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Rising student attrition, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has resulted in increased calls for higher education officials to better understand factors associated with increasing persistence rates, especially from the first- to second year of college. Though many studies have documented the influence of the frequency of student–faculty interactions on student persistence, less research has focused on the quality of those interactions, including potential mediating influences. To address these issues, this study used longitudinal data from 8,475 students among 44 four-year institutions to explore whether the quality of student–faculty interactions influences student persistence and whether student satisfaction mediates this relationship. Guided by theoretical models of persistence, we found that even in the presence of a range of potential confounders, students’ perceived quality of student–faculty interactions increased the odds of persistence to the second year of college. Furthermore, results from a Karlson–Holm–Breen (KHB) decomposition analysis suggest this relationship occurred indirectly through students’ satisfaction with the overall college experience.

Drawing upon Lareau's (2011) work on social class and family life, this study explored social-class differences in children's cognitive outcomes from the United States and Scotland—two nations that share a policy emphasis on parental engagement to reduce the achievement gap. At the same time, the two countries differ in the extent to which such policy orientations are enforced, in the overall levels of socioeconomic inequality, and in the form and extent of welfare support for families and children. We find that parental endeavors are not unequivocally associated with children's outcomes. Findings from our decomposition analyses indicate that some practices of concerted cultivation are positively associated with children's outcomes but that the strength and direction of the relation often depend on children's social background. Moreover, social-class differences in parenting practices are more pronounced and more often statistically significant in the United States than in Scotland.

In undergraduate life sciences education, open educational resources (OERs) increase accessibility and retention for students, reduce costs, and save instructors time and effort. Despite increasing awareness and utilization of these resources, OERs are not centrally located, and many undergraduate instructors describe challenges in locating relevant materials for use in their classes. To address this challenge, we have designed a resource collection (referred to as Open Resources for Biology Education, ORBE) with 89 unique resources that are primarily relevant to undergraduate life sciences education. To identify the resources in ORBE, we asked undergraduate life sciences instructors to list what OERs they use in their teaching and curated their responses. Here, we summarize the contents of the ORBE and describe how educators can use this resource as a tool to identify suitable materials to use in their classroom context. By highlighting the breadth of unique resources openly available for undergraduate biology education, we intend for the ORBE to increase instructors' awareness and use of OERs.

Extensive research examines the development and impact of deficit discourse in schools. However, more research needs to be needed to explore how preservice teachers use this language during their preparation. Therefore, our qualitative study explored how deficit discourse became part of five preservice teachers' vernacular when speaking about children and teaching. Findings suggest participants (a) Relied on reductive labels to describe children, (b) attributed their use of these labels to their exposure to them during their practicum, and (c) demonstrated both cognitive dissonance and silent resistance toward deficit language. Implications are for teacher educators and school leaders.

The role of secondary education is critical to preparing graduates for adulthood. This study explored the transition experiences of high school graduates and factors that impacted their preparation for adulthood. This descriptive study focused on the experiences of degree and non-degree-seeking graduates. Surveys were distributed to students enrolled in a general education course at a state university and marketing research participants not enrolled in post-secondary programs. The survey sought to identify overall preparedness, responsibilities deemed necessary to teach in high school, and influence factors that prepared them for adulthood. The overall findings displayed that graduates seeking degrees felt more prepared for adulthood. While both groups agreed that many adulthood-responsibility topics should be taught, degree-seekers found less value in teaching parenting skills in a high school class despite identifying that parents have a more significant impact on preparing them for adulthood. Researchers recommend that in addition to college and career-ready curricula, instruction should include preparation topics that align with 21st-century markers that better support non-degree-seeking graduates toward successful transitions into adulthood.

