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The associations among second- and third-grade students' content-area knowledge, vocabulary, and reading gains and the science instruction they received were examined in this exploratory longitudinal study. We also asked whether there were child characteristics x instruction interaction effects on students' content-area literacy. Second graders (n = 88) were followed into third grade (n = 73). Classrooms were observed all day in the fall, winter, and spring, and amounts and types of science instruction and language arts instruction were recorded. Results revealed that specific types of science instruction were related to second- and third-grade students' gains in content-area literacy skills and that the relation of science instruction to outcomes depended on students' fall content-area knowledge, vocabulary, and reading skills. These results suggest that science instruction may promote students' developing content-area literacy growth and may be more effective when it is implemented taking individual student differences into account. (Contains 3 figures, 8 tables, and 2 notes.)

This study explored American high school and middle school science teachers' attitudes toward the use of standardized testing for accountability purposes, their justification for the attitudes they hold and the impact of standardized testing on their instructional and assessment practices. A total of 161 science teachers participated in the study. Analyses were based on teachers' responses to a questionnaire including nine-item likert-scale questions and two-item open-ended questions. The analyses revealed that science teachers have mixed reactions to the administration of standardized tests and its use for accountability purposes. The findings also reveal that standardized testing has a significant influence on science teachers' instructional and assessment practices in ways that are counter to the learning goals promoted by science education reformists. Our discussion focuses on the implicit and explicit influences of the NCLB Act on science curriculum, teaching and assessment, and how the NCLB driven policies undermine the goals of science education reform.

The potential influences of affective perceptions on cognitive engagement in learning, particularly with emotionally charged topics such as evolution, provide justification for acknowledging and assessing learners' attitudes toward content. One approach to determining students' attitudes toward a construct is to explicitly ask them to what degree they accept the related content. This was the approach we took as we developed the Inventory of Student Evolution Acceptance. Our goal was to make a finer-grained instrument that would assess acceptance on three evolution subscales: microevolution, macroevolution, and human evolution. Further, we sought to not conflate understanding with acceptance of the constructs. We began our instrument development with a series of interviews and open-ended questionnaires to determine students' perceptions of evolution acceptance. Based on the responses we developed and field tested a 49-item Likert scale instrument with stems distributed across our three targeted subscales. Using the data from our field test, we reduced the instrument to 24 items evenly distributed across the three subscales, and the revised instrument was again field tested with high school and undergraduate college students. The final instrument has an internal reliability of Cronbach's alpha of 0.96 and the items loaded onto three components that reflect documented evolution acceptance conditions. The instrument development, implications, and applications are discussed. (Contains 1 figure and 6 tables.)

In a study of "disadvantaged" Australian rural women on access scholarships at an elite metropolitan university, I explored the complex amalgam of agency, imagination and personal experience at the nexus of higher education mobility. Alongside the 200 digital photographs the participants took to explain their mobility away from "home" and the transcripted interviews over four years about the photographs, I felt that a new approach to visual data was needed in order to "see" their stories. Experimenting with the two texts of my own research, one of words--the transcript--and one without words--the photographs, I began to juxtapose photographs I was using for analysis with the transcripts that went with it. First motivated by Gee's insistence that language has poetic features coupled with inspiration from St. Pierre's model of writing as a way of analysis, I began placing transcripted words into poetic stanzas, noting changes of tone and repetition of certain words and phrases as I heard them on the tape. Working with the two forms of data as interdependent, an evocative and powerful form of data presentation emerged, an interpretive form of representation I call "interpretive visual texts". (Contains 7 figures.)

This research explored science teachers' pedagogical discontentment and described its role in teachers' consideration of new teaching practices. Pedagogical discontentment is an expression of the degree to which one is discontented because one's teaching practices do not achieve one's teaching goals. Through a series of structured interviews conducted with 18 practicing science teachers of various grade levels, content areas, routes of preparation, and amount of experience, areas of commonality in the teachers' pedagogical discontentment were identified. The common areas of pedagogical discontentment include the ability to teach all students science, science content knowledge, balancing depth versus breath of instruction, implementing inquiry instruction, and assessing science learning. We draw implications for using this construct to craft more effective professional development.

