I Am Sure There May Be a Planet There: Student articulation of uncertainty in argumentation tasks

We investigated how students articulate uncertainty when they are engaged in structured scientific argumentation tasks where they generate, examine, and interpret data to determine the existence of exoplanets. In this study, 302 high school students completed 4 structured scientific arguments that followed a series of computer-model-based curriculum module activities simulating the radial velocity and/or the transit method. Structured scientific argumentation tasks involved claim, explanation, uncertainty rating, and uncertainty rationale. We explored (1) how students are articulating uncertainty within the various elements of the task and (2) the relationship between the way the task is presented and the way students are articulating uncertainty. We found that (1) while the majority of students did not express uncertainty in either explanation or uncertainty rationale, students who did express uncertainty in their explanations did so scientifically without being prompted explicitly, (2) students’ uncertainty ratings and rationales revealed a mix of their personal confidence and uncertainty related to science, and (3) if a task presented noisy data, students were less likely to express uncertainty in their explanations.     

Teachers' views on recent curriculum changes: tensions and challenges

This article presents the major findings of a small-scale study of recent changes in the elementary school curriculum in Portugal and their implications for teachers' sense of professionalism. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires in a suburban elementary school. Findings suggest the emergence of contradictory trends in teacher professionalism: on the one hand, teachers acknowledge the flexibility and the local logic in the management of school curriculum in which they play a key role; on the other, they highlight issues of bureaucracy and ‘imposed collaboration’, along with the lack of support and guidance to perform their new roles at school. Challenge, ambiguity and tension are key words in defining Portuguese teachers' sense of professionalism in times of change.     

Coming to Voice: Preparing Bilingual-Bicultural Teachers for Social Justice

This study examined the development of bicultural voice in Latina/o preservice teachers. Researchers used survey, interview, and observational data to probe students' knowledge, beliefs, and orientations related to teaching culturally and linguistically diverse students. The researchers found that the bilingual cohort courses afforded students with opportunities to juxtapose personal narratives with broader social contexts, thereby allowing students to examine and critique the ideology and curricula of schools. The authors assert that cultivating social justice orientations in bilingual-bicultural preservice teachers is crucial to the empowerment of bilingual-bicultural teachers and their students.     

Comparing Disaster News on Twitter and Television: an Intermedia Agenda Setting Perspective

Intermedia agenda setting predicts a high degree of convergence between news media agendas. However, the rise of social media forces a re-examination of this expectation. Using the 8.8-earthquake of February 27, 2010 in Chile as a case study, this article compares which topics were covered by professional journalists on broadcast news and Twitter, analyzing both cross-sectional and longitudinal trends. A positive, reinforcing influence was found among the journalistic agendas of TV and Twitter. However, counter to the idea that social media are echo chambers of traditional media, it was found that Twitter influences TV news more so than the other way around. Thus, the study provides an early lens into the agenda setting function of social media among television news professionals, and its findings are consistent with Twitter succeeding among journalists due to its provision of valuable information.     

Labor Market Returns for Graduates of Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Latinos have become the largest minority group in American postsecondary education, a majority of whom attend two- or four-year Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). However, little is known about labor market outcomes as result of attending these institutions. Using a unique student-level administrative database in Texas, and accounting for college selectivity, we examine whether attending an HSI influences labor market outcomes ten years after high school graduation for Latino students in Texas. We find no difference in the earnings of Hispanic graduates from HSIs and non-HSIs. This analysis represents one of the first to examine the labor market outcomes for Latino students in this sector of education accounting for critical factors that include a student’s high school and community context.     

Unmasking “ignorance”

ABSTRACT

Recent years have seen rising public talk around voting access and voter suppression, particularly as linked to marginalized and disenfranchised populations. In this reflection, we assess varied such public conversations and identify an interesting narrative encapsulating both those arguing voter suppression as a rising concern and those minimizing such claims. Organized around “ignorance,” this metanarrative does the rhetorical work of containment.     

A Research Preparatory Program for First-Year College Students: Student Selection and Preparation Lead to Persistence in Research

Undergraduate research experiences may increase persistence in STEM majors. We describe a research program that targets first-year students selected for their curiosity and attitudes towards science. We explain the implementation of the program over 3 years and present evaluation data using a group of matched controls. Participants and controls pursued STEM degrees at equivalent rates, but participants were significantly more involved in research. Initial laboratory interest and mentor pairing may have played a role in this finding. Female participants, particularly those with male laboratory mentors, engaged in more research than men.     

Multicultural Career Counseling: Ten Essentials for Training

In the past 20 years, several changes have taken place within the field of counseling and psychology with regard to practice and research with individuals from racial/ethnic groups. At the same time, the United States population has experienced a dramatic shift in its composition. Both have contributed to transformations in graduate training. This article will highlight salient aspects from the multicultural literature regarding culturally competent practice and apply it to the training of vocational counselors.     

Automatic laboratory-based strategy to improve the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in primary care

Introduction

To study the pre-design and success of a strategy based on the addition of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) in the blood samples of certain primary care patients to detect new cases of type 2 diabetes.

Materials and methods

In a first step, we retrospectively calculated the number of HbA1c that would have been measured in one year if HbA1c would have been processed, according to the guidelines of the American Diabetes Association (ADA). Based on those results we decided to prospectively measure HbA1c in every primary care patient above 45 years, with no HbA1c in the previous 3 years, and glucose concentration between 5.6-6.9 mmol/L, during an 18 months period. We calculated the number of HbA1c that were automatically added by the LIS based on our strategy, we evaluated the medical record of such subjects to confirm whether type 2 diabetes was finally confirmed, and we calculated the cost of our intervention.

Results

In a first stage, according to the guidelines, Hb1Ac should have been added to the blood samples of 13,085 patients, resulting in a cost of 14,973€. In the prospective study, the laboratory added Hb1Ac to 2092 patients, leading to an expense of 2393€. 314 patients had an HbA1c value ≥ 6.5% (48 mmol/mol). 82 were finally diagnosed as type 2 diabetes; 28 thanks to our strategy, with an individual cost of 85.4€; and 54 due to the request of HbA1c by the general practitioners (GPs), with a cost of 47.5€.

Conclusion

The automatic laboratory-based strategy detected patients with type 2 diabetes in primary care, at a cost of 85.4€ per new case.Key words: type 2 diabetes, HbA1c, diagnosis, preanalytical phase, test request appropriateness, costs, cost analysis