When compared with bacteria, relatively little is known about the restriction–modification (RM) systems of archaea, particularly those in taxa outside of the haloarchaea. To improve our understanding of archaeal RM systems, we surveyed REBASE, the restriction enzyme database, to catalog what is known about the genes and activities present in the 519 completely sequenced archaeal genomes currently deposited there. For 49 (9.4%) of these genomes, we also have methylome data from Single-Molecule Real-Time (SMRT) sequencing that reveal the target recognition sites of the active m6A and m4C DNA methyltransferases (MTases). The gene-finding pipeline employed by REBASE is trained primarily on bacterial examples and so will look for similar genes in archaea. Nonetheless, the organizational structure and protein sequence of RM systems from archaea are highly similar to those of bacteria, with both groups acquiring systems from a shared genetic pool through horizontal gene transfer. As in bacteria, we observe numerous examples of “persistent” DNA MTases conserved within archaeal taxa at different levels. We experimentally validated two homologous members of one of the largest “persistent” MTase groups, revealing that methylation of C(m5C)WGG sites may play a key epigenetic role in Crenarchaea. Throughout the archaea, genes encoding m6A, m4C, and m5C DNA MTases, respectively, occur in approximately the ratio 4:2:1.

Early experiences in STEM education can contribute to positive cognitive development in young children. When students have the opportunities to play, inquire, follow their interests/curiosities, develop STEM identities, be creative, and operate within concrete/contextualized STEM explorations, they will experience expansive cognitive growth. Cognitive benefits include expanded thought capacity, increased creativity, better problem-solving abilities, a developing capacity for research, better exploration processes, and better observational powers. Implications for practice and recommendations for educators are discussed.

This article uses the Stephen Crane story "The Open Boat" (freely available on the American English website) as an anchor text to demonstrate how teachers can apply Raphael's Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) technique to a text that students might be assigned to read. The article includes numerous examples and tips that teachers can use to adapt the technique to other texts as a way to enhance student engagement and interest in reading.

This article explores international students' experiences in their graduate STEM programs at predominantly white US institutions through in-depth qualitative interviews and thematic analysis. International students reported encountering social and cultural barriers with American peers and sometimes even with other international students. These barriers include language, popular cultural, and social norms. Some students, who were less culturally represented in their cohorts, felt isolated but later found other people outside of their departments, often people from their same cultural background. The experiences of our participants varied by the representation of their culture in their departments, where students from less represented countries experienced more isolation. Connections to current acculturation theory will be discussed, as well as further implications and possible solutions for increasing intercultural exchanges.

Work-integrated learning experiences of LGBTQIA+ students are rarely considered, with no specific consideration of paramedic students in this context. Students' perceptions of WIL and the challenges associated with navigating the off-campus clinical setting have highlighted the need for a sense of belongingness, safety and security, and a healthy self-concept. The present study piloted a 37-question online survey with participants from six paramedic programs from metropolitan and regional Australian universities in 2021. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 participants from three universities, with participants selected from both metropolitan and regional universities. A mixed method approach was used to guide the data collection and analysis. Data were interpreted to suggest that paramedic students are unlikely to be open about their gender identity and/or sexual orientation with WIL staff for fear of discrimination. Study limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.

This paper reports data from a study investigating the nature of student-teacher interactions in elementary classrooms. These data suggest that while teacher candidates approach their work with school-aged children as a form of negotiation, teachers engage in negotiation with children in a variety of ways to meet a wide range and professional needs. These findings provide direction for teacher educators who support teacher candidates in developing an increased repertoire of interactional strategies that support student learning and teacher efficacy.

Elasticity, the capacity for students to explore or investigate their own questions of interest during or after teacher-directed events in the classroom, is highly beneficial for students in terms of their retention and deeper understanding of the content. An elastic environment is child-centered and inquiry-based. An inelastic environment (teacher-directed) results in students refraining from asking, investigating, or exploring their interests/curiosities. Teachers' perceptions of their classroom environments become an important consideration when evaluating their ability to enact elastic explorations. In this pilot study, teachers (two separate public-school districts) completed surveys describing perceptions of elasticity in their classrooms. Results indicate teachers' high value for elasticity in learning, inquiry-based investigating, and authentic student questioning. However, most teachers describe their environments as highly inelastic due to multiple barriers including time, standards, testing, stress, and a lack of training. The authors discuss potential pathways for increasing elastic environments including teacher training, professional development, and administrative support. The authors also discuss the relationship between teachers' beliefs and developing an elastic classroom environment.

