Activities for Challenging Gifted Learners by Increasing Complexity in the Common Core

Gifted learners need opportunities for critical and creative thinking to stretch their minds and imaginations. Strategies for increasing complexity in the four core areas of language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies were addressed using the Common Core and Iowa Core Standards through several methods. Descriptive adjective object boxes were created, based on the themes of bees, surface area and volume, cultural beliefs and mummies, and bee colony collapse disorder. The sets of materials were used in various ways to increase the complexity of instruction in the core subject areas of literacy, mathematics, social studies, and science. The descriptive adjective boxes consisted of several small objects related to a theme with corresponding cards. This card set provided activities to increase the complexity of the topics. [This paper is based on the conference presentation, Smartening up the Common Core: Increasing Complexity for Gifted Learners that was presented at the Iowa Talented and Gifted (ITAG) Annual Conference: Reaching for the Future (Des Moines, Iowa, Oct 13-14 2014.)

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Embedding nurse home visiting in universal healthcare : 6-year follow-up of a randomised trial

Objective Nurse home visiting (NHV) is designed to redress child and maternal health inequities. Of the previous trials to investigate NHV benefits beyond preschool, none were designed for populations with universal healthcare. To address this evidence gap, we investigated whether the Australian ’right@home’ NHV programme improved child and maternal outcomes when children turned 6 and started school. Methods A screening survey identified pregnant women experiencing adversity from antenatal clinics across two states (Victoria, Tasmania). 722 were randomised: 363 to the right@home programme (25 visits promoting parenting and home learning environment) and 359 to usual care. Child measures at 6 years (first school year): Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS), Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI) (maternal/teacher-reported); general health and paediatric quality of life (maternal-reported) and reading/ school adaptation items (teacher-reported). Maternal measures: Personal Well-being Index (PWI), Depression Anxiety Stress Scales, warm/hostile parenting, ChildParent Relationship Scale (CPRS), emotional abuse and health/efficacy items. Following best-practice methods for managing missing data, outcomes were compared between groups (intention-to-treat) using regression models adjusted for stratification factors, baseline variables and clustering (nurse/site level). Results Mothers reported on 338 (47%) children, and teachers on 327 (45%). Patterns of group differences favoured the programme arm, with small benefits (effect sizes ranging 0.15–0.26) evident for SDQ, SSIS, CHEXI, PWI, warm parenting and CPRS. Conclusions Four years after completing the right@ home programme, benefits were evident across home and school contexts. Embedding NHV in universal healthcare systems from pregnancy can offer long-term benefits for families experiencing adversity. Trial registration number ISRCTN89962120

Party politicisation of the environment in Britain

The impact of the environment on established political parties, especially in polities without an electorally successful green party, is surprisingly under-researched. This article provides a theoretically informed and empirically comprehensive analysis of the party politicization of the environment in Britain. Four hypotheses are developed, drawn from the party competition and ‘new politics’ perspectives, which predict the response of the three major British parties to environ-mental issues. These hypotheses are tested against a range of quantitative and qualitative sources, notably the Manifesto Research Group and expert survey data. Party politicization of the environment is found to be limited, but there are important variations in party responses. Party competition is critical in explaining these responses. However, the ‘new politics’ insight that the environmental issue dimension cuts across the traditional left–right cleavage identifies ideology as a further signifi-cant constraint on the willingness of established parties to embrace this issue

Functional impact of global rare copy number variation in autism spectrum disorders

The autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of conditions characterized by impairments in reciprocal social interaction and communication, and the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviours. Individuals with an ASD vary greatly in cognitive development, which can range from above average to intellectual disability. Although ASDs are known to be highly heritable ( approximately 90%), the underlying genetic determinants are still largely unknown. Here we analysed the genome-wide characteristics of rare (<1% frequency) copy number variation in ASD using dense genotyping arrays. When comparing 996 ASD individuals of European ancestry to 1,287 matched controls, cases were found to carry a higher global burden of rare, genic copy number variants (CNVs) (1.19 fold, P = 0.012), especially so for loci previously implicated in either ASD and/or intellectual disability (1.69 fold, P = 3.4 x 10(-4)). Among the CNVs there were numerous de novo and inherited events, sometimes in combination in a given family, implicating many novel ASD genes such as SHANK2, SYNGAP1, DLGAP2 and the X-linked DDX53-PTCHD1 locus. We also discovered an enrichment of CNVs disrupting functional gene sets involved in cellular proliferation, projection and motility, and GTPase/Ras signalling. Our results reveal many new genetic and functional targets in ASD that may lead to final connected pathways

International Social Survey Programme: Role of Government I-V ADD ON - ISSP 1985-1990-1996-2006-2016

