Environmental Threats and Geographical Education: Students’ Sustainability Awareness—Evaluation

Teaching geography creates an opportunity for the transfer of knowledge about environmental problems and ways of solving them. Teachers from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Turkey, and the United Kingdom indicated strengths and weaknesses of physical geography as well as the selected geographical concepts of: Maps/Cartography, Astronomy/The Earth in the Universe, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Endogenic processes, Exogenic processes, and Soils and biosphere. There was a variety in how confident students were around these topic areas. The main types of difficulties identified by the study were: too little time for implementation, difficult terminology, and lack of tools for the proper transfer of knowledge. Moreover, the attractiveness of individual issues for students also varies. The research clearly shows that students lack an awareness of problems related to the environment. There are considerable differences between the level of students’ knowledge about climate change or air and water pollution (relatively high awareness of global warming) and issues related to soil and vegetation cover (low awareness of soil depletion, soil pollution, changing the boundaries of the occurrence of plant zones, etc.). To make people aware of the importance of environment, we should take care of education in relation to global challenge and sustainable development

Teaching in Poland: an initial teacher education initiative to develop skills in meeting the needs of learners with english as an additional language

In this paper we report on research arising from an innovative project in which secondary pre-service teacher trainees at an English university are offered an experience of teaching in Polish schools, through a collaborative arrangement between Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, UK and colleagues at Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland. The project is an enhancement of the PGCE course and is offered to all trainees across nine subject disciplines. In 2017, the project involved 64 trainees and 6 staff from Liverpool Hope, students and staff from Nicolaus Copernicus University, and teachers and pupils in 12 schools in Torun. The impetus for this project arose due to the requirement for teachers in England to be trained in techniques to teach speakers of languages other than English and the limited opportunities to put this into practice in the Merseyside area due to local demographics. The rationale for this approach is supported by Putnam and Borko (2000) (Situative Theory) and Dewey (1938) (active deliberate engagement with problematic situations for learning). During the project, a carefully designed programme of planning, teaching, and evaluation provides a sophisticated and powerful pedagogical model. Trainee teachers work in small teams co-teaching in pairs, observed and supported by peers and a tutor. Teams meet on a daily basis to discuss and evaluate their teaching. Reflection is led by the trainees, with tutor support. Our research indicates that benefits to trainees arise from having opportunities to: • reflect upon and improve their teaching in a challenging but supportive context, • observe peers teaching, and learn from each other both within and across subjects, • teach whole classes of pupils whose first language is not English. As a result of participation in the project, pre-service teachers’ confidence and communication skills are enhanced, especially in relation to clarity of talk and instruction in the classroom

The basal ganglia circuits, dopamine, and ambiguous word processing: A neurobiological account of priming studies in Parkinson's disease

Research into the processing of lexical ambiguities has provided a valuable paradigm for investigating the functional architecture of the language processing system in normal and neurologically impaired populations and specifically, how basal ganglia circuits and the neurotransmitter dopamine may act to enhance and/or suppress various meanings relative to the context in which the lexical ambiguity appears. In this review, we develop the hypothesis that an integrated basal ganglia thalamocortical circuit linking the striatum and inferior frontal cortex is involved in the enhancement and suppression of ambiguous word meanings when a lexical ambiguity is presented within a linguistic context. Reference to behavioral, neurophysiological, and neurochemical studies of subcortical function in both healthy populations and people with Parkinson's disease will be used to provide further support for the proposal that the subcortex is integrally involved in ambiguous word processing. (JINS, 2008, 14, 351–364.

A global perspective on soil science education at third educational level; knowledge, practice, skills and challenges

The pivotal role of soil as a resource is not fully appreciated by the general public. Improving education in soil science represents a challenge in a world where soil resources are under serious threat. Today’s high school students, the world’s future landowners, agriculturalists, and decision makers, have the potential to change society’s apathy towards soils issues. This research aimed to compare the level of soil education in high and/or secondary schools in forty-three countries worldwide, together comprising 62% of the world's population. Comparisons were made between soil science content discussed in educationally appropriate textbooks via a newly proposed soil information coefficient (SIC). Interviews with teachers were undertaken to better understand how soil science education is implemented in the classroom. Statistical analyses were investigated using clustering. Results showed that gaps in soil science education were most commonly observed in countries where soil science is a non-compulsory or optional subject. Soil science concepts are predominantly a part of geography or environmental science curricula. Consequently, considerable variability in soil science education systems among investigated countries exists. Soil information coefficient‘s outcomes demonstrated that a methodological approach combining textbooks and the use of modern digitally based strategies in the educational process significantly improved soil education performances. Overall, soil science education is under-represented in schools worldwide. Dynamic new approaches are needed to improve pivotal issues such as: i) promoting collaborations and agreements between high school and universities; ii) encouraging workshops and practical exercises such as field activities; and, iii) implementing technology tools. This, in turn, will prepare the next generation to contribute meaningfully towards solving present and future soil problems

Fostering reflective practice in Post Graduate Certificate in Education students through the use of reflective journals, mentors and tutors

