The Influence of Professional Development on Teacher Self-Efficacy in Gifted Education

The purpose of this research is to study the impact of effective professional development training provided to both preservice and inservice teachers about gifted education and gifted students. This research also seeks to discover whether a notable difference exists between preservice and inservice teachers in regard to the increase in their knowledge and self-efficacy upon completion of the professional development training. A quantitative approach using a survey and a required training was used for all participants. Study participants included preservice teachers attending a southern Kentucky public university who were taking education classes as well as inservice teachers from 11 school districts in Kentucky and one school district in Tennessee. Data were collected from the survey both before and after participants completed the training and then analyzed to ascertain participant gains for each of the research questions. The results from this study indicated the positive impact of the focused professional development training on all educators who participated. Both preservice and inservice teachers experienced gains in their knowledge of gifted education and gifted students, as well as in their confidence in the ability to meet the needs of these students in the classroom. The results further indicated gifted education professional development training should be provided to all preservice and inservice teachers to provide them with effective materials and strategies they can incorporate into their instruction

Assessing the *discriminative properties of response -reinforcer relations using concurrent schedules of reinforcement

The discriminative properties of schedules of reinforcement have been assessed by making a choice response conditional upon some aspect of the schedule that produced the choice component. The discriminative properties of concurrent schedules of reinforcement and the effect of disruptions in the response-reinforcer relation were investigated using conditional-discrimination procedures. In the first experiment, choice components were produced by responding to one of two variable-interval (VI) schedules. Disruptions in the temporal contiguity between a VI response and a choice component were introduced by arranging a percentage of choice components according to a variable-time schedule. Choice responding was a function of the response that produced the choice component. Delays of up to 0.5 s resulted in responding that corresponded to the last VI response made.;In the second experiment, the delay between a VI response and choice component was controlled for by arranging choices according to concurrent VI and differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior (DRO) schedules. Choice responding was a function of which schedule arranged the choice component. Varying the DRO value resulted in increased choice accuracy at shorter (0.25 to 2.00 s) delays and decreased accuracy at delays of greater than 2.00 s. These results indicate that concurrent schedules of reinforcement can serve a discriminative function and that the discriminative properties of response-reinforcer relations are a function of the temporal contiguity between a response and a stimulus change

Parent-Child Book-Reading Styles, Emotional Quality, and Changes in Early Head Start Children\u27s Cognitive Scores.

The objective of this study was to understand how book-reading style and emotional quality of reading interact and relate to cognitive skills in a sample of at-risk infants and toddlers. Participants included 81 parents and their children participating in Early Head Start programs in the rural Midwest. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to test the hypothesis that parental book-reading style and emotional quality interact and relate to changes in children\u27s cognitive scores for culturally and linguistically families. Results included that there were variations in how book-reading qualities interacted and related to changes in child cognitive scores for families whose primary home languages were either English or Spanish. Practice or Policy: The results of this study are discussed in conjunction with findings from a previous study published in this journal that examined concurrent relationships in the same sample of Early Head Start families. Combined, findings of these studies underscore a need to further explore potentially complex patterns of relationships among parental literacy behaviors and child knowledge, concurrently and across time, for culturally and linguistically diverse families. Better understanding these patterns could inform the development and implementation of culturally-sensitive intervention approaches designed to support high quality parent-child book reading

Physiological concentrations of bile acids down-regulate agonist induced secretion in colonic epithelial cells

In patients with bile acid malabsorption, high concentrations of bile acids enter the colon and stimulate Cl− and fluid secretion, thereby causing diarrhoea. However, deoxycholic acid (DCA), the predominant colonic bile acid, is normally present at lower concentrations where its role in regulating transport is unclear. Thus, the current study set out to investigate the effects of physiologically relevant DCA concentrations on colonic epithelial secretory function. Cl− secretion was measured as changes in short-circuit current across voltage-clamped T84 cell monolayers. At high concentrations (0.5–1 mM), DCA acutely stimulated Cl− secretion but this effect was associated with cell injury, as evidenced by decreased transepithelial resistance (TER) and increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release. In contrast, chronic (24 hrs) exposure to lower DCA concentrations (10–200 μM) inhibited responses to Ca2+ and cAMP-dependent secretagogues without altering TER, LDH release, or secretagogue-induced increases in intracellular second messengers. Other bile acids – taurodeoxycholic acid, chenodeoxycholic acid and cholic acid – had similar antisecretory effects. DCA (50 μM) rapidly stimulated phosphorylation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFr) and both ERK and p38 MAPKs (mitogen-activated protein kinases). The EGFr inhibitor, AG1478, and the protein synthesis inhibitor, cycloheximide, reversed the antisecretory effects of DCA, while the MAPK inhibitors, PD98059 and SB203580, did not. In summary, our studies suggest that, in contrast to its acute prosecretory effects at pathophysiological concentrations, lower, physiologically relevant, levels of DCA chronically down-regulate colonic epithelial secretory function. On the basis of these data, we propose a novel role for bile acids as physiological regulators of colonic secretory capacity

Gender Differences in Incremental Force Production Accuracy Following a 3-, 6-, or 12-Week Strength Training Course

