Helping Teachers Develop Positive Dispositions about Technology-based Learning: What a Brief Global Learning Project Revealed

Research indicates that teachers’ dispositions significantly influence their integration of computer technology into classroom instruction. This article reports findings from a mixed-methods study that examined shifts in teachers’ dispositions about learning that occurs through information and communication technologies (ICT’s). Graduate students and remote professionals engaged in a one-semester learning project that included synchronous and asynchronous com­puter-mediated discussions of course content. The study sought to determine whether or not this exposure to ICT-based learning might be accompanied by a positive or negative affective shift, and to identify the salient features of such a shift. Quantitative analysis of responses on question­naires administered early and late in the semester revealed a statistically significant positive shift in participants’ beliefs and dispositions regarding ICT-based learning. Qualitative analysis of the questionnaire responses and participants’ digital discussions identified two salient features of that positive shift in that participants recognized the potential of ICT-based learning to 1) motivate and engage learners, and 2) facilitate the construction and sharing of new knowledge and understand­ing. This paper describes the study and considers the implications for teacher preparation and professional development

Baseline self reported functional health and vulnerability to post-traumatic stress disorder after combat deployment: prospective US military cohort study

Objective To determine if baseline functional health status, as measured by SF-36 (veterans), predicts new onset symptoms or diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder among deployed US military personnel with combat exposure

Challenging mis-education through effective communication: a study of the communication and miscommunication between White teachers and Black male students

The purpose of this study is to explore the ways in which communication patterns between teachers invested in whiteness and black male students can lead to the success or alienation of black male students in the public school environment. As statistics prove, black male students are the most at-risk for dropping out of school and/or facing disciplinary actions. Several factors lead to this at-risk status: the criminalization of black males within our society, the denigration of Black English in the classroom, and the stress of standardized method of traditional education models that value a one-style-fits-all education that objectifies students. As we move into the Twenty-First Century, however, culture is changing and while education is a strong mechanism constructed for the white capitalist patriarchal paradigm, the paradigm itself is changing and so must education. This study explores the history of race and education, the roles teachers and students have played, and the ways in which critical and pragmatic education can lead us into an educational system built on community and relationships rather than paradigms and develops the student as a holistic critical agent

DNA: Modeling Structure and Function

This article presents a developmentally appropriate approach to introduce high school biology students to the structure of DNA and illustrate how its structure and function are related. We address the importance of beginning instruction with a concrete representation of DNA, and using it to scaffold to several important biological concepts. We also make clear the teacher\u27s crucial role in this scaffolding process. This article promotes National Science Education Content Standards C and G, and Iowa Teaching Standards 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7

A Survey of Local Group Galaxies Currently Forming Stars: III. A Search for Luminous Blue Variables and Other H-alpha Emission-Lined Stars

We describe a search for H-alpha emission-lined stars in M31, M33, and seven dwarfs in or near the Local Group (IC 10, NGC 6822, WLM, Sextans B, Sextans A, Pegasus and the Phoenix dwarf) using interference filter imaging with the KPNO and CTIO 4-m telescope and Mosaic cameras. The survey is aimed primarily at identifying new Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) from their spectroscopic similarity to known LBVs, avoiding the bias towards photometric variability, which may require centuries to manifest itself if LBVs go through long quiescent periods. Followup spectroscopy with WIYN confirms that our survey detected a wealth of stars whose spectra are similar to the known LBVs. We "classify" the spectra of known LBVs, and compare these to the spectra of the new LBV candidates. We demonstrate spectacular spectral variability for several of the new LBV candidates, such as AM2, previously classified as a Wolf-Rayet star, which now shows FeI, FeII and Balmer emission lines but neither the NIII 4634,42 nor HeII 4686 emission that it did in 1982. Profound spectral changes are also noted for other suspected and known LBVs. Several of the LBV candidates also show >0.5 mag changes in V over the past 10-20 years. The number of known or suspected LBVs is now 24 in M31, 37 in M33, 1 in NGC 6822, and 3 in IC 10. We estimate that the total number of LBVs in M31 and M33 may be several hundred, in contrast to the 8 known historically through large-scale photometric variability. This has significant implications for the time scale of the LBV phase. We also identify a few new WRs and peculiar emission-lined objects.Comment: Accepted by the Astronomical Journal. Version with higher quality figures may be downloaded from http://www.lowell.edu/users/massey/has.pdf.g

Mouse Genome Database (MGD) 2019.

The Mouse Genome Database (MGD; http://www.informatics.jax.org) is the community model organism genetic and genome resource for the laboratory mouse. MGD is the authoritative source for biological reference data sets related to mouse genes, gene functions, phenotypes, and mouse models of human disease. MGD is the primary outlet for official gene, allele and mouse strain nomenclature based on the guidelines set by the International Committee on Standardized Nomenclature for Mice. In this report we describe significant enhancements to MGD, including two new graphical user interfaces: (i) the Multi Genome Viewer for exploring the genomes of multiple mouse strains and (ii) the Phenotype-Gene Expression matrix which was developed in collaboration with the Gene Expression Database (GXD) and allows researchers to compare gene expression and phenotype annotations for mouse genes. Other recent improvements include enhanced efficiency of our literature curation processes and the incorporation of Transcriptional Start Site (TSS) annotations from RIKEN\u27s FANTOM 5 initiative

Integrating phenotype ontologies across multiple species

Phenotype ontologies are typically constructed to serve the needs of a particular community, such as annotation of genotype-phenotype associations in mouse or human. Here we demonstrate how these ontologies can be improved through assignment of logical definitions using a core ontology of phenotypic qualities and multiple additional ontologies from the Open Biological Ontologies library. We also show how these logical definitions can be used for data integration when combined with a unified multi-species anatomy ontology