Teaching styles used by teachers in special and integrated schools

School has a special role in developing social skills in students with mild intellectual disabilities. It is often the only place where important behaviors and competencies are shaped, and the teacher plays a key part in this process. In this paper, I analyzed teachers’ assessments of their teaching styles by comparing opinions of teachers in special middle schools and in integrated middle schools. These settings follow different educational paths and, consequently, different teaching styles might be used. In the study, I also took into consideration the location of settings (Warsaw and near Warsaw). I used the Teacher Behavior Questionnaire by Grzegorz Sędek (1995). It includes the following dimensions of teachers’ activities in class: encouraging curiosity and creativity, lack of control over the class, criticizing, pushing, demanding faithful reproduction, clarity of expression and movement, stimulating students’ initiative in class, visualization and concretization of the material, and reminding students of the need to learn. The study covered 121 middle school teachers, including 56 teachers in special schools and 65 teachers in integrated schools. The majority of respondents were women (81%). Most of the teachers had 10 to 20 years of service (30%) and were appointed teachers (47%) or chartered teachers (47%). The frequency of behaviors was presented as a percentage analysis. I assumed that the 0–20% range means that the teachers declare that they never show a given behavior, the 21–40% range – that a given behavior is rarely displayed, the 41–60% range – that the teachers sometimes behave in a given way, and the 61–80% range reveals frequent behaviors. The results above 80% indicate a very high frequency of a given behavior.Szkoła zajmuje szczególne miejsce w rozwijaniu umiejętności społecznych uczniów z lekką niepełnosprawnością intelektualną. Jest często jedynym miejscem kształtowania istotnych w życiu zachowań i kompetencji, a rola nauczyciela w tym procesie jest kluczowa. W prezentowanej pracy analizie poddałam oceny własnego stylu nauczania, porównując opinie nauczycieli szkół gimnazjalnych specjalnych i integracyjnych. Są to środowiska, które stosują różne ścieżki edukacyjne i w związku z tym mogą występować odmienne style nauczania. W badaniu uwzględniłam także lokalizacje placówek (w Warszawie i okolicach Warszawy). Do badania wykorzystałam Kwestionariusz Zachowań Nauczyciela opracowany przez Grzegorza Sędka (1995). Obejmuje on następujące wymiary działań nauczyciela na lekcji: pobudzanie ciekawości i twórczości; brak kontroli nad klasą; krytykowanie, ponaglanie; żądanie wiernej reprodukcji; wyrazistość ekspresji i ruchu; stymulowanie aktywności na lekcji; wizualizację, konkretyzację materiału; przypominanie o konieczności uczenia się. Badaniu poddałam 121 nauczycieli gimnazjów, w tym 56 nauczycieli szkół specjalnych i 65 nauczycieli szkół integracyjnych. Wśród badanych przeważały kobiety (81%). Najliczniejszą grupę stanowili nauczyciele o stażu pracy mieszczącym się w przedziale od 10 do 20 lat (30%) oraz nauczyciele mianowani (47%) i dyplomowani (47%). Intensyfikacja zachowań została przedstawiona w formie analizy procentowej. Przyjęłam, że przedział do 20% oznacza, że nauczyciele deklaratywnie oceniają, iż nigdy nie demonstrują danej kategorii zachowań, przedział 21–40% oznacza, że rzadko występuje dane zachowanie, natomiast przedział 41–60% wskazuje, iż nauczyciele czasami zachowują się w dany sposób, przedział od 61 do 80% ujawnia zachowania częste. Wyniki powyżej 80% oznaczają bardzo częste występowanie danego zachowania

Suplement nr 4 2018

special schoo

The phenotypic and genomic diversity of Aspergillus strains producing glucose dehydrogenase

Twelve Aspergillus sp. strains producing glucose dehydrogenase were identified using ITS region sequencing. Based on the sequences obtained, the genomic relationship of the analyzed strains was investigated. Moreover, partial gdh gene sequences were determined and aligned. The amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) method was applied for genomic fingerprinting of twelve Aspergillus isolates. Using one PstI restriction endonuclease and five selective primers in an AFLP assay, 556 DNA fragments were generated, including 532 polymorphic bands. The AFLP profiles were found to be highly specific for each strain and they unambiguously distinguished twelve Aspergilli fungi. The AFLP-based dendrogram generated by the UPGMA method grouped all the Aspergillus fungi studied into two major clusters. All the Aspergillus strains were also characterized using Biolog FF MicroPlates to obtain data on C-substrate utilization and mitochondrial activity. The ability to decompose various substrates differed among the analyzed strains up to three folds. All of the studied strains mainly decomposed carbohydrates

