Financial Literacy Education in Ontario: An Exploratory Study of Elementary Teachers’ Perceptions, Attitudes, and Practices

Politicians are pushing school boards to do more to ensure students leave school with the financial literacy skills they will need to navigate an increasingly complex financial marketplace. Financial literacy education must start early to achieve this goal, yet there has been very little Canadian research on financial literacy education at the elementary level. This exploratory study used an anonymous, online survey to gain a preliminary understanding of full-time Ontario elementary teachers’ perceptions, attitudes, and practices with respect to financial literacy education. Respondents overwhelmingly favour teaching financial literacy in elementary school. Almost half of respondents currently incorporate financial literacy into their classroom practice. These teachers rely primarily on free, online resources. With respect to barriers to teaching financial literacy, respondents cited the lack of an appropriate curriculum and lack of support from schools and school boards. Respondents identified professional development as the main type of support they would like to see schools and school boards provide to support them in teaching financial literacy going forward.   Keywords: financial literacy, financial education, elementary teachersLes politiciens poussent les conseils scolaires à en faire davantage pour s’assurer que les étudiants finissent leurs études avec les compétences financières dont ils auront besoin pour naviguer sur un marché financier de plus en plus complexe. Bien qu’il faille commencer tôt pour atteindre cet objectif, il existe très peu de recherches canadiennes sur l’éducation financière au primaire. Cette étude exploratoire a utilisé un sondage anonyme en ligne pour obtenir une compréhension préliminaire des perceptions, attitudes et pratiques des enseignants à temps plein du primaire en Ontario quant à l’éducation financière. Les répondants sont très majoritairement favorables à l’enseignement de la littératie financière au primaire, et près de la moitié d’entre eux l’intègrent déjà dans leur pratique en classe. Ces enseignants ont principalement recours à des ressources en ligne gratuites. Les répondants mentionnent l’absence d’un programme d’études approprié et le manque de soutien de la part des écoles et des conseils scolaires comme des obstacles à l’enseignement de la littératie financière. Les répondants ont identifié le développement professionnel comme principal type de soutien qu’ils souhaiteraient voir les écoles et les conseils scolaires leur apporter afin de les aider à enseigner la littératie financière dans l’avenir.   Mots-clés : littératie financière, éducation financière, enseignants du primair

The promise and peril of genomic screening in the general population

Utilization of sequencing to screen the general population for preventable monogenic conditions is receiving substantial attention due to its potential to decrease morbidity and mortality. However, the selection of which variants to return is a serious implementation challenge. Procedures must be investigated to ensure optimal test characteristics and avoidance of harm from false positive test results

“Forward-Thinking” in U.S. Biobanking

Aims: Do biobanks enact policies and plans that allow them to anticipate and respond to potential challenges? If a biobank has one such policy or plan, is it likely to have more? Using survey data from 456 U.S. biobanks, we assess four possible indicators of such “forward-thinking.

The Invisible Hand in Clinical Research: The Study Coordinator's Critical Role in Human Subjects Protection

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74962/1/j.1748-720X.2002.tb00410.x.pd

Medicine under socialism : Some observations on Yugoslavia and China

Based on fieldwork in Yugoslavia and China, we compare medicine in two societies which are attempting to construct their own unique paths to socialism. After a brief description of each country and its sociopolitical system, we sketch the broad outlines of the health care system which has evolved. We then discuss certain constraints on achieving the socialist objectives of equality of access to health care and democratization of the patient-clinician relationship. In a concluding section, we summarize some of the similarities and differences in medicine under Yugoslav and Chinese socialism, respectively.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/24155/1/0000412.pd

Public Willingness to Participate in and Public Opinions About Genetic Variation Research: A Review of the Literature

Scientists are turning to genetic variation research in hopes of addressing persistent racial/ethnic disparities in health. Despite ongoing controversy, the advancement of genetic variation research is likely to produce new knowledge and technologies that will substantially change the ways in which we understand and value health. They also may affect the ways in which individuals and groups organize socially, politically, and economically

Biobanks in the United States: How to Identify an Undefined and Rapidly Evolving Population

As part of a larger organizational study, we sought to survey biobanks in the United States. However, we encountered two problems with this population. First, no common definition of biobanks exists. Second, no census is available of these facilities from which to sample in order to implement a survey. In light of these problems, we employed a multifaceted approach using electronic searches of PubMed, RePORTER, and Google. In addition, we systematically searched for biobanks housed within universities that have NIH-designated Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA). We expanded this part of the search by looking for biobanks among all members of the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). Finally, we added banks to our database found previously by other researchers and banks found via correspondence with our colleagues. Our search strategy produced a database of 624 biobanks for which we were able to confirm contact information in order to conduct our online survey. Another 140 biobanks were identified but did not respond to our requests to confirm their existence or contact information. In order to maximize both the uniqueness of banks found and the greatest return on effort for each search, we suggest targeting resources that are already organized. In our work, these included the CTSA, AAMC, and part of the Google searches. We contend that our search provides a model for analysis of new fields of research and/or rapidly evolving industries. Furthermore, our approach demonstrates that with the appropriate tools it is possible to develop a systematic and comprehensive database to investigate undefined populations

Biobanks containing clinical specimens: Defining characteristics, policies, and practices

Biobanks – collections of human biological specimens stored for future research use – are crucial for biomedical advancement. One of the most common ways that biobanks acquire specimens is to obtain residual or “leftover” samples originally collected for clinical care from hospitals, clinical laboratories and pathology departments. Little is known about the characteristics of biobanks that store specimens from clinical sources, or their policies and practices.In this paper, we present data from the subset of 261 biobanks in our 2012 national survey that stores specimens from clinical sources, focusing on a number of ethical issues that have been raised in the literature.Most biobanks are part of larger organizations, mainly academic medical centers, and most report standardized systems for managing acquisition, storage, and release to researchers. Yet, there is considerable diversity in policies and practices regarding informed consent, return of research results, ownership of specimens and technology developed, utilization, and disposition of remaining specimens after researchers have acquired, them. We document tremendous heterogeneity in the composition of these collections, the number and type of specimens stored, and number of requests for specimens per year.Responding to this variation presents significant challenges for those who manage the collections, demanding careful consideration and planning to maintain high quality practices in acquisition, storage, and release of specimens all the while striving to protect the rights of subjects

Is “incidental finding” the best term?: a study of patients’ preferences

There is debate within the genetics community about the optimal term to describe genetic variants unrelated to the test indication, but potentially important for health. Given the lack of consensus and the importance of adopting terminology that promotes effective clinical communication, we sought the opinion of clinical genetics patients