Supporting Interests and Sharing Power: Insights from a Scottish Youth Program

Light Up Learning (LUL) is a youth program in Scotland that supports young people in pursuing their curiosities and exploring their interests in a school-based informal learning setting. This article draws on interview and participant observation data to examine the social organization of teaching and learning activity within LUL. As a school-based program focused on supporting youth in pursuing their interests through the cultivation of a caring adult–youth relationship, LUL offers an empirical case that brings together insights from youth development and interest-driven learning research. Examination into the verbal and material interactions that shape adult–youth interactions yields insight into how to challenge normatively hierarchical power dynamics between teachers and learners toward the instantiation of a more relational pedagogy. By employing the pedagogic moves of continually foregrounding youths’ interests, honoring youth expertise, and making space for youth’s ideas, LUL youth workers created an environment within a school setting where youth felt both free and supported to learn through deeply and widely pursuing their interests

Recentering Civics: A Framework for Building Civic Dispositions and Action Opportunities

Many civic education initiatives have developed across the United States in order to help prepare students for civic engagement in school-based settings. At the same time, research shows that quality of school-based civic learning opportunities remains insufficient, inconsistent, and inequitable. In this article, we propose a framework of civic learning dispositions based upon current social studies curricular resources from C3 Teachers. Based on a thematic review of civic dispositions embedded within this C3 Framework-aligned curriculum, we offer a framework to demonstrate how civic dispositions and the application of social studies learning (i.e., civic action) can be used in curriculum design to support a reinvigorated application of social studies learning. The framework, then, provides a theoretically informed, practical heuristic for teachers, researchers and curricular designers to both better understand and subsequently support their students’ high-quality civic learning in the context of social studies teaching and learning

Nanoparticles-cell association predicted by protein corona fingerprints

In a physiological environment (e.g., blood and interstitial fluids) nanoparticles (NPs) will bind proteins shaping a "protein corona" layer. The long-lived protein layer tightly bound to the NP surface is referred to as the hard corona (HC) and encodes information that controls NP bioactivity (e.g. cellular association, cellular signaling pathways, biodistribution, and toxicity). Decrypting this complex code has become a priority to predict the NP biological outcomes. Here, we use a library of 16 lipid NPs of varying size (Ø ≈ 100-250 nm) and surface chemistry (unmodified and PEGylated) to investigate the relationships between NP physicochemical properties (nanoparticle size, aggregation state and surface charge), protein corona fingerprints (PCFs), and NP-cell association. We found out that none of the NPs' physicochemical properties alone was exclusively able to account for association with human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa). For the entire library of NPs, a total of 436 distinct serum proteins were detected. We developed a predictive-validation modeling that provides a means of assessing the relative significance of the identified corona proteins. Interestingly, a minor fraction of the HC, which consists of only 8 PCFs were identified as main promoters of NP association with HeLa cells. Remarkably, identified PCFs have several receptors with high level of expression on the plasma membrane of HeLa cells

Nanoparticles-cell association predicted by protein corona fingerprints

In a physiological environment (e.g., blood and interstitial fluids) nanoparticles (NPs) will bind proteins shaping a "protein corona" layer. The long-lived protein layer tightly bound to the NP surface is referred to as the hard corona (HC) and encodes information that controls NP bioactivity (e.g. cellular association, cellular signaling pathways, biodistribution, and toxicity). Decrypting this complex code has become a priority to predict the NP biological outcomes. Here, we use a library of 16 lipid NPs of varying size (Ø ≈ 100-250 nm) and surface chemistry (unmodified and PEGylated) to investigate the relationships between NP physicochemical properties (nanoparticle size, aggregation state and surface charge), protein corona fingerprints (PCFs), and NP-cell association. We found out that none of the NPs' physicochemical properties alone was exclusively able to account for association with human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa). For the entire library of NPs, a total of 436 distinct serum proteins were detected. We developed a predictive-validation modeling that provides a means of assessing the relative significance of the identified corona proteins. Interestingly, a minor fraction of the HC, which consists of only 8 PCFs were identified as main promoters of NP association with HeLa cells. Remarkably, identified PCFs have several receptors with high level of expression on the plasma membrane of HeLa cells

The Measure of Youth Policy Arguments: An Approach to Supporting Democratic Participation and Student Voice

Although experiential approaches to democracy education are gaining increased support from educators and scholars, few educational resources exist to support youth in constructing and delivering high-quality, evidence-based policy arguments to authentic audiences. Such presentations are often the first time that young people step into the public sphere and speak to public officials; they represent rich opportunities for youth political development and activism. In this paper, we introduce an assessment tool, called the Measure of Youth Policy Arguments (MYPA), which is intended to be a resource for community and school educators. Drawing on data from two years of field-testing and iterative co-design in the context of research-practice partnerships (RPPs), we chronicle the development of the tool and provide evidence about its educational uses in classrooms and community programs. In the discussion section, we explain key decisions in the development of MYPA and how those shaped its appropriateness for certain uses and lack of appropriateness for others

How Social Studies Teachers Conceptualize Civic Teaching and Learning in 2020: Insights from a Research-Practice Partnership

