Can Improvisation be Taught?

The aim of this article is to reconsider the (age old) problem of relating theory to practice in art education by placing it within the largely ignored context of improvisation. In so doing it is hoped that some of the well‐known ‘difficulties’ art practitioners have when confronted with the (usually mandatory) history and theory components of their programmes of study might be better understood and, perhaps, managed rather differently.     

Integrated dynamic wet spinning of core-sheath hydrogel fibers for optical-to-brain/tissue communications

Hydrogel optical light-guides have received substantial interest for applications such as deep-tissue biosensors, optogenetic stimulation and photomedicine due to their biocompatibility, (micro)structure control and tissue-like Young''s modulus. However, despite recent developments, large-scale fabrication with a continuous synthetic methodology, which could produce core-sheath hydrogel fibers with the desired optical and mechanical properties suitable for deep-tissue applications, has yet to be achieved. In this study, we report a versatile concept of integrated light-triggered dynamic wet spinning capable of continuously producing core-sheath hydrogel optical fibers with tunable fiber diameters, and mechanical and optical propagation properties. Furthermore, this concept also exhibited versatility for various kinds of core-sheath functional fibers. The wet spinning synthetic procedure and fabrication process were optimized with the rational design of the core/sheath material interface compatibility [core = poly(ethylene glycol diacrylate-co-acrylamide); sheath = Ca-alginate], optical transparency, refractive index and spinning solution viscosity. The resulting hydrogel optical fibers exhibited desirable low optical attenuation (0.18 ± 0.01 dB cm⁻¹ with 650 nm laser light), excellent biocompatibility and tissue-like Young''s modulus (<2.60 MPa). The optical waveguide hydrogel fibers were successfully employed for deep-tissue cancer therapy and brain optogenetic stimulation, confirming that they could serve as an efficient versatile tool for diverse deep-tissue therapy and brain optogenetic applications.     

The Role of Family Characteristics for Students’ Academic Outcomes: A Person‐Centered Approach

Using data from 1,571 ninth‐grade students (M_age = 14.62) from 82 academic track schools in Germany and their predominantly Caucasian middle‐class parents, configurations of different family characteristics reported by parents were investigated. Latent profile analyses considering academic involvement, family interest, parents’ self‐concept, child's need for support, and parents’ time and energy identified average, indifferent, motivated and engaged, motivated and disengaged, and involved families. Cross‐sectional and longitudinal associations with students’ motivational (self‐concept, effort, and interest) and achievement outcomes (achievement test and grades) in math were analyzed. Students from families classified as motivated and disengaged showed higher initial levels motivation and achievement. Over 5 months, these students also showed an increase in self‐concept and higher achievement than students from other family types.     

The influence of professional development in gifted education on the frequency of instructional practices

Gifted education teacher training, licensure, certification, and degrees are ubiquitous in the Australia and abroad, and yet whether or not such training results in changes to classroom instructional practices remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to better understand the relationship between professional development in gifted education and the practices used by educators in the classroom. Two hundred and seventy-nine respondents who had completed one of three levels of teacher professional development completed the Classroom Practice Survey (Revised). The preregistered prediction for this study, that higher levels of professional development would result in higher levels of self-reported teacher practices, was not supported by the data, thereby drawing attention to the need for more research in this area and potential revisions to gifted education teacher professional development opportunities.