Taking the Leap: Exploring a Theory of Program Innovation

Innovation in Extension is often referred to as something tangible, such as a new resource or technique or new concepts. However, these things result from a program innovation process. In this article, we elaborate a grounded theory of how this process unfolds in the context of Extension. Through analysis of data from a national survey of practitioners from innovative programs, a panel presentation, and interviews with faculty at the University of Minnesota, we describe seven factors that influence what prompts innovation and how the process tends to unfold. We synthesize a capitals-based conceptual model and discuss implications for diagnosing and strengthening program innovation

A Call to Embrace Program Innovation

To remain vital, it is critical for Extension to embrace the innovation at the core of our birth and success. In this article, we define Extension program innovation as driven by the productive tensions among three core program planning practices: design, construction, and evaluation. Through daily, interactive tinkering in these three practices, staff strive toward stronger program impact and creatively respond to opportunities or challenges. We discuss how an innovation approach to program planning is well suited to address three contemporary Extension program development issues. We also discuss implications of innovation research to improve Extension program planning

Gathering Perceptions to Strengthen Program Planning: A Citizen Science Project Highlighting Deer Impacts on Vegetation

White-tailed deer can significantly influence the composition and health of forests. University of Minnesota Extension implemented a citizen science project to help monitor the impact of deer populations on forests. Prior to design of the program, we administered a survey to potential volunteers to understand their perceptions of and knowledge about deer and their willingness to participate in our citizen science project. The survey responses helped us make informed decisions when developing our program, including decisions regarding not having a negative deer message, teaching more information about the impact of deer on vegetation, and providing both in-person and web-based resources for volunteers

Citizen Science as a REAL Environment for Authentic Scientific Inquiry

Citizen science projects can serve as constructivist learning environments for programming focused on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for youth. Attributes of rich environments for active learning (REALs) provide a framework for design of Extension STEM learning environments. Guiding principles and design strategies for the University of Minnesota Extension\u27s Driven to Discover: Enabling Authentic Inquiry through Citizen Science project demonstrate how education and investigations grounded in real-world citizen science projects can capitalize on REAL environments to generate meaningful STEM learning. Positive evaluation results support the efficacy of the design for enhancing youth science identity and practice

ranacapa: An R package and Shiny web app to explore environmental DNA data with exploratory statistics and interactive visualizations.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is becoming a core tool in ecology and conservation biology, and is being used in a growing number of education, biodiversity monitoring, and public outreach programs in which professional research scientists engage community partners in primary research. Results from eDNA analyses can engage and educate natural resource managers, students, community scientists, and naturalists, but without significant training in bioinformatics, it can be difficult for this diverse audience to interact with eDNA results. Here we present the R package ranacapa, at the core of which is a Shiny web app that helps perform exploratory biodiversity analyses and visualizations of eDNA results. The app requires a taxonomy-by-sample matrix and a simple metadata file with descriptive information about each sample. The app enables users to explore the data with interactive figures and presents results from simple community ecology analyses. We demonstrate the value of ranacapa to two groups of community partners engaging with eDNA metabarcoding results

Personalizing and Empowering Environmental Education Through Expressive Writing

ABSTRACT: The authors explored the perceived effects of an environmental expressive writing exercise by using a modified phenomenological method. The authors asked preservice teachers enrolled in a required public university science and society education course to compose multigenre compositions describing personal environmental impacts, followed by written reactions to the assignment. A group of 5 students from the course participated in interviews in which the authors investigated their backgrounds, attitudes, and experiences related to the expressive writing project. Analysis of the participants' multigenre projects, interviews, and written reactions suggested that students enjoyed the assignment, personalized the content, and indicated empowerment to act responsibly through knowledge gains and refinements of beliefs and values. KEY WORDS: empowerment, expressive writing, phenomenology, writing to learn (WTL) n the words of Creative thinking can empower students to act. Disinger (1990, summarizing Woolfolk and McCune-Nicholich [1984]) suggested that educators encouraging creative thinking should (a) "accept and encourage divergent thinking," (b) "tolerate dissent," and (c) "encourage students to trust their own judgment" (p. 2). This acknowledgment and emphasis on the validity of individual I Nathan J. Meyer is a regional extension educator at the University of Minnesota Extension Service, Cloquet. Bruce H. Munson is an associate professor and department head in the Department of Education at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. thought affords students a certain personal power. Realistically, students are likely to encounter conflicting expert opinion surrounding any environmental issue. Methodologies that spark creative thinking should provide them some assurance that informed personal judgment is an adequate and necessary platform for action. Writing is one technique used to facilitate creative thinking Expressive writing is one informal WTL strategy with strong potential to connect the participant or author and action. Examples include free verse, haiku, stage scripts, bumper stickers, and other genres that allow personal subjectivities-emotions and personal experiences-into the writing process. Experimental evidence supports the claim that expressive writing can enhance learning, especially when employed in conjunction with other teaching techniques A few curricula and descriptive studies have acknowledged the potential for expressive WTL within EE Method Design and Participants In this study, we employed a modified phenomenological methodology The participants were students in a required upper division course for preservice elementary, secondary social studies, and secondary science education majors that explored science and society interactions. We selected 5 students from a class of 27 for interviews. Although all five claimed high levels of environmental concern, the students described EE as a sporadic part of their pre-collegiate education. They also claimed varied levels of experience and enjoyment of expressive writing. None reported significant experience with expressive writing in their major courses in college. The Expressive Writing Assignment Prior to beginning the task of writing, we instructed students to read background information describing impacts associated with their lives-drinking a cup of coffee, reading the newspaper, driving a car, working on the computer (Ryan and Durning, 1997). We then instructed the participants to select one daily activity to work with in greater detail, gave them a week to do their own additional research, and told them to then compose a short multigenre paper based on their research Written Data We collected background data on the students through a written survey exploring their experiences with expressive writing and their level of interest in and concern for the environment. After completion of the expressive writing assignment, all students were required to write a reaction paper, based on written prompts, such as (a) describe how the writing assignment worked for you

