Evaluation of Information on Body Donation Promotion at Official Websites of Turkish Anatomy Departments

Raising public awareness of body donation is crucial for countries like Turkey that have struggling donation programs. The official websites of anatomy departments may contribute to achieving this goal. Nevertheless, previous studies reported institutional or individual reluctance of departments or anatomists, respectively, due to an expectation of adverse publicity. This study aimed to investigate whether the official websites of Turkish anatomy departments provided information on body donation and analyzed the content of these websites. Websites of anatomy departments at 100 medical faculties were evaluated. Only 12 departments (12%) provided information on body donation with varying content. A thematic analysis of the information provided revealed five main themes. These were (1) legal aspects, (2) significance, (3) acceptance/rejection criteria, (4) availability, and (5) redirection. All departments (n = 12, 100%) outlined the legal aspects of body donation, seven departments (58%) highlighted the significance of body donation, seven departments (58%) provided contact information for potential donors, five departments (41%) covered acceptance/rejection criteria, and three departments (25%) provided a link to the official website of the Turkish Society of Anatomy and Clinical Anatomy. Thus, Turkish anatomy departments were reluctant to provide information on body donation, and the content of provided information varied greatly among departments. This lack of information, coordination, and participation in existing awareness activities for body donation in anatomy department websites may be contributing to the low numbers of body donations and donor registrations seen nationally.     

Promoting students’ self-determined motivation in maths: results of a 1-year classroom intervention

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Especially for students in lower achievement levels, there is a significant negative trend in academic self-determined motivation across childhood...     

The Relationship of Teachers' Instructional Decisions and Beliefs about Alternate Assessments to Student Achievement

In the decade since alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS) were first required, special education teachers have had to develop content knowledge and pedagogical skills to teach academics to students with significant cognitive disabilities. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact that teachers' instructional decisions and beliefs about AA-AAS have on the academic achievement of students with significant cognitive disabilities. A survey of nearly 400 teachers across three states provided evidence of teachers' beliefs, as well as their instructional planning processes for students. Students' learning characteristics were also identified. Survey responses were analyzed in conjunction with students' 2010–2011 scores on their statewide AA-AAS. The results indicated that students with presymbolic communication systems had a lower likelihood of achieving proficiency in English language arts/reading and math than students with abstract symbolic communication. Students with concrete symbolic communication systems had lesser odds of proficiency in ELA/reading but not in math. Teachers who agreed that AA-AAS had an impact on instruction tended to have students with higher achievement proficiency. However, more negative views of the validity of AA-AAS scores were associated with greater odds of proficiency.