Search

In this essay Brian R. Sevier, Joanna Bruno, Karol Gates, Stephanie Hartman, Mary Ellen Pittman, Vince Puzick, Phyllis Reed, and Beverly Reimer describe their effort at the Colorado Department of Education to recruit and engage educators in authoring free and open-source curriculum samples for preK-12 academic content areas. The story of Colorado's Sample Curriculum Project illuminates how this team navigated constraints to foreground teachers as intellectual professionals who were ready and willing to use their knowledge and experience in deliberative and collaborative community. It also reveals the intransigency of perspectives that downplay the significance of teacher knowledge and collaboration. Highlighting both the possibilities that materialize when teachers engage, create, and collaborate and the persistent doubters of those possibilities, the authors argue for opportunities for professional expression that undermine reductive perspectives of teachers and their capabilities.

Introduction 1799 I. A Brief Hearsay Primer 1801 A. Empirical Challenges to the Accuracy Model 1804 B. An Immodest Proposal; The Process Model 1807 II. REPLICATIONS AND PILOT 1809 A. [...]

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and H1N1 viruses are inflammatory lung pathogens that can lead to acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ALI/ARDS are still life-threatening diseases in critically ill patients with 30–40% mortality in the last decade. Currently, there are no laboratory tests for the early diagnosis or prognosis of ALI/ARDS. Club cell secretory protein (CC16) has been investigated as a potential biomarker of lung epithelial damage in various lung diseases. In this study, we evaluated whether plasma CC16 reflects the severity of COVID-19 and H1N1 infections. The plasma CC16 levels showed no significant differences between H1N1 and COVID-19 groups (p = 0.09). Among all subjects, CC16 levels were significantly higher in non-survivors than in survivors (p = 0.001). Upon the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) analysis, CC16 had an acceptable value to distinguish survivors and non-survivors (p = 0.002). In the COVID-19 group, plasma CC16 levels moderately correlated with the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score (r = 0.374, p = 0.003) and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score (r = 0.474, p < 0.001). In the H1N1 group, a positive correlation was observed between the CC16 levels and hospital length of stay (r = 0.311, p = 0.022). Among all the patients, weak correlations between plasma CC16 levels with the SOFA score (r = 0.328, p < 0.001) and hospital length of stay (r = 0.310, p < 0.001) were observed. Thus, circulating CC16 might reflect the severity of COVID-19 and H1N1 infections.

Students enrolled in post-secondary developmental mathematics courses hold mathematical misunderstandings that begin before their college careers. Specifically, these students struggle with conceptual understanding of fractions, ratios, and proportions. The Common Core State Standards in Mathematics outline standards for K-12 mathematics education. Standards for fractions, ratios, and proportions are found in grades 3-7. Through a research instrument, collegiate developmental mathematics students were investigated regarding their understanding of these standards. It was determined that participants showed evidence of limited knowledge of the examined areas involving fractions, ratios, and proportions. Because it seems that this lack of understanding is rooted early in their educational careers and is continued throughout students' academic careers, it is hoped that this work can be a starting point for future work in this field that may apply to investigating ways to bridge these gaps in mathematical understanding.

Team projects are increasingly used in engineering courses. Students may develop attitudes toward team projects from prior experience, and their attitudinal responses could influence their performance during team project-based learning in the future. Thus, instructors need to measure students' attitudes toward team projects during their learner analysis to better understand students' characteristics and be proactive in providing effective strategies to help students succeed in a team project environment. The purpose of our study was to develop a survey instrument that measures students' attitudes toward team projects to be used as a learner analysis tool, derived from our local practical needs and due to the lack of appropriate existing instruments. The study was conducted at a mid-sized university in the northwestern United States during 2015-2016. After we generated an initial pool of 50 items, we administered the survey to 225 undergraduate engineering students, performed exploratory factor analysis on the data, and arrived at a four-factor solution of 20 items and a three-factor solution of 14 items. We tested the two competing solutions with another set of 330 undergraduate engineering students. Based on our confirmatory factor analysis results, we arrived at a three-factor model of 12 items as the finalized scale, which measures: (a) professional capacity building, (b) learning and problem-solving skills development, and (c) workload challenges. We call the scale, the Attitudes toward Team Projects Scale on Capacity, Learning, and Workload (ATPS-CLW). Suggestions for future research include continuous development, testing, and validation of the scale.