This study aimed to assess the impact of increased student interactions with academic advisors on several student success metrics. Conducted at a large, multicampus, community college with more than 34,000 students, it categorized students into three groups based on the frequency of completed advising appointments. Using fall 2022 to spring 2023 institutional data, the study revealed a robust association between advising frequency and four success metrics. Increased advising appointment frequency was associated with higher persistence rates, earlier spring 2023 registration activity, increased attempted credits for spring 2023, and increased completed credits during fall 2022. This research expands upon existing advising literature surrounding the outcomes of student-advisor contacts with a central focus on community colleges.

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which impostor feelings and selected demographic variables predict burnout among undergraduate music education majors. Participants (N = 143) completed the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory for Students. Overall, participants reported relatively high levels of impostor feelings and burnout. Results of multiple regression analyses revealed that CIPS score and year in school significantly predicted exhaustion and cynicism. Participants with higher CIPS scores (more frequent impostor feelings) and more years in school experienced greater exhaustion and cynicism. Descriptive analyses indicated that upper-division and band students experienced more cynicism than lower-division and choral/string/general music education majors, respectively. CIPS score was the only variable that significantly predicted professional efficacy. Participants with lower CIPS scores rated themselves higher in professional efficacy.

Purpose: The purpose of this systematic literature review is to examine policy and practice recommendations, along with calls for future research, aimed at addressing food insecurity for community colleges across the U.S. Argument/Proposed Model: This article will provide a detailed methodology for the systematic literature review, as well as the findings gathered from a range of peer-reviewed articles on this topic. The authors analyzed six significant themes that surfaced from the current literature related to policy and practice at the federal, state, local, and institutional levels. Conclusions/Contributions: Six chief themes are discussed in-depth, including but not limited to: important tools and approaches for marketing and communications, data-driven decision-making, and the augmentation of food support with other public benefits and institutional resources. These thematic findings address the issue of food insecurity on community college campuses, and also offer a range of techniques and areas for consideration. This systematic literature review offers a compilation of policy and practice recommendations steeped in actionable strategies for researchers, policymakers, campus leaders, and practitioners alike. The strategies can be implemented and/or tailored to meet the needs and nuances of any community college population.

This scoping review fills the gap on key characteristics of interventions and trainings for direct support workforce (DSW) of adults across disabilities and aging adults. We included quantitative and qualitative studies examining the impact of interventions in home and community-based settings in the United States or internationally and published in English since 1990. We initially identified 2,551 titles and completed final data extraction on 65 articles. Most of the studies were quantitative. The interventions reviewed were diverse, including Active support, Positive Behavior Support, and DSW stress reduction. We concluded that there is a need to conduct high-quality research focused on DSW well-being and their feeling of being valued to inform the field on how to best select and retain them.

At many research-intensive universities in North America, there is a disproportionate loss of minoritized undergraduate students from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors. Efforts to confront this diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) challenge, such as faculty adoption of evidenced-based instructional approaches that promote student success, have been slow. Instructional and pedagogical change efforts at the academic department level have been demonstrated to be effective at enacting reform. One potential strategy is to embed change agent individuals within STEM departments that can drive change efforts. This study seeks to assess whether tenure-track, teaching-focused faculty housed in STEM departments are perceived as influential on the instructional and pedagogical domains of their colleagues. To answer this, individuals across five STEM departments at large, research-intensive campuses identified faculty who were influential upon six domains of their instruction and pedagogy. Social network analysis of individuals in these departments revealed heterogeneity across the instructional domains. Some, like the teaching strategies network, are highly connected and involve the majority of the department; while others, like the DEI influence network, comprise a significantly smaller population of faculty. Importantly, we demonstrate that tenure-track, teaching-focused faculty are influential across all domains of instruction, but are disproportionately so in the sparsely populated DEI influence networks.

