AESA 2012 Presidential Address “What My Community Means To Me”: Reimagining Civic Praxis With Latina/Chicana Feminisms

This article invites imaginings of democracy and education with and through “other” knowledges. It argues for the possibilities of working across difference as articulated in the transnational, border, and decolonial perspectives of Chicana/Latina feminisms. Specifically, it explores Gloria Anzaldúa's notions of nos/otras (we, we/they, us/them), and conocimiento (knowledge with wisdom) as an example of thinking with other knowledges in civic praxis. Notions of community and civic engagement are then examined through a personal testimonio stemming from early memories of participation in a civic organization's sponsored essay contest, “What my community means to me.” Testimonio is used to critique civic exclusions but also to reimagine and animate other knowledges in the development of conocimiento for redefining community and civic participation. Lastly, this article briefly explores one example of how local activists are building communities of civic praxis for racial justice. Latina/Chicana feminisms are useful for reflecting on practices of community and coalition building across difference in a cross-race, cross-class coalitional context.     

The Orientation to Life Questionnaire: Validation of a Measure to Assess Older Adults’ Sense of Coherence

Increasingly, the literature suggests that the sense of coherence (SOC) positively influences well-being in later life. This study reports the assessment of the following psychometric properties: distributional properties, construct, criterion and external-related validities, and reliability of the Orientation to Life Questionnaire (OtLQ) in an cross-national population of older adults. We recruited 1291 community-dwelling older adults aged between 75–102 years (M = 83.9; SD = 6.68). Convenience sampling was used to gather questionnaire data. The construct validity was asserted by confirmatory factor analysis and convergent and discriminant validity. Moreover, criterion and external-related validities, as well as distributional properties and reliability, were also tested. Data gathered with the 29-items OtLQ scale showed overall good psychometric properties in terms of distributional properties, construct, criterion, and external-related validities, as well as reliability. Three factors were validated for the OtLQ scale: (a) comprehensibility; (b) manageability; and (c) meaningfulness. We validated the three-factor OtLQ scale, which produced valid and reliable data for a cross-national sample with older adults. Hence, it is an adequate instrument for assessing sense of coherence among older people in health care practice and program development contexts.     

Redefining professional identity: the voice of a language teacher in a context of collaborative learning

Following a narrative and biographic approach, in this study, we present the case of an in-service language teacher and her professional learning trajectory in the context of the project ‘Languages and education: constructing and sharing training’. This project aimed at the construction of a collaborative teacher education context for learning and transformation of experiences, views and practices in language education, and involved teachers, teacher educators and researchers. Based on a single case study, the analysis tries to disclose the teacher’s discursive displacements as hints of professional transformation while she reinterprets the learning taking place in the collaborative education process. The signs of change are visible in the way she constructs meanings regarding her professional identity, re-identifies her mission as a language teacher and reconsiders her professional identity. Finally, we reflect upon how collaborative teacher education scenarios may foster teachers’ personal professional learning and renewed self-images.     

Phospholipid—polymer amphiphile hybrid assemblies and their interaction with macrophages

Recently, the combination of lipids and block copolymers has become an alternative to liposomes and polymersomes as nano-sized drug carriers. We synthesize novel block copolymers consisting of poly(cholesteryl acrylate) as the hydrophobic core and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) as the hydrophilic extensions. Their successful phospholipid-assisted assembly into vesicles is demonstrated using the evaporation-hydration method. The preserved thermo-responsive property of the lipid-polymer hybrids is shown by a temperature dependent adsorption behaviour of the vesicles to poly(l lysine) coated surfaces. As expected, the vesicle adsorption is found to be higher at elevated temperatures. The cellular uptake efficiency of hybrids is assessed using macrophages with applied shear stress. The amount of adhering macrophages is affected by the time and level of applied shear stress. Further, it is found that shorter PNIPAAm extensions lead to higher uptake of the assemblies by the macrophages with applied shear stress. No inherent cytotoxicity is observed at the tested conditions. Taken together, this first example of responsive lipid-polymer hybrids, and their positive biological evaluation makes them promising nano-sized drug carrier candidates.     

Teachers' perceptions of behavior problems in children from intact,single-parent,and stepparent families

This study examined differences in the incidence of behavior problems between children living with both natural parents and those in single-parent or in stepparent families. Subjects were 3,644 white children in kindergarten through eighth grade; 2,991 were living with both of their own parents; 312 with mother only; 43 with father only; 264 with mother and stepfather; and 34 with father and stepmother. Teachers provided background information and Behavior Problem Checklist ratings on the youngsters. Compared to children from intact homes, those living with mother only had more problems checked on all five scales of the checklist; those with father only, more Socialized Delinquency; those with mother and stepfather, more Conduct Problems and Socialized Delinquency; and those with father and stepmother, more Conduct Problems. Interactions were found for sex, social class, and grade in school.     

Remote learning during Covid-19 lockdown: A study on anatomy and histology education for pharmacy students in Jordan

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed almost all aspects of education. The anatomy and histology courses for pharmacy students focus heavily on the face-to-face communication of theory and practical knowledge, and due to the pandemic, only theory content was delivered in an online format. This brought up many concerns about pharmacy student preparedness. This work explores the effectiveness and student perspective of remote teaching of the theoretical anatomy and histology course in Jordanian universities from the perspective of pharmacy students. The objectives are to determine the strengths, challenges, and the effectiveness of remote delivery on student learning. An online-based validated questionnaire was distributed to students majoring in Pharmacy and enrolled in the course during the second semester of 2019–2020 at 11 universities in Jordan. A total of 442 students participated in the study. Results showed that there were significant differences in perceptions of the social media platforms used in distance learning and remote delivery of the course. Most participants had positive perceptions of the educational process and studying via distance learning. There were many strengths noted including time flexibility and several challenges such as the lack of face-to-face interaction with instructors, inadequate internet connectivity, and technical issues. In conclusion, online-taught anatomy and histology course during the Covid-19 lockdown in Jordan was a success as perceived by students, but the course still possessed challenges need to be overcome in the future.     

A Meta-analysis of the Impact of Social and Emotional Learning Interventions on Teachers’ Burnout Symptoms

Educational Psychology Review - Over the last decades, extensive research has given considerable attention to teachers’ burnout. Owing to its negative personal, organizational, and social...     

The effect of badges on the engagement of students with special educational needs: A case study

This paper addresses the perceived benefits from gamification in the context of special education. It presents the findings of a study evaluating the effects of a specific gamification element (badges) on the engagement of five students with special learning needs, through online courses developed on the Moodle Learning Management System (LMS). The results indicate that this particular gamification element yielded positive effects on students’ engagement and on their overall attitude towards the educational process in general.