Search

Critical friendship is an innovative method used to strengthen an individual's professional skills, including critical reflection, thinking, and problem-solving abilities in educational settings. Critical friendships can occur through one-on-one relationships or in groups known as critical friendship groups (CFGs). Literature on CFGs examines the benefits of structured CFGs integrated into teacher preparation programs. CFGs that form beyond university walls, like a study abroad context, have not been discussed in the literature even though these experiences can be the catalyst for CFGs. This case study illustrates how a CFG was formed during a study abroad trip to Belize with undergraduate and graduate education students that resulted in five major findings. Implications for both teacher education and study abroad programs are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the factor structure of the Family Involvement Questionnaire--Elementary Version with families in Belize. Participants were 185 primary caregivers of children in primary education settings in Belize. Caregivers were given the Family Involvement Questionnaire--Elementary Version to measure their educational involvement in their children's schooling. Findings indicated the factor structure of the Family Involvement Questionnaire--Elementary Version in Belize was not congruent with the factor structures with samples from the United States and New Zealand. Exploratory factor analysis suggested a five-factor solution: (a) home-school communication, (b) home expectations and monitoring, (c) educational support, (d) school and community involvement, and (e) school attendance. In light of similar measurement studies in the literature, these data indicate that family educational involvement varies across geographic and cultural contexts. This suggests that interventions and policies to improve education outcomes via family involvement ought to consider the unique structure of families' involvement in the educational system. [For the corresponding grantee submission, see ED605729.]

This article examines how the crisis of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) became a crucible, or a means of transformation, for global educators. How teachers leverage their lived experience of teaching through the implications of COVID-19 to transform identity and practice is a new phenomenon and merits examination. Through a collection of interviews, the ways in which the life experiences of teaching through COVID-19 worked to create new identities in teachers and new practices within the classroom is examined. Data was gathered through informal interviews from eleven educators teaching through the crisis of COVID-19 across the world, including four continents and six countries. Drawing on simple thematic analysis, a narrative approach was utilized to examine the process of transformation in teachers across the globe. The findings and analysis of this research will help those working with teachers better understand how teachers leverage a crisis be it COVID-19, or another disruptive force, as a crucible for transformation.

To increase our students' access to study abroad opportunities, a full semester course was designed that embedded a study abroad trip to Belize during spring break. The course fulfills both an upper level science course for both biology and biotechnology majors and an elective course for the Global Studies minor. Ten students enrolled in the course, and students' financial aid packages covered all or partial cost of the trip for seven students. The students were divided into four groups to study the coral reef, mangrove forest, and either the rain forest of Belmopan or Punta Gorda. Guest speakers came to class prior to the trip and provided information on the flora, fauna, and marine ecosystems of Central America. In Belize, students completed a research experience, learned about Mayan and Garifuna culture, and traveled extensively within the country. In addition to learning about the ecosystems and culture of Belize, many stated they learned more about themselves and felt more prepared to step out of their comfort zones to travel internationally again. After this positive learning experience all students agreed that they would recommend the course to a friend. The students wrote blogs and presented their research findings in poster and video format at the Undergraduate Research Conference (URC).

There is a call for today's teachers to be globally literate as their student populations become more diverse. Immersive experiences in other countries with international colleagues and students can support the development of global literacy and culturally responsive practice. Preservice special education teachers do not often have opportunities to gain these experiences. The authors use examples of existing international collaborations in special education to illustrate a variety of ways that preservice and in-service teachers can experience international collaboration.

The purpose of this grounded approach study is to provide answers to the research question 'what aspect(s) of schooling could newly qualified teachers contribute to, and why?' Via emails, 22 newly qualified teachers (NQTs) from 10 countries provided answers to the research question. The analysis of the data revealed that NQTs thought attributional, informational and skill and ability based contributions and associated actions and activities could be made to various aspects of schooling. I define attributional contributions as actions and activities in which NQTs engage which are the results of personal qualities/attributes they possess, informational contributions as facts which NQTs share and gain via experience and/or initial teacher education and training, and skill and ability based contributions as school-based activities in which NQTs engage based on personal skills, abilities and interests. Examples of implications of the findings for policy and practice include schools' leadership teams reexamining their views on the use of NQTs and the need to reduce negative human dynamics which prevent NQTs from being recognised and used.