Genomic and transcriptomic signals of thermal tolerance in heat-tolerant corals (Platygyra daedalea) of the Arabian/Persian Gulf

© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Scleractinian corals occur in tropical regions near their upper thermal limits and are severely threatened by rising ocean temperatures. However, several recent studies have shown coral populations can harbour genetic variation in thermal tolerance. Here, we have extended these approaches to study heat tolerance of corals in the Persian/Arabian Gulf, where heat-tolerant local populations experience extreme summer temperatures (up to 36°C). To evaluate whether selection has depleted genetic variation in thermal tolerance, estimate potential future adaptive responses and understand the functional basis for these corals’ unusual heat tolerance, we conducted controlled crosses in the Gulf coral Platygyra daedalea. Heat tolerance is highly heritable in this population (h 2 = 0.487–0.748), suggesting substantial potential for adaptive responses to selection for elevated temperatures. To identify genetic markers associated with this variation, we conducted genomewide SNP genotyping in parental corals and tested for relationships between paternal genotype and offspring thermal tolerance. Resulting multilocus SNP genotypes explained a large fraction of variation in thermal tolerance in these crosses (69%). To investigate the functional basis of these differences in thermal tolerance, we profiled transcriptional responses in tolerant and susceptible families, revealing substantial sire effects on transcriptional responses to thermal stress. We also studied sequence variation in these expressed sequences, identifying alleles and functional groups of differentially expressed genes associated with thermal tolerance. Our findings demonstrate that corals in this population harbour extensive genetic variation in thermal tolerance, and heat-tolerant phenotypes differ in both gene sequences and transcriptional stress responses from their susceptible counterparts

Influence of Corn Hybrid and Processing Method on Ruminal and Intestinal Digestion

Using the mobile bag technique, five commercially available corn hybrids harvested as either dry-rolled or high-moisture corn were evaluated for site and extent of DM and starch digestion. Total-tract DM digestibility was improved 7 to 16 percentage units, and total-tract starch digestibility was improved 9 to 18 percentage units among hybrids when processed as high-moisture corn compared to dry-rolled corn. The results of this trial suggest that hybrid and processing method interact and can influence DM and starch digestibility

miR-196b target screen reveals mechanisms maintaining leukemia stemness with therapeutic potential.

We have shown that antagomiR inhibition of miRNA miR-21 and miR-196b activity is sufficient to ablate MLL-AF9 leukemia stem cells (LSC) in vivo. Here, we used an shRNA screening approach to mimic miRNA activity on experimentally verified miR-196b targets to identify functionally important and therapeutically relevant pathways downstream of oncogenic miRNA in MLL-r AML. We found Cdkn1b (p27Kip1) is a direct miR-196b target whose repression enhanced an embryonic stem cell–like signature associated with decreased leukemia latency and increased numbers of leukemia stem cells in vivo. Conversely, elevation of p27Kip1 significantly reduced MLL-r leukemia self-renewal, promoted monocytic differentiation of leukemic blasts, and induced cell death. Antagonism of miR-196b activity or pharmacologic inhibition of the Cks1-Skp2–containing SCF E3-ubiquitin ligase complex increased p27Kip1 and inhibited human AML growth. This work illustrates that understanding oncogenic miRNA target pathways can identify actionable targets in leukemia