple informants (i.e. self, caregiver, and independent evaluator), and treatment gains were maintained at 1-month follow-up. Paired sample t-tests also found that caregiver-reported anxiety symptoms and social skills improved pre-treatment to post-treatment. The results, although preliminary, indicate that BA-A may improve depression symptoms in autistic youth without intellectual disability. Furthermore, these promising findings suggest that a randomized controlled trial of BA-A is warranted.

Over the last decade or so, the rate of growth of academic publications involving discussion of 'citizen science' and 'community science', and similar variants, has risen exponentially. These fluid terms, with no fixed definition, cover a continuum of public participation within a range of scientific activities. It is, therefore, apposite and timely to examine the evolving typologies of citizen science and community science and to ask how particular disciplinary actors are shaping content and usage. Do certain approaches to citizen science and community science activity remain siloed within specific disciplines or do some approaches resonate more widely? In this study, we use mixed methods--bibliometric and textual analysis--to chart the changing academic interpretations of this scientific activity over time. We then ask what these analyses mean for the future direction of academic research into citizen science and community science. The results suggest that, while certain disciplinary-based interpretations have been particularly influential in the past, a more epistemically mixed array of academic interests than was previously evident are currently determining expectations of what citizen science and community science should look like and what they can be expected to deliver.

This study examined the perceived preparedness of educators working in Title 1 schools to address the mental health needs of students. Data were gathered from educators (defined as teachers and other school personnel; N = 299) employed by eight Title 1 public schools within one district in Florida, most of whom were K-5 teachers (n = 199). Participants completed measures of perceived role breadth (i.e., the degree to which they believe that attending to mental health needs is part of their role as an educator), self-efficacy in addressing student mental health needs, and attitudes toward trauma-informed care principles and ideals. Results showed that participants had a relatively high average score on the role breadth measure [M = 4.31 on a scale from 1 (low) to 5 (high)], indicating that they believe their role includes responsibility not only for student learning but also for attending to the mental health of students. Scores on the self-efficacy measure showed a moderate level of confidence in addressing the mental health needs of students [M = 3.08 on a scale from 1 (low) to 4 (high)], although there was variability in mean levels of confidence across different types of tasks. In terms of attitudes toward trauma-informed care, participants showed moderately positive attitudes on the ARTIC-10 [M = 5.05 on a scale from 1 (low) to 7 (high)]. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relation between the outcome variable of attitudes toward trauma-informed care and the following predictor variables: school, role (teacher vs. non-teacher), role breadth, and self-efficacy. Results showed that role breadth and self-efficacy were significant and positive predictors (p < 0.01) of attitudes toward trauma-informed care. Implications for school-level trauma initiatives are discussed.

Background: Although the literature on education and learning sciences determined how student identities influence their experiential learning process, this link is less clear in the agricultural context, where farmers have faced unique value chain challenges i.e., production to marketing. Purpose: This study contributes to examining how farmers' role identities support or hamper farmers' experiential learning processes. Methodology: First, a qualitative analysis of 91 interviews with coffee farmers in Uganda was carried out to understand the nature and relevance of farmers' role identities. Second, using partial least squares regression-based path analysis, the moderating effect of 214 coffee farmers' production role identity on their experiential learning was assessed. Findings: Findings reveal that farmers' identification as coffee farmers shape what, how, and when they learn from their value chain challenges. Farmers' role identity, in particular, supports their reflection on past challenges to increase their challenge-solving knowledge, as well as experimentation to solve their challenges. Implications: This study integrates role identity theories in the study of learning processes in rural coffee value chains. Moreover, the findings suggest that agricultural extension workers should understand farmers' identities and their influence on their learning to select the targets and developments of their training programs.

Our contribution draws on quantitative data from a longitudinal mixed-methods study to uncover different patterns of social contacts of study abroad (SA) students and the relationship of these social contacts with (a) language use, (b) target language development, and (c) contextual variables. Data were obtained by means of online questionnaires pre, during, and post sojourn. English oral proficiency gains were measured using the Oral Proficiency Interview by Computer (OPIc) test before and after the stay. Latent profile analysis yielded four profiles of social contacts, which differed in terms of the degree of integration into the community of locals or international students. Students with distinct profiles differ significantly with respect to language use but not in terms of language gains. Regression analyses indicate that comparable progress in oral proficiency was made by students across profiles of social contacts and also by those in an English as a lingua franca (ELF) context suggesting that different SA context and networking patterns are conducive to second language (L2) gains.

