Some Contemporary Forms of the Funds of Knowledge Approach. Developing Culturally Responsive Pedagogy for Social Justice

The population of children in schools is rapidly becoming more ethnically and culturally diverse. However, there is a mismatch between the cultures in children’s homes and the cultures in their schools. The funds of knowledge approach emerged in Tucson (Arizona, USA) in order to counter the deficit perspectives common in depictions of working-class, Latin American families. In this paper we critically report on two contemporary research projects conducted around funds of knowledge and social justice pedagogy. In particular, this paper describes and discusses two projects, which have been conducted in schools with disadvantaged students in USA (Latino students in Arizona) and Australia (students with low socio-economic status, from diverse ethnic groups), examining how these projects exemplify social justice pedagogy. Both projects reviewed explore the application of a funds of knowledge approach, in which students focus on a key aspect of their identity and living circumstances and investigate it, seeking to understand the current situation and create positive options for possible improvements

Addressing new challenges for inclusive education in the 21st century

Статья «Addressing new challenges for inclusive education in the 21st century» была опубликована в сборнике материалов III Всероссийской научно-практической конференции с международным участием «Проблемы формирования профессионализма специалистов социальной работы

Overcoming School Learning: The Role of the Subjectivity in the Funds of Identity Approach

Learning occurs when the learner becomes the subject of his own learning in both formal and informal contexts. The subjectivity theory of González Rey, which starts from a historical-cultural approach, affirms that this process is guided by emotion, imagination and creativity, which in turn promotes subjective development. However, traditional learning activities have ignored the apprentice as a subject. Projects based on funds of identity favor the development of new ways to recognize the learner by encouraging new ways of exchanging learning experiences inside and outside the school. Identity funds are thus built as spaces where interests, hobbies and experiences are recognized by young people as important resources to stimulate their academic performance. Specifically, subjectivity allows the learner to become a subject from the production of his own processes of subjectivation through dialogic and comprehensive practice. The main objective of this article is to go one step further in relation to identity funds by illustrating a series of educational experiences that help identify and mobilize these funds through the development of subjectivity. These subjective identity funds are integral to educators in order to favor reflective positions in students who are moving towards the generation of new processes of subjectivation. Lead meeting spaces between identity funds and subjectivity suggest a relevant way to move towards higher levels of significance and meaning on the part of young people in 21st century education.El aprendizaje ocurre cuando el aprendiz se convierte en sujeto de su propio aprendizaje en contextos tanto formales como informales. La teoría de la subjetividad de González Rey, que parte del enfoque histórico-cultural, afirma que dicho proceso está guiado por la emoción, la imaginación y la creatividad, que a su vez promueve el desarrollo subjetivo. Sin embargo, las actividades de aprendizaje tradicionales han ignorado al aprendiz como sujeto. Los proyectos basados en fondos de identidad favorecen el desarrollo de nuevas formas de reconocer al aprendiz fomentando nuevos modos de intercambiar experiencias de aprendizaje dentro y fuera de la escuela. Los fondos de identidad se erigen de este modo como espacios en donde se reconocen intereses, aficiones, experiencias y vivencias por parte de los jóvenes como recursos importantes para estimular su desempeño académico. Específicamente, la subjetividad permite que el aprendiz se convierta en sujeto a partir de la producción de sus propios procesos de subjetivación mediante la práctica dialógica y comprensiva. El objetivo principal de este artículo es ir un paso más allá en relación con los fondos de identidad ilustrando una serie de experiencias educativas que ayudan a identificar y movilizar dichos fondos mediante el desarrollo de la subjetividad. Estos fondos de identidad subjetivados son integrales para los educadores con el objeto de favorecer posicionamientos reflexivos en los alumnos que encaminen hacia la generación de nuevos procesos de subjetivación. Vehicular espacios de encuentro entre los fondos de identidad y la subjetividad se sugiere una forma pertinente para avanzar hacia mayores cotas de significación y sentido por parte de los jóvenes en la educación del siglo XXI

