5,794 research outputs found
Integrating Domains: My Work as a Christian Teacher Educator
This essay on one teacher educator’s integration of faith, learning, and scholarship articulates the author’s exploration into what it means to be a Christian teacher educator who seeks to integrate the cognitive and the spiritual domains at a small private Christian university. Drawing from both educational and spiritual literature, the essay examines both the ideals and applications of one who seeks to be a teacher educator who is informed by the life and teachings of Jesus
Guest Editorial
This special issue, Volume 14, Issue 2, features both new essays and reprints of pieces from past issues that are relevant to the theme of preparing teacher candidates to work effectively with families and communities. It offers each of us the opportunity to re-imagine the way we prepare our pre-service candidates for the challenges of today’s classrooms
A Visit to The Kilns: A Formative Experience for Two Christian Teacher Educators
The C.S. Lewis Study Centre at the Kilns is located near Oxford, England in the previous home of C.S. Lewis, the highly influential 20th century Christian intellectual and apologist. Two professors, who coupled a brief stay at the Kilns with an inquiry into the life of Lewis and his writings, present insights into their work as teacher educators. Three main areas are explored. The first area is the nature of our work, including a discussion of the distinct roles associated with Christian teacher educators and the importance of professional community. Next is a discussion on the quality of our work, including insights into the themes of excellence and authentic learning. The third area is what we bring to our work and includes a consideration of integrity and faithfulness. The essay closes with insights from Lewis’ concept of a supposal
An Investigation into How Measures of Student Teacher Performance that Indicate Developmentally Informed Practice are Related to a Measure of Overall Student Teaching Proficiency at a Private Northwest Comprehensive University
Indicators of the proficiency of teacher candidates at applying knowledge of child development to teaching and learning was examined to see if they predict the overall success of the candidates full-time student teaching. The assessment instrument, the Full-Time Student Teaching Summary Report (FSTSR), was found statistically reliable and suitable for further analysis. While it was found that selected measures of student performance, when taken together, significantly predict 92% of the score of overall student teaching performance, it was also found that this may be misleading because of the problem of multicollinearity in the predictor variables. A secondary hypothesis was formed that the underlying structure of the FSTSR measured only one central property. A factor analysis did not support the single factor hypothesis. The thirty-nine items on the FSTSR statistically cluster around three factors, identified as 1) classroom teaching, 2) professional dispositions, and 3) enlist and facilitate student support. Fifty-six percent of the items on the measure cluster around the first factor designated as “classroom teaching”. Most of the items on the assessment instrument are measuring, for the most part, a central property identified as classroom teaching. While the independent variables significantly predict the criterion, there is little confidence that they are measuring developmentally informed practice. Suggestions for modifying the measure to make it more meaningful are discussed
Relationships with Families: Have Educators Overlooked a Critical Piece of the Puzzle?
While the importance of a professional teacher’s collaboration with diverse families is clearly highlighted in the US Department of Education’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and in US teaching standards, research consistently reports that teachers feel unprepared to do this aspect of their work. The failure of the teaching profession to grow in partnering with families is a persistent and puzzling challenge in education. In this article, we argue that educators often overlook a critical piece of that puzzle. A foundational step in building effective partnerships with families is the development of relationships with parents. A careful review of the literature indicates that these relationships require intentional development. We offer specific strategies around six key concepts, drawn from the literature, for use by in-service and pre-service teachers. These strategies hold promise to improve professional practice through the building of meaningful relationships with families
Vitamin K2 (menaquinone) Supplementation and its Benefits in Cardiovascular Disease, Osteoporosis, and Cancer
Vitamin K is known to play an essential role in the coagulation cascade; however, a growing body of research has found that a subtype of this vitamin, vitamin K2 (menaquinone) may have a beneficial effect in osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. This purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of recent literature regarding menaquinone and its role in human health. This review discusses the physiology of menaquinone, its clinical benefits in cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and cancer, and how it may interact with certain medications. The authors conclude that menaquinone supplementation has been shown to improve carboxylation of osteocalcin and matrix-Gla protein to their active forms, two proteins that possess important roles in calcium distribution. In the setting of cardiovascular disease, menaquinone intake has been shown to lower the risk of coronary calcification and coronary heart disease, and a randomized controlled trial has demonstrated that it can reduce arterial stiffness. In osteoporosis, menaquinone has been shown by numerous randomized controlled trials to decrease the rate of bone loss at the lumbar spine and forearm and reduce the risk of fracture. In cancer, menaquinone intake has been shown to reduce overall incidence and mortality; clinical trials have suggested that it may have a role in reducing recurrence and death from hepatocellular carcinoma. However, in all clinical settings, more large randomized controlled trials are needed to definitively determine the clinical benefits of menaquinone supplementation, as many studies have failed to show any significant benefit. Lastly, more research is needed to determine how menaquinone supplementation interacts with medications such as warfarin, bile-acid sequestrants, orlistat, mineral oil and CYP3A4 substrates
High-resolution temporal profiling of transcripts during Arabidopsis leaf senescence reveals a distinct chronology of processes and regulation
Leaf senescence is an essential developmental process that impacts dramatically on crop yields and involves altered
regulation of thousands of genes and many metabolic and signaling pathways, resulting in major changes in the leaf. The
regulation of senescence is complex, and although senescence regulatory genes have been characterized, there is little
information on how these function in the global control of the process. We used microarray analysis to obtain a highresolution
time-course profile of gene expression during development of a single leaf over a 3-week period to senescence.
A complex experimental design approach and a combination of methods were used to extract high-quality replicated data
and to identify differentially expressed genes. The multiple time points enable the use of highly informative clustering to
reveal distinct time points at which signaling and metabolic pathways change. Analysis of motif enrichment, as well
as comparison of transcription factor (TF) families showing altered expression over the time course, identify clear groups
of TFs active at different stages of leaf development and senescence. These data enable connection of metabolic
processes, signaling pathways, and specific TF activity, which will underpin the development of network models to
elucidate the process of senescence
Vitamin D Deficiency: At Risk Patient Populations and Potential Drug Interactions
Vitamin D is known to play an essential role in calcium homeostasis; however, excessive amounts can have harmful effects. Calcium and vitamin D levels are known to be influenced by drug interactions and pathology ranging from of cancer to cardiovascular disease. Vitamin D supplementation has become widespread, and it is important for clinicians to understand the way that certain conditions and medications interact with vitamin D and calcium homeostasis. The purpose of this review is to outline the benefits and adverse effects of vitamin D and how its levels are affected by certain pathologic and pharmacologic interactions
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