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Many educators and educational institutions worldwide have agreed that the main goal of science education is to produce a scientifically literate community. Science teachers are key to the achievement of scientific literacy at all levels of education because of the essential role they play in preparing scientifically literate individuals. Studies show that pre-service elementary teachers need to build more confidence in teaching science and scientific literacy during their teacher education programs in order for them to successfully teach science knowledge to their students. Therefore, the purpose of this study is threefold. First, preservice elementary teachers' scientific literacy levels were examined. Second, pre-service teachers' self-efficacy beliefs were measured by distinguishing between their personal and subject-specific self-efficacy beliefs. Third, the extent to which pre-service elementary teachers' scientific literacy levels and self-efficacy levels are related was investigated. Participants were 49 pre-service elementary teachers registered in two science methods courses (introductory and advanced) at a mid-sized university in the United States. Quantitative data were collected using the Test of Basic Scientific Literacy, the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument-Preservice, and Beliefs about Teaching. Results showed that participants had a satisfactory level of scientific literacy. However, pre-service teachers had borderline scores on the Nature of Science scale. Regarding self-efficacy, findings showed that both groups had the highest self-efficacy in teaching biology and the lowest in teaching physics. Participants in the advanced science methods course exhibited a moderate preexisting positive relationship between scientific literacy and subject-specific self-efficacy in teaching science.

Background: Despite the association between depression symptoms and cannabis use, it is unknown how military affiliation may modify this relationship. Methods: Patients reported frequency of cannabis use (past 30 days) and answered the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2), as well as offered sociodemographic information (n = 484). Data were retrieved from a medical records database linked to a screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) program from three clinics in Alabama. With incomplete data for 89% of the sample for education, employment status, and income, we used multiple imputation with chained equations (MICE) to estimate a linear regression model where frequency of cannabis use was regressed on the previously described variables, plus an interaction term for military family status and depression. Results: Frequency of cannabis use was greater among civilians with depression symptoms (M = 7.66 days, SE = 0.60) than individuals from military families with depression symptoms (M = 1.44 days, SE = 1.75). Cannabis use was similar among civilians and military-connected individuals without depression symptoms, respectively (M = 4.01, SE = 0.18 vs. M = 3.85, SE = 0.48). The interaction between term for military family status and depression was statistically significant (b = −5.99, SE = 2.74, p =.03). Conclusion: A personal military connection may be a protective factor against cannabis use for those with depression symptoms. Future research should investigate other substances used for coping with depression symptoms among those military affiliated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the literature on veteran differences in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupational outcomes by gender is established and veteran/nonveteran differences in STEM outcomes are well studied, we fill a gap in the literature by examining the following two research questions in this study: (1) are rural veterans less likely than urban veterans to be employed in a STEM occupation and how does race/ethnicity modify this relationship; (2) among veterans in a STEM occupation, does total income vary by rural/urban location and race/ethnicity? We retrieved data on employed military veterans (n = 845,467) aged 18 to 65 years from the 2008–2020 American Community Survey. Results showed that rural-dwelling Black and Hispanic veterans were less likely than Whites to be employed in a STEM field. Among veterans employed in a STEM field, rural-dwelling Hispanics had lower annual incomes than Whites. As such, future STEM education programs should target rural-dwelling veterans of color. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GeoGebra is an emergent open-source Dynamic and Interactive Mathematics Learning Environment (DIMLE) (Martinovic & Karadag, 2012) that invites a modeling perspective in mathematics teaching and learning. In springs of 2010 and 2012, GeoGebra was integrated respectively into two online professional development courses on mathematical problem solving in a rural region of a Midwest state in the USA. Using GeoGebra as a primary tool for modeling and communication, fifty-three K-8 inservice elementary school teachers with no or little previous exposure to DIMLEs participated in the graduate level course, where they experimented with various resources of GeoGebra for mathematical modeling in the broad context of problem solving. The instructional team incorporated a variety of pedagogical components to support teachers' exploration of the new technologies and the mathematical content, including video-based demonstration, affective intervention, learning with children, and social and cognitive scaffoldings. After intensive online instruction, a 25-item questionnaire was administered to collect data on participants' attitudes, curricular awareness, mathematical content, and pedagogical reflection regarding the integration of GeoGebra. Based on results of the questionnaire (N = 45), this article provides a preliminary description of inservice elementary school teachers' learning experience in a GeoGebra integrated DIMLE setting, including an exploratory dimension analysis of the survey data. Overall, the use of GeoGebra challenged teachers' view about the nature of mathematics and student-teacher interactions and further enriched their mathematical knowledge and pedagogical choices. The course design, context, and implications for future efforts are discussed. An appendix contains GeoGebra Survey and Item Coding. (Contains 6 tables and 1 figure.) [This work was partially supported by the Illinois School Board of Education through an MSP Grant.]

Objective: Little is known about the relationship between environmental factors and school truancy, especially after controlling for socioeconomic factors. Therefore, we investigated associations between social, economic, and environmental factors and school truancy in Illinois. Methods: Independent variables in our analysis included these county-level factors (N = 102): poverty, Mississippi Delta Region designation, parental involvement, single-parent families, floods, tornadoes, pollution, temperatures, and earthquakes. The dependent variable was K-12 school truancy rates aggregated to the county level. We conducted robust linear regression analysis to model relationships among variables. We also conducted spatial analysis to determine hotspots of school truancy. Results: The model in which county-level school truancy rates were regressed on social, economic, and environmental factors was statistically significant (F = 9.10, p < .001). Poverty, parental involvement, and earthquake occurrence were independent predictors of school truancy rates. Spatial analysis revealed a statistically significant cluster of high-truancy rates in 2 economically distressed Illinois counties: Alexander (local Moran's I = 6.58, p < .001) and Pulaski (local Moran's I = 3.35, p < .001). Conclusions: Efforts to decrease K-12 school truancy are needed in Illinois counties with high poverty rates, low parental involvement rates, and a history of earthquakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]