The effectiveness of a unique model of in-service training involving U.S. teacher educators and school teachers from Belize, Central America, is described based upon findings from a consecutive three-year period of the project. An evaluation component was integrated to provide a structure for program improvement, in which formative and summative data assisted in documenting the changes that had occurred. Delivered to three very different teacher populations, the project's effectiveness in providing professional development on nine topics related to special education was found to affect personal dispositions, enhance knowledge, and contribute to the attainment of new skills in profound and significant ways. Pertinent issues that emerged and implications for improving the in-service model are discussed. (Contains 6 tables.)

Educators in the United States generally agree that cultural education is increasingly important because of the expanding ethnic diversity in America. According to the Cable News Network (CNN), with the predicted doubling of the population in the U.S. over the next century, there will be a demographic shift as well. Whites will comprise 53 percent of the population in contrast to a current 72 percent. In 2003, Hispanics represented 12 percent of the people living in the U.S., but by 2050 they will account for 24 percent of the population. The projection for Asian and Pacific Islanders is an increase from 4.1 percent to 9.3 percent of the population. Nursing educators are particularly concerned with cultural competence for students, since nursing care is of an intimate nature and cultural beliefs affect how care and teaching are received as well as perceived. Further, minority groups are underrepresented in all of the health care professions. Increasing one's knowledge and consciousness of cultural diversity increases the ability of nurses to provide culturally competent care. Nursing students are provided many avenues for exploring cultural diversity and have multiple opportunities to develop cultural competence throughout their education. Most of their experiences with cultural differences have to do with recent immigrants or immigrant descendants who have a different culture from the student's. However, these experiences still occur within the overall culture of the United States. Panola College (Carthage, Texas) decided to find a way for students to raise consciousness about another culture through first-hand experience--to "practice" global exchange rather than just read about it. One way to raise the consciousness about other cultures is to provide opportunities for global or international travel and education. This article describes an innovative project, begun at this small community college in east Texas, which aims to provide a spark for cultural competence. Students are invited to participate in a medical mission trip to Belize conducted (each year in May) by a group of local physicians, dentists, nurses, and concerned citizens. The trip is sponsored by a non-profit organization known as Project Belize, but all participants are volunteers and must pay their own travel expenses. Medications and supplies are donated or purchased with monetary donations.

Enhancing the cultural competency of healthcare providers (HCPs) is one strategy to bridge the gap of healthcare disparities in the multicultural United States (US). This quantitative study ums designed to assess if a seven-day international medical mission trip to Belize, Central America enhanced the cultural competence of HCPs. The independent t-test was used to compare a single sample of unmatched HCPs using a survey designed to measure cultural competence pre- and post- an international medical mission trip. The HCPs (N=12) had a higher score indicating an improvement in cultural competence post-trip (M=74.5, SD=6.5) as compared to pre-trip (M=72.4, SD=7.1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to explore the determinants, practice, and punishment risk of “off the books” consumption in Belize, Central America. We operationalize off the books consumption as market transactions that evade governmental oversight. Our data source is a 2014 random national sample of 1,534 Belizeans surveyed through the Latin America Public Opinion Project (LAPOP). An empirical model of off the books consumption explores the key demographic and facilitating variables that comprise the determinants and predicts the likelihood of off the books consumption for four household goods and services. A significant percentage of respondents indicate that there is an unlikely probability of government punishment for the following off the books transactions: buying pirated DVDs (78.2%), obtaining electricity without paying (42.5%), unauthorized land acquisition (41.9%), and unauthorized home building or remodeling without government permits (53.5%). Both demographic variables (e.g., gender, residence, income, ethnicity, religion) and facilitating variables (e.g., religiosity, sales receipts) are significant predictors of off the books consumption. We contextualize our findings within the practice of off the books consumption in Belize, a small emerging economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing acute febrile illness (AFI) surveillance systems can be leveraged to identify and characterize emerging pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collaborated with ministries of health and implementing partners in Belize, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, and Peru to adapt AFI surveillance systems to generate COVID-19 response information. Staff at sentinel sites collected epidemiologic data from persons meeting AFI criteria and specimens for SARS-CoV-2 testing. A total of 5,501 patients with AFI were enrolled during March 2020-October 2021; >69% underwent SARS-CoV-2 testing. Percentage positivity for SARS-CoV-2 ranged from 4% (87/2,151, Kenya) to 19% (22/115, Ethiopia). We show SARS-CoV-2 testing was successfully integrated into AFI surveillance in 5 low- to middle-income countries to detect COVID-19 within AFI care-seeking populations. AFI surveillance systems can be used to build capacity to detect and respond to both emerging and endemic infectious disease threats.

