Food‐Based Science Curriculum Increases 4th Graders Multidisciplinary Science Knowledge

Health professionals and policymakers are asking educators to place more emphasis on food and nutrition education. Integrating these topics into science curricula using hand‐on, food‐based activities may strengthen students’ understanding of science concepts. The Food, Math, and Science Teaching Enhancement Resource (FoodMASTER) Initiative is a compilation of programs aimed at using food as a tool to teach mathematics and science. Previous studies have shown that students experiencing the FoodMASTER curriculum were very excited about the activities, became increasingly interested in the subject matter of food, and were able to conduct scientific observations. The purpose of this study was to: (1) assess 4th graders food‐related multidisciplinary science knowledge, and (2) compare gains in food‐related science knowledge after implementation of an integrated, food‐based curriculum. During the 2009–2010 school year, FoodMASTER researchers implemented a hands‐on, food‐based intermediate curriculum in eighteen 4th grade classrooms in Ohio (n = 9) and North Carolina (n = 9). Sixteen classrooms in Ohio (n = 8) and North Carolina (n = 8), following their standard science curricula, served as comparison classrooms. Students completed a researcher‐developed science knowledge exam, consisting of 13 multiple‐choice questions administered pre‐ and post‐test. Only subjects with pre‐ and post‐test scores were entered into the sample (Intervention n = 343; Control n = 237). No significant differences were observed between groups at pre‐test. At post‐test, the intervention group scored (9.95 ± 2.00) significantly higher (p = 0.000) than the control group (8.84 ± 2.37) on a 13‐point scale. These findings suggest the FoodMASTER intermediate curriculum is more effective than a standard science curriculum in increasing students’ multidisciplinary science knowledge related to food.     

Climatically Induced Degradation Processes in Conserved Archaeological Wood Studied by Time-lapse Photography

ABSTRACT

Samples of conserved archaeological wood of different ages, origins, and conservation histories were aged in a climate chamber for seven months, while the humidity alternated between 30% RH for 12 hours and 80% RH for 12 hours at a constant temperature of 30°C. Photographs were taken once every hour, which enabled the creation of a time-lapse movie. Some samples degraded visibly, whereas others were unaffected. Most of the samples were robust and would be able to survive well even in a very poor museum climate. Among the sensitive samples, three types of degradation were identified, namely disintegration, pyrite oxidation, and efflorescence of white crystals. Disintegration was ascribed to dimensional changes caused by the RH alternations in very fragile wood. The white efflorescence was interpreted as the recrystallization of an alum-associated substance, possibly mercallite (KHSO₄). The pyrite oxidation was observed as the efflorescence of a thick yellow, grey, and green powder. Characterization of selected samples was performed using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, X-ray diffraction spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ionic conductivity – liquid chromatography, and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with in situ silylation using hexamethyldisilazane.     

River of words as space for encounter: Contested meaning in rhetorical convergence zones

This essay explores a word-based public art project. In its quotidian presence and its technical violation of historic district codes, the project enables varied interactions. The project requires us to revise our understanding of rhetorical situation, rhetorical space, and rhetorical ecology by understanding public art as a space for encounter: places and moments that enable engagement between and among humans and place that amplify the sense of the contingency of public space. They are important realms for activating a democratic ethos for the city. This concept attends to the intentionality and contingency of rhetorical interaction seeing space as contextual but not determinative, a place of convergence. Using oral history interviews with hosts of the words and participant observation of two historic district hearings, I read the hearings, and the words, as spaces that mobilize a convergence zone between the intimate and the public. Building on encounter and spatial theory, this essay offers a defense of the mid-level as a register of political practice that can be glimpsed in cultural processes.     

Engaged or excluded: LGBTQ youth's participation in school sports and their relationship to psychological well-being

Sports participation has been shown to positively affect youth well-being. However, research has also shown that sports environments can be unsafe for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth. Using data from a large study on school-related experiences of LGBTQ secondary students who reported on their extracurricular activities in school, (N = 15,813), this study examined LGBTQ youth's participation in school sports, the effects of participation on well-being and school belonging, and whether any such benefits of participation varied by transgender status and gender binary identity. Over a quarter of LGBTQ respondents in our study had participated in school sports, and being transgender and being nonbinary were related to a lower likelihood of sports participation. Transgender males and transgender nonbinary youth had the lowest likelihood of sports participation. In general, LGBTQ youth who participated in sports had increased well-being and greater school belonging. However, in regard to self-esteem, transgender nonbinary youth appeared to have greater benefit from participating in sports than did their transgender male and transgender female peers. Considering these results, schools have a responsibility to ensure that school sports are safe and welcoming for LGBTQ youth.     

