Improving Human Health by Increasing Access to Natural Areas: Opportunities and Risks

Report of the 2013 Berkley Workshop Held at the Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Tarrytown, NY - July 201

The Kaselehlie Press

Volume 8Digital issues of the Kaselehlie Press are made available here in open access with permission of publisher Bill Jaynes, who holds copyright. Any reuse besides that which is allowed under fair-use laws is subject to copyright. Current issues of the paper are freely available online via issue.com/kpressfsm. Hard copy back issues (through volume 21) are available at the University of Hawaii-Manoa Library -- location information can be found in the paper's cataloging record

Ill. teach. home econ. (1973)

Description based on: Vol. 17, no. 2 (Nov.-Dec. 1973); title from cover.Education index 0013-1385 -1992Current index to journals in education 0011-3565Bibliography of agriculture 0006-153

Educators’ reflections of the Swaziland junior secondary Integrated consumer science curriculum: towards development of a unique content area.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The purpose of the research study is to explore educators’ reflections on the Swaziland Junior Secondary Integrated Consumer Sciences curriculum with the intention of improving it, particularly its subject matter. The study was necessitated by a common understanding and observation that Consumer Sciences educators are locked in a battle in which they are implementing a curriculum that does not spiral up from primary phrase through secondary phase (JC) to senior phase. The curriculum is supposedly integrated, yet in fact, the curriculum is fully dictated by curriculum and examination bodies, thus leaving the educators without a voice. Interestingly, reflection is the best system of learning that can transform educators, assisting them to overcome emerging challenges and to investigate the past, present, and the future. The study, therefore, pursues educators’ reflections, with the intention of empowering educators to take action to improve the curriculum. This action research, grounded on a critical paradigm, was used to address the following research questions: a) what are educators’ reflections on the Junior Secondary Integrated Consumer Sciences curriculum? b) Why do educators reflect in particular ways? and c) What lessons may be learnt from the educators’ reflections which could improve the curriculum? This study, through an extensive literature review, concluded that, for educators to be effective in any curriculum issue, three forms of reflection (own, public, and certified) must be employed as the lens through which to review the curriculum. In the case of the Consumer Sciences educators, their own reflections, in particular, had to be developed for the educators to be able to balance influences from both certified reflections and public reflections. This may be achieved only once educators understand their identity; thereafter they may begin to reflect. This study was conducted through face-to-face interviews, observations, reflective activity, and focus-group discussions. The data was analysed using a framework analysis. Literature review led to the development of a Microscopic Curriculum framework framed by Van den Akker’s curriculum spider web, useful in analysing and interpreting data. The findings of the study reveal that Consumer Sciences educators’ rationale for teaching is greatly informed by demands of the discipline internationally, as per their training and a need from the public to impart hands-on skills to learners. This became evident in teachers’ drive to foster learning outcomes as outlined by the curriculum policy document. Even though the educators could not differentiate between aims and objectives, skills, and knowledge, and xvii lacked conceptualization of other curriculum concepts, the action research was effective in their emancipation. Furthermore, contents in Consumer Sciences are dominated by influences from both certified reflections (knowledge, information, concepts, and theories) and public reflections (skills, practical competences). Educators are being controlled by these forces, thus lack clarity and a rationale for inclusion of certain content. Educators believe that some content does not adequately represent the focus of the discipline in this modern age, recommending removal of certain content, while supplementing other. Also, the assessment in Consumer Sciences is controlled by both certified reflections (assessment of learning) and public reflections (assessment for learning). It therefore lacked self-assessment and peer-assessment on the part of both students and teachers. Intervention through action research empowered educators to take action in reviewing the curriculum, so that it reflected the interests and needs of the learner, clarifying how assessment as learning can improve their teaching. The findings of this study indicate that educators reflected on challenges while organising and financing the teaching of Consumer Sciences. First, insufficient time is allotted to the teaching of the subject. Time allocated does not cover content. Time is also lost during the second term and during everyday subject change-over. Educators therefore teach on Saturdays and holidays to make up such lost time. Secondly, hardware resources such as computers, sewing machines and stoves are inadequate, compelling educators to teach learners in groups while sharing these resources. Educators demonstrated willingness to use computers and software to aid teaching, yet facilities do not allow for such technology, thus compelling teachers to exploit the traditional face-to-face learning environments. Lastly, financial resources are not professionally managed by the school principals and the heads of Consumer Sciences departments. The study findings compared with those found in the literature eventually gave birth to a Tri-Star curriculum theory. It has been observed that action research has been effective in developing the own reflections of educators, empowering them to challenge the curriculum issues that were oppressing them. It is therefore recommended that research that actively engages educators apropos of their scope of work be used frequently. Action research should be used in teaching Consumer Sciences. The National Curriculum Centre (NCC) should remove certain content, as per recommendation of the focus groups in this study

Washington University Magazine, Winter 2005

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/ad_wumag/1174/thumbnail.jp

Desktop publishing in a small rural primary school

This thesis looks at the way words and pictures work together in cognitive development and the place of the computer as a tool to enhance and extend such development by assisting in creating the content of a publication, providing the means to revise and tailor information to specific audiences, generate the images, merge text and graphics, make a proof for editing and finally reproduce the completed publication for a wider audience. It describes such a research project and analyses the results achieved. There is an overview of general psychological writings and theses on imagery and perception in chapter two. Art packages and the use of camcorder and video digitiser are discussed as are strategies for computing and presenting images. The nature of the writing process, writing for publication to an unknown audience and the part played by the word processor in such a project are discussed in chapter three. The research study is described in chapter four, its organisation, the basic computer system required and the various decisions which needed to be made and the skills required and developed by the children involved are studied. In chapter five the findings of the project, the developing child writer, the observed changes in behaviour, the computer as a new medium for art are summarised. The test results are quantified and there is a look at some aspects of certain individual texts. In the concluding chapter the speaking, writing, reading relationship, pupil-initiated learning, the impact of word processing, the role of the teacher and the possible requirements of the National Curriculum are discussed and suggestions for further work are outlined

Principles of Nutrition Textbook, Second Edition

Update: The team has updated this course with a Round Twelve Mini-Grant for Ancillary Materials and Revisions, leading to a new twenty-chapter remix featuring content from a Kansas State University open textbook. Due to accessibility issues in the repository, a second copy of the PDF without a cover page is included in Additional Files. This file should retain all bookmarks and tags. First edition description: This Open Textbook for Principles of Nutrition was created under a Round Nine ALG Textbook Transformation Grant. Topics covered: Chapter 1: Nutrition Basics Chapter 2: Macronutrient Structures Chapter 3: Macronutrient Digestion Chapter 4: Macronutrient Uptake, Absorption, & Transport Chapter 5: Common Digestive Problems Chapter 6: Macronutrient Metabolism Chapter 7: Integration of Macronutrient Metabolism Chapter 8: Micronutrients Overview & Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) Chapter 9: Antioxidant Micronutrients Chapter 10: Macronutrient Metabolism Micronutrients Chapter 11: Carbon Metabolism Micronutrients Chapter 12: Blood, Bones & Teeth Micronutrients Chapter 13: Electrolyte Micronutrients Chapter 14: Achieving a Healthy Diet Chapter 15: Diet and Health- Chronic Disease Prevention Chapter 16: Pregnancy and Lactation Chapter 17: Nutrition Infancy through Adolescence Chapter 18: Adulthood and the Later Years Chapter 19: Nutrition and Fitness/Athletes Chapter 20: Nutrition and Society The original chapters are also available on a Georgia Highlands College LibGuide.https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/health-textbooks/1006/thumbnail.jp