This research argues a need for a shared understanding of reflective practice across all the stakeholders involved in initial teacher education. The research has added to the educational debate around the increasingly reductionist approach to Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and the position of reflection within the current teacher education climate. The thesis builds on the work of Hatton and Smith (1995) and Larrivee (2000) by developing a framework for supporting reflection in student teachers. It also develops the work of Hudson (2013) and Harrison et al (2005) on training mentors to support student teachers to become reflective practitioners. During the course of the research, the experiences of 18 PGCE secondary students were explored. This was achieved through the use of questionnaires, semi- structured interviews, the analysis of reflective journals and analysing the feedback they received from their mentors on their lessons. This data collection was supported by post-course interviews of 4 students and semi- structured interviews of 4 mentors and 3 university tutors. The written feedback and post lesson discussions of all 24 mentors working with the students was also analysed. A grounded theory informed approach was adopted. The data was analysed in a variety of ways including coding and the transformation of some of the data so that simple statistics could be used to identify trends in the data. The literature suggests that reflective practice is seen as a key component in ITE courses. However, the extent to which it is embedded in courses is debatable. Like Nagle (2008), Otiench (2011) and Atkinson (2012) this research found very little shared understanding or practice. The research findings have identified a tension that exists between a developmental teacher education programme and evidence based training. A tendency towards a reductionist approach to teacher education and a lack of a shared understanding of reflection across all stakeholders; students, mentors and tutors. The research also identifies a great variation in the type and quality of mentoring of student teachers across the research sample and a need for a more comprehensive mentor development programme within the institution studied

Applying Parkes Grid Method to Evaluate Impact of Variation in Blood Glucose Monitoring (BGM) Strip Accuracy Performance in Type 1 Diabetes Highlights the Potential for Amplification of Imprecision With Less Accurate BGM Strips

The National Health Service spends £170 million on blood glucose monitoring (BGM) strips each year and there are pressures to use cheaper less accurate strips. Technology is also being used to increase test frequency with less focus on accuracy.Previous modeling/real-world data analysis highlighted that actual blood glucose variability can be more than twice blood glucose meter reported variability (BGMV). We applied those results to the Parkes error grid to highlight potential clinical impact

A Systematic Approach to Capacity Strengthening of Laboratory Systems for Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Sri Lanka

Background The lack of capacity in laboratory systems is a major barrier to achieving the aims of the London Declaration (2012) on neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). To counter this, capacity strengthening initiatives have been carried out in NTD laboratories worldwide. Many of these initiatives focus on individuals' skills or institutional processes and structures ignoring the crucial interactions between the laboratory and the wider national and international context. Furthermore, rigorous methods to assess these initiatives once they have been implemented are scarce. To address these gaps we developed a set of assessment and monitoring tools that can be used to determine the capacities required and achieved by laboratory systems at the individual, organizational, and national/international levels to support the control of NTDs. Methodology and principal findings We developed a set of qualitative and quantitative assessment and monitoring tools based on published evidence on optimal laboratory capacity. We implemented the tools with laboratory managers in Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, and Sri Lanka. Using the tools enabled us to identify strengths and gaps in the laboratory systems from the following perspectives: laboratory quality benchmarked against ISO 15189 standards, the potential for the laboratories to provide support to national and regional NTD control programmes, and the laboratory's position within relevant national and international networks and collaborations. Conclusion We have developed a set of mixed methods assessment and monitoring tools based on evidence derived from the components needed to strengthen the capacity of laboratory systems to control NTDs. Our tools help to systematically assess and monitor individual, organizational, and wider system level capacity of laboratory systems for NTD control and can be applied in different country contexts

A patient-clinician James Lind Alliance partnership to identify research priorities for hyperemesis gravidarum

Objective There are many uncertainties surrounding the aetiology, treatment and sequelae of hyperemesis gravidarum (HG). Prioritising research questions could reduce research waste, helping researchers and funders direct attention to those questions which most urgently need addressing. The HG priority setting partnership (PSP) was established to identify and rank the top 25 priority research questions important to both patients and clinicians. Methods Following the James Lind Alliance (JLA) methodology, an HG PSP steering group was established. Stakeholders representing patients, carers and multidisciplinary professionals completed an online survey to gather uncertainties. Eligible uncertainties related to HG. Uncertainties on nausea and vomiting of pregnancy and those on complementary treatments were not eligible. Questions were verified against the evidence. Two rounds of prioritisation included an online ranking survey and a 1-hour consensus workshop. Results 1009 participants (938 patients/carers, 118 professionals with overlap between categories) submitted 2899 questions. Questions originated from participants in 26 different countries, and people from 32 countries took part in the first prioritisation stage. 66 unique questions emerged, which were evidence checked according to the agreed protocol. 65 true uncertainties were narrowed via an online ranking survey to 26 unranked uncertainties. The consensus workshop was attended by 19 international patients and clinicians who reached consensus on the top 10 questions for international researchers to address. More patients than professionals took part in the surveys but were equally distributed during the consensus workshop. Participants from low-income and middle-income countries noted that the priorities may be different in their settings. Conclusions By following the JLA method, a prioritised list of uncertainties relevant to both HG patients and their clinicians has been identified which can inform the international HG research agenda, funders and policy-makers. While it is possible to conduct an international PSP, results from developed countries may not be as relevant in low-income and middle-income countries