Enhancing Christian School Experiences for Pre-Service Teachers through Service-Learning Partnerships

The mission of the Teacher Licensure Program at Liberty University is to develop competent professionals with a Christian worldview for Christian, public, and private schools. To be consistent with the mission, classroom experience in both Christian and public schools should be required for each teacher candidate who successfully completes Liberty’s program. One of the challenges in the implementation of the mission has been an inadequate number of field experience placements available in Christian school settings

Evaluation and Mentoring of Online Faculty

The world of online education has created new challenges to these unique learning environments. One such challenge is the evaluation and mentorship of online faculty. This article seeks to present an effective model for evaluation and mentorship of online and distance faculty that promotes effective education skills for pre-service and practicing professionals based on suggestions from the review of literature

Character Education in Literature-Based Instruction

As schools mandate character education, teachers face the dilemma of crowding another requirement into their teaching schedules while continuing to meet increased accountability for academic performance. Therefore, teachers are seeking the most effective approach to teaching character education and one that conserves time in their classrooms. Teaching character principles that apply to children’s literature is a character education strategy that conserves classroom time because it does not infringe upon the academic schedule. The principles of character education are an effective match for guided reading activities to enhance reading comprehension and character

Enhancing Christian School Field Experiences through Academic Coaching in a Service-learning Partnership

This article gives an overview of service learning as it relates to learning and understanding a college student’s field of study. A survey was given to our education candidates who were completing a service learning project in a local Christian school. Results from the survey indicate that students were more likely to work in Christian school after having been exposed to this experience

Developing a Matrix to Ensure Diversity of Field-Based Experiences

Requiring field-based experiences in diverse settings is a special challenge in alternative programs. A matrix developed to ensure diversity of field-based experiences enhances the preparation and sustenance of quality professionals

The Universities’ Role in Assisting States in Obtaining Highly Qualified Teachers

The Virginia Department of Education solicited proposals from colleges and universities with approved programs in special education to provide coursework and activities for teachers to gain competencies required for special education endorsements. The department was specifically interested in innovative delivery formats that addressed special education personnel needs while being responsive to the demands of working professionals. Liberty University was one of the eligible applicants of this grant as they offered courses through distance learning for teachers across the Commonwealth to complete the requirements for standard special education licensure. The grant funds provided by the Commonwealth of Virginia and support offered by an on-site mentor, as well as university faculty, ensured that each individual in the Commonwealth public school special education system had the opportunity to become a highly qualified practitioner

Quantification of Degradation of Chlorinated Hydrocarbons in Saturated Low Permeability Sediments Using Compound-Specific Isotope Analysis

This field and modeling study aims to reveal if degradation of chlorinated hydrocarbons in low permeability sediments can be quantified using compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA). For that purpose, the well-characterized Borden research site was selected, where an aquifer−aquitard system was artificially contaminated by a three component chlorinated solvent mixture (tetrachloroethene (PCE) 45 vol %, trichloroethene (TCE) 45 vol %, and chloroform (TCM) 10 vol %). Nearly 15 years after the contaminant release, several high-resolution concentration and CSIA profiles were determined for the chlorinated hydrocarbons that had diffused into the clayey aquitard. The CSIA profiles showed large shifts of carbon isotope ratios with depth (up to 24‰) suggesting that degradation occurs in the aquitard despite the small pore sizes. Simulated scenarios without or with uniform degradation failed to reproduce the isotope data, while a scenario with decreasing degradation with depth fit the data well. This suggests that nutrients had diffused into the aquitard favoring stronger degradation close to the aquifer−aquitard interface than with increasing depth. Moreover, the different simulation scenarios showed that CSIA profiles are more sensitive to different degradation conditions compared to concentration profiles highlighting the power of CSIA to constrain degradation activities in aquitards

Directional Phytoscreening: Contaminant Gradients in Trees for Plume Delineation

Tree Sampling Methods Have Been Used in Phytoscreening Applications to Delineate Contaminated Soil and Groundwater, Augmenting Traditional Investigative Methods that Are Time-Consuming, Resource-Intensive, Invasive, and Costly. in the Past Decade, Contaminant Concentrations in Tree Tissues Have Been Shown to Reflect the Extent and Intensity of Subsurface Contamination. This Paper Investigates a New Phytoscreening Tool: Directional Tree Coring, a Concept Originating from Field Data that Indicated Azimuthal Concentrations in Tree Trunks Reflected the Concentration Gradients in the Groundwater Around the Tree.To Experimentally Test This Hypothesis, Large Diameter Trees Were Subjected to Subsurface Contaminant Concentration Gradients in a Greenhouse Study. These Trees Were Then Analyzed for Azimuthal Concentration Gradients in Aboveground Tree Tissues, Revealing Contaminant Centroids Located on the Side of the Tree Nearest the Most Contaminated Groundwater. Tree Coring at Three Field Sites Revealed Sufficiently Steep Contaminant Gradients in Trees Reflected Nearby Groundwater Contaminant Gradients. in Practice, Trees Possessing Steep Contaminant Gradients Are Indicators of Steep Subsurface Contaminant Gradients, Providing Compass-Like Information About the Contaminant Gradient, Pointing Investigators toward Higher Concentration Regions of the Plume. © 2013 American Chemical Society

Geophysical response to simulated methane migration in groundwater based on a controlled injection experiment in a sandy unconfined aquifer

The final publication is available at Elsevier via https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.jappgeo.2019.05.019. © 2019. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Geophysical methods have the capacity to detect and characterize gas-phase dynamics in groundwater. Suitable methods can be deployed at surface or within boreholes depending on the required depth of investigation, spatial/temporal resolution, and geologic conditions. While the application of geophysical methods to monitor immiscible phase contaminants in the subsurface has been extensively documented, the effects of hydraulic properties and flow system conditions on the nature of the geophysical responses used to elucidate multi-phase fluid flow remains underdeveloped. A series of numerical 2-dimensional multi-phase flow and geophysical model simulations based on a controlled methane release experiment in the Borden unconfined sand aquifer was carried out to assess the influence of porous media hydraulic properties and flow system conditions on geophysical signatures associated with transient gas-phase saturation and gas migration behaviour. Specifically, the utility of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to monitor gas-phase plume dynamics in shallow groundwater flow systems is examined. ERT and GPR responses to gas-phase distribution and migration during a 72-day methane gas injection and subsequent recovery period was calculated using a numerical multi-phase flow model (CFbio) simulating four distinct parameterizations of the sandy aquifer system. Geophysical models showed that ERT was effective at imaging the central position of the plume but was less effective at detecting thinner lateral migration pathways extending beyond the primary high gas saturation bulb. Conversely, GPR was able to detect thin gas pools emanating from the primary gas bulb and small-scale vertical preferential pathways arising from capillary boundaries with contrasting saturations; however, gradational boundaries proved to be more difficult to resolve using GPR. This study demonstrates that ERT and GPR can be very useful tools in combination for longer-term monitoring of stray gas leakage from decommissioned hydrocarbon wells in shallow granular media freshwater aquifers, especially given the likelihood of strong lateral migration.This research was made possible through an NSERC Strategic Partnerships Grant Project (SPG-P) awarded to Drs. John Cherry and Beth Parker along with their project collaborators Drs. Aaron Cahill, Bernhard Mayer, Ulrich Mayer and Cathryn Ryan