It is well established that many teachers are resistant to take up the messages of reform if these messages require them to substantially shift their teaching practices. What accounts for this resistance? One well established explanation is that teachers lacks the self-efficacy required to attempt something new in their teaching--they simply do not feel capable of effectively enacting the messages. However, there are a host of studies describing teachers with high self-efficacy who remain resistant to messages of change. The purpose of this article is to address the gap in the application of self-efficacy to understand the change or lack of change of science teachers' practice through the introduction of a related construct, "pedagogical discontentment." This construct reflects a state of cognitive conflict that exists when an individual recognizes a mismatch between her/his science teaching pedagogical goals and classroom practices. One potential result of this mismatch is that a teacher problematizes her teaching practices, prompting an increased receptivity to reform messages. Building on existing literature, we present vignettes of four hypothetical teachers who exemplify variations of pedagogical discontentment. When combined with self-efficacy, pedagogical discontentment provides a useful lens to understand teachers' consideration and adoption of messages of reform.

The goal of this research is to identify science teachers' beliefs and conceptions that play an important role in shaping their understandings of and attempts to enact inclusive science teaching practices. We examined the work products, both informal (online discussions, email exchanges) and formal (papers, unit plans, peer reviews), of 14 teachers enrolled in a master's degree course focused on diversity in science teaching and learning. These emerging understandings were member-checked via a series of interviews with a subset of these teachers. Our analysis was conducted in two stages: (1) describing the difficulties the teachers identified for themselves in their attempts to teach science to a wide range of students in their classes and (2) analyzing these self-identified barriers for underlying beliefs and conceptions that serve to prohibit or allow for the teachers' understanding and enactment of equitable science instruction. The teachers' self-identified barriers were grouped into three categories: students, broader social infrastructure, and self. The more fundamental barriers identified included teacher beliefs about the ethnocentrism of the mainstream, essentialism/individualism, and beliefs about the meritocracy of schooling. The implications of these hurdles for science teacher education are discussed. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

Evidence-based practices to improve outcomes for children with severe behavioral and emotional problems have received a great deal of attention in children's mental health. Therapeutic foster care (TFC), a residential intervention for youth with emotional or behavioral problems, is one of the few community-based programs that is considered to be evidence-based. However, as for most treatment approaches, the vast majority of existing programs do not deliver the evidence-based version. In an attempt to fill this gap and improve practice across a wide range of TFC agencies, we developed an enhanced model of TFC based on input from both practice and research. It includes elements associated with improved outcomes for youth in "usual care" TFC agencies as well as key elements from Chamberlain's evidence-based model. The current manuscript describes this "hybrid" intervention--Together Facing the Challenge--and discusses key issues in implementation. We describe the sample and settings, highlight key implementation strategies, and provide "lessons learned" to help guide others who may wish to change practice in existing agencies.

In this quantitative study, we compare the efficacy of Level 2, guided inquiry-based instruction to more traditional, verification laboratory instruction in supporting student performance on a standardized measure of knowledge of content, procedure, and nature of science. Our sample included 1,700 students placed in the classrooms of 12 middle school and 12 high school science teachers. The instruction for both groups included a week long, laboratory-based, forensics unit. Students were given pre-, post-, and delayed posttests, the results of which were analyzed through a Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) using students' scores, teacher, level of school, Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) scores, and school socioeconomic status. Overall, compared to students in traditional sections, students who participated in an inquiry-based laboratory unit showed significantly higher posttest scores; had the higher scores, more growth, and long-term retention at both the high school and middle school levels, if their teacher had stronger implementation of inquiry methods (as measured by RTOP scores); and tended to have better outcomes than those who learned through traditional methods, regardless of level of poverty in the school. Our findings suggest that Level 2 inquiry can be an effective teaching approach to support student learning as measured through standardized assessments. (Contains 7 tables and 10 figures.)

