Learning to think critically through Socratic dialogue:Evaluating a series of lessons designed for secondary vocational education

This study reports the evaluation of a lesson series, developed in collaboration with teachers and experts, to generate a research-based solution for teaching critical thinking through Socratic dialogue in secondary vocational education. The lesson series has been evaluated for feasibility and tailoring to different target groups of students by five citizenship education teachers and 85 students. Data consisted of self-report questionnaires by teachers and students, complemented with observations of lessons. Results show that lessons based on Socratic dialogue for teaching critical thinking to students in secondary vocational education are considered a promising educational intervention. Teachers considered the lessons as feasible and well-tailored to their students and were able to implement the lessons in their classrooms. Students were motivated to participate, and their motivation did not decrease significantly during the lesson series. At the same time, students tended to be more motivated when the value of learning to think critically for their future profession was clearly substantiated. Practical implications from the evaluation of the lesson series were that, in addition to participating in Socratic dialogue, students need clear learning objectives and short assignments to remain active.</p

Activity-dependent degeneration of axotomized neuromuscular synapses in Wld(S) mice

AbstractActivity and disuse of synapses are thought to influence progression of several neurodegenerative diseases in which synaptic degeneration is an early sign. Here we tested whether stimulation or disuse renders neuromuscular synapses more or less vulnerable to degeneration, using axotomy as a robust trigger. We took advantage of the slow synaptic degeneration phenotype of axotomized neuromuscular junctions in flexor digitorum brevis (FDB) and deep lumbrical (DL) muscles of Wallerian degeneration-Slow (WldS) mutant mice. First, we maintained ex vivo FDB and DL nerve-muscle explants at 32°C for up to 48h. About 90% of fibers from WldS mice remained innervated, compared with about 36% in wild-type muscles at the 24-h checkpoint. Periodic high-frequency nerve stimulation (100Hz: 1s/100s) reduced synaptic protection in WldS preparations by about 50%. This effect was abolished in reduced Ca2+ solutions. Next, we assayed FDB and DL innervation after 7days of complete tetrodotoxin (TTX)-block of sciatic nerve conduction in vivo, followed by tibial nerve axotomy. Five days later, only about 9% of motor endplates remained innervated in the paralyzed muscles, compared with about 50% in 5day-axotomized muscles from saline-control-treated WldS mice with no conditioning nerve block. Finally, we gave mice access to running wheels for up to 4weeks prior to axotomy. Surprisingly, exercising WldS mice ad libitum for 4weeks increased about twofold the amount of subsequent axotomy-induced synaptic degeneration. Together, the data suggest that vulnerability of mature neuromuscular synapses to axotomy, a potent neurodegenerative trigger, may be enhanced bimodally, either by disuse or by hyperactivity