This paper evaluates and critiques a recent restructuring initiative for a college at a Midwestern university in the United States in which three academic departments were reduced down to two departments. The case study presents the experiences and perspectives of three faculty members-- one from each of those departments--who participated in the restructuring process. The paper first introduces the current challenges and complexities in Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) which initiate and influence restructuring efforts After laying out the context of our case study, we examine faculty perceptions of the purpose, the plan, and the process of restructuring through an interpretive phenomenological case study analysis using Putnam and Nicotera's (2009) Communicative Constitution of Organization (CCO) as a theoretical framework. The findings are presented as three integrated themes including the importance of a clear and purposeful rationale, maintenance of consistent communication and organization, and an ethical commitment to faculty voice and choice. The ethical implications for each theme are discussed and recommendations for restructuring initiatives are offered. The results of this study will help inform restructuring initiatives in colleges and universities with a particular emphasis on characteristics of effective, ethical leadership and the value of strong communicative elements when engaging in restructuring.

Background: We are a research team of clinical, academic and advocacy-based researchers with and without learning disabilities, working on the "Humanising Healthcare" (for people with learning disabilities) project. The project is dedicated to finding and sharing healthcare practices that enhance the lives of people with learning disabilities. As part of our ethics applications to access National Health Service study sites for fieldwork, we worked together to write guiding principles for co-producing research ethics with researchers with learning disabilities. In this paper, we introduce these Participatory Ethics Good Practice Guidelines and reflect on our collaboration. Methods: We reflect on developing the Participatory Ethics Good Practice Guidelines. These guidelines were developed during online co-production meetings with our full research team, including advocacy-based organisation researchers, clinical researchers and university researchers. We considered consent, understanding research, and understanding research methods during the development of these Guidelines. Findings: We present ten guidelines for co-producing research with people with learning disabilities. Conclusions: Our findings may be helpful to researchers with learning disabilities, university and clinical researchers, funders, and those who work in research governance (e.g., ethics committees and university research departments).

Administrative burden, or the frictions individuals experience in accessing public programs, has implications for whether and which eligible individuals receive aid. While prior research documents barriers to accessing federal financial aid, less is known about the extent to which state aid programs impose administrative burden, how administrative burden varies across aid programs, or how administrative burden relates to target populations. This study examines administrative burden in 23 state aid programs in Tennessee. We find programs targeting less-advantaged students (technical and community college students) had lower burdens than programs where aid could be used in the four-year sector or across sectors. The state's only program explicitly targeting racially minoritized students had a significantly higher burden than other aid programs. Programs targeting more-advantaged students (merit-aid programs, students at four-year colleges and universities) had similar burdens relative to other programs. We discuss implications for designing more equitable and effective state aid programs.

Background: Gestures are an integral component in human-to-human communication when the speaker is visually present to the listener. In the past several years, research has examined how computer-generated pedagogical agents can be designed to perform the four main gesture types and what this means for agent persona and learning outcomes. The research into agent gesturing has only explored gestures without other presentation strategies such as visual aids or verbal redundancy to properly explore the impact of gestures, and to avoid overly "rich" displays of information. Objective: The objective of this study is to explore the use of static images and varying frequencies of gestures to assess whether two visual inputs increases the risk of the split-attention effect, and to investigate the potential for visual redundancy when two visual inputs coincide with narration. Data on cognitive load, agent persona, and learning outcomes (recall and transfer) will be collected to measure participants' learning experience while acquiring procedural knowledge, specifically regarding the principles of lightning, in comparison to previous research. Method: A mixed methods approach consisted of three gesture frequency conditions (enhanced, average, no) with 118 participants. Quantitative data were analysed using a random-effect linear regression model; whereas qualitative data was collected through individual interviews that lasted 15-20 min. Results and Conclusions: The use of enhanced gesture frequency and images may significantly increase intrinsic cognitive load, but gestures and images do not cause extraneous cognitive load. The enhanced gesture condition significantly outperformed the no-gesture condition. Interviews indicated that depending upon the gesture condition, students selectively attended to information that they perceived as offering them the greatest learning opportunity. Using two visual inputs does not cause split-attention, nor does it provide evidence of a visual redundancy effect.