Equitizing Engineering Education by Valuing Children’s Assets: Including Empathy and an Ethic of Care when Considering Trade-offs after Design Failures

The broad case being made in this paper is that recognizing student assets—rather than focusing on deficits—is essential for making engineering education more equitable. The paper begins with our exploration of an epistemic practice of engineering, ‘‘making trade-offs,’’ as enacted by kindergartners after experiencing design failure and during redesign. We then acknowledge through a reexamination of data that our understanding of children’s grappling about a trade-off was incomplete without considering another asset that children brought to the design experience: ‘‘enacting empathy and an ethic of care.’’ We argue for the inclusion of this asset as an epistemic practice of engineering. Doing so has implications for improving learning experiences, research, and equity in engineering education

Developing as a College Science Teacher: Using Identity to Examine Transformation

Guided by identity theory, this study investigated how a college biology professor’s early career experiences contributed to the transformation of his identity as a college science teacher. This study showcases the four components of identity as described by Gee as a lens and it specifically focuses on the emergent role of institutional identity and its associated conflicts with incompatible belief systems. This qualitative study illustrated the utility of Gee’s theory to study how various components of identity can be useful to examine the transformation of a college faculty member. The participant’s position as a non-tenured faculty member created dissonance between his developing beliefs concerning quality science instruction and those imposed on him by his departmen

Farm Service Agency Direct Farm Loan Program Effectiveness Study

The three primary objectives of the Effectiveness Study are to: (1) identify groups being served by FSA direct farm loan programs, (2) examine the length of time borrowers remain in the programs and the proportion of borrowers who exit or 'graduate' from the programs, and (3) measure and identify ways of reducing loan subsidy rates. The study found that direct Farm Loan Programs (FLPs) appear to be serving their intended clientele. Recent FLP borrowers are more financially stressed than non-borrowers and would be generally considered as family farms. About 78 to 92 percent would qualify as small family farms using USDA's Small Farms Commission definition. FLP credit market penetration is relatively high among farms likely to be eligible for these credit programs, despite the fact that these programs represent a relatively small proportion of total outstanding agricultural debt. Increasing market penetration or the share of farms served by the program would require greater obligation funding and hence greater budgetary costs. Conversely, implementing more rigorous loan eligibility criteria would likely lower the number of operators receiving loans and hence loan loss occurrences and subsidy rates would likely fall. The majority of FSA Direct borrowers from FY 1994-1996 used FLPs as a transitional tool. At time of origination, FSA Direct borrowers had fewer years of farming experience than the farming population at large. More than half of these borrowers no longer had active FLP loans by the end of November 2004. So for the majority of borrowers, FLPs are not a lifetime credit source. FLPs are helping farmers move to commercial credit or aiding farmers who subsequently leave farming completely, as is common among U.S. farmers. Not surprisingly, farmers in stronger financial condition originating FSA Direct loans are more likely to exit and have fewer outstanding loans with FSA. FSA experiences higher loan loss rates than conventional agricultural lenders. This is to be expected because commercial lenders can be more selective in choosing borrowers and price loans to match risk profiles which FSA does not do. In essence, FSA's mission is to provide credit to riskier 'creditworthy' borrowers. The agency is accomplishing this goal. The natural consequence is that FSA loan loss rates are higher than for conventional lenders. Whether the current borrowers are too risky or should even riskier borrowers be included are policy questions. The analysis indicates that attempts to cut losses systematically would imply denying credit to some current borrowers.Agricultural Finance,

Farm Service Agency Direct Farm Loan Program Effectiveness Study

This final report presents the results of an independent, performance-focused review of the effectiveness of Farm Service Agency (FSA) Direct Farm Loan Programs (FLPs) as requested by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the 2005 Passback for FSA. The study focuses on FSA’s direct Farm Ownership (FO), Farm Operating (OL), and Emergency (EM) loan programs

Uterine Epithelial Cell Regulation of DC-SIGN Expression Inhibits Transmitted/Founder HIV-1 Trans Infection by Immature Dendritic Cells