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) can play an important role in tumor growth by creating a tumor-promoting microenvironment. Models to study the role of CAFs in the tumor microenvironment can be helpful for understanding the functional importance of fibroblasts, fibroblasts from different tissues, and specific genetic factors in fibroblasts. Mouse models are essential for understanding the contributors to tumor growth and progression in an in vivo context. Here, a protocol in which cancer cells are mixed with fibroblasts and introduced into mice to develop tumors is provided. Tumor sizes over time and final tumor weights are determined and compared among groups. The protocol described can provide more insight into the functional role of CAFs in tumor growth and progression.

Somatostatin interneurons are the earliest born population of cortical inhibitory cells. They are crucial to support normal brain development and function; however, the mechanisms underlying their integration into nascent cortical circuitry are not well understood. In this study, we begin by demonstrating that the maturation of somatostatin interneurons in mouse somatosensory cortex is activity dependent. We then investigated the relationship between activity, alternative splicing, and synapse formation within this population. Specifically, we discovered that the Nova family of RNA-binding proteins are activity-dependent and are essential for the maturation of somatostatin interneurons, as well as their afferent and efferent connectivity. Within this population, Nova2 preferentially mediates the alternative splicing of genes required for axonal formation and synaptic function independently from its effect on gene expression. Hence, our work demonstrates that the Nova family of proteins through alternative splicing are centrally involved in coupling developmental neuronal activity to cortical circuit formation.

This paper examines university faculty perceptions on whether preservice teachers are sufficiently prepared to use information and communication technology (ICT) for teaching in early grades and barriers faced in incorporating these technological interventions in classroom settings. This study employed a qualitative research approach and semi-structured questionnaires to investigate faculty perceptions from a teacher education university and considered their responses through the lens of growth and fixed mindsets. The findings revealed that, despite preservice teachers being exposed to instructional technology as part of their academic preparation for early grades teaching, faculty perceived that challenges exist that inhibit preservice teachers' readiness to integrate technologies in their teaching of mathematics. In particular, many significant disagreements existed among the teacher education faculty as to how prepared they perceived their preservice teachers to be in the use of technology in their future classrooms. Findings from this study led to additional observations regarding university faculty opinions regarding their own use of ICT and its implementation in the department and programme.

Mycobacteriophages Deby, LaterM, LilPharaoh, Paola, SgtBeansprout, and Sulley were isolated from soil using Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155. Genomic analysis indicated that they belong to subclusters K1 and K5. Their genomic architectures are typical of cluster K mycobacteriophages, with most variability occurring on the right end of the genome sequence.

Polar research plays a vital role in developing our understanding of Earth's climate system. It is intrinsically interdisciplinary, lending itself to integration into existing undergraduate courses. Here we explore introducing undergraduates to polar research through computational guided inquiry (CGI) modules taught in a variety of courses and disciplines. Students apply course disciplinary techniques to analysis of polar data or research, in the context of climate change, by working through educational modules that include spreadsheets (Excel[superscript TM]) or interactive computer programing (Python in a Jupyter Notebook), over a few class or lab periods. The goals of this exploratory curriculum project are to determine instructor perceptions of effectiveness of the educational modules for teaching preexisting disciplinary course objectives, as well as student perceptions of enjoyment and learning. Evaluation consisted of a student questionnaire and interviews with instructors by an external evaluator. Students and instructors overall reported positive experiences with the modules, highlighted the importance of polar data and climate literacy, and noted increases in student understanding of course learning goals and comfort with the computational tools. Professors further reported that students found the modules motivating, fun and engaging. Taken together, this suggests that the modules are an effective means of bringing polar research into undergraduate classrooms while satisfying instructor goals for course learning objectives. Lessons learned include the importance of providing material such as videos to help transition to the topics of polar research and climate change and of supporting widely varying computational fluency.

This study applies a framework for mathematical cognition and learning (Bossé, et al., 2018a; Bossé et al., 2019; Bossé et al., 2018b) to examples of students' comprehension of geometric concepts related to angles. This framework utilizes key concepts from second language acquisition (SLA) to elucidate processes involved in mathematical learning. The present study analyzes concrete examples of student-teacher and student-student discourse to illustrate how students at different stages of development build their understanding of mathematical principles and concepts regarding angles. The findings indicate that students at different framework levels learn, process, and communicate about angles in observably different ways that share similarities with mathematical learning and SLA.

