High efficiency vortex trapping of circulating tumor cells

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are important biomarkers for monitoring tumor dynamics and efficacy of cancer therapy. Several technologies have been demonstrated to isolate CTCs with high efficiency but achieve a low purity from a large background of blood cells. We have previously shown the ability to enrich CTCs with high purity from large volumes of blood through selective capture in microvortices using the Vortex Chip. The device consists of a narrow channel followed by a series of expansion regions called reservoirs. Fast flow in the narrow entry channel gives rise to inertial forces, which direct larger cells into trapping vortices in the reservoirs where they remain circulating in orbits. By studying the entry and stability of particles following entry into reservoirs, we discover that channel cross sectional area plays an important role in controlling the size of trapped particles, not just the orbital trajectories. Using these design modifications, we demonstrate a new device that is able to capture a wider size range of CTCs from clinical samples, uncovering further heterogeneity. This simple biophysical method opens doors for a range of downstream interventions, including genetic analysis, cell culture, and ultimately personalized cancer therapy.     

Not the nine o'clock service: Using children's culture

This paper discusses current thinking and practice about the use of popular culture in the primary school to teach literacy. It attempts to question the methods that attempt to galvanise children's interest in popular texts to teach the current literacy curriculum. It argues that there is an incompatibility between the pleasures and practices of the world of popular culture and the traditional environment and curricula of school. The paper argues that instead of ‘using’ children's culture to teach the literacy curriculum in school, children's vibrant, sophisticated and valuable culture needs to be embedded within it.     

Including children with special educational needs in mainstream classrooms: implications for pedagogy from a systematic review

This paper reports on the outcomes of the first in a series of three systematic literature reviews in inclusive education. The aims include establishing what research has been undertaken in the area of effective pedagogical approaches to enable children with special educational needs to be included in mainstream classrooms, synthesising themes in a purposive sample of the literature and examining how this research might inform practice. One outcome of this first literature review was an overview of the various ways that teachers are effectively including children with special educational needs. In this paper, using the literature, we share some of the characteristics of the teaching approaches that have been shown to lead to positive outcomes in the areas of academic attainment, social involvement and improved behaviour. We discuss how these approaches, particularly those involving peer group interactions, might be used by teachers to support all learners.     

An Australian perspective of a forest school: shaping a sense of place to support learning

There is growing discussion on the use of local outdoor environments to enhance a person’s sense of belonging. Sense of belonging and sense of place are components that can promote positive learning identities and attachments to community and, in turn, address issues of cycles of disadvantage. This article researched the impact of an interpretation of the forest school approach to learning in a primary school in regional Western Australia. Using a case-study approach, the research aimed to develop understandings of experiences with regard to self-esteem, sense of belonging and engagement and how these factors supported learning. Results indicated that strategies such as those suggested by the forest school approach can promote a sense of self, belonging and relational connections. These in turn can help to develop dimensions of place, identified as place attachment and place meaning. This has implications for future planning by providing greater depth in understanding the impact of the forest school approach to teaching and learning within the context of the single case primary school. It also raises questions as to how place-shaped identity nurtured in this approach to learning can be positively transferred back into the school and classroom setting.     

Adolescent Work, Vocational Development, and Education

This review examines contemporary issues in vocational development with emphasis on adolescents' work experiences in social context. Attention is directed to the changing social and cultural context for vocational development, the influence of work experience on adolescent development and educational achievement, and theoretical approaches that guide contemporary studies of vocational development and career maturity. In light of the utility of current theories, new directions are suggested to enhance understanding of adolescent employment, vocational development, and educational pursuits. Social policy initiatives to promote adolescents' exercise of agency and their vocational development are considered.     

Articulating identities and analyzing belonging: a multistep intervention that affirms and informs a diversity of students

This article describes a multistep intervention developed for an undergraduate course called ‘Advocating Diversity in Higher Education.’ The goal of the intervention was to affirm diversity and foster a sense of inclusion among students within and beyond the course. We contextualize the intervention in student protests during 2015 and 2016 regarding racial and other forms of discrimination on college and university campuses in the United States, and we describe how it is informed by several theoretical frames and associated practices: intersectionality, belonging, and radical pedagogical partnership. Co-authored by the faculty member who co-designed and co-taught the course, an undergraduate student who co-designed the course, and a recent graduate who co-created the course when she took it, the article embodies the inclusion and radical partnership it analyzes. It is intended to offer individuals working in higher education an intervention that can be adapted across contexts.     

课堂教学气氛美的特点、价值与实现 ——基于气氛美学新视角的探讨

教学气氛用来描述在特定的教学空间中发生的课堂情绪.教学气氛的主要特点是双重性,它既是教学的手段又是教学的目的;既是影响教学的主体,也是被影响的客体;它具有半即兴性的性质.教学气氛美是教学美的一种表现形式,具有感性和理性和谐的特性,能调动学生的学习动力,富有新意并且需要教师和学生共同创造和维持.教学气氛美是发展学生核心素养的重要途径,它让学习更有意义,增加迁移的可能性,提高学生对学习的兴趣,完善学习状态,从而培养学生的终身学习能力,提高学生的创造力.