Cohort scheduling intentionally places students in the same sections of several classes (e.g., biology, algebra, and writing) with a consistent peer group and is typically done for small groups (<30 students) to enable better interaction among students. The goal of this study was to compare cohort scheduling to traditional scheduling methods among freshmen in a physiology-related program. Outcomes included retention to the university and major, semester grades, and institutional integration and perceived group cohesion. Incoming freshmen (n = 209) were randomized into control (n = 43; scheduled with traditional methods) and intervention (n = 166; coenrolled in first-year seminar course, biology, and medical terminology) groups. Outcomes were collected via surveys or requested from the university registrar. There was no significant difference in the likelihood of retention to the university or major and no differences between groups in pass/fail rates for the first-year seminar or biology courses. At the end of the semester, there were no differences between groups in Perceived Cohesion for Small Groups (P = 0.102) or the Institutional Integration Scale (P = 0.357). However, the intervention group scored higher on the Institutional Integration Scale's subscales related to social integration and faculty. Cohort scheduling did not impact retention to the university or major but improved secondary outcomes related to retention, specifically social integration and student perceptions of faculty.

Developmental monitoring/screening predict early identified autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but studies have not yet robustly controlled for a key health care service impacting early identification: medical home. National Surveys of Children's Health (NSCH; 2016-2020) were used to determine the relationship between medical home, developmental monitoring/screening, and identified ASD. NSCH overall medical home variable had a minimal relationship with ASD (under 5 years of age, under 5 identified in last year, under 5 identified over a year prior). Usual source of care was positively, and care coordination negatively, associated with ASD identified in last year, suggesting the overall medical home variable may mask variance from subscales. Research is needed to determine how medical home relates to identification in applied settings.

While extensive quantitative research has shed light on the cognitive mechanisms of dyslexia, few mixed-methods studies have been conducted to examine the perceptions of and attitudes towards learning in children with dyslexia, especially in Hong Kong, a bilingual context. In addition, the validity of the metaphor elicitation technique, which was adopted in previous interview studies, has not yet been examined in children. Therefore, 30 children with dyslexia (age range: 8-13; 10 females) in Hong Kong were interviewed for metaphors regarding six domains: Chinese reading, Chinese writing, having Chinese lessons, English reading, solving maths problems, and dyslexia. Word reading fluency and parent-rated learning interest and confidence were measured to validate the use of the metaphor elicitation method in assessing children's reading attitudes in both Chinese and English using correlation analyses. Perceptions were examined by way of qualitative analyses based on the metaphor entailments. Results showed that children who expressed more positive attitudes towards English reading performed better in English reading. Moreover, the attitudes also positively correlated with the corresponding parents' ratings. These findings suggested that the metaphor elicitation technique is a valid method for assessing attitudes towards English reading in children with dyslexia. Furthermore, their perceptions of dyslexia and learning generally corresponded to those from previous interview studies despite differences in languages and contexts. Importantly, descriptions related to multiple themes, including metalinguistic awareness, cognitive skills, coping strategies, and dyslexia, were well-aligned with scientific findings, demonstrating that children already have a good understanding of dyslexia and various learning domains.

High-impact practices (HIPs), such as undergraduate research, first-year seminars, and learning communities, have been shown to generally advance college student success. However, there are often disparities in access, participation, and outcomes between white and racially/ethnically minoritized students. While scholars have critiqued HIPs and provided alternative approaches to better serve minoritized students, we know little about how federally funded programs aiming to broaden participation can serve as a mechanism advance equity. Drawing on the literature, we developed an equity-minded HIP framework to critically examine the prominence and characteristics of 38 programs aiming to broaden participation in undergraduate US STEM education funded by the National Science Foundation. We conducted a systematic examination of multimodal data from the STEM for All Multiplex repository. Findings reveal most programs included only one to two HIPs, with undergraduate research being most prominent followed by internships. Most programs included only a few elements of equity-minded design, such as providing students additional resources and faculty training, and implemented HIPs to include peer and faculty interactions. Last, most programs utilized cognitive, psychosocial, or sociocultural measures to assess the benefits to students. Only a few measured equity-mined outcomes pertaining to institutional change such as policies, resources, and practices. We highlight two exemplar programs and offer recommendations for researchers and funders to more effectively implement equity-minded HIPs to broaden participation in undergraduate STEM education.