Embedding psychology within dental services plays an important role in improving patients' experiences, accessing dental treatment, and enhancing psychological knowledge and training. The Dundee Dental Hospital (DDH) has a clinical psychology service that provides a wide range of training opportunities and services for both staff and patients. This article discusses the benefits of having this service, recent innovations and developments, and reflects on the thoughts of the team regarding the value of embedded psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and H1N1 viruses are inflammatory lung pathogens that can lead to acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ALI/ARDS are still life-threatening diseases in critically ill patients with 30–40% mortality in the last decade. Currently, there are no laboratory tests for the early diagnosis or prognosis of ALI/ARDS. Club cell secretory protein (CC16) has been investigated as a potential biomarker of lung epithelial damage in various lung diseases. In this study, we evaluated whether plasma CC16 reflects the severity of COVID-19 and H1N1 infections. The plasma CC16 levels showed no significant differences between H1N1 and COVID-19 groups (p = 0.09). Among all subjects, CC16 levels were significantly higher in non-survivors than in survivors (p = 0.001). Upon the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) analysis, CC16 had an acceptable value to distinguish survivors and non-survivors (p = 0.002). In the COVID-19 group, plasma CC16 levels moderately correlated with the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score (r = 0.374, p = 0.003) and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score (r = 0.474, p < 0.001). In the H1N1 group, a positive correlation was observed between the CC16 levels and hospital length of stay (r = 0.311, p = 0.022). Among all the patients, weak correlations between plasma CC16 levels with the SOFA score (r = 0.328, p < 0.001) and hospital length of stay (r = 0.310, p < 0.001) were observed. Thus, circulating CC16 might reflect the severity of COVID-19 and H1N1 infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Startown Literacy Community reflect upon their experiences in promoting global literature in Startown Elementary School. Through increasing the amount of global literature and picturebooks in other languages, teachers were able to lead students through learning about other cultures and critically engaging with global literature.

The 1983-1984 die-off of the long-spined sea urchin Diadema antillarum stands out as a catastrophic marine event because of its detrimental effects on Caribbean coral reefs. Without the grazing activities of this key herbivore, turf and macroalgae became the dominant benthic group, inhibiting coral recruitment and compromising coral reef recovery from other disturbances. In the decades that followed, recovery of D. antillarum populations was slow to non-existent. In late January 2022, a new mass mortality of D. antillarum was first observed in the U.S. Virgin Islands. We documented the spread and extent of this new die-off using an online survey. Infected individuals were closely monitored in the lab to record signs of illness, while a large population on Saba, Dutch Caribbean, was surveyed weekly before and during mortality to determine the lethality of this event. Within four months the die-off was distributed over 1,300 km from north to south and 2,500 km east to west. Whereas the 1983-1984 die-off advanced mostly with the currents, the 2022 event has appeared far more quickly in geographically distant areas. First die-off observations in each jurisdiction were often close to harbor areas, which, together with their rapid appearance, suggests that anthropogenic factors may have contributed to the spread of the causative agent. The signs of illness in sick D. antillarum were very similar to those recorded during the 1983-1984 die-off: lack of tube feet control, slow spine reaction followed by their loss, and necrosis of the epidermis were observed in both lab and wild urchins. Affected populations succumbed fast; within a month of the first signs of illness, a closely monitored population at Saba, Dutch Caribbean, had decreased from 4.05 individuals per m2 to 0.05 individuals per m2. Lethality can therefore be as high as 99%. The full extent of the 2022 D. antillarum die-off event is not currently known. The slower spread in the summer of 2022 might indicate that the die-off is coming to a (temporary) standstill. If this is the case, some populations will remain unaffected and potentially supply larvae to downstream areas and augment natural recovery processes. In addition, several D. antillarum rehabilitation approaches have been developed in the past decade and some are ready for large scale implementation. However, active conservation and restoration should not distract from the primary goal of identifying a cause and, if possible, implementing actions to decrease the likelihood of future D. antillarum die-off events.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: By establishing a youth-centric web-app as a central hub of information and inspiration in an attempt to engage a young demographic, this project aims to increase community awareness and reduce misconceptions surrounding clinical trials, in hopes of fairly representing marginalized communities among future clinical trial participants. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We designed a children’s web-app to host a collection of child-friendly educational materials (such as picture books, games, and age-appropriate articles about advances in clinical research) explaining clinical research and its process. An emphasis was put on ensuring the web-app and its contents were understandable and appealing to children. The effectiveness of this tool will be tested through a focus group study. Children ages 7-10 will be given a preliminary survey measuring their knowledge and opinions about clinical research, and then given time to explore the web-app. Afterwards, they will be given a secondary survey to gauge their acquired knowledge from the website and asked about their opinion on the design and usability of the web-app and its materials, as well as how likely they were to revisit the site. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We anticipate a very positive response from the children regarding the design and usability of the web-app and its materials. By using an adolescent-focused design methodology at every step of the design process, we will ensure that all materials are attractive and engaging to our younger target audience. Exposing children to accessible information about clinical trials at a young age allows us to build their trust in the research process prior to the possible internalization and acceptance of cultural misconceptions. Over time, we hope to see a change in attitudes toward clinical research as well as increased participation, whether from under-represented groups or a younger demographic, and positively contribute to T3 and onwards in the translational continuum. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: In a rapidly changing world, the best approach to making change is through targeting the younger demographic, the leaders of tomorrow. Our project will allow adolescents to foster a more well-rounded opinion of clinical research, increasing their participation and better paving a more positively received future for translational science as a whole.

