Determinants of predisposition to transfer among community college students: A structural model

Employing aspects of Tinto's (1975, 1987) theoretical framework, the purpose of this study was to test a model of student transfer behaviors and attitudes with a community college student population. More specifically, this study examined the structural relationships among five constructs: (1) student background factors, (2) initial commitments, (3) social integration, (4) academic integration, and (5) predisposition to transfer. Student background factors were examined to determine their direct and indirect effects on community college students' initial commitments, social integration, and academic integration on three multiple indicators of the dependent variable, predisposition to transfer: (1) number of four-year institutions students planned to apply for transfer, (2) transfer behavior, and (3) transfer perceptions. The study supported utilization of factors identified in the retention literature that are based on Tinto's model to examine transfer attitudes and behaviors among community college students. Students with high levels of social and academic integration tended to have high levels of predisposition to transfer. Ethnic background was found to have no relationship to predisposition to transfer.     

Unsettling the Body: The Institutionalization of Physical Activity at the Turn of the 20th Century

The turn of the 20^th century was a time of major political and economic fluctuation and demographic shifts in American cities. As a result, physical health and physical supremacy became serious concerns. Between 1880 and 1930, the Progressive Era, politicians, doctors, and educators advocated for physical activity with the intent to improve individual living conditions, health, and well-being. Exploring the history of the playground movement provides insights into the impetus for legalizing physical education in American public schools. In this paper, we examine the complexity and multiplicity of competing educational and political discourses emerging from the playground movement at the turn of the century—civilized play and democratic play. Democratic play provides an example for physical education researchers and physical educators about creating and sustaining progressive physical education curricula and adopting pedagogies that “unsettle the body” to subvert the racial and gender order in physical education classes today.     

Differential time responses in inflammatory and oxidative stress markers after a marathon: An observational study

ABSTRACT

Acute and adaptive changes in systemic markers of oxidatively generated nucleic acid modifications (i.e., 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2?-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodG) and 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanosine (8-oxoGuo)) as well as inflammatory cytokines (i.e., C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, interleukin-10, and tumour necrosis factor alpha), a liver hormone (i.e., fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21)), and bone metabolism markers (sclerostin, osteocalcin, C-terminal telopeptide, and N-terminal propeptide of type 1 procollagen) were investigated following a marathon in 20 study participants. Immediate changes were observed in inflammatory cytokines, FGF21, and bone metabolism markers following the marathon. In contrast, no immediate changes in urinary excretion of 8-oxodG and 8-oxoGuo were evident. Four days after the marathon, decreased urinary excretion of 8-oxodG (-2.9 (95% CI -4.8;-1.1) nmol/24 h, P < 0.01) and 8-oxoGuo (-5.8 (95% CI -10.3;-1.3) nmol/24 h, P = 0.02) was observed. The excretion rate of 8-oxodG remained decreased 7 days after the marathon compared to baseline (-2.3 (95%CI -4.3;-0.4) nmol/24 h, P = 0.02), whereas the excretion rate of 8-oxoGuo was normalized. In conclusion marathon participation immediately induced a considerable inflammatory response, but did not increase excretion rates of oxidatively generated nucleic acid modifications. In fact, a delayed decrease in oxidatively generated nucleic acid modifications was observed suggesting adaptive antioxidative effects following exercise.     

Routed through Canada: a roundtable discussion on Inter-Asia and transnational research

ABSTRACT

The series of reflections are based on a roundtable discussion amongst Canada-based scholars with research interest in transnational, postcolonial, migration and diaspora studies. Their reflections engage with key ideas from Inter-Asia Cultural Studies through the lens of their research practices and personal histories. Y-Dang Troeung revisits generational memories that are shaped by the “Cold War fraternity” of China, Cambodia, and North Korea through the perspective of Critical Refugee Studies and her personal transits between Asia and Canada. Robert Diaz traces shifts in migratory routes by attending to diasporic returns to the Philippines under complex conditions of globalization that shape and constrain mobility between North America and Asia. Lara Campbell examines overlooked moments of transpacific connections in Canadian women’s history to show how Inter-Asia encounters complicated the racial dynamics of the suffrage movement in early twentieth century British Columbia. The roundtable discussion demonstrates the potential for ongoing dialogues on Inter-Asia issues among scholars in Canada and beyond.     

