Emergency Communication Challenges in Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

In response to Hurricane Katrina's extensive destruction and related public health threats, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) deployed more than 1,000 staff to its emergency operations center and to affected areas. Among them were members of CDC's Emergency Communication System. This paper describes the strategies and tactics used by health communication specialists during the pre-event, response, and post-event stages to address a range of emergency communication exigencies. It highlights three difficult challenges for CDC communication specialists during Hurricane Katrina: rapid dissemination of health messages; adaptation of health messages for diverse audiences, locations, and circumstances; and phasing of key risk messages during the emergency response.     

University Design and Development

The authors reflect on the steps taken whereby universities respond to the needs of their communities and regions and in the process transform themselves into entrepreneurial universities. They are particularly concerned with the metamorphoses of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Universitat Polte ¤ cnica de Catalunya) and of its so-called Innova Programme. Universities that successfully and proactively react to their environments will evolve through three stages: the vertical university, the dot matrix university, the conventional university, to arrive at the technopolis university stage. Structural patterns, governance, relations among stakeholders, and funding mechanisms must evolve to suit the needs of each stage.     

'Playing the Game called Writing': Children's Views and Voices

Teachers' perceptions of their changing practice in the context of the National Literacy Strategy have been well documented in recent years. However, few studies have collected pupils' views or voices. As part of a collaborative research and development project into the teaching and learning of writing, 390 primary pupils' views were collected. A marked difference in attitude to writing and self‐esteem as writers was found between Key Stages 1 and 2, as well as a degree of indifference and disengagement from in‐school writing for some KS2 writers. A strong desire for choice and greater autonomy as writers was expressed and a preference for narrative emerged. This part of the research project ‘We're Writers' has underlined the importance of listening to pupils’ views about literacy, in order to create a more open dialogue about language and learning, and to negotiate the content of the curriculum in response to their perspectives.     

Physical characteristics that predict involvement with the ball in recreational youth soccer

This study examined the relative contribution of age, stage of puberty, anthropometric characteristics, health-related fitness, soccer-specific tests and match-related technical performance to variance in involvements with the ball during recreational 5-a-side small-sided (32 × 15 m) soccer matches. Using a cross-sectional design, 80 healthy male students (14.6 ± 0.5 years of age; range 13.6–15.4) who played soccer recreationally were randomly divided into 10 teams and played against each other. Measurements included height, body mass, pubertal status, health-related fitness (12-min walk/run test, standing long jump, 15-m sprint and sit-ups in 30 s), soccer-specific tests (kicking for speed, passing for accuracy and agility run with and without a ball), match-related technical performance (kicks, passes and dribbles) and involvements with the ball during matches. Forward multiple regression analysis revealed that cardiorespiratory fitness (12-min walk/run test) accounted for 36% of the variance in involvements with the ball. When agility with the ball (zigzag running) and power (standing long jump) were included among the predictors, the total explained variance increased to 62%. In conclusion, recreational adolescent players, regardless of their soccer-specific skills, may increase participation in soccer matches most through physical activities that promote improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle power and agility.     

Facilitating the Development of Assessment Literacy

When STARS reform efforts were launched in 2000, teacher training in assessment was seen as crucial to the success of the program. The STARS reform efforts focus on both supporting the implementation of quality classroom assessment practices and implementing a district-based accountability system. The training programs described in this article were developed in response to one or both of these needs. Two of the programs were designed to provide training to experienced teacher. The other two programs were designed to meet the needs of pre-service teachers. Evidence suggests that the training programs have had a positive impact on teacher confidence, knowledge, and skill in key areas of assessment. In addition, there also appears to be evidence, while somewhat limited, which suggests students also experience positive outcomes.     

C2STEM: a System for Synergistic Learning of Physics and Computational Thinking

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Synergistic learning combining computational thinking (CT) and STEM has proven to be an effective method for advancing learning and understanding in a...     

Developing Symbolic Interpretation Through Literary Argumentation

Literature can be a powerful resource for adolescents’ psychosocial development, as it provides opportunities to experience the world through the perspectives of others and juxtapose these with one’s own experiences. However, gaining access to these perspectives requires going beyond literal words on the page to explore interpretive meanings. This mixed-methods case study addresses the need to better understand how adolescent students learn to interpret literary works. Specifically, 9th-grade students participated in a 5-week instructional module focused on symbolic interpretation and coming of age themes in texts with a variety of sources of complexity. The primary data sources were an intentional sample of classroom discussions and essays written before and after instruction. Analyses indicate that students learned to make interpretive claims around symbolism. Textual evidence to support these claims was evident in whole-class discussions but less so in the written essays. Students also struggled to reason about why evidence supported particular claims and how the interpretive claims were related to understanding the characters and their worlds. Discussion focuses on the value of symbolic interpretation as a starting point for engaging adolescents in interpretive practices but notes that developing facility with literary interpretation takes concerted effort over longer periods of time.     

Effects of a one-shot growth mindset intervention on beliefs about intelligence and achievement goals

This investigation employed a longitudinal design to examine the influence of a one-shot growth mindset intervention on ninth-graders’ implicit beliefs about intelligence and related achievement goals in four different samples. The intervention conformed to characteristics of ‘wise interventions’. Participants’ incremental beliefs about intelligence and achievement goals were measured prior to the intervention and at several subsequent points in time following the intervention. Our results provide modest evidence that the one-shot intervention can promote incremental views of intelligence and reduce the prevalence of performance goals when used at scale.