Everything We Do Is A Celebration of You! : Pleasant Company Constructs American Girlhood

The American Girl (AG) collection is an enormously successful line of girls merchandise that includes dolls, books, and accessories. Through mail-order catalogs, AG has become a part of the cultural universe of young girls in the United States. We examined the dolls, books, accouterments, and catalogs as texts and, therefore, sites of cultural construction, attempting to uncover the ways in which nationality, history, race/ethnicity, consumerism, and gender are immersed in these products. Our study underscores how the AG dolls and products render the world for its young consumers. This rendering is not innocent. Inclusions, exclusions, and hierarchies are naturalized, offering a particular view of race, gender, and the imagined community that is embedded in social practices and power relations that help determine our ways of seeing and imagining from a very young age.     

Turkish Prospective Chemistry Teachers’ Beliefs about Chemistry Teaching

Given the progressive loss of influence for the school relative to television in youngsters’ everyday lives, this article describes the procedure and the results of including cartoons in the physics curriculum in secondary education. Work was carried out intensively with a small group of pupils and sporadically with a larger group. In the first case, cartoons were used for identifying and discussing fictitious phenomena, problem‐solving, and assessment of the learning. In the second case, for identifying and discussing fictitious phenomena, a quasi‐experimental research design was followed. The results back the use of this didactic tool as an element for motivating and invigorating the classroom, for identifying the pupils’ alternative ideas and the assessment of their learning, as well as for a more critical way of watching television.     

Sincretismo y pensamiento categorial: génesis y diferencias socioculturales

Resumen

El estudio de la representación del mundo en el niño es una de las vías que permiten acercarse a la génesis del pensamiento infantil, a su progresiva estructuración. Interesados en la evolución del sincretismo y del pensamiento categorial, los diálogos con los niños en torno a las ultra-cosas nos han permitido detectar distintos niveles evolutivos dentro del pensamiento sincrétn o y del categorial y nos han puesto en la pista de posibles diferencias socioculturales ligadas con la pertenencia al medio rural o urbano.     

Las ideas de los padres sobre sus hijos en la investigación evolutiva

Resumen

Este artículo presenta una revisión de literatura sobre el tema de las ideas de los padres sobre el desarrollo y la educación de sus hijos. Se analizan los antecedentes históricos y posteriormente se discuten la diversidad, los contenidos y los determinantes de las ideas evolutivo-educativas de los padres. Después de una referencia a las relaciones ideas-conducta-desarrollo, se propone para este ámbito de investigación un marco teórico elaborado a partir de las propuestas de Vygotski.     

Effects of purposeful soccer heading on circulating small extracellular vesicle concentration and cargo

BackgroundConsidering the potential cumulative effects of repetitive head impact (HI) exposure, we need sensitive biomarkers to track short- and long-term effects. Circulating small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) (<200 nm) traffic biological molecules throughout the body and may have diagnostic value as biomarkers for disease. The purpose of this study was to identify the microRNA (miRNA) profile in circulating sEVs derived from human plasma following repetitive HI exposure.MethodsHealthy adult (aged 18–35 years) soccer players were randomly assigned to one of 3 groups: the HI group performed 10 standing headers, the leg impact group performed 10 soccer ball trapping maneuvers over 10 min, and the control group did not participate in any soccer drills. Plasma was collected before testing and 24 h afterward, and sEVs were isolated and characterized via nanoparticle tracking analysis. Next-generation sequencing was utilized to identify candidate miRNAs isolated from sEVs, and candidate microRNAs were analyzed via quantitative polymerase chain reaction. In silico target prediction was performed using TargetScan (Version 7.0; targetscan.org) and miRWalk (http://mirwalk.umm.uni-heidelberg.de/) programs, and target validation was performed using luciferase reporter vectors with a miR-7844-5p mimic in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293T/17 cells.ResultsPlasma sEV concentration and size were not affected across time and group following repetitive HI exposure. After 24 h, the HI read count from next-generation sequencing showed a 4-fold or greater increase in miR-92b-5p, miR-423-5p, and miR-24-3p and a 3-fold or greater decrease in miR-7844-5p, miR-144-5p, miR-221-5p, and miR-22-3p. Analysis of quantitative polymerase chain reaction revealed that leg impact did not alter the candidate miRNA levels. To our knowledge, miR-7844-5p is a previously unknown miRNA. We identified 8 miR-7844-5p mRNA targets: protein phosphatase 1 regulatory inhibitor subunit 1B (PPP1R1B), LIM and senescent cell antigen-like domains 1 (LIMS1), autophagy-related 12 (ATG12), microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 beta (MAP1LC3B), integrin subunit alpha-1 (ITGA1), mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 (MAPK1), glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β), and mitogen-activated protein kinase 8 (MAPK8).ConclusionCollectively, these data indicate repetitive HI exposure alters plasma sEV miRNA content, but not sEV size or number. Furthermore, for the first time we demonstrate that previously unknown miR-7844-5p targets mRNAs known to be involved in mitochondrial apoptosis, autophagy regulation, mood disorders, and neurodegenerative disease.     

Perceived effects and uses of the national teacher evaluation system in Chilean elementary schools

This paper addresses the perceived consequences of the Chilean national teacher evaluation system. We interviewed 57 school leaders in 30 schools across 10 municipalities about effects and uses of the assessment in their schools. Results show that in the large majority of schools our interviewees observe positive effects such as increased teamwork and internal reflection processes based on the assessment results. Reports about effects at teacher level far outnumber institutional effects, and are mixed. In all schools our interviewees report on teachers’ negative emotions and work overload due to the assessment process, but also about their internalization of the underlying professional standards. The paper analyzes differences among schools and offers suggestions for the development of large-scale standardized teacher evaluation systems.     

Dream Big: Exploring Empowering Processes of DREAM Act Advocacy in a Focal State

This original, qualitative research analyzed in-depth interviews with five undocumented, college-age, Latino DREAM Act advocates in a single state. An organizational empowerment framework was utilized to explore processes allied with such advocacy. Four emergent themes transcended the data inductively: (1) Challenging Social Injustice, which pertains to participant motivations for involvement; (2) Inherent Connection, which pertains to the unique personal experiences among DREAM-ers; (3) Combatting Internalized Stigma, which pertains to overcoming the shame or embarrassment of an undocumented identity; and (4) Civic Literacy, which pertains to political proficiencies that participants acquired throughout their DREAM Act involvement. Implications are discussed.