Synthesizing Middle Grades Research on Cultural Responsiveness: The Importance of a Shared Conceptual Framework

In conducting a literature review of 133 articles on cultural responsiveness in middle level education, we identified a lack of shared definitions, theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches, and foci, which made it impossible to synthesize across articles. Using a conceptual framework that required: 1) clear definitions of terms; 2) a critically conscious stance; and 3) inclusion of the middle school concept, we identified 14 articles that met these criteria. We then mapped differences and convergences across these studies, which allowed us to identify the conceptual gaps that the field must address in order to have common definitions and understandings that enable synthesis across studies

Dialogues of Disruption: Confronting Oppression in the Academy

Within academia in recent years, there has been a concerted effort to re-center the perspectives and rights to free speech of the status quo at the expense of the safety and wellbeing of queer, trans, racialized, and Indigenous communities.  Historically, critical race scholars have identified the centering of freedom of speech as an exercise by the old-guard in white supremacist culture to repurpose and repackage language about political freedoms in an effort to retain white settler control of a society that has long outgrown stunted ideologies about binary gender norms, and the continued oppression of Black, Indigenous, and racialized communities. Through our hard-fought lessons learned from often painful lived experiences as queer, trans, and Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC) scholars and activists, this paper aims to: 1) Archive and document the testimonies and experiences of multiply-marginalized students and emergent faculty in the field of community psychology in a mid-sized Canadian university; 2) Utilize critical and intersectional analyses in unpacking the layers of violence and harm expressed and experienced through case examples; 3) Use our experiences to share strategies on the successful navigation of white supremacy in the academic spaces in which we work and learn; and 4) Call academic disciplines, including community psychology, to action by identifying their ethical responsibility to cultivate non-violent spaces for BIPOC people

Dialogues of Disruption: Confronting Oppression in the Academy

Within academia in recent years, there has been a concerted effort to re-center the perspectives and rights to free speech of the status quo at the expense of the safety and wellbeing of queer, trans, racialized, and Indigenous communities.  Historically, critical race scholars have identified the centering of freedom of speech as an exercise by the old-guard in white supremacist culture to repurpose and repackage language about political freedoms in an effort to retain white settler control of a society that has long outgrown stunted ideologies about binary gender norms, and the continued oppression of Black, Indigenous, and racialized communities. Through our hard-fought lessons learned from often painful lived experiences as queer, trans, and Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC) scholars and activists, this paper aims to: 1) Archive and document the testimonies and experiences of multiply-marginalized students and emergent faculty in the field of community psychology in a mid-sized Canadian university; 2) Utilize critical and intersectional analyses in unpacking the layers of violence and harm expressed and experienced through case examples; 3) Use our experiences to share strategies on the successful navigation of white supremacy in the academic spaces in which we work and learn; and 4) Call academic disciplines, including community psychology, to action by identifying their ethical responsibility to cultivate non-violent spaces for BIPOC people

Postreproductive killer whale grandmothers improve the survival of their grandoffspring

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Application of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale to Assess Sand Dune Response to Tropical Storms

Over one-third of the Earth’s population resides or works within 200 km of the coast. The increasing threat of coastal hazards with predicted climate change will impact many global citizens. Coastal dune systems serve as a natural first line of defense against rising sea levels and coastal storms. This study investigated the volumetric changes of two dune systems on Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA prior to and following Hurricanes Irma (2017) and Florence (2018), which impacted the island as tropical storms with different characteristics. Irma had relatively high significant wave heights and precipitation, resulting in an average 39% volumetric dune loss. During Florence, a storm where precipitation was low and winds were moderate, net volumetric dune loss averaged 3%. The primary driving force causing dune change during Irma was water (precipitation and storm surge), and during Florence, it was wind (aeolian transport). We suggest that the application of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale classifications should be reconsidered because different geomorphic responses were measured, despite Irma and Florence both being designated as tropical storms. Site-specific pre- and post-storm studies of the dune morphology and site-specific meteorological measurements of the storm (wind characteristics, storm surge, precipitation) are critically needed

US Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter 2017: Community Report

This white paper summarizes the workshop "U.S. Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter" held at University of Maryland on March 23-25, 2017.Comment: 102 pages + reference

Athletes' perceptions of performance

Performance analysis is a growing field, with the aim of improving sporting performance through the examination of technical, tactical, physical, and psychological skills. With research and practice beginning to move away from the traditional approach of performance indicators, a greater understanding of athletes’ perceptions is important to ensure the statistical needs of the athletes and coaching staff are still being met. This thesis aimed to explore athletes’ perceptions of performance, the factors that influence performance and discuss the implications of these findings in performance analysis. A systematic review of the current literature highlighted a complex and dynamic system of sporting performance and a gap in knowledge around athletes’ perceptions of performance-influencing variables. The review also revealed a lack of understanding of how athletes perceive performance analysis as a tool to improve performance. The main study of this thesis is a prospective cohort study with a focus on semi-elite netballers perceptions of their own performance. The results indicated that players experiences, and frequency of skill within a match can affect the degree in which an athlete can perceive their performance. Results from this thesis reinforces that sport is multifaceted, with multiple performance influencing factors. Further research is needed to improve the practice and evidence around performance analysis in netball

