Teaching to the Test: De/Reconstructing the Argument

With the implementation of the Common Core Standards, the new Common Core test will start in Spring of 2015. This standardized test is given during the spring of a student’s junior year. Though the test is given junior year, the onus for making sure students are ready is also that of teachers working with freshmen and sophomores. Preparing students to be proficient in the skills necessary for college and potential careers is paramount; one way to ensure such preparation is creating exercises similar to that of the performance task on the sample test. The performance task focuses on assessing a student’s ability to comprehend multiple sources on one topic, support various claims with evidence from multiple sources, establish a counterargument, and compose an argumentative letter as a final product. The purpose of this project is to have students go through similar rhetorical moves as they will on the actual test. However, since the students are sophomores, the exercise will take place in small groups and at stations that divide up the tasks into more manageable chunks. Doing so will allow me to pinpoint students’ areas of weakness and modify the second exercise and my instruction accordingly to maximize learning and preparedness for constructing a solid argument

Censorship and Fahrenheit 451

The goal of this project was to apply the censorship found in Fahrenheit 451 to other situations present in different areas of “the real world”. The students, after doing so, would then create a video of images and their voice, discussing themes of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451and how it’s used in other areas outside of the book. The purpose is to have students use analysis in literature and applying it in different areas as well as to do so in a different way other than through writing. By using the video software, they are changing the way that traditional classroom settings are used

Ecosystem engineering through aardvark (Orycteropus afer) burrowing: Mechanisms and effects

Burrowing mammals are often considered to be ecosystem engineers as burrowing disturbs the soil, thereby potentially changing resource availability and affecting habitat conditions for other species. After their excavation, burrows may strongly impact local plant communities through several mechanisms, including resource trapping, altered chemical and physical soil properties, and amelioration of microclimatic conditions. We studied ecosystem engineering by aardvark (Orycteropus afer) burrowing by comparing soil and vegetation characteristics between three microsites (burrow entrances, excavated soil mounds and adjacent control sites). We were able to identify several engineering effects and distinguish between potential mechanisms. Burrow soils were cooler, drier and less compact than the other microsites, with all three microsites representing unique combinations of abiotic conditions. Mean species richness was higher at older burrows than mounds and non-burrowed controls, despite burrows having a smaller seedbank and not differing in soil fertility from mounds and control sites. However, the opposite was observed at fresh burrows and mounds, where control plots contained more species on average than the other two types of microsites. Burrow age and microsite type also affected species composition, although only a small proportion of species were significantly associated with specific microsites and just two species were limited to a single microsite type. We suggest that trampling and the physical digging action at burrow entrances, and burial by deposited soil at mounds, prevents the establishment of many plant species at active burrows. However, once abandoned, burrow entrances provide good physical conditions for seedling survival, allowing the establishment of more species. Therefore, as suggested previously for other ecosystem engineers, it is important to explicitly consider the age and degradation processes of engineered structures. In addition, our results highlight biologically-important differences in engineering impacts between burrow entrances, where soil is removed, and mounds, where soil is deposited. Such microscale differences are important to consider when examining bioturbation or, more generally, ecosystem engineering.The National Research Foundation of South Africa for Grant No. 94103.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecoleng2019-08-01hj2018Geography, Geoinformatics and MeteorologyPlant Production and Soil Scienc

A Quantitative Comparison of Human HT-1080 Fibrosarcoma Cells and Primary Human Dermal Fibroblasts Identifies a 3D Migration Mechanism with Properties Unique to the Transformed Phenotype

<div><p>Here, we describe an engineering approach to quantitatively compare migration, morphologies, and adhesion for tumorigenic human fibrosarcoma cells (HT-1080s) and primary human dermal fibroblasts (hDFs) with the aim of identifying distinguishing properties of the transformed phenotype. Relative adhesiveness was quantified using self-assembled monolayer (SAM) arrays and proteolytic 3-dimensional (3D) migration was investigated using matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-degradable poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels (“synthetic extracellular matrix” or “synthetic ECM”). In synthetic ECM, hDFs were characterized by vinculin-containing features on the tips of protrusions, multipolar morphologies, and organized actomyosin filaments. In contrast, HT-1080s were characterized by diffuse vinculin expression, pronounced β1-integrin on the tips of protrusions, a cortically-organized F-actin cytoskeleton, and quantitatively more rounded morphologies, decreased adhesiveness, and increased directional motility compared to hDFs. Further, HT-1080s were characterized by contractility-dependent motility, pronounced blebbing, and cortical contraction waves or constriction rings, while quantified 3D motility was similar in matrices with a wide range of biochemical and biophysical properties (including collagen) despite substantial morphological changes. While HT-1080s were distinct from hDFs for each of the 2D and 3D properties investigated, several features were similar to WM239a melanoma cells, including rounded, proteolytic migration modes, cortical F-actin organization, and prominent uropod-like structures enriched with β1-integrin, F-actin, and melanoma cell adhesion molecule (MCAM/CD146/MUC18). Importantly, many of the features observed for HT-1080s were analogous to cellular changes induced by transformation, including cell rounding, a disorganized F-actin cytoskeleton, altered organization of focal adhesion proteins, and a weakly adherent phenotype. Based on our results, we propose that HT-1080s migrate in synthetic ECM with functional properties that are a direct consequence of their transformed phenotype. </p> </div