The challenges in teaching and learning of biological evolution continue to be documented (NAS, 2008). Developers of science standards continue their work to increase emphasis on evolution. Although gains have been made, many K-12 science curricula focus on microevolution (i.e., natural selection, genetic drift), and a more limited effort is in place to provide exposure to macroevolution (i.e., speciation). Many of the public's fundamental questions concerning evolution actually stem from macroevolutionary changes. This research involved the development and psychometric evaluation of the Measure of Understanding of Macroevolution (MUM), an assessment of college undergraduate understanding of the scientific portrayal of macroevolution. The MUM comprises 27 multiple-choice items and 1 free-response item. The authors achieved content validity based on feedback from professional biologists and evolution educators. The MUM was field tested with 3 unique cohorts of undergraduate students (N = 795). The validity and reliability analyses indicate that the MUM effectively, consistently, and accurately measures students' understanding of macroevolution. (Contains 4 tables and 7 figures.)

The existence, preponderance, and stability of misconceptions related to evolution continue as foci of research in science education. In their 2006 study, Geraedts and Boersma question the existence of stable Lamarckian misconceptions in students, challenging the utility of Conceptual Change theory in addressing any such misconceptions. To support their challenge, they describe the study of a particular pedagogical strategy (which they describe as being influenced by dynamic systems theory) and report the results supporting its effectiveness in enhancing students' understanding of evolutionary theory. However, we argue that the description offered by Geraedts and Boersma demonstrates several flaws, both in its theoretical assertions and methodological decisions. In response, we reject the disavowal of Conceptual Change theory argued for by these authors due to several theoretical misinterpretations. As well, we question the validity of the data presented and assertions generated based on the methodological limitations of the study design.

The first years of teaching can be demanding, as the novice works to gain familiarity with many aspects of professional work. Often, what they have been prepared to do in teacher education programs is not aligned with what is expected at them in schools. As a consequence, many teachers leave the profession or move away from the reform-minded practice emphasized in their preparation as they accept the norms of their new community of practice. Using cultural historical activity theory, this comparative case study explored two beginning science teachers' transition into the teaching profession and the roles a community of practice played in this transition. Findings suggest that these science teachers were influenced by the social and professional structures at their schools and by the level of institutional and interpersonal support they received from peer teachers and administrators. The extent to which these teachers became involved in the community of practices at their schools greatly influenced their instructional practice. Implications suggest that science teacher preparation and induction programs must go beyond simply emphasizing teaching and learning--they must also address strategies young teachers can use to access the support they need to be able to consistently enact reform-based practices. (Contains 1 table.)

Inquiry is seen as central to the reform of science teaching and learning, but few teachers have experience with scientific inquiry and thus possess very naive conceptions of it. One promising form of professional development, research experiences for teachers (RETs), allows teachers to experience scientific inquiry in the hopes that these experiences will then translate to inquiry in the classroom. As intuitively pleasing as these programs are, scant evidence documents their effectiveness. For this study, four secondary science teachers were followed back to their classrooms following a 6-week, marine ecology RET. The research employed qualitative and quantitative data collection to answer these questions: What were the teachers' initial conceptions and enactment of classroom inquiry, and how did they change after the RET?; How did changes in the nature and use of questions highlight changes in inquiry enactment?; and How were the teachers' changes linked to the RET and are there changes that cannot be explained by the RET experience? Teachers who entered the program with more sophisticated, theory-based understanding of teaching and learning were more apt to understand inquiry as a model and to use classroom-based inquiry throughout their teaching following the program. Implications for professional development are discussed. (Contains 1 figure and 8 tables.)