Summary: This protocol describes how to characterize α-Smooth muscle actin (αSMA) spatiotemporal expression during mouse small intestinal development. Specific tissue fixation preserves αSMA arrangement in low αSMA expressing cells that are conventionally undetectable under αSMA immunofluorescent stain due to inappropriate fixative-caused artificial actin depolymerization. Parallel analysis of αSMA carbonylation allows estimation of oxidative damage in gut muscular lineage. This approach improves the molecular specificity offered by commercialized kits that estimate total protein carbonyl level in cell lysates without protein specificity.For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Hu et al. (2021). : Publisher’s note: Undertaking any experimental protocol requires adherence to local institutional guidelines for laboratory safety and ethics.

This study aimed at investigating six high school students’ use of analogies while working through geometry proofs in group settings. Along with the analogies used by students and analysis of how they were used, as well as discourse analysis, we investigate students’ meta-proof comments to glean some interpretation of students’ beliefs about proofs. Overall, this study found that students had different beliefs about the nature and process of proofs and used and understood analogical reasoning in idiosyncratic ways. However, it was also found that students’ greater use of analogies did not automatically lead to more success with proofs.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Biomedical research fields are facing the challenges of demand for skilled workers as well as challenges related to diversity in that workforce. It is important that the healthcare workforce reflect the population it serves. The Exposures Internship seeks to address this by building pathways for youth to pursue careers in research and medicine. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: In 2021, the Yale Cultural Ambassadors expressed concern about the lack of free high quality, educational offerings for youth that summer. They asked YCCI to consider developing a summer program for students aged 15 and older that focused on spurring interest in careers in healthcare, medicine, and clinical and translational research. The result was a 4-week virtual learning experience for 34 interns who met daily via Zoom and participated in course work, lectures, journal clubs, group projects, and virtual lunches with internationally renowned clinical research and healthcare leaders. Sessions were designed to help interns gain knowledge of and exposure to current topics in clinical and translational science and to observe the various steps of proposing, designing, undertaking, and analyzing clinical trials. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: YCCI received over 900 inquiries from around the world with more than 200 completed applications for participation in the internship for the pilot year. Since then, YCCI leadership has worked with community partners to engage young scholars from 17 different states, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Of those, we estimate 75% are minority, ~50% female and 20% from rural areas with limited similar opportunities. During the four weeks of the program these highly motivated students worked on projects aimed at increasing participation in pediatric research through a revised Informed consent and adolescent assent process and a youth centered awareness campaign. Interns were so inspired that they requested the program be continued beyond the initial four weeks. As such, YCCI continued to offer sessions throughout the year. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: In evaluation of the pilot program 95% of respondents strongly agreed that the program exposed them to new information about clinical and translational research. One intern shared, This program has unquestionably made me consider becoming a researcher in the future with the goal of becoming a principal investigator within my interest in medicine.

