The Impact of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy on the Academic Achievement of High School Students in an Alternative Art Class

Using the methods of culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP), teachers can not only allow students to demonstrate mastery through diverse ways of learning, but a diverse student body’s varying ethnic, cultural, and experiential backgrounds can be used to increase achievement and allow students to perform in a way that reflects their inherent brightness and intellect. While CRP has shown promise and is intended to increase achievement of all students, very few studies exist which explicitly focus on CRP in the art classroom and its impact on student achievement in art. The purpose of this action research project is to discover what, if any, effect a culturally responsive art unit has on the academic achievement of alternative high school students in the art classroom when compared to a traditional art unit that does not use CRP

The ‘dialogic’ Of Pedagogical Design: Elementary Teachers Who Consistently Integrate Digital Technologies

Despite the pervasiveness of digital technologies in society and educational settings, gaps in digital participation for elementary learners and means-end views of the benefits and effectiveness of digital innovations for teaching and learning persist. The focus on digital technologies at the elementary level must shift to critical pedagogy in order to promote effective teaching and learning and equitable student participation in an increasingly digital society. A teacher’s pedagogy continually evolves across their entire life journey and is never fully mastered; therefore, in order to better understand the development of pedagogical design with digital technologies by elementary teachers, it was vital to tell their stories. The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences and life stories of elementary teachers who consistently integrate digital technologies in their instruction. To construct the narratives of five participants, who were fulltime K-5 classroom teachers in Western and Central Illinois, narrative methodology was used. Data collection included an initial life story interview, a focus group and interview about artifacts of teaching, a classroom observation, and a follow-up interview. A critical events approach was used to analyze the data and construct each participant’s narrative. The findings were presented within the theoretical lenses of the New London Group’s (1996) pedagogy of multiliteracies framework and Britzman’s (2003) dialogic theory of teacher practice. In teaching with digital technologies, the participants remained in dialogue with the following factors: core beliefs, district curricula, institutional factors, perceived pedagogical affordances of digital technologies, professional development and collaboration, self-efficacy, student needs, and technology access. Of the four pedagogical components of the pedagogy of multiliteracies – situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing, and transformed practice – critical framing and transformed practice were the least emphasized by the participants. Ultimately, it was found that elementary teachers develop their pedagogical design with digital technologies across their careers as well as throughout their lives. These experiences are laden with personal and professional dialogue that each elementary teacher must negotiate and make ongoing meaning of as they continue to develop and enact their digital pedagogical design. To better design of transformative learning experiences for students, teachers must actively reflect on and respond to this dialogue. To support educators in leveraging technology in ways that promote equitable participation and effective, authentic learning, policymakers must pass legislation that reduces restrictions on teachers so they may enact critical digital pedagogical design. Designers of professional development and teacher educators must prepare and support practicing and future elementary teachers in adopting critical pedagogical perspectives and approaches with technologies. Finally, in spite of dialogic factors and challenges they face, the narratives suggest that teachers are ultimately responsible for designing instruction with a critical mindset, leveraging digital technologies to empower students as they engage in socioculturally authentic learning. Recommendations for future research include additional narrative inquiry focused on the life stories of elementary teachers who consistently enact critical digital pedagogy and how this impacts elementary students’ digital participation and learning, both in the classroom context and beyond

Use of the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory to identify addiction in college students

Considering the severity of the substance abuse problems on college campuses today, there exists a need for an empirical measure designed to identify substance addiction in college students which will allow universities to provide appropriate intervention and treatment programming. The Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI) was designed to identify addiction in the general public with the special ability to break through the denial and defensiveness typically associated with substance abuse. The SASSI was administered to students participating in a substance education program at a private, midsized university in the Midwest. A chi-square analysis, adjusted by the Fisher Exact test, provided limited support, p \u3c .0569, for the goodness of fit between the determinations of dependency or not as designated by SASSI and the expert clinician. Multiple regression analysis suggests that the clinician is more influenced by the obvious attributes of substance addiction whereas SASSI was sensitive to the more subtle attributes of addiction. Most of the addicted students tended to be identified on the more face valid subscales of the SASSI vsuggesting that college students tend to be more admitted about their experience with licit and illicit substances and the associated conseguences/| Future studies should include a larger N as well as look for agreement between SASSI and one or more expert clinicians

Third Order Opial Inequalities

The purpose of the thesis was to find extremals y and constants K for a basic problem and for several variations of the problem. The basic problem was the third order opial inequality. We proved the existence of an extremal of this problem and other related problems. We conjectured that the extremal was a quintic spline with at most one knot, then found the quintic splines and constants for the basic problem and several variations. Maple was an important tool in finding these extremals and constants due to the complexity of the equations. We also proved that these extremals can be approximated by polynomials. We discussed an application involving a bound for the least eigenvalue for y(vi) = _λρ(x)y with certain boundary conditions. Finally, we discussed the related problem in Lp space

