Teaching in the Middle Grades Today: Examining Teachers’ Beliefs About Middle Grades Teaching

Since the beginning of the middle school movement in the mid-1960s, middle level advocates have called for a school experience for young adolescents grounded in adolescent development that engages students in meaningful learning (Eichhorn, 1966; Alexander & Williams, 1965). The aim of this exploratory multi-case study was to understand middle level teachers’ beliefs about middle level instruction in the current educational environment. To gain this understanding, researchers asked ten current middle grades teachers with varying levels of experience to discuss their beliefs regarding their primary purpose as a middle grades teacher, the current status of middle level teaching, their best and worst instructional lessons, and their perceived barriers to teaching at the middle level. The teachers described the role of teaching in the middle grades as challenging and stressful, but of great importance. In general, they described instruction that included discovery, student engagement, and relevance in an effort to address students’ academic development. There was minimal mention of the non-academic aspects of adolescent development. Finally, teachers viewed curriculum restrictions, students’ attitudes toward learning, difficulty with differentiation, and lack of technology as significant barriers to their success in the classroom

The Status of Middle Schools in the Southeastern United States: Perceptions and Implementation of the Middle School Model

For more than 100 years, education communities have debated how best to educate the young adolescent. Proponents of both the junior high school model and the current middle school model have advocated for a specialized approach to educating adolescents that emphasizes the developmental needs of students. To accomplish this, various organizational structures and instructional approaches are recommended. This survey study examines the perceptions of these middle school practices and the implementation of those practices in middle schools in the Southeastern region of the United States. We note several key trends in our results and highlight key differences in perception of importance and implementation of middle school components and strategies compared to the most recent large scale survey administered by McEwin and Greene (2011)

Liquid crystalline properties of unsymmetrically substituted phthalocyanines: structural features leading to nematic mesophase materials

A novel homologous series of four 1,4,8,11,15,18-hexakis(pentyl)-22-methyl-25-hydroxyalkylphthalocyanine derivatives with the hydroxyalkyl chain varying from hydroxynonyl through to hydroxydodecyl has been synthesized to investigate the role of the hydroxyalkyl chain in promoting thermotropic liquid crystalline behavior. Polarizing optical miscoscopy reveals that the compound with the shortest hydroxyalkyl chain (hydroxynonyl) exhibits a mesophase with a texture characteristic of a columnar mesophase, common among liquid crystalline phthalocyanine derivatives. However, as the chain is lengthened along the series, there appears a second type of mesophase that shows a schlieren texture. Such a texture is characteristic of a nematic phase and rare among liquid crystalline phthalocyanine derivatives. A fifth compound, the novel 1,4,8,11,15,18-hexakis(pentyl)-22-methyl-25- dodecylphthalocyanine, exhibits only columnar mesophase behavior suggesting that the hydroxyl group at the end of the longer chains of the former compounds is important in developing the nematic phase

Development and Persistence of 'Static' or 'Dead' Zones in Flows

Certain ceramic products are formed through extrusion processes, where a slurry is forced through small openings to form such products as filters. At the top is a large tank. The slurry is forced through the tank into an extrusion chamber, and then out through slots to form the finished product. [The slurry may be thought of as a mixture of clay (or other polymers), water, and other binders. There are many ways to model this mixture, some of which will be discussed in this report. For instance, the slurry can be modeled as a non-Newtonian fluid, a two-phase flow with liquid and solids, or a viscoelastic fluid. One can also model the mixture as an elongated particle suspension in water, where changes in the orientation of the particles could affect the flow.] After the extrusion process is complete, one finds that ‘dead zones’ of dry paste accumulate in two areas. Most prominently, they occur at the lower corners of the tank. They also occur on the floor of the extrusion chamber near the slots, both near and away from the walls. Since we will consider wall effects in the tank, for the extrusion chamber we consider only flow cells sufficiently far away from the walls. Then we may exploit the periodic nature of the device and consider only a single flow cell. The aim of this project is to determine the formation mechanisms of these dead zones, and see how they affect the overall flow

A Mixed Method Approach for Evaluating and Improving the Design of Learning in Puzzle Games

Despite the acknowledgment that learning is a necessary part of all gameplay, the area of Games User Research lacks an established evidence based method through which designers and researchers can understand, assess, and improve how commercial games teach players game-specific skills and information. In this paper, we propose a mixed method procedure that draws together both quantitative and experiential approaches to examine the extent to which players are supported in learning about the game world and mechanics. We demonstrate the method through presenting a case study of the game Portal involving 14 participants, who differed in terms of their gaming expertise. By comparing optimum solutions to puzzles against observed player performance, we illustrate how the method can indicate particular problems with how learning is structured within a game. We argue that the method can highlight where major breakdowns occur and yield design insights that can improve the player experience with puzzle games

Design and synthesis of liquid crystalline phthalocyanines: Combinations of substituents that promote the discotic nematic mesophase

A homologous series of fourteen metal-free 1,4,8,11,15,18-hexakis(alkyl)-22-methyl-25-hydroxyalkylphthalocyanine derivatives has been investigated to interogate the interlay of the roles of the six alkyl chains and the length of the hydroxyalkyl chain in promoting thermotropic nematic liquid crystalline behavior. All but two of the compounds form mesophases. Eight of the remaining compounds exhibit only columnar mesophases which is common among liquid crystalline phthalocyanines. However, four examples form the rare discotic nematic mesophase. A general structural feature is deduced in that this rare phase is favoured when the number of linking atoms in the hydroxyalkyl chain exceeds twice the number of carbon atoms in any one of the six common alkyl chains, disrupting the columnar packing arrangement. In addition, zinc and copper metallated examples of one of the metal-free discotic nematic compounds were prepared of which the zinc metallated compound formed a nematic phase whereas the copper containing analogue favoured columnar mesophase formation

The acute effect of a caffeine containing energy drink on mood state, readiness to invest effort and resistance exercise to failure

The efficacy of caffeine ingestion in enhancing aerobic performance is well established. The evidence for caffeine's effects on resistance exercise is mixed and has not fully examined the associated psychological and psychophysiological changes. This study examined acute effects of ingesting a caffeine-containing energy drink on repetitions to failure, rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and readiness to invest physical (RTIPE) and mental (RTIME) effort during resistance exercise to failure. Thirteen resistance trained males took part in this double-blind, randomized cross-over experimental study whereby they ingested a caffeinated (179mg) energy drink or placebo solution 60mins before completing a bout of resistance exercise comprising of bench press, deadlift, prone row and back squat exercise to failure at an intensity of 60% 1 repetition maximum. Experimental conditions were separated by at least 48hours. Participants completed significantly greater repetitions to failure, irrespective of exercise, in the energy drink condition (p = .015). RPE was significantly higher in the placebo condition (p = .02) and was significantly higher during lower body exercises compared to upper body exercises irrespective of substance ingested (p = .0001). RTIME was greater with the energy drink (p = .04), irrespective of time. A significant time X substance interaction (p = .036) for RTIPE indicated that RTIPE increased for both placebo and energy drink conditions pre ingestion to pre exercise, but the magnitude of increase was greater with the energy drink compared to placebo. This resulted in higher RTIPE post exercise for the energy drink condition. These results suggest that acute ingestion of a caffeine containing energy drink can enhance resistance exercise performance to failure and positively enhances psychophysiological factors related to exertion in trained males. Publisher statement: This is a non-final version of an article published in final form in Smith, M. , Cook, K. , James, R.S. and Duncan, M.J. (2012) The acute effect of a caffeine containing energy drink on mood state, readiness to invest effort and resistance exercise to failure. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, volume 26 (10): 2858–2865