Ensuring a Quality Honors Experience through Learning Contracts: Success beyond Our Wildest Dreams

In 1997, when Julia A. Haseleu started teaching at Kirkwood Community College (KCC) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, her charge as a psychology instructor with honors experience was to develop an honors program based on learning contracts. Other faculty and administrators had attempted to offer honors courses at KCC, but these efforts had failed. Rhonda Kekke, KCC Dean of Arts and Humanities, determined that the problem was the honors course format. At small to medium-sized colleges and universities, especially two-year campuses, finding a group of honors students who are interested in the same subjects, able to work the same courses into their schedules, and synchronized enough across courses to justify a full honors curriculum in any given semester is often difficult. Kekke was convinced that it would be better to use an honors project format, and she was right. Now, twenty years later, Haseleu has developed two such programs at two flagship two-year colleges in two midwestern states: first at KCC and then at her current institution, Madison College in Madison, Wisconsin. In Chapter One of this volume, Richard Badenhausen outlines and discusses the problems and pitfalls of using learning contracts, especially as “add-ons” to non-honors courses or in lieu of formal honors classes. Badenhausen comes from the perspective of one who leads a “fully developed and flexible stand-alone honors curriculum” (6), an environment in which learning contracts understandably would not be the first choice—or even necessary— as a way of developing an honors curriculum. In smaller programs, however, with a much wider variety of departments, programs, and disciplines (e.g., liberal arts, automotive technology, dental hygiene, business and marketing, construction, culinary arts, engineering, protective services, graphic design, information technology, music, nursing, welding, and veterinary technician), offering an ongoing course-based honors curriculum is often not possible. In such cases, a project-based approach that is structured with comprehensive learning contracts is a flexible way to give students honors-level learning experiences in lieu of honors classes. This situation existed at both KCC and Madison College. In project-based learning, students develop a question to explore and are guided through the research and analysis process under the supervision of a faculty member. Project-based learning is neither a supplemental activity nor an “add-on” to a traditional course. Rather, it is the basis of the curriculum in and of itself (Bell 39). Students who engage in project-based learning experience a deeper level of learning and understanding about a topic and enjoy greater opportunity to hone problem-solving and critical-thinking skills than they would in a more passive learning environment

Studying subcellular detail in fixed astrocytes: dissociation of morphologically intact glial cells (DIMIGs)

Studying the distribution of astrocytic antigens is particularly hard when they are localized in their fine, peripheral astrocyte processes (PAPs), since these processes often have a diameter comparable to vesicles and small organelles. The most appropriate technique is immunoelectron microscopy, which is, however, a time-consuming procedure. Even in high resolution light microscopy, antigen localization is difficult to detect due to the small dimensions of these processes, and overlay from antigen in surrounding non-glial cells. Yet, PAPs frequently display antigens related to motility and glia-synaptic interaction. Here, we describe the dissociation of morphologically intact glial cells (DIMIGs), permitting unambiguous antigen localization using epifluorescence microscopy. Astrocytes are dissociated from juvenile (p13–15) mouse cortex by applying papain treatment and cytospin centrifugation to attach the cells to a slide. The cells and their complete processes including the PAPs is thus projected in 2D. The entire procedure takes 2.5–3 h. We show by morphometry that the diameter of DIMIGs, including the PAPs is similar to that of astrocytes in situ. In contrast to cell culture, results derived from this procedure allow for direct conclusions relating to (1) the presence of an antigen in cortical astrocytes, (2) subcellular antigen distribution, in particular when localized in the PAPs. The detailed resolution is shown in an exemplary study of the organization of the astrocytic cytoskeleton components actin, ezrin, tubulin, and GFAP. The distribution of connexin 43 in relation to a single astrocyte's process tree is also investigated

Ensuring a Quality Honors Experience through Learning Contracts: Success beyond Our Wildest Dreams