High-quality civic learning opportunities remain the exception, rather than the norm, in public schools across the country. The health and future of the American democracy is dependent on all its public schools to foster democratic classrooms and prepare informed citizens—a reality far from realized in this third decade of the 21st century. Through an inductive analysis of in-depth interviews, this article makes visible how educators conceptualize civic teaching and learning in the political moment of the year 2020. Because of the known link between teachers’ conceptualizations, instructional visions, and their practice, it is necessary when engaged in any district change effort to first understand how teachers understand the existing phenomenon—in this case, civic teaching and learning. In shedding light on teachers’ contemporary conceptualizations of civic teaching and learning, this article contributes to the necessary and timely conversation on how to support civic teaching, even in politically contentious times, so that all students can experience high-quality civic learning on a routine basis

A social practice theory of learning and becoming across contexts and time

This paper presents a social practice theory of learning and becoming across contexts and time. Our perspective is rooted in the Danish tradition of critical psychology (Dreier, 1997; Mørck & Huniche, 2006; Nissen, 2005), and we use social practice theory to interpret the pathway of one adolescent whom we followed as part of a longitudinal study of interest-related learning. A social practice theory calls out the ways people pursue diverse concerns, become aware of new possibilities for action as they move across settings of practice, and learn as they adjust contributions to the flow of ongoing activity and to fit demands and structures of local institutions. It also highlights the ways that existing institutional structures of practice frame the choices people make about how and where to participate in activities. This perspective on learning is potentially transformative, in that it provides a way to promote equity by surfacing issues associated with linkages among settings of practice, networks of actors who support persons’ movement across settings, and diversities in structures of practices that shape opportunities to learn and become

Pursuing interests and getting involved: Exploring the conditions of sponsorship in youth learning

The phenomenon of “brokering”—or connecting youth to present or future opportunities—is now well known in the field of learning and youth development as an integral part of how and why youth pursue and remain in particular interest-related learning opportunities. More recently, the related term sponsorship refers to the multiple ways in which youth experience brokering-like moments related to their interests. This article aims to better understand how sponsorship functions in the everyday conduct of youths’ lives, as well as if and how sponsorship mediates young people’s sustained participation and planned future in relation to their interest(s). We leverage a longitudinal data set collected over three years of youth participation in interest-related activities to retrospectively understand sponsorship within the existing conditions of young people’s lives, including youth interest and access to program resources. Findings suggest that interest was often not the initial driver for youth entering an activity, but that youth joined activities based on other perceived benefits. Once involved, however, they found themselves developing skills, making friends, and seeing a possible future in the activity. We conclude with design principles intended to support young people in joining an activity, sustaining their participation, and seeing new possibilities for their futures. 

Development, Learning, and Equity in Child- and Youth-Focused Courses in ALA-Accredited Master’s Programs

To support and empower the next generation of library and information science (LIS) practitioners, the LIS community must take seriously the opportunities and challenges that come with serving today’s children and youth. While LIS educators are uniquely positioned to promote equity-oriented understandings of child development and learning in their courses, the extent to which they currently do so is unknown. This poster presents in-progress findings of an analysis of child- and youth-focused course syllabi. The website of each ALA-accredited master’s program was examined to identify those courses focused on children and youth (including courses in the areas of children and youth services and school libraries). For each course, the syllabi and reading list was obtained by downloading those available online and/or contacting the instructor of record to request these materials. In our analysis, we focus on the extent to which the following are evident in these courses’ descriptions, learning objectives, readings, and assignments: 1) theories and concepts related to child development, learning, and equity; 2) emphasis on child- and youth-centered approaches to designing and delivering library programs and services; and 3) inclusion of emerging topics (e.g., library makerspaces) that reflect ongoing transformations within child and youth services. An understanding of the current curricula in courses related to children and youth is necessary to help LIS educators identify existing gaps between research, education, and practice. This analysis will yield timely insights into the range of approaches and orientations to childand youth-centered courses being offered by ALA-accredited master’s programs

Por que teoria é importante: Uma investigação das reformas contemporâneas do tempo de aprendizagem

This article explores the contemporary policy reform push to extend and expand learning time in schools. In light of the potential and continued prominence of learning time reforms in today’s national educational landscape, this article makes visible the ways in which theory matters for the near- and long-term success of equity-focused educational reforms. Using the recent enactment of learning time reforms in Colorado as an illustration, and the zone of mediation framework as a conceptual lens, this article demonstrates how such reforms are likely to be weakened and undermined without strong theoretical grounding.Este artículo examina políticas contemporáneas que enfatizan un cambio para extender y/o dispersar el tiempo de aprendizaje en las escuelas. Dado el potencial y relevancia actual de las reformas hacia el tiempo de aprendizaje en el campo general de educación, el propósito de este articulo es brevemente enaltecer las maneras en las cuales la teoría educativa son de suma importancia, a largo y corto plazo, para asegurar el éxito de dichas reformas educativas orientadas hacia la equidad. Utilizando el ejemplo de la implementación de estas reformas en Colorado, y el instrumento teorético de la zona me mediación, este artículo demuestra como reformas similares pueden ser disminuidos por una falta de un base de teoría fuerte.Este artigo examina o promover da reforma contemporânea das regras para ampliar e expandir o tempo de aprendizagem nas escolas. Considerando o potencial e o contínuo destaque da reforma do tempo de aprendizagem no ambiente da educação nacional atualmente, este artigo ilustra as maneiras em que teoria é importante para o sucesso imediato e futuro das reformas educacionais que se focalizam em equidade. Usando a recente promulgação das reformas do tempo de aprendizagem em Colorado como ilustração, e o sistema de zona de mediação como uma lente conceitual, o artigo demonstra como tais reformas serão provavelmente enfraquecidas sem uma forte base teórica