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Effective professional development programs for science teachers provide opportunities for active learning and teacher self-reflection on beliefs about science teaching, learning, and practice. One model that fosters active learning and promotes reflection is collaborative curriculum development, in which teachers work together with university facilitators to create curriculum materials. We used a two-case study design to investigate how teacher collaborative curriculum "design" (the first part of development, in which ideas for curriculum are created) impacted participant professional learning during a five-day summer institute. Interview or survey data were collected from 41 secondary biology teacher participants in two summer institutes. Results indicated that teachers experienced shifts in their science knowledge, beliefs about science, beliefs about science teaching and learning, and in their science teaching practice. We concluded that the curriculum design process, which can occur in a relatively short time period, can foster meaningful, task-oriented collaboration. The collaboration process provides the vehicle for active learning, where teachers can reflect on their beliefs while applying new knowledge to the classroom. Recommendations for other professional development programs along with a discussion of the program's unique philosophy are provided.

The credibility of conclusions made about the effectiveness of educational interventions depends greatly on the quality of the assessments used to measure learning gains. This essay, intended for faculty involved in small-scale projects, courses, or educational research, provides a step-by-step guide to the process of developing, scoring, and validating high-quality content knowledge assessments. We illustrate our discussion with examples from our assessments of high school students' understanding of concepts in cell biology and epigenetics. Throughout, we emphasize the iterative nature of the development process, the importance of creating instruments aligned to the learning goals of an intervention or curricula, and the importance of collaborating with other content and measurement specialists along the way.

How can researchers in K-12 contexts stay true to the principles of rigorous evaluation designs within the constraints of classroom settings and limited funding? This paper explores this question by presenting a small-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) designed to test the efficacy of curricular supplemental materials on epigenetics. The researchers asked whether the curricular materials improved students' understanding of the content more than an alternative set of activities. The field test was conducted in a diverse public high school setting with 145 students who were randomly assigned to a treatment or comparison condition. Findings indicate that students in the treatment condition scored significantly higher on the posttest than did students in the comparison group (effect size: Cohen's d = 0.40). The paper discusses the strengths and limitations of the RCT, the contextual factors that influenced its enactment, and recommendations for others wishing to conduct small-scale rigorous evaluations in educational settings. Our intention is for this paper to serve as a case study for university science faculty members who wish to employ scientifically rigorous evaluations in K-12 settings while limiting the scope and budget of their work.

Epigenetics is the study of how external factors and internal cellular signals can lead to changes in the packaging and processing of DNA sequences, thereby altering the expression of genes and traits. Exploring the epigenome introduces students to environmental influences on our genes and the complexities of gene expression. A supplemental curriculum module developed by the Genetic Science Learning Center (GSLC) at the University of Utah brings epigenetics to high school and undergraduate classrooms through a range of online and paper-based activities. We describe these activities and provide strategies for incorporating both introductory and more advanced materials that explore "cell memory," epigenetic inheritance, nutrition, and emerging connections between the epigenome and behavior. Finally, we outline recent research on student learning gains using the GSLC's epigenetics module and provide connections to the Next Generation Science Standards.