This study examined the influence of field placements settings with varying demographic profiles on preservice elementary teachers. Data were gathered at three points during the participants' final year in their teacher preparation program in order to chart changes over time in science teaching self-efficacy beliefs. These measures were supplemented by interviews to investigate attitudes about teaching science in diverse settings. Gee's identity framework (2000) and the dimensions of teacher development described by Bullough et al. [Bullough et al. [2004] "Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice" 10:365-394] were employed as interpretive tools. Statistical analyses of teaching self-efficacy scores revealed marginal changes over time. Individual interviews revealed no discernible influence upon the teacher candidates' perceptions of science teaching selves that could be attributed to the demographics of their field placements. Emerging from this study was the previously underappreciated value of self-doubt as a factor in motivating preservice teachers. The findings call into question the tendency to use heightened teaching self-efficacy as an indicator of individual or programmatic success. This examination of preservice teacher development over the final year of a preparatory program, especially when considered in light of student diversity, demonstrates the soundness of Dewey's claim that uncertainty is a crucial component of learning and knowing. (Contains 2 tables, 2 figures, and 1 note.)

Recent work suggests that out-of-home placements continue to be relatively common for youth with mental health problems, even within systems of care. The current work examines rates and predictors of movement back home and stability of reunifications. During the focal period, 1,778 youths experienced out-of-home placements; 61% moved back home, and 22% of those reunited were placed out of home again. Race was related to likelihood of reunification and instability: American Indian youth were least likely to return home, whereas Hispanic youth were at increased risk of unstable reunifications. Older youth and boys were more likely to return home, whereas youth from families with higher incomes were slightly more likely to be placed out of home but also most likely to be stably reunited. Higher (i.e., worse) total "Child Behavior Checklist" score was related to moving back home, whereas decreased strengths and more child-level risk factors predicted instability of reunification. (Contains 4 tables.)

Inhalants are the 4th most commonly abused drugs after alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. Although inhalants are often referred as Gateway Drugs this hypothesis is less examined. Using the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health data, age of first time inhalant use was compared with the age of onset of other drugs among 6466 inhalant users who also used at least one of 14 other drugs. Findings indicated that only 4.2% multiple drug users who used inhalants prior to other drugs, especially alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. Thus, the theory that inhalants are gateway drugs was not supported. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

The aim of this study is to understand the influences on chemistry professors' use of educational technology. For this, we use activity theory to focus on two university chemistry professors and the broader activity system in which they work. We analyse their beliefs and past experiences related to teaching, learning, and technology as well as other components of the activity system of teaching chemistry with understanding. We employ a qualitative methodology with phenomenological and symbolic interactionist perspectives. Our findings illustrate various contradictions within and between the components of the activity system. Those include the insufficient level of collaboration, reflection, and communication among faculty members, constraints for reform-based chemistry teaching, limitations of large class sizes, and "poor" design of technology-enhanced classrooms. We propose several possible resolutions to transform undergraduate chemistry education, including the effective utilization of technology-enhanced teaching strategies and building a more uniform culture of teaching within science content departments. (Contains 3 figures and an appendix titled "Interview Protocol.")

The focus of this research was to understand how a program for women in science, mathematics, and engineering (SM&E) at college level in the southeastern United States functioned to influence women's decision making in terms of participation in these fields. By employing Lave and Wenger's theory of situated learning, we explored this program through two and a half academic years. We utilized a qualitative-quantitative mixed approach in our methodology. For the case study aspect, we focused on the cases of three women participating in the support program via participant observations and in-depth interviews. For a more general description, we developed a questionnaire and augmented this with interviews with a broad spectrum of students. Our findings illustrated that the program demonstrated a great potential to aid the traditionally marginalized to move from marginality to legitimate participation in the communities of science. The program functioned successfully in four ways, each interwoven with the others. One implication of these findings is that such programs should include a multitude of events and opportunities for cognitive, social, and emotional support. Being not tall orders financially, such programs may be considered as effective interventions in both national and international settings, where women are in disadvantaged status. (Contains 1 figure, 2 footnotes and 7 tables.)

