A Longitudinal Case Study of Curriculum Genres, K–3

I have presented the findings from a longitudinal case study of one child’s writing from kindergarten to grade 3, across different curriculum contexts, with a focus on writing in mathematics, social studies, science, and music. I describe changes in textual features of the child’s writing over time, which support Newkirk’s (1987) developmental schema for non-narrative writing and extend my previous studies of emergent genres (Chapman, 1994, 1995). The data show that the focal child’s content-area writing began in grade 1 and was, to a great degree, focused on exposition, progressing from simple lists and labels to multi-paragraph reports. Keywords: elementary education, children’s writing, genre, longitudinal research Dans cet article, je présente les résultats d’une étude de cas longitudinale portant sur l’écriture chez un enfant, de la maternelle à la 3e année, dans divers contextes pédagogiques, notamment en mathématiques, en sciences humaines, en sciences et en musique. Ma description de l’évolution des caractéristiques textuelles correspond au schème de développement de Newkirk (1987) pour l’écriture non narrative et prolonge mes travaux antérieurs sur l’émergence des genres (Chapman, 1994, 1995). L’analyse des données écrites suggère que l’écriture axée sur les domaines d’intérêt de l’enfant a commencé en 1ère année et était centrée, dans une large mesure, sur l’exposition, progressant de simples listes et étiquettes jusqu’à des rapports de plusieurs paragraphes. Mots clés : enseignement primaire, écriture chez l’enfant, genre, recherche longitudinale

More Than Spelling: Widening the Lens on Emergent Writing.

Reading can sometimes be a transforming experience. This was the case for me when I first read Glenda Bissex\u27s (1980) book, Gnys at Wrk many years ago. Although Bissex was not the originator of the notion that young children invent spellings through a process of active problem solving (the first being Read, 1975), it was my introduction to the concept of emergent writing. Bissex\u27s case study of her son\u27s writing development was so richly descriptive that it changed for ever the way I and many others will look at young children\u27s writing. Now it seems commonplace to talk about the process of writing development as emergent writing. The traditional view was that learning to write was a matter of learning specific skills such as spelling high frequency words from memory, forming letters correctly, and so on. We had thought that children could not write until we had taught them the prerequisite skills. Now we understand learning to write as part of emergent literacy, which considers learning to read and write as interrelated developmental processes that begin long before formal instruction (Teale and Sulzby, 1986)

Elasticity of Demand for Butter, a Comparison of Two Periods: 1924-1941 and 1947-1959

A rather dramatic change has occurred in the consumption of butter in the United States. Butter consumption per person for the years since World War II has been only about half of what it was during the years between World War I and World War II, but since that time consumption has remained at the lower level. The question arises as to whether there has been a basic change in consumer responses to butter prices. The purpose of this paper was to compare aggregate consumer response to retail butter price in the domestic civilian sector of the butter market in the United States during the two periods 1924-41 and 1947-59. After an inquiry in to the background of the butter market, the demand elasticities for the two periods were calculated to determine whether a change in elasticity of demand occurred. A shift in the level of demand for butter was reveled buy this study. The investigation ws limited to the domestic civilian disappearance of butter in the United States. It excluded butter purchased partly or wholly with government funds and amounts of butter distributed from supplies of the Commodity Credit Corporation. It included and estimate for the butter churned and consumed in farms that otherwise would have been purchased by family farms, The procedure followed in this study was (a) to examine information from published sources on the consumption of butter in the United States; (b) to clarify by means of economic model the primary factors or variables affecting the consumption of butter; (c) to calculate the elasticity of demand for butter with respect to three variables for the periods 1924-41 and 1947-59’ and (d) to analyze the results of the statistical inquiry

Mentoring for educational change an East African case study

In 2012, a partnership was begun between Aga Khan University (AKU) and Academics Without Borders Canada (AWBC). In the initial project, three mentors from AWBC worked with nursing faculty on three East African campuses of AKU with a focus on developing more interactive teaching skills and scholarship. Following this four-month project, two of the mentors continued to work with nursing faculty to develop capacity. The relationship between AKU and AWBC has been formally extended with the initiation of several new projects, all centred on strengthening the student learning experience

Reflections on an Innovative Mentoring Partnership Facilitators and Inhibitors to Success in Faculty Development