Background: Despite the increased risk for people with an intellectual disability developing dementia, post-diagnostic psychosocial supports such as cognitive stimulation therapy (CST) are not routinely offered and there is limited research examining this intervention with people with intellectual disabilities. The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of CST for older adults with intellectual disability to support active ageing. Methods: Five client participants attended a 14-session CST group and four staff attended a focus group. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to investigate the client and staff narratives. Results: Three key themes were generated--(1) Brain Health, (2) Connecting with others, and (3) Barriers and Enablers. Conclusion: Findings indicated the suitability of CST as a way of supporting active ageing for older adults with intellectual disability. This study adds to the growing knowledge about service provision for older adults and their changing needs as they age and identifies clinical implications such as staff training to support intervention adherence.

Background: Valid and reliable instruments for measuring emotional development are critical for a proper diagnostic assignment in individuals with intellectual disabilities. This exploratory study examined the psychometric properties of the items on the Scale of Emotional Development--Short (SED-S). Method: The sample included 612 adults with intellectual disabilities (M[subscript age = 37.35, SD[subscript age] = 13.27; 59.8% males). Item validity analysis comprising sensitivity and specificity rates and discriminatory power were determined. Results: The relative mean frequency of 'yes' answers to all 200 items was 29.5%. The mean sensitivity rate was 67.5% and the mean specificity rate was 79.3%. Most items (85.0%) showed good discriminatory power with the adjacent stage(s), especially between SED-1, SED-2, SED-3 and SED-4. Particularly in SED-4 some items showed weaknesses in the differentiation between these stages. Discussion: This study adds to previous validation studies by showing that most SED-S items have psychometrically sound properties.

A survey completed by 22 literacy clinic directors indicated that clinics share beliefs and instructional practices. Literacy clinics provide a context in which children are taught to read and write by clinicians who are training to be literacy teachers. As best practices in reading instruction are debated, effective clinical assessment and instructional practices have endured. Using a student-centered approach, literacy clinics help students become engaged, confident, and capable readers. Research results identified four themes: "multiple literacy components, affective factors, a cyclical assessment and instruction process, and clinician and student agency." The article connects these themes and gives examples of the application of the themes for classroom instruction and assessment practices.

Despite research indicating evidence-based sexual health education results improved student outcomes, students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) do not typically receive sexual health education. While school psychologists possess skills that could contribute to sexual health education for students with I/DD, there is no existing research on this topic. To address this, we conducted a survey of school psychologists in a state in the Southeastern United States regarding their attitudes, perceptions of social norm and self-efficacy, and training and familiarity in regard to sexual health education for students with I/DD. The survey's focus and design were guided by the Reasoned Action Approach. Data collection and analyzes addressed (a) the underlying structure and internal consistency of our survey's scales; (b) school psychologists' level of training, knowledge, and beliefs about implementing sexual health education programs with students with I/DD; and (c) the relationship between school psychologists' previous training, knowledge, and beliefs and their implementation of and advocacy for sexual health education for students with I/DD. Descriptive statistics, principal component analyzes, and multiple regression were used to summarize the data and address the research questions. Data from the multiple regression analysis indicated that a significant amount of the variance in participants' implementation/advocacy scores was explained by attitude, social norms, behavioral control/self-efficacy, and training/familiarity. Our findings suggest that school psychologists' engagement in implementation of and advocacy for sexual health education for students with I/DD can be influenced by level of training and knowledge and perceived capability and behavioral control.

In this article, I argue that the scalability and effectiveness of universal school-based mindfulness interventions for adolescents will always be limited by the high motivational commitment required to meditate. Mindfulness interventions rely on a single and demanding health behavior--namely, meditation--to cultivate mindfulness skills. But unlike traditional mindfulness interventions delivered in clinics to self-selected adults who are motivated to manage personal problems through meditation, universal school-based mindfulness interventions are delivered to all adolescents regardless of their desire to meditate. I review evidence from multiple randomized controlled trials of universal school-based mindfulness interventions to show that adolescents consistently report low levels of engagement in meditation and that many interventions have failed to improve adolescents' mental health. I propose that universal mindfulness interventions eliminate meditation entirely and focus on instilling contemplative viewpoints conducive to flourishing, and that the skill of mindfulness is taught only to adolescents who want to meditate.