Some Contemporary Forms of the Funds of Knowledge Approach. Developing Culturally Responsive Pedagogy for Social Justice

The population of children in schools is rapidly becoming more ethnically and culturally diverse. However, there is a mismatch between the cultures in children’s homes and the cultures in their schools. The funds of knowledge approach emerged in Tucson (Arizona, USA) in order to counter the deficit perspectives common in depictions of working-class, Latin American families. In this paper we critically report on two contemporary research projects conducted around funds of knowledge and social justice pedagogy. In particular, this paper describes and discusses two projects, which have been conducted in schools with disadvantaged students in USA (Latino students in Arizona) and Australia (students with low socio-economic status, from diverse ethnic groups), examining how these projects exemplify social justice pedagogy. Both projects reviewed explore the application of a funds of knowledge approach, in which students focus on a key aspect of their identity and living circumstances and investigate it, seeking to understand the current situation and create positive options for possible improvements

Automatic identification of informative regions with epigenomic changes associated to hematopoiesis

Hematopoiesis is one of the best characterized biological systems but the connection between chromatin changes and lineage differentiation is not yet well understood. We have developed a bioinformatic workflow to generate a chromatin space that allows to classify 42 human healthy blood epigenomes from the BLUEPRINT, NIH ROADMAP and ENCODE consortia by their cell type. This approach let us to distinguish different cells types based on their epigenomic profiles, thus recapitulating important aspects of human hematopoiesis. The analysis of the orthogonal dimension of the chromatin space identify 32,662 chromatin determinant regions (CDRs), genomic regions with different epigenetic characteristics between the cell types. Functional analysis revealed that these regions are linked with cell identities. The inclusion of leukemia epigenomes in the healthy hematological chromatin sample space gives us insights on the healthy cell types that are more epigenetically similar to the disease samples. Further analysis of tumoral epigenetic alterations in hematopoietic CDRs points to sets of genes that are tightly regulated in leukemic transformations and commonly mutated in other tumors. Our method provides an analytical approach to study the relationship between epigenomic changes and cell lineage differentiation. Method availability: https://github.com/david-juan/ChromDet.European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007–2013, 282510 (BLUEPRINT)]; Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and European Regional Development Fund [Project Retos BFU2015–71241-R]. Funding for open access charge: Project Retos BFU2015–71241-R (to A.V.).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

A new mathematical model for nucleation of spherical agglomerates by the immersion mechanism

Initial wetting of crystals by binder droplets is a key rate process in spherical agglomeration, however there are no models to predict the kinetics and formation of agglomerate nuclei. Two new mathematical models are introduced for agglomerate nucleation by an immersion mechanism; immersion rate limited model and collision rate limited model. The agglomerate nucleation number developed in this work predicts different regimes; immersion rate limited, collision rate limited and intermediate. In an immersion rate limited regime, agglomerate size increases with square root of time. In a collision rate limited regime, size increases linearly with time if the bulk crystal volume fraction, φPb, is constant, or with an exponential decay rate for batch crystallisation with decreasing φPb. The timescale for nucleation is less than ten minutes for a broad range of conditions, significantly less than most crystallisation timescales. These models have great promise for population balance modelling and spherical agglomeration optimisation

Insight into genetic predisposition to chronic lymphocytic leukemia from integrative epigenomics.

