Identifying needs and enhancing learning about climate change adaptation for water professionals at the post-graduate level

Using a participatory learning approach, we report on the delivery and evaluation of a climate change and risk assessment tool to help manage water risks within the agricultural sector. Post-graduate water-professional students from a range of countries, from both developed and emerging economies were involved in using this tool. Our approach included participative learning tools – group discussion, software, and risk matrices. The materials developed met the needs of the students, allowing these students to incorporate their learning and adapt the package of materials for use in their home countries. Analysis of evaluations show that the tools and materials are particularly useful and emphasizes the need for sound learning materials and tools, funding to deliver training, and policy support to accelerate education and adoption of authentic climate change adaptation practices. The expected benefits for water professionals about climate change will be translated into improved socioeconomic and environmental outcomes if adopted.     

Research Training Needs of Scientist‐Practitioners: Implications for Counselor Education

Counselors (N = 911) reported the research skills needed for practice and subsequent research training needs. Findings indicate that counselors have a high need for research skills at work, but training needs differ significantly by counselor type. Recommendations include increasing emphasis on single‐case design, survey design, and widely available data analysis tools.     

Impact of sports participation on mortality rates among Brazilian adults

Objective: To analyze the possible dose-response association between components of sports participation (intensity, volume and previous engagement) and 4-year mortality rates among Brazilian adults.

Methods: 679 males and females (mean age among men = 66.7 ± 9.3 years old and mean age among women = 64.8 ± 8.9 years old) composed the study sample. Sports participation was assessed using Baecke’s questionnaire, which considers intensity, duration and previous engagement. Medical records were used to identify the cause of the death. Cox regression analysis was performed to determine the independent associations of exercise components and mortality.

Results: Participants that reported exercising at moderate-vigorous intensity (Moderate/vigorous: 4.1% versus None/light: 10.3% [p-value = 0.012]; HR = 0.42 [0.1 to 0.94)] and for more than four months (≥4 months: 5.3% versus <4 months: 10.2% [p-value = 0.038]; HR = 0.47 [0.24 to 0.94]) had lower mortality risk. The percentage of survival according to all-cause mortality was significantly higher for participants engaged in sports at moderate-vigorous intensity (p-value = 0.014), as well as for those engaged in sports for periods superior than four months (p-value = 0.036).

Conclusion: We found higher percentage of survival among adults engaged in sports at moderate-vigorous intensity and with at least four months of previous engagement.     

The Educator's Dual Role: Expressing Ideals While Educating in Nonideal Conditions

In this essay, Jennifer Morton discusses educators as central examples of agents who engage in ideal and nonideal ways of thinking. The educator, as a representative of the political community, is tasked with two aims. The first is nurturing students with the skills and knowledge they need for the world as they will find it. In pursuing this goal, the educator is assuming certain social facts, some of them unjust, that constitute the present nonideal world. The second aim is civic — educating future citizens. Insofar as the educator is involved in pursuing this goal, his or her role is to work at making certain future social facts true, in the hope of making the future slightly more ideal. Morton argues that if we think of these two aims instrumentally, they can come into conflict. She does not suggest a resolution to this conflict, but rather develops an alternative expressive account of the civic role of the educator. Ideal thinking by educators, Morton maintains, should be thought of as constituting an expression of respect toward their fellow citizens here and now. Ultimately, she argues that this expressive component of the educator's job is crucial to the educator's role in the political community.