The Case for Curriculum-Based,External Examinations That Have Significant Consequences for Students

State-mandated systems of comprehensive examinations to be taken prior to high school graduation would focus the attention of students in high school, motivate them to higher levels of performance, provide guidance to teachers as to the appropriate material to be covered, and reduce antieducational pressures within peer groups, all of whose members would share a common objective.     

Reviews

Chambers, Mary D. Nature Secrets. (Little Gateways to Science series.) Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1923. Pp. 155.

Gault, Robert H. Social Psychology, The Bases of Behavior Called Social. New York: Holt, 1923. Pp. x + 336.     

Rural Students in Washington State: STEM as a Strategy for Building Rigor,Postsecondary Aspirations,and Relevant Career Opportunities

In rural settings, leaving for college can mean a young person's first step in leaving home forever (Sherman & Sage, 2011). That presents a serious challenge for college recruiters as they ask parents from Indian reservations or close-knit Hispanic or rural farming communities to allow their children to consider postsecondary opportunities. In this article, the authors discuss impediments to college-going that rural students face and shine a light on several efforts in central Washington State that help students connect to job opportunities in fast-growing, lucrative STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers in the region. Beyond inviting STEM professionals to job fairs, these efforts can expand opportunities for collaboration between STEM professionals and rural schools and teachers. Such opportunities might include enriching the K–12 curriculum with locally relevant problems of science, using local STEM professionals to collaborate on learning projects, and possibly engaging students to contribute to national databases and studies. These programs represent one way to highlight the real-world application of postsecondary education, encouraging students to pursue STEM college programs and careers.     

Republican cosmopolitanism: democratising the global dimensions of citizenship education

This paper considers the nature of citizenship found in recent republican cosmopolitan work within political theory. It argues that republican cosmopolitanism, which seeks to recognise the importance of both cosmopolitan and active citizenry within global political communities, offers important insights through which the nature of global citizenship education may be understood. After identifying the central substantive tenets of republican cosmopolitanism, key issues raised by these for citizenship education are discussed. It is suggested that citizenship education can benefit conceptually from understanding and interrogating global issues from a republican cosmopolitan perspective, and that in turn recourse to republican cosmopolitan ideas raises important questions concerning the nature and focus of global aspects of the citizenship curriculum.     

Collaborative action research in Northern Canadian rural and Indigenous schools: learning about young children’s oral language in play contexts

This article reports on collaborative action research in twelve northern rural and Indigenous communities in four Canadian provinces. Pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, grade one, and Aboriginal Head Start teachers worked with university researchers in three universities to create action research projects with the aim of supporting children’s oral language and writing through play in their classrooms. Inductive analysis of focus group data shows that teachers gained understandings about play as a context both for supporting and for authentic assessment of young children’s oral language. The building of trusting relationships, built through ongoing collaboration with colleagues within their schools and across four provinces, in addition to collaboration with university researchers over a number of years, was viewed as particularly influential to teachers’ professional learning. Additionally, teachers talked about the value of opportunities to contribute to the development of teaching and assessment tools. Participating teachers came to see themselves as making valuable contributions to professional knowledge beyond their northern communities. The 4R’s for conducting research in Indigenous contexts (reciprocity, respect, relevance, and responsibility) provide a framework for deriving implications from this collaborative research. It is important that the results of collaborative action research conducted in rural and Indigenous schools be widely disseminated to provide alternative perspectives to curriculum, research and practice that tend to be urban-oriented.     

Curative effect of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cynodon dactylon</Emphasis> against STZ induced hepatic injury in diabetic rats

The aim of the study was to ascertain the role of ethanolic extract of Cynodon dactylon against hepatic complications in streptozotocin (STZ) induced type 2 diabetic models. Effect of the pre identified most effective dose of 500 mg/kg body weight was studied on hepatic injury caused by chemically induced diabetes by 55 mg/kg body weight i.p. injection of STZ in male Wistar rats. The dose of 500mg/kg body weight given once daily for 14 days reduced the levels of serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, creatinine and urine sugar significantly (P<0.05) with increase in total protein, haemoglobin and body weight was increased. High LD₅₀ validates its high margin of safety.     

Antidiabetic effect of Withania coagulans in experimental rats

The present study defines the systematic evaluation and the role of minerals in glycemic potential of aqueous extract of Withania coagulans fruits in order to develop an effective and safe alternative treatment for diabetes mellitus. Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy was used for glycemic element detection. The study is based on the results of lowering in blood glucose levels of normal, sub, mild and severely diabetic rats assessed during fasting blood glucose, glucose tolerance test and post prandial glucose studies. The dose of 1000mg/ kg was identified as the most effective dose, which reduces the Fasting Blood Glucose level maximum by 33.2% at 4h in normal rats during fasting blood glucose studies. Glucose tolerance test studies of normal, sub and mild diabetic rats showed the maximum reduction of 15.7, 28.9 and 37.8% at 3h respectively. Long-term study in case of severely diabetic rats showed reduction of 52.9 and 54.1% in Fasting Blood Glucose and Post Prandial Glucose levels respectively after 30 days of treatment. The present study, besides confirming hypoglycemic and antidiabetic activities of aqueous extract of W. coagulans, helps in identifying the role of trace minerals like Mg & Ca responsible for antidiabetic potential of this potent indigenous shrub.     

Development,Implementation, and Assessment of a Lecture Course on Cancer for Undergraduates

The war on cancer has been waged for nearly 40 years, yet the cancer burden remains high, especially among minority and underserved populations. One strategy to make strides in the war on cancer and its disparate impacts is to increase the diversity of the cancer research workforce. We describe an approach to recruit a diverse population of future cancer researchers from an undergraduate student population at a minority-serving land-grant institution. Specifically, we have addressed the following questions: Given the dearth of published reports of undergraduate cancer courses, is it possible for undergraduates at a land-grant institution (rather than a research or medical institution) to successfully learn cancer biology from a lecture-based course? Can we develop a template that has the potential to be used by others to develop and implement an undergraduate cancer course? Can such a course stimulate interest in careers in cancer research? Based on a learning gains analysis, students were able to learn cancer content and related skills, and based on student surveys, students'' interest in cancer research was stimulated by course participation. We have identified aspects of our course development process that were critical for the successful development, implementation, and assessment of the course.     

Creating procedural justice and legitimate authority within school discipline systems through youth court

Schools' ability to manage student misbehavior rests largely on students' perceptions of the discipline system and authority. According to the procedural justice perspective, when schools use discipline practices students perceive as unfair, they fail to see authority as legitimate, making them less likely to comply with rules and demand. Youth Court, a peer adjudication program, has been implemented in schools as an alternative to punitive policies. While effective, there is no current research that examines if Youth Court creates procedural justice and legitimate authority. Using qualitative data from three urban schools, this study investigates the fairness of Youth Court procedures within a procedural justice framework, as well as perceptions of primary discipline practices and authority. Findings revealed that each school still largely uses punitive policies that create procedural unfairness and undermine legitimate authority. Additionally, findings indicate Youth Court utilizes practices that allow for procedural justice that foster legitimate authority.