Analysis of assessments on secondary students\u27 development and interpretation of models

As districts are making the shift to three-dimensional learning the development of a coherent set of high-quality task-based assessments has been a challenge. For this research I collected and analyzed twelve of my district\u27s assessments over the scientific skill of modeling from grades seven through 12. The analysis involved two tools developed by NGSS and Achieve.org to determine the extent to which the assessments ask students to perform tasks that are driven by phenomena and use the three-dimensional in service of sense-making, the Task Screener and the Framework to Evaluate Cognitive Complexity in Science Assessments. The findings support what researchers have said about the shift to three-dimensional task-based assessments: Choosing appropriate engaging phenomena is key to developing high-quality rigorous assessments. While most of my district’s modeling assessments were found to be three-dimensional they are not rigorous because the phenomena guiding the tasks are too general and not puzzling

The effectiveness of fiction versus nonfiction in teaching reading to ESL students

In recent years with the growing emphasis upon communicative activities in the classroom, controversy has risen as to which type of reading material is best for teaching reading in the ESL classroom, fiction or nonfiction. A study was conducted with 31 students of which 15 were taught with non-fiction and 16 were taught with fiction. Both groups were taught the same reading skills. Each group was given three pre-tests and three post-tests in which improvement in overall language proficiency and reading comprehension in the areas of main idea, direct statements and inferences was measured. Also, each group was observed for positive and negative behaviors during the fourth and eighth week of the study as well as responding to a questionnaire given the last week of the study which solicited their attitude toward the reading material used

The Prehistoric Environment of Furness: Palaeoenvironmental influences upon human activity during the Neolithic and Bronze Age of the Furness Peninsula, South Cumbria, UK.

Archaeological research in Cumbria has become increasingly holistic in recent years. Combined assessments of varied types of multi-scalar evidence, both archaeological and palaeoenvironmental, are now the basis of interpretation with regards to Neolithic and Bronze Age activity. Although the palaeoenvironmental record from Cumbria is extensive, certain key landscapes have been largely neglected. The extensive and varied archaeological evidence from the Furness Peninsula of South Cumbria features heavily in regional-scale interpretations of Neolithic and Bronze Age activity. Over the course of the Neolithic and Bronze Age, it is evident that this landscape was dynamic and changeable, especially along its coastlines. Compared to other parts of Cumbria, however, the Furness Peninsula has been subject to very little palaeoenvironmental research. This lack of local-scale data has impeded local-scale archaeological interpretation and, in turn, our understanding of prehistoric activity on a wider scale. Three pollen sequences have been extracted from natural prehistoric contexts upon the Furness Peninsula, which provide new evidence regarding local Neolithic and Bronze Age subsistence practices. A detailed geoarchaeological survey of buried prehistoric deposits within a particular valley system upon the peninsula has also been conducted. This provides new evidence regarding the inland extent of prehistoric marine transgressions across the Peninsula and changing palaeoenvironmental conditions in the environs of a number of important prehistoric occupation and ritual sites. This new data, augmented by the regional palaeoenvironmental record and qualitative local evidence, will be used to contextualise the archaeological record and reassess current interpretations. This improved understanding of both localised palaeoenvironmental change and human activity is used to identify a number of local- and site-scale human responses to changes in climate and coastline. The increased precision of these local-scale interpretations improve our understanding of Neolithic and Bronze Age activity across the wider region of Cumbria

Immigrant Students and the College Classroom Climate in Higher Education

In recent years, the immigrant population in the U.S. has increased dramatically. This increase has caused educational institutions to try to understand this population and their needs in order to aid in their academic success. While this awareness has surfaced in K-12 education, higher education continues, partly because of a lack of research on these students, to render these students and their needs insignificant. While this paper cannot begin to explore all the questions needed to be answered in terms of this population, it can provide an initial glimpse into one important aspect of education for the immigrant, the university classroom climate. Studies in classroom climate have stemmed from the two theoretical bases of social constructivism and critical theory. That is, learning is inherently social and that the dynamic of the classroom mirrors the dynamics of power and oppression in larger society. Although few studies have been done looking at classroom climate and the immigrant specifically, a number of minority studies show that classroom climate can play a significant role in a student\u27s academic success. From a review of the literature, the specific aspects of classroom climate which pertain to this population are teacher/student interaction, student/student interaction, curriculum/pedagogy and English anxiety. Based on this information, an exploratory research study was conducted to determine how the college classroom climate influences immigrant students\u27 academic experience and perceived success

Identification of the Veterinary Sedative Medetomidine in Combination with Opioids and Xylazine in Maryland

Public health, public safety, and forensic science personnel continue to face the emergence of new compounds into the drug market. While focus is often put on the detection of new analogs of known illicit drugs, monitoring the changes in cutting agents and other compounds can be equally as important. Over the last year, near real-time monitoring of the drug supply in Maryland has been completed through a public health – public safety partnership whereby residue from suspected drug packaging or used paraphernalia is collected and analyzed. Through this project, we have recently detected the presence of the veterinary sedative medetomidine in a small number of samples. The presence of medetomidine has been identified in both public health and law enforcement samples and in the presence of fentanyl and xylazine – another veterinary sedative that has been widely observed over the last year. While the rate at which medetomidine has been detected remains low, it is concerning and worthy of continued monitoring