The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is a continuous programme of cross-national collaboration running annual surveys on topics important for the social sciences. The programme started in 1984 with four founding members - Australia, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States – and has now grown to almost 50 member countries from all over the world. As the surveys are designed for replication, they can be used for both, cross-national and cross-time comparisons. Each ISSP module focuses on a specific topic, which is repeated in regular time intervals. Please, consult the documentation for details on how the national ISSP surveys are fielded. The present study focuses on questions about political attitudes and the role of government.The release of the cumulated ISSP ´Role of Government´ modules for the years 1985, 1990, 1996, 2006 and 2016 consists of two separate datasets: ZA4747 Role of Government I-V and ZA4748 Role of Government I-V Add On. ZA4747 contains all the cumulated variables, while the supplementary data file ZA4748 contains all those variables that could not be cumulated for various reasons. A comprehensive overview on the contents, the structure and basic coding rules of both data files are provided in the Variable Reports. Role of government I-V Add On: Country-specific variables (for countries included in the cumulated dataset): education (highest degree earned), party affiliation, party voted for in last general election, size of community, country-specific occupational codes (respondent and spouse), personal income, household income, country of origin or ethnic group, religious affili-ation or denomination; Slovakia 2006: political interest; New Zealand 2016: political interest. Module-specific variables: respondent´s religious affiliation or denomination 2006, employment status 2016 (respondent and spouse), living in steady partnership 2016, spouse: working hours 2016; spouse: supervise other employees 2016; parents´ country if birth 2016; Italy: type of housing 1985; type of community (urban/ rural) 1985, 1990, 1996. Additionally coded: Unique cumulation respondent ID Number; Country/ Sample Prefix ISO 3166 Code – alphanumeric; region (country-specific).Das International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) ist ein länderübergreifendes, fortlaufendes Umfrageprogramm, das jährlich Erhebungen zu Themen durchführt, die für die Sozialwissenschaften wichtig sind. Das Programm begann 1984 mit vier Gründungsmitgliedern - Australien, Deutschland, Großbritannien und den Vereinigten Staaten - und ist inzwischen auf fast 50 Mitgliedsländer aus aller Welt angewachsen. Da die Umfragen auf Replikationen ausgelegt sind, können die Daten sowohl für länder- als auch für zeitübergreifende Vergleiche genutzt werden. Jedes ISSP-Modul konzentriert sich auf ein bestimmtes Thema, das in regelmäßigen Zeitabständen wiederholt wird. Details zur Durchführung der nationalen ISSP-Umfragen entnehmen Sie bitte der Dokumentation. Die vorliegende Studie konzentriert sich auf Fragen zu politischen Einstellungen und der Rolle der Regierung.Die Veröffentlichung der kumulierten ISSP-Module "Role of Government" für die Jahre 1985, 1990, 1996, 2006 und 2016 besteht aus zwei separaten Datensätzen: ZA4747 Role of Government I-V und ZA4748 Role of Government I-V Add On. ZA4747 enthält alle kumulierten Variablen, während der Zusatzdatensatz ZA4748 all jene Variablen enthält, die aus verschiedenen Gründen nicht kumuliert werden konnten. Ein umfassender Überblick über den Inhalt, die Struktur und die grundlegenden Kodierungsregeln beider Datenfiles wird in den Variablenreports gegeben. Rolle des Staates I-V Add On: Länderspezifische Variablen (für die im kumulierten Datensatz enthaltenen Länder): Bildung (höchster erworbener Abschluss), Parteizugehörigkeit, bei den letzten allgemeinen Wahlen gewählte Partei, Größe der Gemeinde, länderspezifische Berufscodes (Befragter und Ehepartner), persönliches Einkommen, Haushaltseinkommen, Herkunftsland oder ethnische Gruppe, Religionszugehörigkeit oder Konfession; Slowakei 2006: politisches Interesse; Neuseeland 2016: politisches Interesse. Modulspezifische Variablen: Religionszugehörigkeit oder Konfession des Befragten 2006, Beschäftigungsstatus 2016 (Befragter und Ehegatte), Leben in fester Partnerschaft 2016, Ehegatte: Arbeitszeit 2016; Ehegatte: Aufsicht über andere Mitarbeiter 2016; Geburtsland der Eltern 2016; Italien: Art der Wohnung 1985; Art der Gemeinde (Stadt/Land) 1985, 1990, 1996. Zusätzlich kodiert: Eindeutige Kumulierungs-ID-Nummer des Befragten; Land/Stichprobenpräfix ISO 3166 Code - alphanumerisch; Region (länderspezifisch)

Functional impact of global rare copy number variation in autism spectrum disorders.

International audienceThe autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of conditions characterized by impairments in reciprocal social interaction and communication, and the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviours. Individuals with an ASD vary greatly in cognitive development, which can range from above average to intellectual disability. Although ASDs are known to be highly heritable ( approximately 90%), the underlying genetic determinants are still largely unknown. Here we analysed the genome-wide characteristics of rare (<1% frequency) copy number variation in ASD using dense genotyping arrays. When comparing 996 ASD individuals of European ancestry to 1,287 matched controls, cases were found to carry a higher global burden of rare, genic copy number variants (CNVs) (1.19 fold, P = 0.012), especially so for loci previously implicated in either ASD and/or intellectual disability (1.69 fold, P = 3.4 x 10(-4)). Among the CNVs there were numerous de novo and inherited events, sometimes in combination in a given family, implicating many novel ASD genes such as SHANK2, SYNGAP1, DLGAP2 and the X-linked DDX53-PTCHD1 locus. We also discovered an enrichment of CNVs disrupting functional gene sets involved in cellular proliferation, projection and motility, and GTPase/Ras signalling. Our results reveal many new genetic and functional targets in ASD that may lead to final connected pathways