The need for more interactive, learner-centred pedagogies at Aga Khan University in East Africa led to the development of a partnership with Academics without Borders (AWB). AWB recruited three nursing faculty volunteers to provide mentorship to the nursing faculty at the three Aga Khan University Advanced Nursing Studies campuses in East Africa. As part of the evaluation and as a strategy to improve the quality of the mentoring and the project, the authors developed an action research study to identify facilitators and inhibitors to the success of this inter-cultural initiative. In this article, the authors share their observations and reflections as recorded in journal entries and postings to an online site as well as the results of a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis completed by mentees, mentors and project coordinators. Finally, the authors share their thoughts on the implications for future cross-cultural mentoring relationships at Aga Khan University and the potential for assisting others in similar relationship

Valuing Curriculum Evaluation as Scholarship: A Process of Developing a Community of Scholars (Valoriser l’évaluation de programmes d’études comme forme de scholarship : un processus de création d’une communauté de chercheuses)

Curriculum evaluation is an essential and complex activity intended to foster understanding of how teaching-learning practices serve to meet educational goals. This position paper provides a retrospective from the authors\u27 lived experience of one multi-institutional collaborative nursing programs\u27 history of curriculum evaluation and scholarship growth over twenty-five years. Key themes include an overview of collaborative curriculum evaluation underpinned by three philosophical perspectives, the influence of accreditation and re-mandated post-secondary institutions on scholarship development, an affirmation of curriculum evaluation as a form of knowledge development as supported by Boyer’s model of scholarship, and the development of scholarship expertise across collaborative partners through a focus on curriculum evaluation. Examples of curriculum evaluation practices are integrated throughout the paper. This retrospective review supports the contention that collaborative curriculum evaluation provides a strong foundation upon which to develop nursing education scholarship. Résumé L’évaluation de programmes d’études est une activité cruciale et complexe visant à favoriser la compréhension du rôle des approches d’enseignement/apprentissage dans l’atteinte des visées de formation. Notre énoncé de position présente une rétrospective de l’expérience vécue par les auteures, soit 25 années de collaboration inter-établissements dans l’évaluation de programmes d’études et le développement de professeurs-chercheurs. Les principaux thèmes abordés comprennent un aperçu de l’évaluation collaborative des programmes d’études fondée sur trois perspectives philosophiques, l’influence de l’agrément sur le nouveau mandat des établissements postsecondaires vers le développement de la mission professorale, l’affirmation que l’évaluation de programmes d’études constitue une forme d’avancée des connaissances, comme le soutient le modèle de scholarship de Boyer, et le développement d’une expertise de scholarship parmi les partenaires de l’évaluation des programmes d’études. Cet énoncé comprend des exemples de pratiques d’évaluation de programmes d’études. Cette rétrospective appuie la théorie selon laquelle l’évaluation collaborative des programmes d’études fournit des bases solides au développement du scholarship en sciences infirmières

FIRST GRADERS’ PREFERENCES FOR NARRATIVE AND/OR INFORMATION BOOKS AND PERCEPTIONS OF OTHER BOYS’ AND GIRLS’ BOOK PREFERENCES

In this article, we report on grade‐one children’s preferences for narrative and/or information books, and their perceptions of what boys and girls like to read. Data include responses on two book preference tasks by 40 children in four schools. Children chose books and explained the reasons for their choices. One task was a closed, force‐choice task, the other, an open‐ended task. Boys and girls had similar interests, either preferring stories or liking information books and stories to the same degree. Yet boys and girls perceived that boys prefer information texts and girls prefer narratives. The children’s perceptions reflect gendered stereotypes. Key words: literacy, reading, motivation, genre, gender Dans cet article, les auteurs signalent que les élèves de 1re année préfèrent les livres qui racontent des histoires ou donnent de l’information et présentent ce que, selon de ces élèves, les garçons et les filles aiment lire. Les données comprennent les réponses de 40 enfants dans quatre écoles à deux questionnaires, l’un à réponses libres et l’autre à choix multiples, sur les préférences en matière de livres. Les enfants ont choisi des livres et donné les raisons de leur choix. Les garçons et les filles avaient des intérêts similaires, préférant soit les histoires, soit les livres d’information et les histoires au même degré. Et pourtant, les garçons comme les filles avaient l’impression que les garçons aimaient mieux les livres d’information et les filles, les histoires. Les perceptions des enfants reflètent les stéréotypes marqués par le sexe. Mots clés : littératie, lecture, motivation, genre

Stepparents’ Attachment Orientation, Parental Gatekeeping, and Stepparents’ Affinity‐Seeking with Stepchildren

