The importance of collegiality and reciprocal learning in the professional development of beginning teachers

This paper discusses factors which enhance induction experiences for beginning teachers. It reports the findings from case studies which explore the impact of new entrants to the teaching profession in Scotland. The data suggest that the most supportive induction processes mix both formal and informal elements, but that the informal elements such as collegiality, good communication and a welcoming workplace environment should not be underestimated. The study also highlights the potential benefits of a more collegiate environment for teachers across the career phases. Experienced teachers and new entrants had a range of experience to offer each other, thus creating more cohesive professional working which was supportive of early career teachers while encouraging reflection on practice among the more experienced professionals

Increasing atmospheric nitrogen deposition: implications for tallgrass prairie restoration

Continued intensification of agriculture and combustion of fossil fuels will increase rates of atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition over the next century. N is typically a limiting resource for terrestrial plants, and many species are adapted to low-N conditions. Increased N availability can affect both plant biomass and species composition, often favouring N-demanding, adventive species. These effects can be adverse in the context of ecological restoration, where the end product often relies on establishing a particular community composition. I used a field experiment in Norfolk County, Ontario, to examine how N addition affects species composition and plant productivity of a tallgrass prairie restoration. I predicted that N addition would increase the abundance of plant species not included in the original seeding. Contrary to my prediction, relative abundance of native, rather than adventive species, increased with N addition, although the latter species were scarce at the site, possibly as a result of dispersal limitation. I conclude that increased N availability can enhance the growth of tallgrass prairie species in the first few years of restoration

Cultural Humility in the Context of Teacher-Student Relationships

Though cultural humility is emerging as an important quality for helping professionals across many fields of research, it has been minimally explored in the context of primary and secondary education settings. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the implications of cultural humility for the professional development of teachers and to investigate the impact of cultural humility for teachers who instruct children with cultural backgrounds that differ from their own. A theoretical argument for incorporating cultural humility into teacher professional development programs is presented. This theoretical perspective is examined by extending a recent systematic review of research on inservice training to address teacher cultural responsiveness by incorporating the construct of cultural humility into this review. Review findings suggest that while the literature on teacher professional development for cultural responsiveness is growing, there are still many methodological and theoretical concerns that limit the evidence-based nature of this type of professional development for teachers. A key finding is that cultural humility may be a construct that can strengthen the research and practice of professional development addressing culturally responsive teaching. To further investigate the potential importance of cultural humility in education, an empirical study was designed to develop a data base about the importance of cultural humility for teachers who instruct students with cultural backgrounds different from their own. An adapted measure of cultural humility was used along with measures of teacher-students relationships and externalizing behavior. Data were collected in a racially and socioeconomically diverse school district. Students were asked rate their teacher’s cultural humility as well as the quality of their relationship with the teacher. Results suggested that teacher cultural humility is a statistically significant, positive moderator of the relationship between students’ perceptions of teacher-student relationship quality and externalizing behavior. The magnitude of the moderating effect was significantly stronger with boys. Implications are considered for research and the development of strategies to use cultural humility to promote culturally responsive teacher student relationships with students from culturally diverse backgrounds

PBIS teams perceived connections between culture and PBIS implementation

Currently in Georgia, there is a strategic plan to “improve the climate in Georgia’s school and community settings through the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports framework.” (GaDOE, 2013, p.2). As the GaDOE’s strategic plan develops, schools are becoming more diverse with students representing a range of academic, behavioral and cultural experiences and backgrounds (Cohn & Caumont, 2016). Researchers have demonstrated that racial/ethnic disparities exist in academic achievement, discipline practices and mental health services provided in schools (e.g., Fallon et al., 2015). Thus, to improve educational experiences for all students through PBIS, considering how culture and context influence what is being taught and reinforced is integral for PBIS implementation in a range of different cultural settings (Sugai et al., 2012). The current study addresses how PBIS teams are approaching these considerations. Direct feedback from PBIS teams in the process of implementation can inform what is important for sustaining PBIS in schools. A qualitative study was conducted to identify how PBIS team members from high-need, low -resource schools in Georgia feel that culture impacts PBIS implementation. Fifteen teams (n=128) from elementary, middle and high schools were interviewed in groups. The researchers will present data from participants to address the research question, “How do PBIS teams perceive connections between culture and PBIS implementation?” Themes will be presented to reflect the results. These include considerations for disciplinary practices and character education, the importance of relationships between the school staff, students and family members, and ideas for increasing parental and community involvement in PBIS routines and rituals. These results may be used by schools, families and communities to address the discrepancy that can exist between cultural expectations in students’ home and school experiences. Using the Participatory Culture Specific Intervention Model (Nastasi et al., 2004), the findings can improve how PBIS serves all students in Georgia

The Formation of the Double Pulsar PSR J0737-3039A/B

Recent timing observations of the double pulsar J0737-3039A/B have shown that its transverse velocity is extremely low, only 10 km/s, and nearly in the Plane of the Galaxy. With this new information, we rigorously re-examine the history and formation of this system, determining estimates of the pre-supernova companion mass, supernova kick and misalignment angle between the pre- and post-supernova orbital planes. We find that the progenitor to the recently formed `B' pulsar was probably less than 2 MSun, lending credence to suggestions that this object may not have formed in a normal supernova involving the collapse of an iron core. At the same time, the supernova kick was likely non-zero. A comparison to the history of the double-neutron-star binary B1534+12 suggests a range of possible parameters for the progenitors of these systems, which should be taken into account in future binary population syntheses and in predictions of the rate and spatial distribution of short gamma-ray burst events.Comment: To appear in MNRAS Letters. Title typo fix only; no change to pape

Complete and Scalable Multi-Robot Planning in Tunnel Environments

This paper addresses the challenging problem of finding collision-free trajectories for many robots moving to individual goals within a common environment. Most popular algorithms for multi-robot planning manage the complexity of the problem by planning trajectories for robots sequentially; such decoupled methods may fail to find a solution even if one exists. In contrast, this paper describes a multi-phase approach to the planning problem that guarantees a solution by creating and maintaining obstacle-free paths through the environment as required for each robot to reach its goal. Using a topological graph and spanning tree representation of a tunnel or corridor environment, the multi-phase planner is capable of planning trajectories for up to r = L-1 robots, where the spanning tree includes L leaves. Monte Carlo simulations in a large environment with varying number of robots demonstrate that the algorithm can solve planning problems requiring complex coordination of many robots that cannot be solved with a decoupled approach, and is scalable with complexity linear in the number of robots

Spatial distribution of copepods in fast ice of eastern Antarctica

The distribution and abundance of sympagic copepods in fast ice of the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) were investigated between October and December 1995. Copepods were collected from six sites between the northern Vestfold Hills (Murphy Rocks) and Mawson Station, a distance of approximately 650km. Nine species of copepods were identified from the ice cores, however, of these only three were recorded regularly : Paralabidocera antarctica, Drescheriella glacialis and Stephos longipes. The density of copepods was highest in the bottom few cm of ice, with abundances reaching up to 147l^. The highest concentrations of chlorophyll α were also found in the bottom portion of ice, suggesting that the copepods congregated in regions of high food availability. All developmental stages of Drescheriella glacialis were observed during this study, often from within a single core. In contrast, Paralabidocera antarctica occurred mainly as early copepodite stages, and Stephos longipes mainly as nauplii. These observations were consistent with the documented life cycles for each species. Drescheriella glacialis appears to reproduce and breed within the ice, Paralabidocera antarctica overwinters in the ice but enters a pelagic phase as late-stage copepodids, while nauplii of Stephos longipes are the predominant stages which associate closely with sea ice