Effecting cultural change from below? A comparison of Cape Town and Bandung's pathways to urban cultural governance

ABSTRACT

This article compares the cultural governance pathways of two UNESCO “Design Cities” – Bandung and Cape Town – methodologically framing them as “repeated instances” [Robinson, J. (2018). Policy mobilities as comparison: Urbanization processes, repeated instances, topologies. Revista de Administração Pública, 52(2), 221–243] of a globalized drive towards more creative cities. While the value of mobilizing culture for local urban change in rapidly growing cities of the global South is increasingly recognized [Mbaye, J., & Dinardi, C. (2018). Ins and outs of the cultural polis: Informality, culture and governance in the global South. Urban Studies, 56(3), 578–593], postcolonial urban scholars have rightly questioned whether internationally popular cultural policy approaches are able to speak to their complex challenges, underpinned by informality and the after-effects of colonialism [Pieterse, E. (2006). Building with ruins and dreams: Some thoughts on realising integrated urban development in South Africa through crisis. Urban Studies, 43(2), 285–304]. As postcolonial states are slowly shifting away from a centralized cultural institution model linked to symbolic nation building projects [Booyens, I. (2012). Creative industries, inequality and social development: developments, impacts and challenges in Cape Town. Urban Forum, 23(1), 43–60], travelling cultural policies brought in by foreign agencies and adapted by local epistemic communities have inspired a range of responses that can be broadly described as cultural policy innovation from below Cohen, D. (2015). Grounding mobile policies: Ad hoc networks and the creative city in Bandung, Indonesia. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 36(2015), 23–37]. In turn, we examine how different cultural policy approaches have been locally mobilized and reworked in Bandung and Cape Town in response to situated realities and in partnerships between cultural, academic, business and local government actors. We argue that comparing the emerging “creative cityness” [Nkula-Wenz, L. (2018a). Worlding Cape Town by design: Encounters with creative cityness. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 1–17] of both cities provides valuable insights into the opportunities and challenges of urban cultural governance in the global South.     

Interpreting evolutionary diagrams: When topology and process conflict

The authors argue that some diagrams in biology textbooks and the popular press presented as depicting evolutionary relationships suggest an inappropriate (anagenic) conception of evolutionary history. The goal of this research was to provide baseline data that begin to document how college students conceptualize the evolutionary relationships depicted in such noncladogenic diagrams and how they think about the underlying evolutionary processes. Study 1 investigated how students (n = 50) interpreted the evolutionary relationships depicted in four such evolutionary diagrams. In Study 2, new students (n = 62) were asked to interpret what the students in Study 1 meant when they used the terms evolved into/from and ancestor/descendant of. The results show the interpretations fell broadly into two categories: (a) evolution as an anagenic rather than cladogenic process, and (b) evolution as a teleological (purpose‐driven) process. These results imply that noncladogenic diagrams are inappropriate for use in evolution education because they lead to the misinterpretation of many evolutionary processes. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47:861–882, 2010     

Examining Arguments Generated by Year 5, 7, and 10 Students in Science Classrooms

A critical component of science is the role of inquiry and argument in moving scientific knowledge forward. However, while students are expected to engage in inquiry activities in science classrooms, there is not always a similar emphasis on the role of argument within the inquiry activities. Building from previous studies on the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH), we were keen to find out if the writing structure used in the SWH approach helped students in Year 5, 7, and 10 to create well constructed arguments. We were also interested in examining which argument components were important for the quality of arguments generated by these students. Two hundred and ninety six writing samples were scored using an analysis framework to evaluate the quality of arguments. Step-wise multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine important argument components. The results of this study suggest that the SWH approach is useful in assisting students to develop reasonable arguments. The critical element determining the quality of the arguments is the relationship between the student’s written claims and his or her evidence.     

Socio-emotional climate of storybook reading interactions for mothers and preschoolers with language impairment

The current study describes the storybook reading behaviors of 45 preschoolers [30 with language impairment (LI) and 15 with typical language (TL)] and their mothers. Each dyad was observed reading a storybook within their homes, and sessions were subsequently coded for indicators of emotional and instructional quality as well as for child participation. Mothers of children with LI showed lower levels of emotional support than mothers of children with TL, although all mothers exhibited similar quality of instruction. The two groups of children were equally enthusiastic about the book; however, children with LI were observed to be less compliant than children with TL and showed a trend to be less persistent. For the children with LI, participation in the book reading task was found to be high only when mothers’ behaviors were observed to be highly sensitive in nature, demonstrating the importance of exposing children to maternal behaviors that are responsive to their unique abilities and needs.     

INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES AND GROUP WORK IN THE US INCLUSIVE HIGH SCHOOL CO-TAUGHT SCIENCE CLASS

In the US, there is a significant number of learning-disabled high school students included in regular science classrooms. It has been argued that students with learning disabilities can succeed in science if they receive the kind of instruction they need. To facilitate such instruction, the special education teacher is often incorporated into the class along with the learning disabled students. We observed 53 high school science lessons from ten pairs of science and special-education teachers who were responsible for delivering instruction to groups of students, some of whom were learning-disabled. We analyzed narrative notes collected in these lessons reflecting the kinds of classroom activities, organization of work, and teachers’ roles. In addition, we interviewed the teachers individually to gain a better understanding of these inclusive classes. The underlying question of this research was whether inclusive classes with two teachers delivered the type of science education that is better than solo-teaching in addressing the needs of learning-disabled students. Our evidence indicates that even with a special-education teacher present in the class, learning-disabled students usually did not receive a science education that met their needs. We elaborate on the reasons for this problem and make suggestions for improvement.