Identifying Barriers to Teacher Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices in Middle-School Reading

This study explores factors that may be related to Mississippi’s 2015 eighth-grade reading scores, which rank the state in 50th place (Nation’s Report Card, 2016). Whereas there are likely several factors that contribute to middle-school students’ poor performance on the high-stakes tests, this study examines teachers’ reported knowledge and use of evidence-based teaching practices, sense of self-efficacy in implementing the practices, and concerns regarding high-stakes testing and possible relationship with their implementation of the practices. All public schools in Mississippi were invited to participate in an online survey of sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade teachers. After data were screened, 187 teachers were selected. The online survey was used to collect information about teachers’ 1. Awareness of evidence-based practices; 2. Sense of self-efficacy; 3. Sense of self-efficacy in implementation of evidence-based teaching practices; 4. Path to certification; 5. Concerns regarding high-stakes testing; 6. Implementation of evidence-based practices. Structural equation modeling was used to determine the presence of direct and/or indirect effects of the factors considered. The findings show direct effects of teachers’ preparation for teaching on their implementation of some of the practices examined. Additionally, the path coefficients for the individual practices were larger for teachers whose preparation was through an elementary or secondary education program. Regarding sense of self-efficacy, direct effects on implementation of practices were found with slightly more than half of the practices considered. There was no effect of high-stakes testing concern on teachers\u27 implementation of evidence-based practices. These findings indicate possible relationships between teachers’ sense of self-efficacy and implementation of evidence-based practices, as well as a possible relationship between a teacher’s path to certification and implementation of evidence-based practices

‘Praying the Keeills’: rhythm, meaning and experience on pilgrimage journeys in the Isle of Man

This paper explores the concept of ‘the travelling being’ through the lens of pilgrimage walks in the Isle of Man in the British Isles. Focusing on pilgrimage offers a particular spiritually-inflected perspective on the experience of travel and associated meaning-making. The pilgrimage walks studied centre on the sites of small sixth to twelfth century chapels, known as keeills, which are scattered across the Manx landscape, and provide a focus for ecumenical reflection and celebration of Celtic Christian heritage. Participants’ experience of two different forms of pilgrimage walks are analysed using qualitative techniques, with reference to embodied and affective experience, mobilities, rhythm, meaning-making and belief. While all participants appreciated the experiences of walking in the landscape, companionship, heritage expertise, and time-space for reflection, individual sense of ‘journey’ and experience, including a sense of the onward journey or what was ‘taken home’, was deeply inflected by the presence or absence of belief. Pilgrimage narratives offer insight to the meanings ascribed to and derived from the experience of spiritually inflected mobilities and rhythms, as well as the arrhythmia pilgrimage can represent relative to secular worldviews, and the arrhythmia non-believers may experience and negotiate when participating in pilgrimage walks

Memory, tradition, and Christianization of the Peloponnese

This work examines the use of memory and tradition in the Christianization of the Peloponnese based on the evidence of the location and topography of churches. The different processes of conversion in the area have already been discussed, and the focus of this work is to show the extent of continuation of religious practice from the Roman to Late Antique periods. A diachronic analysis of the evidence for towns and sanctuaries from the fourth to seventh centuries is presented. It is argued that throughout the different Christianization processes memory and tradition were managed by the church in terms of its location, architecture, and rituals. It is likely that the church consciously maintained certain traditions of place, imagery, and action in order to retain and use memory traces from the established religious structures, which helped situate the Christian church as a central element of community life and identity. Therefore, it is contended that an essential element of the Christianization process was to maintain earlier memories and traditions not only to enable an efficiently unobtrusive conversion for its long-term success but also to ensure the maintenance of existing social structures, which in turn sustained the church.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Is fat the sixth taste primary? Evidence and implications

Explores our tongue\u27s ability to detect fat as a distinct taste similar to our ability to sense sweet, sour, bitter, acid and savory. Abstract Taste is the chemical sense responsible for the detection of non-volatile chemicals in potential foods. For fat to be considered as one of the taste primaries in humans, certain criteria must be met including class of affective stimuli, receptors specific for the class of stimuli on taste bud cells (TBC), afferent fibres from TBC to taste-processing regions of the brain, perception independent of other taste qualities and downstream physiological effects. The breakdown products of the macronutrients carbohydrates (sugars) and proteins (amino acids) are responsible for the activation of sweet and umami tastes, respectively. Following the same logic, the breakdown products of fat being fatty acids are the likely class of stimuli for fat taste. Indeed, psychophysical studies have confirmed that fatty acids of varying chain length and saturation are orally detectable by humans. The most likely fatty acid receptor candidates located on TBC are CD36 and G protein-coupled receptor 120. Once the receptors are activated by fatty acids, a series of transduction events occurs causing the release of neurotransmitters towards afferent fibres signalling the brain. Whether fatty acids elicit any direct perception independent of other taste qualities is still open to debate with only poorly defined perceptions for fatty acids reported. Others suggest that the fatty acid taste component is at detection threshold only and any perceptions are associated with either aroma or chemesthesis. It has also been established that oral exposure to fat via sham feeding stimulates increases in blood TAG concentrations in humans. Therefore, overall, with the exception of an independent perception, there is consistent emerging evidence that fat is the sixth taste primary. The implications of fatty acid taste go further into health and obesity research, with the gustatory detection of fats and their contributions to energy and fat intake receiving increasing attention. There appears to be a coordinated bodily response to fatty acids throughout the alimentary canal; those who are insensitive orally are also insensitive in the gastrointestinal tract and overconsume fatty food and energy. The likely mechanism linking fatty acid taste insensitivity with overweight and obesity is development of satiety after consumption of fatty foods

Motivations of UK students to study abroad: a survey of school-leavers

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Global solvability and blow up for the convective Cahn-Hilliard equations with concave potentials

We study initial boundary value problems for the convective Cahn-Hilliard equation \Dt u +\px^4u +u\px u+\px^2(|u|^pu)=0. It is well-known that without the convective term, the solutions of this equation may blow up in finite time for any $p>0$. In contrast to that, we show that the presence of the convective term u\px u in the Cahn-Hilliard equation prevents blow up at least for $0<p<\frac49$. We also show that the blowing up solutions still exist if $p$ is large enough ($p\ge2$). The related equations like Kolmogorov-Sivashinsky-Spiegel equation, sixth order convective Cahn-Hilliard equation, are also considered