Investigations In Transportation

The Investigations in Transportation program is an elementary school partnership and curriculum development project that will engage science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professionals in school-based activities and projects that will bring real-world applications to elementary classrooms for grades 3-5. The Portland Metro STEM Partnership (PMSP) is providing leadership and facilitation to a team of educators from Portland State University, Beaverton School District and Hillsboro School District who will work with volunteers from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to design, develop, implement and assess the impact of an in-class unit entitled Investigations in Transportation . This report presents a study of a transportation education partnership and curriculum development project that harnessed the professional expertise, experience and enthusiasm of transportation-sector STEM workers by creating a mechanism and set of protocols by which they engaged with elementary school teachers to develop and implement an instructional unit. This STEM-connected instructional unit and lessons allowed students to explore and investigate issues central to transportation. The unit incorporated and enhanced the content and practice standards outlined by the Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards, and relied heavily on the instructional and curriculum expertise and experience of classroom teachers to develop an age- and interest-appropriate unit of study. This collaboration resulted in the development of an Investigations in Transportation instructional unit that provided students with rich, engaging learning opportunities set in the context of real-world problems around a school parking lot dilemma focused on safety, sustainability and health concerns. The education project team utilized a coherent and cohesive curriculum development process for unit creation and evaluated the development, implementation and reflection of the unit through teacher and student surveys/assessments of attitudes, identity and conceptual understanding. The report describes the process successes, challenges and replication opportunities

Effect of Wireless Mobile Cart Access on the Level of In-service Teachers' Technology Implementation in a Southwestern Urban School District

K-12 school districts in the United States have spent billions of dollars annually to purchase and maintain educational technology giving teachers nationwide more technology to enhance teaching and learning than ever before. However, many teachers are not maximizing the use of that technology in classroom instruction. The Southwestern urban school district that was the site for this study spent $4 million dollars on the acquisition and deployment of wireless mobile laptop carts in 2006 and in 2007 to provide increased access to internet-connected computers for students. Eighty-three in-service teachers participated in taking an online survey (LoTiQ) developed by Moersch (1995). The data gathered addressed seven research questions that investigated four variables. Although 90 percent of teachers reported having access to wireless mobile carts, 60 percent said they never used them. Teachers had the requisite technology proficiency and instructional practices to perform at higher LoTi Levels, yet 55 percent of tSchool of Teaching and Curriculum Leadershi

Holocaust-Denial Literature in Public Libraries: An Investigation of Public Librarians\u27 Attitudes Regarding Acquisition and Access

This study was undertaken to learn about public librarians\u27 attitudes and opinions concerning the sometimes conflicting issues of intellectual freedom, collection balance, and controversial materials. The investigation focused on Holocaust-denial literature, a body of work which tries to dispute or deny outright the historical reality of the Holocaust. The results, while ambiguous in some areas, indicate that librarians are more open to Holocaust-revisionist literature than had been predicted and, regardless of outside pressures, would acquire and provide ready access to this material in their libraries

Holocaust-Denial Literature: A Bibliography

Holocaust-denial is a body of work that seeks to prove that the Jewish Holocaust did not happen. Although not all of the deniers, who prefer to call themselves revisionists in an attempt to gain scholarly legitimacy, make the same claims, they all share at least one point: that there was no systematic attempt by Nazi Germany to exterminate European Jewry. This bibliography includes both works about Holocaust denial and works of Holocaust denial

A humanisation approach for the management of Joint Hypermobility Syndrome/Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome-Hypermobility Type (JHS/EDS-HT).

Joint Hypermobility Syndrome/Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome-Hypermobility Type (JHS/EDS-HT) is a complex and multisystemic condition which significantly impacts on a person's health and well-being and is challenging for health professionals (HPs) to manage. People with JHS/EDS-HT and HPs recognise the individual nature and the complexities of the condition. There is a requirement to understand the condition within the context of the individual human dimensions of illness and healing. The aim of this paper is to explore the management of this condition using a theoretical model referred to as the Humanisation Framework.  It is suggested that using the philosophical dimensions of this framework will empower HPs and those with JHS/EDS-HT to work together to proactively manage this condition. The eight dimensions of the Humanisation Framework facilitate an experiential understanding of the person within their context and environment, providing a constructive adjunct to the evidence-based management of those with JHS/EDS-HT. The humanisation framework was developed for health and social care and uses the philosophy behind well-being and what makes well-being possible. This paper explores how HPs may use aspects of the framework to understand the condition and empower and motivate those with JHS/EDS-HT to be active participants in their own well-being

