Recruiting Future Science and Mathematics Teachers Into Alternative Certification Programs: Strategies Tried and Lessons Learned

SMAR²T: Science and Mathematics Academy for the Recruitment and Retention of Teachers is an NSF-funded project for the alternative certification of science and mathematics teachers. Since 2003, we have recruited 4 cohorts of students for 2 different routes to postbaccalaureate teacher certification for teaching grades 5–12. Because we did not meet our target numbers for the recruitment of the 1st cohort, we examined our recruitment strategies and their effects. In this paper, we discuss strategies used to recruit for the 1st SMAR²T cohort and the outcomes of those strategies. We present ongoing recruitment efforts and data on inquiries and applicants for the 2nd cohort. Finally, we highlight the intentional and unintentional gatekeepers of our program and present implications for others engaged in designing and implementing alternative pathways certification.     

Teacher Leadership in Practice: Mapping the Negotiation of the Position of the Special Educational Needs Coordinator in Schools

Special needs care has taken on a substantial evolution within education. Special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) are no longer considered to provide individual guidance to students but to support and professionalize regular teachers in fulfilling special needs care in their classroom. In doing so, they act as teacher leaders. Many concerns are raised about how teacher leadership may interfere with the existing working relationships in schools. In this study, we use Positioning Theory as a theoretical approach to obtain an in-depth understanding of how the position of the SENCO and the responsibilities attached to this position are negotiated within the school. The findings illustrate that SENCOs received the legitimacy to act as teacher leaders when their expertise was recognized, when teachers perceived their task as first-line helpers, and when school principals were willing to release power.     

Holy Communion on Canfield Drive: Listening,Liturgy, and Learning on a College Group Pilgrimage in Ferguson,Missouri

Abstract

This article argues that listening to stories of community leaders and activists as well as writing a Eucharistic liturgy to practice together were effective elements of a pilgrimage that had the goal of educating Christian college students about racial justice. Together these practices helped students imagine new possibilities of building community across lines of difference, embrace unity between spirituality and bodily engagement in social justice, and sense forward movement in vocational discernment.     

Story grammar and comprehension and production of narrative prose by students with learning disabilities

This study investigated both quantitative and qualitative differences between subjects with and without learning disabilities (LD) across three grade levels on two tasks requiring active processing of story grammar. There was no evidence, for either task, of developmental differences in relation to either story comprehension or production. However, there were significant differences between students with LD and normally achieving students in the amount as well as the type of information included in the retellings and written stories. The results provide support for the hypothesis that students with LD have acquired a rudimentary but not fully developed schema for narrative prose.     

Physical activity estimated by the bone-specific physical activity questionnaire is also associated with cardiovascular risk

The nature of physical activity that benefits bone is traditionally thought to differ from that benefiting cardiovascular health. Accordingly, exercise recommendations for improving bone health and cardiovascular health are largely incongruent. Our aim was to determine the associations between high-impact physical activity participation and both cardiovascular disease risk factors and bone mass. We recruited 94 men and women (age 34.0?±?13.3 years) to undergo measures of cardiovascular disease risk (BMI, total cholesterol, fasting blood glucose, waist-to-hip ratio, and mean arterial pressure) and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA XR-800, Norland) measures of bone mass (femoral neck, lumbar spine, and whole body BMD) and body composition (whole body lean mass and fat mass). Physical activity participation was estimated using the bone-specific physical activity questionnaire (BPAQ). Those in the upper tertile for current BPAQ score exhibited lower total cholesterol, waist-to-hip ratio, and mean arterial pressure than those in the lower tertiles (P?r?=??0.49 to 0.29, P?P?=?0.008), with BPAQ score predicting 6% of the variance in BMD (P?=?0.02). We conclude that high-impact physical activity as captured by the BPAQ may be beneficial for both bone health and for attenuating cardiovascular disease risk.     

Towards formal epistemics

In the communication of scientific concepts the nature of instruction is such that the instructor must frequently be more explicit than the scientist himself. The naive questions of students often raise problems of fundamental semantic and philosophical importance ignored by scientists. Many of the epistemic problems so raised require a clarification of the relations between space and time. The present paper discusses the empirical conditions for this clarification.The first part of this article appeared in Instructional Science Vol. 1 No.1.     

Crashing from cadaver to computer: Covid-driven crisis-mode pedagogy spawns active online substitute for teaching gross anatomy

In early 2020, the Covid-19 crisis forced medical institutions worldwide to convert quickly to online platforms for content delivery. Although many components of medical education were adaptable to that format, anatomical dissection laboratory lost substantial content in that conversion, including features of active student participation, three-dimensional spatial relationships of structures, and the perception of texture, variation, and scale. The present study aimed to develop and assess online anatomy laboratory sessions that sought to preserve benefits of the dissection experience for first-year medical students. The online teaching package was based on a novel form of active videography that emulates eye movement patterns that occur during processes of visual identification, scene analysis, and learning. Using this video-image library of dissected materials, content was presented through asynchronous narrated laboratory demonstrations and synchronous/active video conference sessions and included a novel, video-based assessment tool. Data were obtained using summative assessments and a final course evaluation. Test scores for the online practical examination were significantly improved over those for previous in-person dissection-based examinations, as evidenced by several measures of performance (Mean: 2015–2019: 82.5%; 2020: 94.9%; P = 0.003). Concurrently, didactic test scores were slightly, but not significantly, improved (Mean: 2015–2019: 88.0%; 2020: 89.9%). Student evaluations of online sessions and overall course were highly positive. Results indicated that this innovative online teaching package can provide an effective alternative when in-person dissection laboratory is unavailable. Although this approach consumed considerable faculty time for video editing, further development will include video conference breakout rooms to emulate dissection small-group teamwork.