Teacher Candidate Psychological Insight and Capacity for Change: Developing a Professional Identity

Research in the field of teacher education has recently found that the formation of teacher candidate’s sense of professional identity is an integral part of their development as a future educator, yet few programs explicitly address it (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009). The purpose of this study was to examine teacher candidates’ ability to reflect on self and others, and the influence of psychological insight on the development of a professional identity. The study took place in the Pacific Northwest at an accredited university in the Northern Rocky Mountain region. The six participants selected for this study were undergraduate Elementary Education majors enrolled in their professional year during the Spring 2017 semester. This dissertation was designed as a psychological case study using a phenomenological approach. A case study, as defined by Merriam (1988), provides a thorough description and analysis of a specific phenomenon, a phenomenon that is found within a bounded context (Miles & Huberman, 1994). The phenomenon examined was the ability of teacher candidates to reflect upon self and others with regard to their thoughts, emotions, and actions within a classroom context, and the influence their insight had upon the development of a professional identity. Data were collected from all participants and interpreted by the researcher in order to describe commonalities found within their experiences (Moustakas, 1994). The Self-Reflection and Insight Scale (SRIS) and Teacher Efficacy Scale (TES) were quantitative measures used as baseline data for levels of psychological insight and teacher efficacy. The three primary data sources consisted of an initial interview, exit interview, and video observations. The initial and exit interviews were designed as a semi-structured interview to gain further understanding of the participant’s behavior within the classroom context, ability to reflect on self and others, their efficacy for teaching, and their philosophical beliefs regarding teaching and learning. The video observations of self and other gave participants the opportunity to reflect on a video recorded lesson conducted within the classroom context. The data collected was examined using both a within-case and cross-case analysis. During the within-case analysis, emerging themes were identified through the interpretation of the data collected for each individual case. A summarized portrayal was created to describe the thoughts, feelings, and actions of each participant. A cross-case analysis was conducted to identify common themes that emerged across all cases by data source. Components influencing the development of a professional identity were identified and summarized based on these common themes. Warrantability was maintained during the collection and analysis process through triangulation, member checks, peer examinations, and a researcher’s journal. Analysis of the three primary data sources identified five components that may have a potential impact on development of a teacher candidate’s professional identity. These components were labeled as internal negotiation, focus, attributions, psychological insight, and capacity for change. Findings of the study suggest that teacher candidates go through a cyclical process in the continuous development of a professional identity. As teacher candidates enter the classroom environment, with an already established frame of reference with regard to teaching and learning, they begin to internally negotiate the challenges and obstacles they face. The focus of the candidate, either on being a teacher or becoming a teacher, potentially impacts the internal and external attributions of the experience, application of insight, and capacity for change. Implications for teacher education programs include identifying potential barriers teacher candidates may create through their internal negotiation that prevent transformational learning. Teacher candidates focus, on product or process, and how that may influence emotional state, teacher efficacy, psychological insight, and capacity for change are key components of developing a professional identity. As a result, candidates might benefit from establishing goals that focus on the process of becoming a teacher and highlighting personal progress to guide transformational learning

Susceptibility and Aversion of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) to Cry1F Bt Maize and Considerations for Insect Resistance Management

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) maize was developed primarily for North American pests such as European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner)). However, most Bt maize products are also cultivated outside of North America, where the primary pests may be different and may have lower susceptibility to Bt toxins. Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda JE Smith) is an important pest and primary target of Bt maize in Central and South America. S. frugiperda susceptibility to Cry1F (expressed in event TC1507) is an example of a pest-by-toxin interaction that does not meet the high-dose definition. In this study, the behavioral and toxic response of S. frugiperda to Cry1F maize was investigated by measuring the percentage of time naïve third instars spent feeding during a 3-min exposure. S. frugiperdaalso were exposed as third instars to Cry1F maize for 14 d to measure weight gain and survival. S. frugiperda demonstrated an initial, postingestive aversive response to Cry1F maize, and few larvae survived the 14 d exposure. The role of susceptibility and avoidance are discussed in the context of global IRM refuge strategy development for Bt products

Assessing field‐scale risks of foliar insecticide applications to monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) larvae

Establishment and maintenance of milkweed plants (Asclepias spp.) in agricultural landscapes of the north central United States are needed to reverse the decline of North America\u27s eastern monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) population. Because of a lack of toxicity data, it is unclear how insecticide use may reduce monarch productivity when milkweed habitat is placed near maize and soybean fields. To assess the potential effects of foliar insecticides, acute cuticular and dietary toxicity of 5 representative active ingredients were determined: beta‐cyfluthrin (pyrethroid), chlorantraniliprole (anthranilic diamide), chlorpyrifos (organophosphate), and imidacloprid and thiamethoxam (neonicotinoids). Cuticular median lethal dose values for first instars ranged from 9.2 × 10–3 to 79 μg/g larvae for beta‐cyfluthrin and chlorpyrifos, respectively. Dietary median lethal concentration values for second instars ranged from 8.3 × 10–3 to 8.4 μg/g milkweed leaf for chlorantraniliprole and chlorpyrifos, respectively. To estimate larval mortality rates downwind from treated fields, modeled insecticide exposures to larvae and milkweed leaves were compared to dose–response curves obtained from bioassays with first‐, second‐, third‐, and fifth‐instar larvae. For aerial applications to manage soybean aphids, mortality rates at 60 m downwind were highest for beta‐cyfluthrin and chlorantraniliprole following cuticular and dietary exposure, respectively, and lowest for thiamethoxam. To estimate landscape‐scale risks, field‐scale mortality rates must be considered in the context of spatial and temporal patterns of insecticide use