Understanding the interaction between internally constructed and externally imposed aspects of the teaching context may be the missing link between calls for school reform and teachers' interpretation and implementation of that reform. Although the context of the local school culture has a profound impact on teachers, there are other external forces that are specifically aimed at influencing teachers' pedagogical and curricular decisions. These externally imposed aspects of context include some of the existing tools of reform, such as national standards, mandated state core curricula, and related criterion-referenced testing. However, little is known about how these reform tools impact teachers' thinking about science and science teaching or how teachers respond to such tools. This study examined the interactions between individual teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning science in elementary school and the tools of reform that are imposed upon them. Comparative case studies were conducted in which two elementary teachers' science instruction, teaching context, and related beliefs were examined, described, and analyzed. In this study, the teachers' fundamental beliefs about science and what it means to teach and learn science influenced their interpretations of the sometimes contradictory messages of reform as they are represented in the standards, mandated curriculum, and end-of-level tests. Suggestions about what these findings mean for needed aspects of teacher professional development are offered.

This article explains the apparent failure to communicate between science education researchers, policy makers, and staff at state and district offices of education. Each group is a stakeholder in K-12 education. Policy makers specify courses of action to meet the needs of an educational system, state and district staff work to implement these policies, and science education researchers examine educational systems with the hope of proposing changes to better support learning. Ideally, research would complement and inform policy. However, the failure-to-communicate scenario described in this article exposes a fundamental incommensurability between current educational policy and science education research. The authors invoke the idea of first-order/second-order change to explain this failure to communicate. First-order change requires small alterations of or additions to existing practices (e.g., changes in texts, number of students in a classroom, length of day, equipment), basically any attempt to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of current schooling practices. In contrast, second-order change is meant to alter the fundamental patterns of schooling; these changes are much more radical and transformative because they challenge the structures and rules that constitute traditional schooling practices. Second-order changes "challenge the cultural traditions of schools" and require fundamental changes in both teacher thinking and classroom practice. Thus, they are inherently more difficult to implement and sustain. The authors argue that the science education reform efforts that began in the mid-1980s represent an attempt to enact second-order change. In contrast, the policy community, via No Child Left Behind (NCLB), simply calls for change without guidelines to support teaching and learning. To comply with NCLB requirements, school districts often take the most expedient and efficient routes rather than support the kinds of teaching and learning environments that support reform-oriented recommendations. The authors argue that it is not enough to work within the current climate of first-order changes; instead, science educators must take a more active role in helping states, districts, and producers of textbooks and assessments to make the call for fundamental, second-order change intelligible and compelling.

This research focused on the interactionist conceptual ecologies of inservice teachers and how these ecologies influenced these teachers' conceptual frameworks for the nature of science (NOS). The participants in the study were five teachers enrolled in a graduate course focused on NOS. Data included participants' responses to open-ended and Likert scale surveys, interviews, writing prompts, and participant observations of classroom sessions. We propose a model of the interaction of the prominent components of teachers' conceptual ecologies for NOS, one in which learning dispositions, understandings of the broad enterprise of science, and orientation to learning and learners are understood to shape teachers' conceptual frameworks for NOS. The complex ties between NOS conceptions and goals, affect, dispositions, and beliefs speak to the inclusion of the bounded nature of science as a central aspect of NOS for practicing teachers. Teachers' dispositions toward learning this construct are linked to their conceptions of the boundaries of science as well as their understanding of the role of NOS in their own teaching. We argue that a recognition of the bounded nature of science foregrounds actions of a teacher's learning disposition, thus potentially minimizing the influence of their religious beliefs.

In this research our purpose was to examine the effectiveness of a program in retaining women in science, mathematics, and engineering majors. We compared undergraduate women participating in a support and mentoring program with nonprogram students in terms of their retention in these majors. The pretest and posttest results over one academic year revealed that the program was successful, adding to the call for support programs or orientation courses directed toward women. The findings had implications for many young men, as well. (Contains 5 tables.)