In this essay Brian R. Sevier, Joanna Bruno, Karol Gates, Stephanie Hartman, Mary Ellen Pittman, Vince Puzick, Phyllis Reed, and Beverly Reimer describe their effort at the Colorado Department of Education to recruit and engage educators in authoring free and open-source curriculum samples for preK-12 academic content areas. The story of Colorado's Sample Curriculum Project illuminates how this team navigated constraints to foreground teachers as intellectual professionals who were ready and willing to use their knowledge and experience in deliberative and collaborative community. It also reveals the intransigency of perspectives that downplay the significance of teacher knowledge and collaboration. Highlighting both the possibilities that materialize when teachers engage, create, and collaborate and the persistent doubters of those possibilities, the authors argue for opportunities for professional expression that undermine reductive perspectives of teachers and their capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perioperative anxiety is common in surgical patients and linked to poor outcomes. This multicenter randomized controlled trial assessed the effect of the use of a warm weighted blanket on presurgical anxiety and pain, as well as postsurgical restlessness, nausea, and vomiting. Levels of anxiety and pain were measured in adult patients using a 100‐point visual analog scale before elective surgery. Patients received either a warm weighted blanket (n = 74) or a traditional sheet or nonweighted blanket (n = 74). Patients in the intervention group had significantly lower preoperative anxiety scores (mean [SD] = 26.28 [25.75]) compared to the control group (mean [SD] = 38.73 [30.55], P =.008). However, the intervention had no significant effect on presurgical pain or postsurgical nausea, vomiting, or restlessness. These results suggest that weighted blankets reduce preoperative anxiety in adult patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In choosing high school courses, students often seem to focus on everything except preparation for an intended major or career. They consider graduation requirements, weighted classes, easy classes...but rarely are these types of choices preparing students for postsecondary education. This article describes the "Career Companion Guide" which the Rockwood School District in Eureka, Missouri, developed to help students choose courses in high school that match their career interests and goals. The guide includes course offerings, a sample five-year plan and suggestions for extracurricular activities.

In this article, the author posits a dual argument. First, he contends that the post-WWII discourse of national unity pushed intolerance to the forefront of the domestic agenda linking its elimination with social cohesion while simultaneously advancing assimilationist and meritocratic beliefs about "the" American experience. Here, he utilizes the writings of Project creators/leaders to illustrate the ways in which they understood the amelioration of intolerance as integral to the safety and image of America and as inseparable from the purpose of strengthening national unity. Second, he argues that the curricular work of the teachers involved in the Project allow people a historically rare opportunity to understand how educators mediated the content of intergroup education. The freedom Project teachers experienced to act as both intergroup-curriculum creators and implementers allows people to glimpse the ways in which they reproduced "and" challenged beliefs about assimilation, intolerance, and the curricular treatment(s) of diverse populations in American society. (Contains 8 notes.)

Purpose: The goal of this study was to test the feasibility of using telepractice for measuring behavioral thresholds (T levels) in young children with cochlear implants (CIs) using visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA). Specifically, we examined whether there were significant differences in T levels, test time, or measurement success rate between in-person and remote test conditions. Method: Data were collected for 17 children, aged 1.1-3.4 years. A within-subject AB-BA (A, in-person; B, remote) study design was used, with data collection typically occurring over 2 visits. T levels were measured during each test session using VRA for one basal, middle, and apical electrode. Two additional outcome measures included test time and response success rate, the latter of which was calculated as the ratio of the number of electrode thresholds successfully measured versus attempted. All 3 outcome measures were compared between the in-person and remote sessions. Last, a parent/caregiver questionnaire was administered at the end of the study to evaluate subjective aspects of remote versus traditional CI programming. Results: Results showed no significant difference in T levels between in-person and remote test conditions. There were also no significant differences in test time or measurement success rate between the two conditions. The questionnaires indicated that 82% of parents or caregivers would use telepractice for routine CI programming visits some or all of the time if the option was available. Conclusion: Results from this study suggest that telepractice can be used successfully to set T levels for young children with CIs using VRA.