Subjective muscular force production is a commonly used psychophysiological method in resistance training and physical rehabilitation. However, limited research is available regarding whether differences exist in match-force production accuracy between male and female adults. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the gender differences in perceived force production accuracy following participation in a strength training course. METHODS: Participants (20 males, 26 females) were sampled from an undergraduate strength training course. Using a hand-grip dynamometer, maximal and incremental force production measurements were collected with the participants in a seated position with their dominant forearm resting on a table. Participants were asked to produce a maximal force on the hand-grip dynamometer followed by two sets of incremental force measures at 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of maximal effort with adequate rest in between bouts. Incremental hand-grip measurements were repeated following a 3-, 6-, or 12-week strength training course. A linear regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between gender and hand-grip force error for the increments of force. RESULTS: Results indicated that the most variance in error was at the submaximal muscular force production of 25%, whereas the most accurate increment was at 100%, regardless of duration (3-, 6-, or 12-weeks) of participation in the strength training course (r2 = 0.046, p \u3c 0.001). For increments of lower exertion (i.e., 25% and 50%), there was no significant differences between male and female participants. However, for higher incremental force exertion (i.e., 75% and 100%), approximately 23% of variance (r2 = 0.230, p \u3c 0.001) and 32% of variance (r2 = 0.322, p \u3c 0.001) in force production accuracy, respectively, can be accounted for by gender. CONCLUSION: Following exposure to strength training instruction, physically active female adults are more accurate in force production at incremental exertion levels (i.e., 25%, 50%, 75% of maximal force), whereas males have greater match-force accuracy at 100% of maximal force production

Body Image Dissatisfaction Among Third, Fourth, and Fifth Grade Children

Body image dissatisfaction has become increasingly more prevalent among the preadolescent population over recent years. This study examines the level of body image dissatisfaction among 261 third, fourth, and fifth grade girls and boys. A pictorial scale was used to assess how the participants viewed their current body shape, their ideal body shape, and what they believed to be the ideal body shape of the opposite gender. Overall results indicated that 50.6% of the children surveyed were dissatisfied with their current body shape, 41.8% wanted to be thinner, while 8.8% wanted to be larger. Fifty percent of the girls were dissatisfied with their current body shape, with 45.1% wishing to be thinner. Boys showed similar trends, with 48.9% dissatisfied and 38.9% wishing to be thinner. A greater percentage of boys wanted to be larger than their current body shape (12.3%) compared to girls (4.9%). A significant difference was found between genders regarding the difference between scores of their current self and ideal self, where girls selected a smaller ideal body shape than the boys. An encouraging finding was that the level of body dissatisfaction decreased from third grade to fifth grade among both genders. Girls, however, still wished to be thinner over time. Boys, on the other hand, indicated a preference for a somewhat larger body shape over time. These results indicate that body image dissatisfaction exists prior to adolescence among this sample of children. Prevention strategies and education are encouraged among this age group

Books, stories, and the imagination at Filastrocca: Case study of a preschool learning environment in Pistoia, Italy.

The progressive educational systems of some regions of Italyare becoming increasingly recognized by educators and researchers, including those from North America, seeking insight into diverse educational approaches from the international community. This paper represents a case study of Filastrocca (“Nursery Rhyme”), a preschool in the Tuscan city of Pistoia. Filastrocca proclaims a special mission related to books, storytelling, and the imagination, and appears to offer a unique environment that supports children’s active and enthusiastic engagement in complex literacy discussions and activities. The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed description of the learning environment for language and literacy at the preschool. There is an emphasis on exploring what kinds of opportunities related to books, storytelling, and the imagination are providing to support and encourage young children and their families, and in examining how the learning environment reflects the mission of the school in fostering early childhood language and literacy

Blooms of cyanobacteria in a temperate Australian lagoon system post and prior to European settlement

Blooms of noxious N2 fixing cyanobacteria such as Nodularia spumigena are a recurring problem in some estuaries; however, the historic occurrence of such blooms in unclear in many cases. Here we report the results of a palaeoecological study on a temperate Australian lagoon system (the Gippsland Lakes) where we used stable isotopes and pigment biomarkers in dated cores as proxies for eutrophication and blooms of cyanobacteria. Pigment proxies show a clear signal, with an increase in cyanobacterial pigments (echinenone, canthaxanthin and zeaxanthin) in the period coinciding with recent blooms. Another excursion in these proxies was observed prior to the opening of an artificial entrance to the lakes in 1889, which markedly increased the salinity of the Gippsland Lakes. A coincident increase in the sediment organic-carbon content in the period prior to the opening of the artificial entrance suggests that the bottom waters of the lakes were more stratified and hypoxic, which would have led to an increase in the recycling of phosphorus. After the opening of the artificial entrance, there was a  ∼  60-year period with low values for the cyanobacterial proxies as well as a low sediment organic-carbon content suggesting a period of low bloom activity associated with the increased salinity of the lakes. During the 1940s, the current period of re-eutrophication commenced, as indicated by a steadily increasing sediment organic-carbon content and cyanobacterial pigments. We suggest that increasing nitrogen inputs from the catchment led to the return of hypoxia and increased phosphorus release from the sediment, which drove the re-emergence of cyanobacterial blooms