Background: Locomotor and object control skills are considered essential skills for children to learn due to their potential impact in aiding in future healthenhancing physical activity. Evidence indicates that out-of-school time programs (OST) can provide meaningful movement opportunities for children. It has been found that leaders of OST programs are not equipped with the proper training to improve children's motor skills. The purpose of this study was to gather expert consensus on the essential motor skills that should be practiced and evidence-based activities that should be integrated during OST programming. Methods: A three-round Delphi method was used to establish expert consensus on essential motor skills that children (5-10 years of age) should practice and evidence-based activities that should be integrated during OST programming to enhance child motor skill development. Results: Seven experts completed three rounds, and consensus was established (>70% agreement). Five essential motor skills were identified: overhand throwing, kicking, catching, jumping, and striking. Six evidence-based activities were agreed upon: team sport play, racket sports, swimming, resistance training, jogging/walking, and game-based approaches. Conclusion: Results from this study provide specific motor skills and evidence-based activities that program leaders could integrate during OST programming to enhance child motor skill development.

Studies indicate that racial disparities in STEM achievement or equity grade gaps are associated with faculty fixed mindset beliefs; however, whether specific instructional beliefs are linked to student academic achievement remains unclear. We surveyed 216 STEM faculty to assess their mindset and instructional beliefs and linked these to detailed student transcript data (n = 31,361). Results reveal that faculty with fixed mindset beliefs also endorsed more traditional instructional beliefs regarding assessment, grading, and diversity. Further, the endorsement of these beliefs was associated with larger equity grade gaps. Analysis of faculty characteristics indicate that male faculty, full professors, and instructors in Physical Sciences tended to hold instructional beliefs that are linked to larger equity grade gaps.

Helping student service members and veterans (SSM/Vs) earn a college degree is central to supporting them post-service. Yet, this generation of SSM/Vs faces challenges in higher education, including problems adapting, poor health, and administrative constraints, contributing to worsened academic outcomes and a sense of isolation on campus. This monograph synthesizes research on the challenges facing SSM/Vs. It also frames common aspects of successful programs aiding SSM/Vs as three areas for intervention: how administrators and faculty can create a welcoming campus for SSM/Vs; ways universities can create support systems for SSM/V social, health, and academic success; and engaging community partnerships to enable these efforts. Whether SSM/Vs overcome their challenges and unlock their strengths is contingent on opportunities provided within the school itself, and by its faculty, administrators, students, and community. Central to these efforts should be the goal of inclusivity enhancement, community building, and reduction of health-related dysfunction among SSM/Vs.

Student attrition from STEM disciplines is one of the most pressing issues in higher education. To better understand the causes of this attrition, this study examines STEM students' college experiences and uncovers their perspectives on the existing support systems with a specific focus on the role of academic advising. Our research reveals that students from a particular STEM major identified academic advising as problematic, serving as one of the main factors pushing them out of the major, while the STEM major they transferred to did not have this issue. We examined whether this difference was also evident in the perspectives of the student affairs offices by interviewing academic counselors. This research emphasizes the responsibility of academic counselors in students' decisions to leave STEM majors and the importance of care in their work. The findings suggest a need for STEM departments to re-assess academic advising philosophies and practices while creating more supportive learning environments.

This study investigated the prevalence, and the developmental, behavior and emotional outcomes of 675 preschoolers with ASD with or without a history of regression, who participated in the Study to Explore Early Development (SEED). The SEED project is a cross-sectional case-control study that collected data between 2007 and 2011. Children's history of regression, adaptive skills, and behavior problems were assessed using the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-Second Edition (Vineland-2), and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), respectively; and children's developmental levels were assessed using the Mullen Scales of Learning (MSEL). Findings from this study indicated that 26% of children experienced social and language regression, and of those with regression, 76% had regained lost skills upon completion of the study. Compared to children without a history of regression, children with social regression demonstrated increased internalizing problems and decreased fine motor skills, and children with language regression demonstrated poorer language skills. Also, children with language and social regression displayed poorer adaptive communication skills than children without regression. Children who experienced regression in one area of development demonstrated better outcomes than those who experience regression in multiple areas. To conclude, children with regression are at risk for poorer outcomes during their preschool years.

