Imagination at Work: A Book Review of The Power of Practice-Based Literacy Research: A Tool for Teachers

This is a book review of of The Power of Practice-Based Literacy Research: A Tool for Teachers

Preparing Practice-Based Researchers for Diverse Classrooms: A Pathway for Teacher Education

Twenty-first century educators are faced with new dilemmas, as well as new opportunities. In response to the increasing racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity of students, some school districts and states have implemented policies mandating particular curriculum. However, evidence increasingly shows that teachers who are effective in diverse classrooms are adaptive and responsive rather than strictly adhering to scripted curriculum. One proposed solution is preparation to conduct practice-based research as part of teaching. Practice-based research is a method of studying ones’ own teaching that draws on action research, design-development research, and transformative research. As a method through which teachers define questions, explore solutions, and share successes in professional communities, practice-based research holds tremendous potential to support teachers in diverse classrooms as they work to teach in culturally sustaining ways despite external pressures. This chapter begins with the history of action research and the tradition of teachers conducting research on their practice. Then, examples of practice-based research in literacy teacher education settings from a review of the research literature are provided to demonstrate the challenges, opportunities, and design features for this work. The chapter concludes with recommendations for teacher education policies, for teacher educators, and for practice

Supporting English Learners through Practice-Based Research

Learning to use critical practice-based research as part of teaching is an important goal for preservice teachers, especially for those who plan to teach English learners in linguistically diverse settings. In this study, we examine the experiences of preservice teachers who were introduced to a framework for enacting iterative, transformative action research, and used the framework to study their own teaching in a one-on-one writing partnership with young English learners. Using an established self-efficacy survey instrument, as well as qualitative measures such as course artifacts and observations of teaching, we conducted a mixed-methods study to examine the impact of research engagement on preservice teachers’ self-efficacy, self-reported knowledge of practice-based research, and agency. Findings suggest that the experience helped preservice teachers grow in their knowledge of practice-based research and reflect on their teaching decisions, but gains in self-efficacy varied across participants in relation to their racial and linguistic positionalities, their understandings of race and language, and their successes and challenges with enacting critically-oriented research. This study has important implications for the design of preservice teacher education that emphasizes the role of research in teaching and supports the preparation of teachers for English learners in linguistically diverse communities

Inquiry, advocacy, and practice-based research : transformative possibilities in literacy preservice teacher education

This dissertation is composed of three articles that explore the uses of inquiry, advocacy, and practice-based research in preservice literacy teacher preparation. The first article, a systematic review of literature, focuses on the question: What is known about how inquiry is used and framed in literacy preservice teacher preparation? Findings suggest that inquiry is an effective tool for preservice teacher learning, and although there are challenges (i.e., time, resources, preservice teachers’ preconceived ideas about curriculum, and curricular constraints), preservice teachers can learn to enact inquiry-based teaching methods. The second article, a longitudinal multiple case study using a framework of appropriation, explored the questions: (A) How do literacy teachers in transition from preservice to in-service appropriate their knowledge of inquiry and advocacy practices inside different teaching contexts? (B) What tensions do literacy teachers in transition from preservice to in-service face as they appropriate their knowledge of inquiry and advocacy practices inside different teaching contexts? (C) When literacy teachers in transition from preservice to in-service appropriate their knowledge of inquiry and advocacy practices inside different teaching contexts, what tools (e.g. informational texts) and strategies do they use to achieve success? Findings suggest that graduates of a teacher education program that relied on hybrid spaces and emphasized the use of informational texts, inquiry, and advocacy as curriculum appropriated and built on these practices as in-service teachers. The third article, which reports on a design/development project and uses theories of communities of practice and the Transformative Activist Stance, focuses on the questions: (A) How does literacy teacher preparation with a focus on practice-based research support preservice teachers’ development of researcher and activist identities and practices? (B) What resources and experiences support literacy preservice teachers’ understandings of practice-based research and activism? (C) How does teacher preparation with a focus on practice-based research and activism support preservice teachers’ enactment of an inquiry and activist curriculum? Findings suggest that preservice teachers who engaged in practice-based research as they enacted an inquiry and advocacy curriculum used their research for activism and resisted a narrowed, testing-focused curriculum.Curriculum and Instructio

Harnessing big data to support the conservation and rehabilitation of mangrove forests globally