We examined third graders' understandings of condensation using an expanded notion of the Emergent Perspective, a reflexive consideration of individual and group meaning-making situated in the culture of the classroom. Data were collected from two small groups of students in an inquiry-based, urban classroom during a unit on the water cycle. Measures included conceptual pre-/posttests, interviews, written work, and discourse analyses of a science lesson. Although we identified the supportive role of the teacher's explicit assessments of children's ideas, within the small groups, the force that most potently shaped meaning-making was students' persuasive power, which was in part influenced by the rhetorical moves employed. Specifically, students' evaluative comments (a type of rhetorical move) about contributions of other group members seemed to be particularly persuasive in these groups. Evaluative comments, apart from students' academic status, were shown to be an important influence in not only social knowledge production but also in individual internalization. Our explanation focuses on the particular discursive practices as intellectual resources of urban students, but we are also mindful of the cognitive complexity of the material and the developmental abilities of the students.

The development of new courses is strengthened by assessment and a response to the assessment. Two new science methods courses for elementary and secondary preservice teachers were developed, fostered by the Great Salt Lake Project. The preservice teachers designed and performed research projects that they then converted into inquiry-based teaching units. The professors applied a 3-layer assessment scheme to evaluate the courses and the preservice teachers based on changes in student attitudes, student-generated curricula, and internal course evaluations. Each type of assessment effectively informed the reform process, and strengths and weaknesses of the courses were revealed. Strengths of the courses included students learning to see science as a process and comprehending inquiry as a pedagogical approach. Weaknesses observed included a lack of understanding in three areas: the role of assessment, the need to address cultural issues, and the significance of scientific literacy.

This qualitative study examined the role of discourse (verbal elements of language) and Discourse (nonverbal elements related to the use of language, such as ways of thinking, valuing, and using tools and technologies) in the process of group knowledge construction of mechanical engineering students. Data included interviews, participant observations, and transcripts from lab sessions of a group of students working on their senior design project. These data were analyzed using discourse analysis focusing on instances of concept negotiation, interaction in which multiple people contribute to the evolving conceptual conversation. In this context, despite instructors' attempts to enhance the collaboration of group members, concept negotiation was rare. In an effort to understand this rarity, we identified themes related to an engineering Discourse, which included participants' assumptions about the purpose of group work, the views about effective groups, and their epistemologies and ontologies. We explore how the themes associated with the engineering Discourse played a role in how and when the group engaged in concept negotiation. We found that underlying ideologies and assumptions related to the engineering Discourse played both facilitating and inhibitory roles related to the group's conceptually based interactions.

If the goals of science education reform are to be realized, science instruction must change across the academic spectrum, including at the collegiate level. This study examines the beliefs and teaching practices of three scientists as they designed and implemented an integrated science course for nonmajors that was designed to emphasize the nature of science. Our results indicated that, like public school teachers, scientists' beliefs about the nature of science are manifested in their enactment of curriculum--although this manifestation is clearly not a straightforward or simplistic one. Personal beliefs about the nature of science can differ from those of the course, thus resulting in an enactment that differs from original conceptions. Even when personal beliefs match those of the course, sophisticated understandings of the nature of science are not enough to ensure the straightforward translation of beliefs into practice. Mitigating factors included limited pedagogical content knowledge, difficulty in achieving integration of the scientific disciplines, and lack of opportunity and scaffolding to forge true consensus between the participating scientists.

The Teacher-Centered Systemic Reform model (TCSR) recognizes teaching context, teacher characteristics, teacher thinking, and their interactions as influential factors in attempts to implement classroom reform. Using the TCSR model, teachers' personal practical theories, and conceptual change as a framework, the authors of this article studied three college science faculty members as they designed and implemented an integrated, inquiry-based science course. The documentation and analysis of context, instructors' knowledge and beliefs, and teaching episodes allowed the authors to identify and study the interaction of factors, including grant support, that shape reform attempts. The results suggest that grant-supported mitigation of structural barriers is a necessary but insufficient precursor to change and that personal practical theories are the most powerful influence on instructional practice. The findings highlight the critical role of pedagogical and contextual dissatisfaction in creating a context for fundamental change. (Contains 2 figures, 2 tables and 3 notes.)