Sexual transmission accounts for the majority of HIV-1 infections. In over 75% of cases, infection is initiated by a single variant (transmitted/founder virus). However, the determinants of virus selection during transmission are unknown. Host cell-cell interactions in the mucosa may be critical in regulating susceptibility to infection. We hypothesized in this study that specific immune modulators secreted by uterine epithelial cells modulate susceptibility of dendritic cells (DC) to infection with HIV-1.Here we report that uterine epithelial cell secretions (i.e. conditioned medium, CM) decreased DC-SIGN expression on immature dendritic cells via a transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) mechanism. Further, CM inhibited dendritic cell-mediated trans infection of HIV-1 expressing envelope proteins of prototypic reference. Similarly, CM inhibited trans infection of HIV-1 constructs expressing envelopes of transmitted/founder viruses, variants that are selected during sexual transmission. In contrast, whereas recombinant TGF- β1 inhibited trans infection of prototypic reference HIV-1 by dendritic cells, TGF-β1 had a minimal effect on trans infection of transmitted/founder variants irrespective of the reporter system used to measure trans infection.Our results provide the first direct evidence for uterine epithelial cell regulation of dendritic cell transmission of infection with reference and transmitted/founder HIV-1 variants. These findings have immediate implications for designing strategies to prevent sexual transmission of HIV-1

Uses of Technology by Science Education Professors: Comparisons With Teachers’ Uses and the Current Versus Desired Technology Knowledge Gap

A survey of the AETS membership was conducted to examine potential gaps in their current versus desired knowledge about technology uses relative to science teacher education

Technology Knowledge and Use: A Survey of Science Educators

The purpose of this study was to determine the current state of technology use and know-how among members of the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science. A web-based survey site and an e-mail merge invited members to participate in the study. The survey examined the differences between current and desired levels of knowledge about using technology as an instructional tool, to support research, to enhance productivity in classroom applications, and to enhance data collection and analysis. Large mean differences about using technology as an instructional tool were found, including: (1) teaching students at a distance, (2) database applications, and (3) desktop publishing. Small mean differences were found for telecommunications and word processing

School leader enactments of the structure/agency dialectic via buffering

Even though school administrators and their leadership practices are rarely explored within science education research, our recent efforts to understand organizational influences on achievement disparities induced an elevated regard for elementary school principals. In this paper, we report on policy buffering by principals at schools whose science test scores exceed statistical expectations. We approached principals to learn more about their science program and the potential leadership and organizational infrastructures that might explain their schools\u27 exemplary performance with students from diverse backgrounds. As street-level bureaucrats, principals are expected to translate formal policy while also ensuring the school is supportive of the teachers and the students. By applying a structure/agency perspective, principals were found to engage in the cognitive professional practice of buffering in four ways: adjusting school structures to accommodate new policies; negotiating compromises with central office about policy implementation; shielding teachers from low-priority policies; and occasionally encouraging teachers to preemptively engage in district-level representation to shape policy implementation. In addition, we uncovered many instances where principals were unwilling to deflect policy and worked with teachers accordingly. We learned that buffering is a cognitive act in which principals make rationale choices about policy and in certain instances will shield their school out of compassion for the teachers and students. It is likely that principal buffering contributes to the equitability and excellence of student performance on their schools\u27 statewide science test. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 52: 503–515, 201

Developing as a College Science Teacher: Using Identity to Examine Transformation

Guided by identity theory, this study investigated how a college biology professor’s early career experiences contributed to the transformation of his identity as a college science teacher. This study showcases the four components of identity as described by Gee as a lens and it specifically focuses on the emergent role of institutional identity and its associated conflicts with incompatible belief systems. This qualitative study illustrated the utility of Gee’s theory to study how various components of identity can be useful to examine the transformation of a college faculty member. The participant’s position as a non-tenured faculty member created dissonance between his developing beliefs concerning quality science instruction and those imposed on him by his departmen

Teaching science to every child : using culture as a starting point

xxxi, 383 p.; 25 c