Geologic Carbon Storage (GCS) is a promising technology for storing large volumes of anthropogenic CO2 effectively and permanently. Numerical simulations are an integral part of site selection and characterization for any potential GCS site. As part of the DOE-funded CarbonSAFE Rocky Mountains Phase I project, a regional GCS analysis was undertaken to understand the efficacy of storing CO2 emissions from the power generation and heavy industry in central Utah's favorable geology. In this study, the injection of CO2 for geologic storage was simulated in the Navajo Sandstone Formation in Emery County, Utah. Carbon dioxide was sourced from regional power generation stations and heavy industries throughout Utah, with an emphasis on emissions reduction at the Hunter Power Plant near Castle Dale, Utah. A simulation grid was extracted from the project's geological model encompassing an area around Price, Huntington, and Castle Dale in central Utah. The Navajo Sandstone Member of the Glen Canyon Group was the target of CO2 injection with the overlying Carmel formation providing the primary seal. A suite of simulations was performed assessing the viability of this area for permanent CO2 storage. Results indicate that the area can not only store 46 million metric tons of anthropogenic CO2, meeting the project goals, but this area has the capacity to securely store at least 1.3 billion tons of CO2, suggesting the injection site and surrounding geology are suitable locations for commercial-scale GCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Successful implementation of Geological Carbon Sequestration (GCS) projects requires long-term storage capacity and security at selected fields. The purpose of this work is to evaluate and quantify potential storage capacity, trapping mechanisms and potential risks associated with commercial-scale (at least 50 MT CO 2) injection and storage of CO 2 in the subsurface. The specific case study evaluated is the Navajo Sandstone formation, a target GCS reservoir in Buzzard's Bench, Central Utah. Two-dimensional reactive transport models are designed for 1000-year simulations, with 50 MT CO 2 injection. An uncertainty analysis with different reservoir porosity and permeability are conducted, because only a few samples of the reservoir and caprock near the proposed reservoir were collected. Specific objectives include forecasting the extent of an injected CO 2 plume, competing roles of different trapping mechanisms, trapping capacity changes due to porosity changes, and forecasts of CO 2 migration into adjacent caprock (the Carmel formation in this case). Results suggest that the Navajo formation may be a reliable CO 2 sequestration reservoir, capable of trapping commercial volumes. The Jurassic Kayenta and Wingate formations may also store some injected CO 2 , with these and other clastic formations forming a "stacked storage" system. Storage efficiency decreases with distance away from an injection well, and the estimated storage efficiency for the case study simulations (Navajo storage only) are 2.3 ± 1% within the area of review (AoR) calculated by National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) toolset. After 1000 years, about half of the injected CO 2 may be sequestered in safe phases including residually-trapped CO 2 via surface tension, aqueous and mineral phases. A small amount of total injected CO 2 (∼3%) tends to migrate into the caprock, but is mostly stored in the sandstone reservoir. Simulated porosity enhancement caused by mineral alteration is negligible within 1000 years of the start of injection, with only ∼0.6% added to the total pore volume by the end of simulations. Future studies of detailed reservoir and caprock characteristics with in-situ samples may be helpful for further determining reservoir sequestration capacity and reliability. Highlights • CO 2 sequestration capacity and efficiency of a commercial storage site are evaluated. • The Navajo formation in Central Utah may be a reliable CO 2 sequestration reservoir. • Porosity enhancement caused by mineral alteration is negligible within 1000 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) testing rates vary across states, potentially biasing estimates of alcohol involvement in violent deaths. The National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) collects information on violent deaths, including decedents' BACs. This study assessed characteristics of violent deaths by BAC testing status, and the proportion of decedents with a positive BAC or BAC ≥ 0.08 g/dL. NVDRS data from 2014 to 2016 (2014: 18 states; 2015: 27 states; 2016: 32 states) were analyzed to assess BAC testing (tested, not tested, unknown/missing) by state, decedent characteristics, and death investigation system (e.g., state medical examiner, coroners), in 2019. The proportion of violent deaths with a BAC > 0.0 or ≥ 0.08 g/dL was also assessed. Among 95,390 violent death decedents, 57.1% had a BAC test (range: 9.5% in Georgia to 95.8% in Utah), 2.3% were not tested, and 40.6% had an unknown/missing BAC testing status (range: 1.3% in Alaska to 78.0% in Georgia). Decedents who were 21-44 years, American Indian/Alaska Native or Hispanic, died by poisoning, died by undetermined intent, or were investigated by a state medical examiner were most likely to receive BAC testing. Among the violent deaths with a reported BAC, 41.1% had a positive BAC and 27.7% had a BAC ≥ 0.08 g/dL. About 2 in 5 violent deaths were missing data on alcohol testing. Increased testing and reporting of alcohol among violent deaths could inform the development and use of evidence-based prevention strategies (e.g., increasing alcohol taxes, regulating alcohol outlet density) for reducing violent deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]