Genome-wide association studies have provided evidence for inherited genetic predisposition to chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). To gain insight into the mechanisms underlying CLL risk we analyze chromatin accessibility, active regulatory elements marked by H3K27ac, and DNA methylation at 42 risk loci in up to 486 primary CLLs. We identify that risk loci are significantly enriched for active chromatin in CLL with evidence of being CLL-specific or differentially regulated in normal B-cell development. We then use in situ promoter capture Hi-C, in conjunction with gene expression data to reveal likely target genes of the risk loci. Candidate target genes are enriched for pathways related to B-cell development such as MYC and BCL2 signalling. At 14 loci the analysis highlights 63 variants as the probable functional basis of CLL risk. By integrating genetic and epigenetic information our analysis reveals novel insights into the relationship between inherited predisposition and the regulatory chromatin landscape of CLL

Genetic Predisposition to Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Is Mediated by a BMF Super-Enhancer Polymorphism

SummaryChronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is an adult B cell malignancy. Genome-wide association studies show that variation at 15q15.1 influences CLL risk. We deciphered the causal variant at 15q15.1 and the mechanism by which it influences tumorigenesis. We imputed all possible genotypes across the locus and then mapped highly associated SNPs to areas of chromatin accessibility, evolutionary conservation, and transcription factor binding. SNP rs539846 C>A, the most highly associated variant (p = 1.42 × 10−13, odds ratio = 1.35), localizes to a super-enhancer defined by extensive histone H3 lysine 27 acetylation in intron 3 of B cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2)-modifying factor (BMF). The rs539846-A risk allele alters a conserved RELA-binding motif, disrupts RELA binding, and is associated with decreased BMF expression in CLL. These findings are consistent with rs539846 influencing CLL susceptibility through differential RELA binding, with direct modulation of BMF expression impacting on anti-apoptotic BCL2, a hallmark of oncogenic dependency in CLL

Transcriptome characterization by RNA sequencing identifies a major molecular and clinical subdivision in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has heterogeneous clinical and biological behavior. Whole-genome and -exome sequencing has contributed to the characterization of the mutational spectrum of the disease, but the underlying transcriptional profile is still poorly understood. We have performed deep RNA sequencing in different subpopulations of normal B-lymphocytes and CLL cells from a cohort of 98 patients, and characterized the CLL transcriptional landscape with unprecedented resolution. We detected thousands of transcriptional elements differentially expressed between the CLL and normal B cells, including protein-coding genes, noncoding RNAs, and pseudogenes. Transposable elements are globally derepressed in CLL cells. In addition, two thousand genes-most of which are not differentially expressed-exhibit CLL-specific splicing patterns. Genes involved in metabolic pathways showed higher expression in CLL, while genes related to spliceosome, proteasome, and ribosome were among the most down-regulated in CLL. Clustering of the CLL samples according to RNA-seq derived gene expression levels unveiled two robust molecular subgroups, C1 and C2. C1/C2 subgroups and the mutational status of the immunoglobulin heavy variable (IGHV) region were the only independent variables in predicting time to treatment in a multivariate analysis with main clinico-biological features. This subdivision was validated in an independent cohort of patients monitored through DNA microarrays. Further analysis shows that B-cell receptor (BCR) activation in the microenvironment of the lymph node may be at the origin of the C1/C2 differences

Genetic predisposition to chronic lymphocytic leukemia is mediated by a BMF super-enhancer polymorphism

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is an adult B cell malignancy. Genome-wide association studies show that variation at 15q15.1 influences CLL risk. We deciphered the causal variant at 15q15.1 and the mechanism by which it influences tumorigenesis. We imputed all possible genotypes across the locus and then mapped highly associated SNPs to areas of chromatin accessibility, evolutionary conservation, and transcription factor binding. SNP rs539846 C>A, the most highly associated variant (p = 1.42 × 10(-13), odds ratio = 1.35), localizes to a super-enhancer defined by extensive histone H3 lysine 27 acetylation in intron 3 of B cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2)-modifying factor (BMF). The rs539846-A risk allele alters a conserved RELA-binding motif, disrupts RELA binding, and is associated with decreased BMF expression in CLL. These findings are consistent with rs539846 influencing CLL susceptibility through differential RELA binding, with direct modulation of BMF expression impacting on anti-apoptotic BCL2, a hallmark of oncogenic dependency in CLL