Transforming Professional Development for Today\u27s Educational Environment

Professional development is vital to education. It provides an opportunity for continued growth and learning for educators throughout their career. While teachers earn credentials and certification through a university, professional development is intended to hone skills and help teachers evolve in an ever-changing landscape. The changing landscape may involve technology, generational needs, or broader societal interests. This research is an analysis of the implementation of transformational professional development in one large suburban Midwestern school district and one large Midwestern high school in another district. It analyzes data regarding professional development and examines literature that studies teacher participation, attitudes, and transfer of professional development. The research concluded that when teachers are choosing professional development, they are looking for something specific and targeted, and they likely need an incentive to try something different. The research presents the results of data collected during and after the creating and development of professional development plan and attempts to answer the following questions: How can professional learning be designed to meet the varied needs of all educators and ensure the application of learning to the classroom? How can social-emotional support for teachers become part of the school culture? Through the data collected, the research found that an adjustment to the content and delivery of professional development could increase the efficiency and transfer of professional development while simultaneously creating a positive school climate and culture

Radionuclide inventories for short run-time space nuclear reactor systems

Space Nuclear Reactor Systems, especially those used for propulsion, often have expected operation run times much shorter than those for land-based nuclear power plants. This produces substantially different radionuclide inventories to be considered in the safety analyses of space nuclear systems. This presentation describes an analysis utilizing ORIGEN2 and DKPOWER to provide comparisons among representative land-based and space systems. These comparisons enable early, conceptual considerations of safety issues and features in the preliminary design phases of operational systems, test facilities, and operations by identifying differences between the requirements for space systems and the established practice for land-based power systems. Early indications are that separation distance is much more effective as a safety measure for space nuclear systems than for power reactors because greater decay of the radionuclide activity occurs during the time to transport the inventory a given distance. In addition, the inventories of long-lived actinides are very low for space reactor systems

Global Warming and 21st Century Drying

Global warming is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of droughts in the twenty-first century, but the relative contributions from changes in moisture supply (precipitation) versus evaporative demand (potential evapotranspiration; PET) have not been comprehensively assessed. Using output from a suite of general circulation model (GCM) simulations from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, projected twentyfirst century drying and wetting trends are investigated using two offline indices of surface moisture balance: the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). PDSI and SPEI projections using precipitation and Penman- Monteith based PET changes from the GCMs generally agree, showing robust cross-model drying in western North America, Central America, the Mediterranean, southern Africa, and the Amazon and robust wetting occurring in the Northern Hemisphere high latitudes and east Africa (PDSI only). The SPEI is more sensitive to PET changes than the PDSI, especially in arid regions such as the Sahara and Middle East. Regional drying and wetting patterns largely mirror the spatially heterogeneous response of precipitation in the models, although drying in the PDSI and SPEI calculations extends beyond the regions of reduced precipitation. This expansion of drying areas is attributed to globally widespread increases in PET, caused by increases in surface net radiation and the vapor pressure deficit. Increased PET not only intensifies drying in areas where precipitation is already reduced, it also drives areas into drought that would otherwise experience little drying or even wetting from precipitation trends alone. This PET amplification effect is largest in the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes, and is especially pronounced in western North America, Europe, and southeast China. Compared to PDSI projections using precipitation changes only, the projections incorporating both precipitation and PET changes increase the percentage of global land area projected to experience at least moderate drying (PDSI standard deviation of or = -1; 11 to 44 %), although this is likely less meaningful because much of the PET induced drying in the SPEI occurs in the aforementioned arid regions. Integrated accounting of both the supply and demand sides of the surface moisture balance is therefore critical for characterizing the full range of projected drought risks tied to increasing greenhouse gases and associated warming of the climate system

Stationarity of the Tropical Pacific Teleconnection to North America in CMIP5 PMIP3 Model Simulations

The temporal stationarity of the teleconnection between the tropical Pacific Ocean and North America (NA) is analyzed in atmosphere-only, and coupled last-millennium, historical, and control runs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 data archive. The teleconnection, defined as the correlation between December-January-February (DJF) tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and DJF 200 mb geopotential height, is found to be nonstationary on multidecadal timescales. There are significant changes in the spatial features of the teleconnection over NA in continuous 56-year segments of the last millennium and control simulations. Analysis of atmosphere-only simulations forced with observed SSTs indicates that atmospheric noise cannot account for the temporal variability of the teleconnection, which instead is likely explained by the strength of, and multidecadal changes in, tropical Pacific Ocean variability. These results have implications for teleconnection-based analyses of model fidelity in simulating precipitation, as well as any reconstruction and forecasting efforts that assume stationarity of the observed teleconnection