In 1997, when Julia A. Haseleu started teaching at Kirkwood Community College (KCC) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, her charge as a psychology instructor with honors experience was to develop an honors program based on learning contracts. Other faculty and administrators had attempted to offer honors courses at KCC, but these efforts had failed. Rhonda Kekke, KCC Dean of Arts and Humanities, determined that the problem was the honors course format. At small to medium-sized colleges and universities, especially two-year campuses, finding a group of honors students who are interested in the same subjects, able to work the same courses into their schedules, and synchronized enough across courses to justify a full honors curriculum in any given semester is often difficult. Kekke was convinced that it would be better to use an honors project format, and she was right. Now, twenty years later, Haseleu has developed two such programs at two flagship two-year colleges in two midwestern states: first at KCC and then at her current institution, Madison College in Madison, Wisconsin. In Chapter One of this volume, Richard Badenhausen outlines and discusses the problems and pitfalls of using learning contracts, especially as “add-ons” to non-honors courses or in lieu of formal honors classes. Badenhausen comes from the perspective of one who leads a “fully developed and flexible stand-alone honors curriculum” (6), an environment in which learning contracts understandably would not be the first choice—or even necessary— as a way of developing an honors curriculum. In smaller programs, however, with a much wider variety of departments, programs, and disciplines (e.g., liberal arts, automotive technology, dental hygiene, business and marketing, construction, culinary arts, engineering, protective services, graphic design, information technology, music, nursing, welding, and veterinary technician), offering an ongoing course-based honors curriculum is often not possible. In such cases, a project-based approach that is structured with comprehensive learning contracts is a flexible way to give students honors-level learning experiences in lieu of honors classes. This situation existed at both KCC and Madison College. In project-based learning, students develop a question to explore and are guided through the research and analysis process under the supervision of a faculty member. Project-based learning is neither a supplemental activity nor an “add-on” to a traditional course. Rather, it is the basis of the curriculum in and of itself (Bell 39). Students who engage in project-based learning experience a deeper level of learning and understanding about a topic and enjoy greater opportunity to hone problem-solving and critical-thinking skills than they would in a more passive learning environment

Summary of the times taken to transfer dry and submerged objects with either wrinkled or non-wrinkled fingers (Group 2).

<p>In Group 2 (height of the transfer hole: 45 cm), participants transferred dry or wet objects equally rapidly but were slower in transferring objects with wrinkled fingers compared to non-wrinkled fingers.</p

Water-Induced Finger Wrinkles Do Not Affect Touch Acuity or Dexterity in Handling Wet Objects

<div><p>Human non-hairy (glabrous) skin of the fingers, palms and soles wrinkles after prolonged exposure to water. Wrinkling is a sympathetic nervous system-dependent process but little is known about the physiology and potential functions of water-induced skin wrinkling. Here we investigated the idea that wrinkling might improve handling of wet objects by measuring the performance of a large cohort of human subjects (n = 40) in a manual dexterity task. We also tested the idea that skin wrinkling has an impact on tactile acuity or vibrotactile sensation using two independent sensory tasks. We found that skin wrinkling did not improve dexterity in handling wet objects nor did it affect any aspect of touch sensitivity measured. Thus water-induced wrinkling appears to have no significant impact on tactile driven performance or dexterity in handling wet or dry objects.</p></div

Tactile acuity measured on wrinkled and non-wrinkled finger pads.

<p>Wrinkling of the index finger pad skin has no effect on tactile acuity (p = 0.323). Discrimination thresholds (tactile acuity): 1.31±0.06 mm (non-wrinkled fingers, white bar) and 1.39±0.08 mm (wrinkled fingers, black bar). n = 38.</p

The effect of wrinkling on handling dry and submerged objects.