Moving Beyond Seating-centered Learning Environments: Opportunities and Challenges Identified in a POE of a Campus Library

Colleges increasingly are recognized as student workplaces, inspiring campus leaders to create healthier campus environments. Yet challenging this vision is burgeoning research regarding the health risks of sedentary behavior, an under-studied college health concern that implies deleterious health outcomes and, by extension, academic impediments as well.Can movement be incorporated into academic activities such as studying or reading? This question—particularly relevant to libraries due to their increasing use as study spaces—requires the expansion of standard methods of evaluating student health needs and behaviors. We propose Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) methods as a novel way to investigate sedentary behaviors in a campus library and identify designs and practices to help promote movement.In 2012 and 2013, as part of an undergraduate architecture class, we conducted two POEs of Berkeley's newest library to learn how the space is used and, inspired by new research about the perils of sedentary behavior, we also considered how the library could be used. Through our findings we confirmed the changing role of campus libraries as study spaces, observed social and built environment contexts of sedentary behaviors in library settings, and identified possible interventions to introduce postural variation and physical activity into observed patterns of library use.     

One size does not fit all: Understanding the variation in charter management scale-up

The prevalence of charter management organizations (CMOs)—networks of charter schools overseen by a home office—has exploded in recent years but there is a paucity of research into how CMOs approach growth and the factors that influence their growth plans. In this qualitative study, we examine how a set of 25 older, more established CMOs approached growth. Findings suggest that strategies for scale-up varied depending on the external policy environment and the internal organizational capacity of the CMO. In addition, CMOs approached growth from one of three styles: premeditated, opportunistic, or organic. Finally, longitudinal data reveal that CMOs often struggled to meet their growth targets; fewer than half of the sample CMOs met or were on track to meet their projected scale-up targets. From these findings emerged a key source of tension: On one hand, CMOs are facing pressure from policymakers and foundations to grow and expand rapidly. On the other hand, scaling-up too quickly or in ways that fall outside of the CMO’s mission can lead to serious consequences for the organization, its schools, and students. Our research aims to contribute to this debate by demonstrating that “one size does not fit all” for CMO scale-up, a lesson important for policymakers, educators, and researchers alike.     

How Do I Get a Campus ID? The Other Role of the Academic Library in Student Retention and Success

Academic libraries have long gathered data at the reference desk to facilitate informed development of services and collections, and have long known that regardless of whether questions are related to doing research, the library is a safe place a student may go to find answers. This article highlights the role of the library and information commons service desks as valuable windows into the student experience. The authors suggest that librarians share with campus stakeholders information about students’ non-research-related questions to aid in the development of programs and services designed to help students adjust to campus life and, ultimately, succeed.     

Associations between reasons to attend and late high school dropout

This study addressed (1) whether there were unique profiles of student self-reported reasons for attending school among 10th graders, (2) whether these profiles were differentially associated with late high-school dropout, and (3) whether parent characteristics differed across profiles. Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (N = 15,362), five latent classes were found. The first class (49%) reported intrinsic, identified/introjected, and external motivations for attending school. The second class (32%) attended for identified/introjected and external reasons, while the third class (11%) reported intrinsic and identified/introjected reasons. The final two classes reported only identified/introjected (5%) or external (4%) motivations. Individuals in the identified/introjected and external classes were at greatest risk of dropping out between 10th and 12th grade. A host of parenting characteristics differed across class, with students in the intrinsic-identified/introjected-external class displaying the most favorable pattern of results. Implications for dropout prevention and academic promotion programs are discussed.     

Phonological awareness, reading skills, and vocabulary knowledge in children who use cochlear implants

In hearing children, reading skills have been found to be closely related to phonological awareness. We used several standardized tests to investigate the reading and phonological awareness skills of 27 deaf school-age children who were experienced cochlear implant users. Approximately two-thirds of the children performed at or above the level of their hearing peers on the phonological awareness and reading tasks. Reading scores were found to be strongly correlated with measures of phonological awareness. These correlations remained the same when we statistically controlled for potentially confounding demographic variables such as age at testing and speech perception skills. However, these correlations decreased even after we statistically controlled for vocabulary size. This finding suggests that lexicon size is a mediating factor in the relationship between the children's phonological awareness and reading skills, a finding that has also been reported for typically developing hearing children.