Some research suggests that the risk of physical aggression by an intimate partner is related to marital status, but this relationship may vary across cultures and by gender. In the present study, we systematically examine the relationship between marital status and physical partner aggression by gender across 19 countries. Logistic and multilevel regression confirmed previous findings of lower rates of physical aggression for legally married versus cohabiting and separated/divorced women and men across most, but notably, not all countries. Single status was associated with higher risk in some countries and lower in others reflecting possible cultural differences in risk for different marital statuses. For example, single women had significantly lower rates of victimization than did married women in India where violence against wives is often accepted. The variation in the cross-cultural findings highlights the importance of examining both men and women and considering the cultural context when interpreting the relationship between partner aggression and marital status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As student diversity becomes the norm in U.S. schools, future teachers must be comprehensively prepared to work with the increasingly diverse student population through application of informed instruction that enhances general and individual student learning and outcomes. Teacher-education programs increasingly promote student teaching in international settings as a substantive step in serving to develop teachers who embody these new competencies and instructional practices. This study offers a framework and analysis highlighting similarities and differences among three student-teaching abroad settings--Belize, Mexico and China--associated with a state university in the southeastern United States. The study's research findings support the general research literature in international student teaching and introduce new, pattern-based, evidence that relates the comparative impact of country and school-site contexts on specific cultural, professional, and character development influences on student teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As student diversity becomes the norm in U.S. schools, future teachers must be comprehensively prepared to work with the increasingly diverse student population through application of informed instruction that enhances general and individual student learning and outcomes. Teacher Education programs increasingly promote student teaching in international settings as a substantive step to develop teachers who embody these new competencies and instructional practices. The proposed paper presentation offers a framework and analysis highlighting similarities and differences between two groups of student teachers in Belize (2005 and 2008). Findings are comparative and relate to the type and degree of (1) cultural-, professional-, and character-development influences on student teachers, and (2) emergent common intergroup patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To monitor adult mosquito abundance in northern Belize before/after the first tropical storm of the wet season to estimate the time required for development/recovery of potential vector populations; determine which species predominate post-storm; and compare the effectiveness of two types of mosquito traps--octenol-baited Mosquito Magnets and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) light traps (with/without octenol). Methods. Field experiments were conducted in Orange Walk Town, Belize, 21 May to 3 June 2008. Incidence rate ratios and exact binomial 95% confidence intervals were reported and trap-nights calculated to compare species abundance pre- and post-storm as well as trap-type effectiveness. Results. Twice as many species and three times more Anopheles spp. were trapped prestorm versus post-storm. However, greater numbers of Aedes taeniorhynchus and Culex (Culex) spp. were trapped post-storm. Mosquito Magnets were consistently more effective than the CDC traps, obtaining twice as many Anopheles spp. and four times as many culicine species as the octenol-baited version (which collected 14 times more mosquitoes over-all and 3.5 times more culicine species than the unbaited version). The unbaited CDC trap did not trap any Anopheles spp. during the study period. Conclusions. Results indicated octenol is an effective attractant for An. crucians in northern Belize; malaria risk in Belize declines immediately post-storm (i.e., mosquito abundance drops); and arboviral risk associated with the rapid increase in culicine mosquitoes post-storm may represent a greater public health threat than malaria (although further research and active disease surveillance is necessary to validate this hypothesis). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting in the 1980s ecolodges emerged as an increasingly popular accommodation form. Since the ecolodge industry is relatively young, the literature on the subject is limited, yet growing. The purpose of this study was to expand the current literature by determining the demographic characteristics, trip characteristics, and travel motivations of ecolodge patrons in the Cayo District of Belize. The study found that ecolodge patrons were typically highly educated, older adults from the USA who worked full time or were retired and had a very high household annual income. On average, patrons stayed in Belize for 8-11 days and stayed at the ecolodge for three to four nights and travelled with their spouse to learn and explore nature and a new culture. An importance-performance analysis found that performance scores exceeded importance scores for all of 41 ecolodge attributes. This is a very positive finding indicating that the ecolodges are successful in providing a broad suite of hospitality, personal service, and environmental features. As the ecolodge business grows and becomes more competitive, managers must learn about and cater to their market group in order to position themselves favourably in the global marketplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Originally introduced in the United States through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, environmental assessment requirements are now incorporated in the environmental laws of countries worldwide. These requirements are viewed with ambivalence by some developing country governments, which see them at best as a nuisance, and at worst as a barrier to progress. For citizens in these countries, however, environmental assessments and their rigorous judicial enforcement may provide the only mechanism available to hold governments accountable for their decisions on major infrastructure projects. This Article describes the legal battle over one such project, the Chalillo dam in Belize. Plans by a Canadian-owned utility to build the hydroelectric facility on Belize's Macal River sparked a national and international debate and culminated in the first environmental lawsuit to reach the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, the highest court of appeal for Belize. Belizean environmental groups argued, inter alia, that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EJA) for the dam was fundamentally flawed, containing errors in the geological description of the dam's foundation. In an unusually divided 3-2 ruling, the Privy Council upheld Belize `s decision to allow construction of the dam. The majority judgment discounted the geological flaws in the EIA, ruling that the decision to build the dam was essentially a sovereign one for Belize to make. The dissent, meanwhile, maintained that the geological flaws could not be ignored, and that Belizean authorities should be held to the same standards as those in the developed world. To do any less, the dissent reasoned, would undermine good governance and the rule of law. This Article argues that the trajectory of the case itself as well as its aftermath, demonstrate the wisdom of the minority view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seagrasses are an important coastal habitat worldwide and are indicative of environmental health at the critical land–sea interface. In many parts of the world, seagrasses are not well known, although they provide crucial functions and values to the world's oceans and to human populations dwelling along the coast. Established in 2001, SeagrassNet, a monitoring program for seagrasses worldwide, uses a standardized protocol for detecting change in seagrass habitat to capture both seagrass parameters and environmental variables. SeagrassNet is designed to statistically detect change over a relatively short time frame (1–2 years) through quarterly monitoring of permanent plots. Currently, SeagrassNet operates in 18 countries at 48 sites; at each site, a permanent transect is established and a team of people from the area collects data which is sent to the SeagrassNet database for analysis. We present five case studies based on SeagrassNet data from across the Americas (two sites in the USA, one in Belize, and two in Brazil) which have a common theme of seagrass decline; the study represents a first latitudinal comparison across a hemisphere using a common methodology. In two cases, rapid loss of seagrass was related to eutrophication, in two cases losses related to climate change, and in one case, the loss is attributed to a complex trophic interaction resulting from the presence of a marine protected area. SeagrassNet results provide documentation of seagrass change over time and allow us to make scientifically supported statements about the status of seagrass habitat and the extent of need for management action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes Metapeyssonnelia corallepida from Florida and Belize. Collection of species overgrowing dead and living corals of the genera Millepora and Porites; Presence of conspicuous hair; Discovery of tetrasporangial plants bearing nemathecia.