The phenotypic and genomic diversity of Aspergillus strains producing glucose dehydrogenase

Twelve Aspergillus sp. strains producing glucose dehydrogenase were identified using ITS region sequencing. Based on the sequences obtained, the genomic relationship of the analyzed strains was investigated. Moreover, partial gdh gene sequences were determined and aligned. The amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) method was applied for genomic fingerprinting of twelve Aspergillus isolates. Using one PstI restriction endonuclease and five selective primers in an AFLP assay, 556 DNA fragments were generated, including 532 polymorphic bands. The AFLP profiles were found to be highly specific for each strain and they unambiguously distinguished twelve Aspergilli fungi. The AFLP-based dendrogram generated by the UPGMA method grouped all the Aspergillus fungi studied into two major clusters. All the Aspergillus strains were also characterized using Biolog FF MicroPlates to obtain data on C-substrate utilization and mitochondrial activity. The ability to decompose various substrates differed among the analyzed strains up to three folds. All of the studied strains mainly decomposed carbohydrates

Scale up of Cerrena unicolor Laccase Production

The effect of different carbon source in culture medium of wood–degrading basidiomycete Cerrena unicolor C–139 were investigated. The maximal growth and laccase synthesis in shaken flask was observed in mineral salts broth containing maltose as the carbon source and asparagine as the nitrogen source (C/N=17.45). The maximal laccase activities in this condition (in the end of fungus expotential growth phase) was 4–times higher (28000 nkat/l) according to control conditions with glucose. The comparison of different inoculum age preparations for laboratory scale fermentor seeding display that the best results (154 078 nkat/l) were observed when the mycelium comes from the early expotential growth phase. In the scale–up process in SIP type 40l fermentor controlled automatically by the cascade of agitation (200–500 rpm) and gas flow of air (2–3 SLMP) giving the dissolved oxygen concentration in the range of 35–100% of initial amount, (enriched from 2 to 6 day of cultivation by the sequential addition of 10 μM cupric ions) the highest laccase activity in the medium with glucose (150,000 nkat/l) or maltose (145,000 nkat/l) at 8–th and 10–th day of cultivation were observed. The after culture fluids from these time were next concentrated and partially purified giving the crude laccase preparations Lac–G and Lac–M (from media with glucose or maltose respectively). The obtained preparations compared by ion–exchange HPLC, electrophorese and cyclic voltammetry gave no significant differences in their properties

The Large Scale Production of Cerrena unicolor Laccase on Waste Agricultural Based Media

The effect of different agriculture waste polysaccharides as an only carbon source in culture medium of wood–degrading basidiomycete Cerrena unicolor C–139 were investigated. The maximal growth and laccase synthesis in shaken flask was observed in mineral salts broth containing potato starch as the carbon source and asparagine as the nitrogen source (11,000 nkat/L). When an optimized medium was stimulated by addition of 10 μM Cu^<2+> to the culture medium on days 3–5 the maximal activity 24,000 nkt/L was obtained. Next the influence of the stabilization of the medium pH after 48–h incubation on laccase activity in fermentor cultures had to be estimated. The obtained data show that use of an automatic pH control set at pH 5.0 increased laccase productivity significantly (by 12 times) as compared to that obtained in the fermentor culture with a non–stabilized pH–value. Under the new conditions, the highest enzyme activity of 290,000 nkat/L was reached after 13–day incubation

Coronaviruses - important animals and human pathogens

This article aims at the presentation of most prominent infectious agents that emerged just few months age. Coronaviruses (CoVs) constitute a large group of ssRNA viruses that cause acute and chronic diseases in animals and humans. They show a high degree of genetic variability resulting in the existence of four major genera (alfa-, beta-, gamma– and deltacoronaviruses), that further diverge into multiple subgenera and genetic lineages. Different types of CoVs occur naturally in cattle, horses, pigs, cats, dogs, rodents and many species of birds. Bats however, are considered as the natural reservoir and primary source of novel coronaviruses with zoonotic potential, including MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2. There is evidence that intermediate hosts (e.g. civets, dromedary camels, pangolins), can play a key role in the transmission of coronaviruses from bats to humans. Currently, the major concern is associated with SARS-CoV-2, a causative agent of COVID-19 – a human disease that originated in China in late 2019 and spread globally in the early 2020. It has been shown recently, that SARS-CoV-2 is capable of infecting some species of animals, including cats, tigers, ferrets and minks. These rare cases have most likely been caused by human-to-animal transmission and further extensive research are required to elucidate the role of animals in the epidemiology of COVID-19