Remarried stepfamilies are a sizable portion of American families; in a 2011 Pew Center survey, 42% of respondents reported at least one stepfamily member. Family clinicians and researchers suggest that stepparents’ ability to develop close bonds with stepchildren may be critical to the well‐being of couple and family relationships. Using actor‐partner interdependence models to analyze dyadic data from 291 heterosexual remarried stepfamily couples, we explored factors related to stepparents’ efforts to befriend their stepchildren. Specifically, we evaluated how remarried parents’ gatekeeping and stepparents’ perceptions of their attachment orientations were associated with their own and their spouse's perceptions of stepparents’ affinity‐seeking behaviors. Securely attached stepparents and stepparents with anxious attachment orientations engaged more frequently in affinity behaviors than did stepparents with avoidant attachment orientations; there was no difference between securely attached and anxious stepparents. Stepparents’ reports of parents’ restrictive gatekeeping were strongly and negatively associated with both stepparents’ and parents’ reports of stepparent affinity‐seeking (actor and partner effects). Parents’ reports of their own restrictive gatekeeping were also negatively (but more weakly) associated with parents’ reports of stepparent affinity‐seeking. Implications for families, clinicians, and relationship researchers and theorists are discussed

Effect of PPARγ Inhibition during Pregnancy on Posterior Cerebral Artery Function and Structure

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ), a ligand-activated transcription factor, has protective roles in the cerebral circulation and is highly activated during pregnancy. Thus, we hypothesized that PPARγ is involved in the adaptation of cerebral vasculature to pregnancy. Non-pregnant (NP) and late-pregnant (LP) rats were treated with a specific PPARγ inhibitor GW9662 (10 ]mg/kg/day, in food) or vehicle for 10 days and vascular function and structural remodeling were determined in isolated and pressurized posterior cerebral arteries (PCA). Expression of PPARγ and angiotensin type 1 receptor (AT1R) in cerebral (pial) vessels was determined by real-time RT-PCR. PPARγ inhibition decreased blood pressure and increased blood glucose in NP rats, but not in LP rats. PPARγ inhibition reduced dilation to acetylcholine and sodium nitroprusside in PCA from NP (p < 0.05 vs. LP-GW), but not LP rats. PPARγ inhibition tended to increase basal tone and myogenic activity in PCA from NP rats, but not LP rats. Structurally, PPARγ inhibition increased wall thickness in PCA from both NP and LP rats (p < 0.05), but increased distensibility only in PCA from NP rats. Pregnancy decreased expression of PPARγ and AT1R (p < 0.05) in cerebral arteries that was not affected by GW9662 treatment. These results suggest that PPARγ inhibition had significant effects on the function and structure of PCA in the NP state, but appeared to have less influence during pregnancy. Down-regulation of PPARγ and AT1R in cerebral arteries may be responsible for the lack of effect of PPARγ in cerebral vasculature and may be part of the vascular adaptation to pregnancy

Association of depression and resilience with fertility quality of life among patients presenting to the infertility centre for treatment in Karachi, Pakistan

Background: In Pakistan there is a dire need to explore the quality of life in infertile males and females and its undesirable psychological outcomes. This, study aimed to compare the quality of life (QoL) of males and females visiting an infertility centre for treatment and to assess its association with resilience, depression, and other socio-demographic factors.Methods: An Analytical Cross-Sectional study was conducted amongst infertile males and females at the Australian Concept Infertility Medical Centre (ACIMC), Karachi, Pakistan. The non-probability (purposive) sampling strategy was used to recruit the participants. The sample size was 668. Data was analysed using STATA version 12. FertiQoL tool, Beck II Depression Inventory Tool and Resilience Scale 14 (RS-14) were used for assessing the quality of life, depression and resilience respectively of infertile patients.Results: Total 668 infertile patients, 334 males and 334 females participated in the study. The mean age was 35.53 ± 6.72, among males, and 30.87 ± 6.12 among females. The mean resilience scores were significantly higher among males, (77.64 ± 8.56), as compared to females (76.19 ± 8.69) (95% CI; - 2.757, - 0.1347). However, a significantly higher proportion of females were depressed (13.8%) as compared to males (6%). The mean QoL scores for the general health domain, emotional domain, mind and body domain, and relational domain, and the total QoL were significantly higher in males as compared to females (p value\u3c 0.001); however, QoL for the social domain was not significantly different in both the groups. On multivariable linear regression resilience and depression among males had a significant association with QoL, after adjusting for the covariates educational status, monthly income, and number of friends. Similar association was observed among females after adjusting for the covariate monthly income only.Conclusion: Fertility related QoL of men and women has a significant association with no formal education, number of friends, income, depression and resilience. Therefore, health care professionals in the field of infertility must be adequately trained to respond to the needs of individuals going through these psychological problems