Fostering and Maintaining Relationships: Teacher Education During COVID-19

This article expounds how our pedagogical practices have changed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these effects others have contended with in the education community. The authors share pedagogical strategies they have found to be effective in terms of building and supporting relationships with teacher candidates. They suggest using digitally-mediated teaching and learning strategies, staying connected with students, and badge-based assessment and feedback approaches to build and support relationships with students; examples of the instructional design and implementation strategies are described. The authors propose that when looking forward, teachers at any level may benefit from providing students with an environment in which they feel heard and supported

How The Spotify Streaming Model Affects The Modern American Musician

Throughout the digital era, issues concerning the fair compensation of creators have plagued various industries from film and academia to music. With the advent of music subscription services in a nascent 21st century, musicians, songwriters and their teams have raised this issue to new prominence. My thesis seeks to answer whether or not public policy needs to adjust in order to better compensate these musicians, and if this new model of consumption is truly treating them as unjustly as those in the industry like Taylor Swift suggest. By detailing prior recording industry models and analyzing American copyright law using utilitarianism and welfare economics, I argue that the streaming model is a continuation of prior industry practices and models, whereby money is largely siphoned off by groups and corporations, leaving creators with very little in comparison, but that the streaming model is good for musicians and consumers alike. Ultimately, the streaming model is a significant improvement upon the purchase model that dominated the industry in the 20th century

Beneficial effects of the nutritional supplements on the development of diabetic retinopathy

Abstract Purpose Increased oxidative stress and inflammatory mediators are implicated in the development of diabetic retinopathy, and in rats, its development can be prevented by antioxidants. Carotenoids are some of the powerful antioxidants, and diabetes decreases lutein and zeaxanthin levels in the serum and retina. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of carotenoid containing nutritional supplements (Nutr), which is in clinical trials for ‘Diabetes Vision Function’, on diabetic retinopathy. Methods Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats (Wistar, male) were fed Purina 5001 supplemented with nutritional supplements containing zeaxanthin, lutein, lipoic acid, omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients, or without any supplementation. Retinal function was analyzed at ~4 months of diabetes by electroretinography. After 11 months of diabetes, capillary cell apoptosis (TUNEL-staining) and histopathology (degenerative capillaries) were quantified in trypsin-digested retinal vasculature. Retina was also analyzed for mitochondrial damage (by quantifying gene expressions of mtDNA-encoded proteins of the electron transport chain), VEGF and inflammatory mediators, interleukin-1β and NF-kB. Results Diabetes impaired retinal function decreasing the amplitudes of both a- and b-waves. In the same animals, retinal capillary cell apoptosis and degenerative capillaries were increased by 3–4 fold. Gene expressions of mtDNA encoded proteins were decreased, and VEGF, interleukin-1β and NF-kB levels were elevated. Supplementation with the nutrients prevented increased capillary cell apoptosis and vascular pathology, and ameliorated these diabetes-induced retinal abnormalities. Conclusions Nutritional supplementation prevents diabetic retinopathy, and also maintains normal retinal function, mitochondrial homeostasis and inflammatory mediators. Thus, this supplementation could represent an achievable and inexpensive adjunct therapy to also inhibit retinopathy, a slow progressing disease feared most by diabetic patients

Effects of Zeaxanthin on Growth and Invasion of Human Uveal Melanoma in Nude Mouse Model

Uveal melanoma cells were inoculated into the choroid of nude mice and treated with or without intraocular injection of zeaxanthin. After 21 days, mice were sacrificed and the eyes enucleated. Histopathological analysis was performed in hematoxylin and eosin stained frozen sections. Melanoma developed rapidly in the control group (without treatment of zeaxanthin). Tumor-bearing eye mass and tumor mass in the control group were significantly greater than those in zeaxanthin treated group. Melanoma in the controlled eyes occupied a large part of the eye, was epithelioid in morphology, and was with numerous mitotic figures. Scleral perforation and extraocular extension were observed in half of the eyes. Melanomas in zeaxanthin treated eyes were significantly smaller with many necrosis and apoptosis areas and no extraocular extension could be found. Quantitative image analysis revealed that the tumor size was reduced by 56% in eyes treated with low dosages of zeaxanthin and 92% in eyes treatment with high dosages of zeaxanthin, as compared to the controls. This study demonstrated that zeaxanthin significantly inhibits the growth and invasion of human uveal melanoma in nude mice, suggesting that zeaxanthin may be a promising agent to be explored for the prevention and treatment of uveal melanoma

Management of Diabetic Eye Disease Using Carotenoids and Nutrients

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness and visual disability globally among working-age adults. Until recently, diabetic eye disease is primarily regarded by its microvasculature complications largely characterized by progressive retinopathy and macular edema. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress and inflammation play an integral role in the early pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy by potentiating retinal neurodegeneration. The onset of type 2 diabetes mellitus starts with insulin resistance leading to insulin deficiency, hyperglycemia, and dyslipidemia. Which in turn enhances the pro-oxidant and pro-inflammatory pathways. Additionally, various poor dietary behaviors along with obesity worsen physiological state in diabetics. However, decreased levels and depletion of the endogenous antioxidant defense system in the retina can be sufficiently augmented via carotenoid vitamin therapy. Therefore, dietary supplementation of antioxidant micronutrients particularly macular carotenoids lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin that promote retinal health and optimal visual performance, may serve as an adjunctive therapy in the management of diabetic eye disease