Mangrove forests are found on sheltered coastlines in tropical, subtropical, and some warm temperate regions. These forests support unique biodiversity and provide a range of benefits to coastal communities, but as a result of large-scale conversion for aquaculture, agriculture, and urbanization, mangroves are considered increasingly threatened ecosystems. Scientific advances have led to accurate and comprehensive global datasets on mangrove extent, structure, and condition, and these can support evaluation of ecosystem services and stimulate greater conservation and rehabilitation efforts. To increase the utility and uptake of these products, in this Perspective we provide an overview of these recent and forthcoming global datasets and explore the challenges of translating these new analyses into policy action and on-the-ground conservation. We describe a new platform for visualizing and disseminating these datasets to the global science community, non-governmental organizations, government officials, and rehabilitation practitioners and highlight future directions and collaborations to increase the uptake and impact of large-scale mangrove research. This Perspective reviews the role of global-scale research in stimulating policy action and on-the-ground conservation for mangrove ecosystems. We outline the current state of knowledge in terms of global analyses and examine the challenge of translating this research in action

A comprehensive analysis of common genetic variation around six candidate loci for intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy.

OBJECTIVES: Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) has a complex etiology with a significant genetic component. Heterozygous mutations of canalicular transporters occur in a subset of ICP cases and a population susceptibility allele (p.444A) has been identified in ABCB11. We sought to expand our knowledge of the detailed genetic contribution to ICP by investigation of common variation around candidate loci with biological plausibility for a role in ICP (ABCB4, ABCB11, ABCC2, ATP8B1, NR1H4, and FGF19). METHODS: ICP patients (n=563) of white western European origin and controls (n=642) were analyzed in a case-control design. Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers (n=83) were selected from the HapMap data set (Tagger, Haploview 4.1 (build 22)). Genotyping was performed by allelic discrimination assay on a robotic platform. Following quality control, SNP data were analyzed by Armitage's trend test. RESULTS: Cochran-Armitage trend testing identified six SNPs in ABCB11 together with six SNPs in ABCB4 that showed significant evidence of association. The minimum Bonferroni corrected P value for trend testing ABCB11 was 5.81×10(-4) (rs3815676) and for ABCB4 it was 4.6×10(-7)(rs2109505). Conditional analysis of the two clusters of association signals suggested a single signal in ABCB4 but evidence for two independent signals in ABCB11. To confirm these findings, a second study was performed in a further 227 cases, which confirmed and strengthened the original findings. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis of a large cohort of ICP cases has identified a key role for common variation around the ABCB4 and ABCB11 loci, identified the core associations, and expanded our knowledge of ICP susceptibility

International genome-wide meta-analysis identifies new primary biliary cirrhosis risk loci and targetable pathogenic pathways.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a classical autoimmune liver disease for which effective immunomodulatory therapy is lacking. Here we perform meta-analyses of discovery data sets from genome-wide association studies of European subjects (n=2,764 cases and 10,475 controls) followed by validation genotyping in an independent cohort (n=3,716 cases and 4,261 controls). We discover and validate six previously unknown risk loci for PBC (Pcombined<5 × 10(-8)) and used pathway analysis to identify JAK-STAT/IL12/IL27 signalling and cytokine-cytokine pathways, for which relevant therapies exist

Étude du nom diversité dans un corpus de déclarations de performance extra-financière : usages divers d’un concept « flou »

Cette étude met au jour les propriétés morphologiques, syntaxiques et sémantiques des emplois émergents (à partir des années 2000) de diversité. Elle procède également à une analyse quantitative et qualitative des usages de ce nom dans un corpus constitué par les déclarations de performance extra-financière de BNP Paribas et Hermès entre 2005 et 2020, s’inscrivant dans la communication RSE. Deux conceptions opposées de la diversité en ressortent : l’une offensive et dynamique, l’autre subie et statique.This study reveals the morphological, syntactic and semantic properties of the emergent uses (since the 2000s) of the French noun diversité (“diversity”). It also consists in a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the uses of this noun in a corpus of extra-financial performance declarations by BNP-Paribas and Hermès between 2005 and 2020, as part of their CSR communication. Two contrasting views of diversity emerge, one offensive and dynamic, the other submissive and static.Este estudio actualiza las propiedades morfológicas, sintácticas y semánticas de los usos emergentes (a partir de la década de 2000) del sustantivo francés diversité (diversidad). También realiza un análisis cuantitativo y cualitativo de los usos de este sustantivo en un corpus formado por las declaraciones de resultados extrafinancieros de BNP-Paribas y Hermès entre 2005 y 2020, que forma parte de la comunicación de la responsabilidad social empresarial. De ello se derivan dos concepciones opuestas de la diversidad: una ofensiva y dinámica; la otra sumisa y estática