Maximizing the Value of Schoolship Data: Recommendations for a long-term citizen science monitoring strategy

Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA), located in Suttons Bay, Michigan, has served as a unique Great Lakes education organization since 1989. Utilizing a 77’ schooner, thousands of children and adults have sailed Suttons Bay (Lake Michigan) to learn about plankton, fish, benthic organisms, and water quality in the Great Lakes; while also learning how to be sailors and stewards. With each sail, ISEA collects scientific field data on the bay--an impressive collection which now spans over 30 years. However, to this point, data have been housed in a mix of platforms, including Microsoft Access and Excel. These data are not easily accessible to anyone outside of ISEA’s internal staff (e.g., for use in the classroom, research, or to inform policy). With different formats, these data are also difficult to analyze as one cohesive set. Additionally, data are not currently collected with a formal monitoring plan in place, making it difficult to adapt the monitoring program into the future. Finally, with ISEA’s primary goal being education, the organization is questioning the value of continuing to collect and manage all of these data for years to come. ISEA recruited our student team to address these issues. Over the course of 16 months, we addressed ISEA’s science monitoring and data management challenges through literature comparisons, interviews, on-site observations, and discussions with potential end-users or similar organizations. In exploring solutions for ISEA, our objectives were to: 1. Explore elements of a science strategy to guide the shipboard monitoring program; 2. Consider alternatives for data storage, management, sharing, and use; and 3. Provide recommendations to ISEA for strengthening these two aspects of their program. We concluded that ISEA’s data has tremendous value for education, both for the general public and school-age children. It also has potential value for other audiences (i.e., researchers and policymakers) if some quality assurance and quality control measures are enacted. Thus, we created a set of recommendations to help ISEA strengthen their science monitoring program and make their data accessible to these external end users. Recommendations Use Data for Education ⚓ Prioritize uses of data for educational purposes (rather than for scientific purposes) when making decisions related to data collection and recording, data management and sharing, and what QA/QC and documentation practices to adopt. ⚓ Make raw data and data summaries accessible to teachers and students who have attended an ISEA program; as well as to other interested community members, researchers, and organizations. 2 Choosing a Database Management System (DBMS) ⚓ When deciding what DBMS to use, consider factors of accessibility, flexibility, and capabilities for data analysis and sharing. ⚓ Create a new project in the online citizen science platform FieldScope, to serve as the primary DBMS. Considerations for Future Science Monitoring Strategy ⚓ When deciding which parameters to record, consider ease of recording onboard as well as end-user needs and interests. [These must be balanced because sometimes data recording may conflict with the priority education program] ⚓ Create a formal process for cataloging newly discovered or uncommon organisms. Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) ⚓ Simplify the approaches to recording on datasheets, including but not limited to reading and writing requirements. ⚓ Standardize data recording formats to avoid inconsistencies between volunteer instructors. ⚓ Add a data confidence checkbox to demonstrate trust in data quality, to establish the context for “data of known quality”, and to provide context for Secchi depths. ⚓ Digitize everything on the datasheets to reduce the need for the data entry inputter to make decisions out of context. ⚓ Create an education-grade QAPP to document data quality for end users. Parameter-Specific QA/QC Improvements ⚓ Record Secchi depth measurements in half-meter increments to align with scientific protocols. ⚓ Record only presence-absence data for plankton and benthos to reduce volunteer work. [Volunteer attention needs to be maximized for student learning, so recording needs to be simple enough not to interfere with education tasks] ⚓ Record only the first values at the water quality station to optimize data quality. [Since this station uses water that has sat onboard for a while, only the first data points are an accurate reflection of the water, given the methods ISEA uses.] ⚓ Continue current practices for recording fish and temperature data, as these are easy and accurately performed by volunteers. ⚓ Stop recording weather observations on datasheets but incorporate them into the data confidence checkbox to provide context for quality of other data. Stop recording microplastics data onboard. If a research partner is interested in analyzing the samples, providing technical support, and providing the data back to ISEA, then data can be stored in ISEA’s database. [Since identification onboard is challenging, ISEA should store research-grade data from the external researcher in ISEA’s microplastics database instead of the onboard data. This will be more accurate and valuable to share.]Master of ScienceSchool for Environment and SustainabilityUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/172146/1/ISEA@SEAS_FinalReport_393.pd

Anticipatory Coarticulation Facilitates Word Recognition in Toddlers

Children learn from their environments and their caregivers. To capitalize on learning opportunities, young children have to recognize familiar words efficiently by integrating contextual cues across word boundaries. Previous research has shown that adults can use phonetic cues from anticipatory coarticulation during word recognition. We asked whether 18-24. month-olds (n= 29) used coarticulatory cues on the word the when recognizing the following noun. We performed a looking-while-listening eyetracking experiment to examine word recognition in neutral vs. facilitating coarticulatory conditions. Participants looked to the target image significantly sooner when the determiner contained facilitating coarticulatory cues. These results provide the first evidence that novice word-learners can take advantage of anticipatory sub-phonemic cues during word recognition