Improving the validity, relevance and feasibility of the continuum of care framework for maternal health in South Africa: a thematic analysis of experts’ perspectives

Background: The continuum of care is a key strategy for ensuring comprehensive service delivery for maternal health, while acknowledging the role of the social determinants of health. However, there is little research on the operationalisation of the framework by decision-makers and implementers to address maternal health challenges. The framework should be measurable and feasible for implementation in low- and middle-income country contexts. In this study, we explore experts’ perspective on monitoring indicators for continuum of care and key issues related to their use in the South African context. Methods: We conducted key informant interviews with a range of experts in decision-making and programme implementation roles in the health system and relevant sectors. Key informants provided their perspectives on systematically selected, nationally representative monitoring indicators in terms of validity, relevance and feasibility. We interviewed 13 key informants and conducted a thematic analysis of their responses using multi-stage coding techniques in Atlas.ti 8.4. Results: Experts believed that the continuum of care framework and monitoring indicators offer a multisectoral perspective for maternal health intervention missing in current programmes. To improve validity of monitoring indicators, experts suggested reflection on the use of proxy indicators and improvement of data to allow for equity analysis. In terms of relevance and feasibility, experts believe there was potential to foster co-accountability using continuum of care indicators. However, as experts stated, new indicators should be integrated that directly measure intersectoral collaboration for maternal health. In addition, experts recommended that the framework and indicators should evolve over time to reflect evolving policy priorities and public health challenges. Conclusion: Experts, as decision-makers and implementers, helped identify key issues in the application of the continuum of care framework and its indicators. The use of local indicators can bring the continuum of care framework from an under-utilised strategy to a useful tool for action and decision-making in maternal health. Our findings point to measurement issues and systematic changes needed to improve comprehensive monitoring of maternal health interventions in South Africa. Our methods can be applied to other low- and middle-income countries using the continuum of care framework and locally available indicators

Measurement approaches in continuum of care for maternal health: a critical interpretive synthesis of evidence from LMICs and its implications for the South African context

Background: Global strategies recommend a continuum of care for maternal health to improve outcomes and access to care in low and middle income countries (LMICs). South Africa has already set priority interventions along the continuum of care for maternal health, and mandated their implementation at the district health level. However, the approach for monitoring access to this continuum of care has not yet been defined. This review assessed measurement approaches in continuum of care for maternal health among LMICs and their implications for the South African context. Methods: We conducted a critical interpretive synthesis of quantitative and qualitative research sourced from Academic Search Complete (EBSCO), MEDLINE (Pubmed), Cambridge Journals Online, Credo Reference and Science Direct. We selected 20 out of 118 articles into the analysis, following a rigorous quality appraisal and relevance assessment. The outcomes of the synthesis were new constructs for the measurement of continuum of care for maternal health, derived from the existing knowledge gaps. Results: We learned that coverage was the main approach for measuring and monitoring the continuum of care for maternal health in LMICs. The measure of effective coverage was also used to integrate quality into coverage of care. Like coverage, there was no uniform definition of effective coverage, and we observed gaps in the measurement of multiple dimensions of quality. From the evidence, we derived a new construct called adequacy that incorporated timeliness of care, coverage, and the complex nature of quality. We described the implications of adequacy to the measurement of the continuum of care for maternal health in South Africa. Conclusions: Critical interpretive synthesis allowed new understandings of measurement of the continuum of care for maternal health in South Africa. The new construct of adequacy can be the basis of a new measure of access to the continuum of care for maternal health. Although adequacy conceptualizes a more holistic approach, more research is needed to derive its indicators and metrics using South African data sources

Review of health and non-health sector indicators for monitoring service provision along the continuum of care for maternal health

This study uses health and non-health sector data sources to select and assess available indicators for service provision along the continuum of care for maternal health at subnational levels in South Africa. It applies the adequacy approach established in another study to assess the multi-dimensionality of available indicators. Using adequacy and the process of assessment in the study, the comprehensiveness of the continuum of care for improving maternal health outcomes can be assessed.We found 27 indicators of care utilization and access, linkages of care, and quality of care from the routine district health information system. The General Household Survey contained 11 indicators for the social determinants of health on the continuum of care framework. Indicator gaps include health promotion during and after pregnancy, maternal nutrition, empowerment and quality of care. At present, the available indicators measure about 74% of the interventions on the continuum of care framework. We make recommendations regarding improvements needed to better measure and monitor the continuum of care for maternal health. These involve actions within the health system and include integration of non-health system indicators