This paper is an adapted version of the Brian Nettleton Lecture given at the Outdoors Victoria Conference, 2022. It explores how the last two decades have seen an ever-accelerating Digital Revolution which has impacted on almost every aspect of human experience to the point that it is now omnipresent. Life is now mediated through the screen. As a result, children and young people have become hyper-vigilant, overly anxious, experience a sense of climate trauma, and have decreasing access to, and time spent in, the outdoors. In addition, children have just experienced two years of isolation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and evidence suggests that they are already experiencing significant mental health issues as a result. This paper considers the implications of this for Outdoors Victoria and Outdoor Education.

Low-stakes test performance commonly reflects examinee ability and effort. Examinees exhibiting low effort may be identified through rapid guessing behavior throughout an assessment. There has been a plethora of methods proposed to adjust scores once rapid guesses have been identified, but these have been plagued by strong assumptions or the removal of examinees. In this study, we illustrate how an IRTree model can be used to adjust examinee ability for rapid guessing behavior. Our approach is flexible as it does not assume independence between rapid guessing behavior and the trait of interest (e.g., ability) nor does it necessitate the removal of examinees who engage in rapid guessing. In addition, our method uniquely allows for the simultaneous modeling of a disengagement latent trait in addition to the trait of interest. The results indicate the model is quite useful for estimating individual differences among examinees in the disengagement latent trait and in providing more precise measurement of examinee ability relative to models ignoring rapid guesses or accommodating it in different ways. A simulation study reveals that our model results in less biased estimates of the trait of interest for individuals with rapid responses, regardless of sample size and rapid response rate in the sample. We conclude with a discussion of extensions of the model and directions for future research.

Abstract A rising incidence of meningococcal serogroup W disease has been evident in many countries worldwide. Serogroup W isolates belonging to the sequence type (ST)-11 clonal complex have been associated with atypical symptoms and increased case fatality rates. The continued expansion of this clonal complex in the later part of the 2010s has been largely due to a shift from the so-called original UK strain to the 2013 strain. Here we used single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing to determine the methylomes of the two major serogroup W strains belonging to ST-11 clonal complex. Five methylated motifs were identified in this study, and three of the motifs, namely 5′-GATC-3′, 5′-GAAGG-3′, 5′-GCGCGC-3′, were found in all 13 isolates investigated. The results showed no strain-specific motifs or difference in active restriction modification systems between the two strains. Two phase variable methylases were identified and the enrichment or depletion of the methylation motifs generated by these methylases varied between the two strains. Results from this work give further insight into the low diversity of methylomes in highly related strains and encourage further research to decipher the role of regions with under- or overrepresented methylation motifs.

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation responses of extremophilic and archaeal microorganisms are of interest from evolutionary, physiological, and astrobiological perspectives. Previous studies determined that the halophilic archaeon, Halobacterium sp. NRC-1, which survives in multiple extremes, is highly tolerant of UV radiation. Here, Halobacterium sp. NRC-1 UV tolerance was compared to taxonomically diverse Haloarchaea isolated from high-elevation salt flats, surface warm and cold hypersaline lakes, and subsurface Permian halite deposits. Haloterrigena/Natrinema spp. from subsurface halite deposits were the least tolerant after exposure to photoreactivating light. This finding was attributed to deviation of amino acid residues in key positions in the DNA photolyase enzyme or to the complete absence of the photolyase gene. Several Halobacterium, Halorubrum and Salarchaeum species from surface environments exposed to high solar irradiance were found to be the most UV tolerant, and Halorubrum lacusprofundi from lake sediment was of intermediate character. These results indicate that high UV tolerance is not a uniform character trait of Haloarchaea and is likely reflective of UV exposure experienced in their environment. This is the first report correlating natural UV tolerance to photolyase gene functionality among Haloarchaea and provides insights into their survival in ancient halite deposits and potentially on the surface of Mars.