Examines the intersection of students' understanding and acceptance of evolution and their epistemological beliefs and cognitive dispositions. Hypothesizes that there would be a relationship between understanding and acceptance. Involves (n=93) undergraduate, non-major biology students in the study. Reports no relationship between students, epistemological beliefs, or their general acceptance of animal evolution or photosynthesis. (Contains 58 references.) (Author/YDS)

Studied the perceptions of chief financial and information officers of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software implementation best practices. Usable responses from 159 respondents show consensus for the most part between the perceptions of the two groups and describe some best practices that represent common ground. (SLD)

Describes trends in students' explanations of biological change in organisms. Student responses to questions on how graphically depicted phenomena occur were analyzed and most students were unable to offer causal explanations. (Contains 27 references.) (DDR)

Explores two differing perspectives of the nature of students' biological knowledge structures, conceptual frameworks, and phenomenological primitives (p-prims). Indicates that although a more prevalent description of student conceptions could not be discounted, p-prim of need as rationale for change was found to offer useful description of knowledge frameworks. Discusses difficulties endemic to the use of biology for basic knowledge structures. (Contains 33 references.) (Author/ASK)

Identifies both epistemic and political shortcomings in the portrayal of science found in curricular multicultural science education. This approach denies the unique characteristics of Western science as it ignores the particular strengths of other systems of thought and has the unexpected political effect of reaffirming scientism. Discusses a pedagogical alternative. (Contains 43 references.) (Author/WRM)

Interpretive analysis of preservice teachers' writings and discussions during an elementary-science methods course identified the teachers' positivist views of knowledge, learning, and teaching as prominent tools for guiding understanding of and reaction to ideas of teaching science to diverse student populations. Discusses the impact on teachers' views of pedagogy and makes suggestions for teacher education. Contains 52 references. (Author/WRM)

Victims of violence are at high risk for unmet mental and physical health care needs which can translate into increased Emergency Department (ED) visits. We investigated the effectiveness of participation in a psychosocial, case management-based trauma recovery program on ED utilization. A retrospective cohort study of ED utilization before and after referral to a Trauma Recovery Center (TRC). Charts of TRC participants from 6/2017–5/2019 who consented in clinic to their medical records being used for research were reviewed. The primary outcome was the change in ED utilization 6 months pre- and post-referral to a TRC. The secondary outcomes were factors associated with ED visits after TRC referral, including victimization or mental health issues. The study group contained 143 patients, of which 82% identified as female and 62% identified as white. Many (39%, n = 56) were part of one or more vulnerable populations and type of victimization varied extensively. Intervention uptake was high as almost all (92%, n = 132) had at least one TRC encounter [median of 6 encounters (IQR 2–13)] and an average of 2.7 services used. Most participants (67.1%, n = 96) had no change in ED use. Forty (28.0%) had at least 1 ED visit 6 months before, 38 (26.8%) had at least 1 ED visit 6 months afterwards, and 81 (56.6%) had no ED visits during either timeframe. ED visits per person in the 6 months prior to referral were not different from visits per person in the 6 months after referral (0.52 vs 0.49, p = 0.76, paired t- test). Negative binomial regression indicated number of ED visits before referral (IRR 1.5, 95% confidence interval [1.27–1.79]) and pre-existing mental health conditions (IRR 2.2, 95% confidence interval [0.98–5.02]) were most associated with an increase in the incidence rate ratio of ED visits in the 6 months after referral. Despite high engagement, a multidisciplinary Trauma Recovery Center did not reduce ED utilization. ED utilization prior to TRC was the most predictive factor of ED utilization afterwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes a college-level introductory integrated science course for non-science majors, called "The Natural World: Explorations in Science," that was laboratory-based, exploratory, and writing intensive, and that was team taught by four teachers from different fields. Discusses elements that make such interdisciplinary teaching possible and the benefits of such teaching. (SR)