<p>The graphs show the times it took participants to transfer objects from a source container into a target container using only the thumbs and index fingers by passing them through a 5×5 cm transfer hole. (<b>A</b>) In Group 1 (n = 20; height of the transfer hole: 75 cm), there were no differences in handling times for dry or submerged objects with wrinkled (filled circles) and non-wrinkled fingers (empty circles) (wrinkling status: F(1, 16) = 2.572, p = 0.128; object status: F(1, 16) = 3.577, p = 0.077; interaction: F(1, 16) = 0.785, p = 0.389; mean values in pink). (<b>B</b>) In Group 2 (n = 20; height of the transfer hole: 45 cm), no advantageous effect of having wrinkled fingers on handling submerged objects was observed (object status: F(1, 16) = 3.491, p = 0.080). However, participants were slower in handling both dry and submerged objects with wrinkled than with non-wrinkled fingers (wrinkling status: F(1, 16) = 6.476, p = 0.022). Interaction: F(1,16) = 0.076, p = 0.786.</p

Vibration detection thresholds measured on wrinkled and non-wrinkled finger pads.

<p>Wrinkling of the index finger pad skin does not alter vibration detection thresholds (VDT) for 10 Hz and 125 Hz frequencies (two-tailed paired t-test on log10-transformed data, p = 0.133 and p = 0.686, respectively). (<b>A</b>) 10 Hz frequency vibration thresholds: 6.19±0.45 µm (non-wrinkled fingers, white bar) and 5.57±0.44 µm (wrinkled fingers, black bar). (<b>B</b>) 125 Hz frequency vibration thresholds: 817±102 nm (non-wrinkled fingers, white bar) and 872±114 nm (wrinkled fingers, black bar). n = 20 each.</p

Summary of the times taken to transfer dry and submerged objects with either wrinkled or non-wrinkled fingers (Group 1).

<p>In Group 1 (height of the transfer hole: 75 cm), participants transferred dry as well as submerged objects on average equally rapidly with and without wrinkles.</p

Specialized mechanoreceptor systems in rodent glabrous skin

Rodents use their forepaws to actively interact with their tactile environment. Studies on the physiology and anatomy of glabrous skin that makes up the majority of the forepaw are almost non-existent in themouse.Here we developed a preparation to record from single sensory fibres of the forepaw and compared anatomical and physiological receptor properties to those of the hindpaw glabrous and hairy skin. We found that the mouse forepaw skin is equipped with a very high density of mechanoreceptors; >3 times more than hindpaw glabrous skin. In addition, rapidly adapting mechanoreceptors that innervate Meissner’s corpuscles of the forepaw were severalfold more sensitive to slowly moving mechanical stimuli compared to their counterparts in the hindpaw glabrous skin. All other mechanoreceptor types as well as myelinated nociceptors had physiological properties that were invariant regardless of which skin area they occupied. We discovered a novel D-hair receptor innervating a small group of hairs in the middle of the hindpaw glabrous skin in mice. These glabrous skin D-hair receptors were direction sensitive albeit with an orientation sensitivity opposite to that described for hairy skin D-hair receptors. Glabrous skin hairs do not occur in all rodents, but are present in North American and African rodent species that diverged more than 65 million years ago. The function of these specialized hairs is unknown, but they are nevertheless evolutionarily very ancient. Our study reveals novel physiological specializations of mechanoreceptors in the glabrous skin that likely evolved to facilitate tactile exploration.Supplementary Video 1. A series of confocal microscopy images (multiple z‐stacks) of one entire footpad showing NF200‐positive fibres innervating Meissner's corpuscles.Supplementary Video 2. The experimental set‐up for recording directional sensitivity of glabrous D‐hair receptors. The single hairs were moved within a glass capillary and the corresponding single‐unit firing behaviour is shown in response to four axes of movement.Supplementary Video 3. Maximum intensity projection of tdTomato labelled endings around a single glabrous hair follicle.Grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 665 Project B6 to G.R.L.) and a European Research Council advanced grant (ERC 294678).https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14697793am2019Zoology and Entomolog