Awakening the Scientist Inside: Global Climate Change and the Nature of Science in an Elementary Science Methods Course

This investigation assessed the impact of situating explicit nature of science (NOS) instruction within the issues surrounding global climate change and global warming (GCC/GW). Participants in the study were 15 preservice elementary teachers enrolled in a science methods course. The instructional intervention included explicit NOS instruction combined with explicit GCC/GW instruction situated within the normal elementary science methods curriculum. Participants’ conceptions of NOS and GCC/GW were assessed with pre- and postadministrations of open-ended questionnaires and interviews. Results indicated that participants’ conceptions of NOS and GCC/GW improved over the course of the semester. Furthermore, participants were able to apply their conceptions to decision making about socioscientific issues. The results provide support for context-based NOS instruction in an elementary science methods course.     

Use of the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms 62 (CCAPS-62) as a Repeated Measure

The purpose of this initial, exploratory study was to examine the utility of the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms-62 (CCAPS-62) as a repeated measure tool at one university counseling center. This study investigated whether clients engaged in individual counseling changed in symptomology while in treatment and when (e.g., session) changes in symptomology occurred. To answer these research questions, reliable change indexes (RCIs) were calculated for each subscale of the CCAPS-62. Results indicated that all eight of the CCAPS-62 subscales demonstrated reliable changes from initial to subsequent administrations, and that changes occurred between sessions 3 and 6 at this specific university counseling center. Findings suggest the importance of incorporating CCAPS-62 information into counseling sessions to inform treatment and assessment.     

The road less walked: a retrospective of race and ethnicity in adult education

This article is a 20-year retrospective on race and ethnicity in Adult Education. A brief historical synopsis of how Adult Education has examined race and ethnicity foregrounds a contemporary segment that reviews the existing situations of people of colour in Adult Education. It is imperative to first discuss Adult Education's past as regards race and ethnicity in order to properly situate the contemporary discussion. This status report focuses primarily on Blacks since other groups, such as Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans, have been essentially absent from the literature. Research during the formative years of Adult Education in the 1930s and 1940s generally consisted of a neutral surface examination, while the current research of the 1980s and 1990s has a distinct social justice component sustained by a critical lens. The literature is virtually quiet on issues relating to race and ethnicity between the years of 1950 and 1980. Seven data sources were used in this appraisal. The following journals were surveyed, with particular attention placed on the last 20 years: Adult Education Quarterly, International Journal of Lifelong Education, Adult Literacy and Basic Education, and New Directions in Adult and Continuing Education. This critical analysis also included documents from the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), journal abstracts from the Current Index to Journals in Education, dissertations published in adult and continuing education, and the conference proceedings of the Standing Conference on University Teaching and Research in the Education of Adults (SCUTREA) and the Adult Education Research Conference (AERC). There has been a significant increase in research on minorities in Adult Education. For the most part, this research seems driven by the context of the present socio-political climate, and it is asserted that the movement towards examining race and ethnicity has been partially inspired by the increase of racial and ethnic group members as Adult Education professors, practitioners, and students in our classrooms and programmes.     

Voices of senior rural men and women on falls and fall-related injuries: “If I fall outside and get hurt,what would I do?”

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study examined the falls and fall-related injury experiences of community-dwelling rural seniors. 42 senior men and women living in two rural areas in Saskatchewan, Canada were recruited, and in-depth interviews were conducted. Analysis revealed three main themes among responses: nature of falls and injuries, causes of falls and injuries, and consequences of falls and injuries. Men and women expressed a fear of falling, which led to activity limitations; however, women were more reflective on their potential to fall and showed an increased level of preparedness compared to men. The causes of falls included activities at the time of a fall, functional limitations, chronic diseases, and personal factors such as type shoes worn. While men and women downplayed the seriousness of their falls or injuries, indicating a level of hardiness, this trend was stronger among men. None of the participants discussed the role of health care professionals or the health care system in relation to fall risk and ways of preventing falls, despite reporting adaptations to prevent and deal with consequences of falls. Overall, these findings may allude to the scarcity of health care services provided in rural communities, highlighting a need to focus on falls prevention for community-dwelling rural seniors.     

Healthy Aging in Place: Perceptions of Rural Older Adults

To date, initiatives to support healthy aging in place have focused primarily on the views of policy makers, researchers, and health professionals. This article explored the meanings, experiences, and perceptions of healthy aging in place among rural older adults. Guided by a community-based participatory research approach, this study sheds light on the perspectives of rural seniors themselves. Through semistructured interviews with 40 rural older adults, the study found that rural older adults' conceptualization of healthy aging in place consisted of factors that policy makers and health professionals would not necessarily consider. In contrast to biomedical approaches, the rural older adults situated healthy aging in place within a more holistic context of health, ranging from social interaction to maintaining an optimistic mental outlook. If policy makers and researchers are to develop more effective interventions that support rural healthy aging in place, then the importance of rural older adults' perspectives, experiences, and input must be recognized.     

Sea Country: navigating Indigenous and colonial ontologies in Australian environmental education

In this paper, we contribute to land education research by focusing on the Torres Strait Islands in the Coral Sea at the far north of tip of Cape York, Australia. We describe the Torres Strait Islander concept of Sea Country and Torres Strait Ailan Kastom (translated as ‘Island Custom’). We then analyse some of the ways in which settler colonisation has challenged these ways of knowing and being. Our inquiry looks at how Sea Country is positioned within two contemporary Australian examples of environmental education: firstly, within the new Australian Curriculum cross-curriculum priorities that mandate that special attention be given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures and also to the concept of sustainability; and secondly, within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s Sea Country Guardians programme This analysis of environmental education curriculum and practice identifies the ways in which the concept of Sea Country and the Indigenous cosmology it represents are simultaneously supported and ignored in the current Australian environmental education context.     

Teaching practices and strategies to involve inner-city parents at home and in the school

Few studies have observed what teachers actually do in the classroom to encourage parental involvement in their children’s education. Over the school year, the various teaching practices and strategies of two teachers in an inner-city elementary school that has had public recognition in its efforts to involve parents were gathered through interviews and observations. The five main teaching practices and strategies to engage parents are practicing parent outreach, establishing relationships with the parents, creating a positive classroom climate, teaching to involve parents, and making the community-school connection. This study offers insights into teachers’ classroom practices that are connected to various specific strategies to involve parents.