The literature from developed countries hypothesizes that crime-reporting practices vary by levels of incident-specific, victim-specific, and environment-specific correlates. To date these correlates have not been used to investigate crime-reporting behavior in developing countries, nor have they been explored simultaneously. This research attempts to fill this void by analyzing data from a household victimization survey conducted in Belize, Central America. A crime-reporting model based on research findings from developed nations, especially the United States, is tested. Bivariate findings are presented and a multivariate logistic model is estimated. Contrary to prediction, the findings from the Belize sample are generally similar to those reported in developed nations. As in developed nations, incident-specific correlates play a significant role, individual-specific correlates play a minor role, and environment-specific correlates play no role in inducing citizens to report a crime to the police. The findings indicate that factors that affect reporting in Belize seem not to be conditioned by the particularistic social structure of policing in that nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides information on the new politics in Caribbean America as of June 1998. On May 10, 1997, U.S. President Bill Clinton held a summit meeting in Bridgetown, Barbados, with the heads of government of no fewer than 15 Caribbean states. These were the 12 longstanding members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), namely Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago, plus the newest member of CARICOM, Suriname, as well as Haiti and the Dominican Republic. From the family of independent Caribbean nations, only Cuba was not represented. The meeting itself comprised no more than a morning session and a working lunch and in that sense constituted but a moment in Clinton' s busy presidential schedule. Yet the likelihood is that the meeting will be seen in due course as of considerable significance in marking the beginning of a new phase in U.S.-Caribbean relations.

This comparative field study evaluated the moral reasoning used by U.S. and Belizean business students in resolving business-related moral dilemmas. The Belizeans, citizens of a less-developed country with Western heritage and a values-based education system, revolved the dilemmas using higher stages of moral judgment than did the U.S. business students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on educational topics which include inclusive school system and in-service training between teacher educators in the U.S. and school teachers in Belize.