Questioning as a Civic Act: An Examination of How Social Studies Teachers Define, Develop, and Cultivate Questions for Inquiry

The present qualitative study used socio-cultural theory (Wertsch, 1998), pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1987), and reflective practice (Schön, 1983) to examine how social studies teachers define and develop inquiry questions. Existing literature reflects a long tradition of equating inquiry with high quality social studies instruction (e.g., Barton & Levstik, 2004; Bruner, 1977; Griffin, 1942) and arguing that successful inquiry hinges on an engaging question (Barton & Levstik, 2004; Grant, 2003), but relatively little attention has been paid to how teachers characterize and develop questions for use with inquiry (Grant & Gradwell, 2010). The main research question was: How do high school social studies teachers understand the role questions play in inquiry? Supporting questions included: (1) How do teachers define inquiry? (2) What traits do teachers attribute to questions used for inquiry? (3) How do standards impact teachers’ understandings of questions used for inquiry? (4) How do teachers approach developing questions used for inquiry? Data included transcripts from semi-structured interviews, field notes from verbal report exercises, and documents from teacher completed tasks. Results indicated that teachers identified questioning as an important inquiry skill and civic practice, identified student relevance and complexity as key attributes of inquiry questions, and approached the development of inquiry questions in a deliberate and reflective way. Additionally, results indicated that a proposed state social studies standards document provided teachers with useful terminology and that experience developing and implementing inquiry questions positively influenced teachers’ comfort with inquiry. This study sheds light on the potential of cultural tools to influence teachers’ curricular and instructional decisions. Further consideration of how teachers develop and implement inquiry questions may offer insight into the presence and success of questions and inquiry in social studies classrooms

Is Cystic Fibrosis Genetic Medicine\u27s Canary?

In 1989 the gene that causes cystic fibrosis (CF) was identified in a search accompanied by intense anticipation that the gene, once discovered, would lead rapidly to gene therapy. Many hoped that the disease would effectively disappear. Those affected were going to inhale vectors packed with functioning genes, which would go immediately to work in the lungs. It was a bewitching image, repeatedly invoked in both scientific and popular texts. Gene therapy clinical trials were carried out with a range of strategies and occasionally success seemed close, but by 1996 the idea that gene therapy for CF would quickly provide a cure was being abandoned by the communities engaged with treatment and research. While conventional wisdom holds that the death of Jesse Gelsinger in an unrelated gene therapy trial in 1999 produced new skepticism about gene therapy for CF and suggests that CF may provide a particularly compelling case study of a failed genomic technology, perhaps even of a medical canary. The story of CF might be a find of warning to us that genetic medicine may create as many problems as it solves, and that moving forward constructively with these techniques and practices requires many kinds of right information, not just about biology, but also about values, priorities, market forces, uncertainty, and consumer choice

Microbial responses to changes in land use

Background/Question/Methods
Land use change is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity worldwide. This is especially true for land use change that results in the destruction of intact forest, or "deforestation”. Deforestation is causing a loss of biological diversity on an unprecedented scale, especially in the Tropics. It is unclear how the majority of the biodiversity on Earth – microbial biodiversity – is responding to these extraordinary rates of deforestation. I will provide an overview of our current understanding of microbial responses to deforestation. I will focus, as an example, on our current research regarding the effects of deforestation on the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), bacteria and archaea within Amazon Rainforest soils. This study takes advantage of an established chronosequence of primary rainforest, pastures of various ages, and secondary rainforest to determine the effect of deforestation on the taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity of soil microorganisms, assayed using culture-independent methods.

Results/Conclusions
There is increasing evidence that deforestation significantly affects microbial diversity, and that “recovery” of microbial diversity in secondary forest soils is incomplete. For example, rarefaction curves suggest that the accumulation of AMF taxa is higher for Amazon primary forest soil relative to secondary forest soil. In addition, the community composition varies with land use; three AMF taxa were shared between primary and secondary forests, seven were found only in primary forest, and three were found exclusively in secondary forest soil. We also observed that the phylogenetic diversity of AMF is more reduced in secondary forest soils than expected given the regional pool of AMF taxa.

*The audio track for talks in this symposium may be obtained at the following web address:*

*https://sites.google.com/site/esa2010symposium13audiocontent/esa2010-symposium13-audio-content

Sexual health and technology project

Project Team: Kim Allen, Ph.D., Heather Eastman-Mueller, Ph.D., Rebecca Meisenbach, Ph.D.Proposal for the 2009/2010 project "Sexual Health and Technology Project." Results from a study conducted in spring 2008 (n=956) showed that approximately 75% of MU respondents had engaged in oral and vaginal sex in their lifetime. Students reported the last time they engaged in oral, vaginal, and anal sex, only 1.7%, 37.6%, and 4.8% had used barrier protection, respectively. Furthermore, when investigating where students seek health information (including sexual health material), 79% of students reported using the Internet. Current mechanisms for MU students seeking sexual health information include presentations conducted in residence halls, Greek life, and academic classrooms. These data indicate a need for exploring alternative, innovative, and Internet-focused ways to reach our student body. This interdisciplinary, student-centered, technology-based project involves students in project leadership, website development, maintenance, content development and message construction, yielding learning opportunities for both the students implementing the project as well as website participants. This project will enlist content expertise from three student groups: peer educators from the Sexual Health and Peer Advocate Education (SHAPE) program, Service Learning students enrolled in WGST 2960, and student interns from the Human Development and Family Studies Department�s Center on Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy and Parenting (CASPP). Students from the Communication Department will transform the content into meaningful messages that will be delivered via multiple technology interfaces. A graduate student in the School of Business will develop and maintain the website. During the initial year, the entire campus community will have access to the website with a random sample of students (n=100) recruited to evaluate the site�s effectiveness by participating in a study. These students will be randomly-assigned to either an intervention or control group. Students in the intervention group will log into the site at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months to complete online assessments following each intervention. Students in the control group will complete the same assessments without viewing the site. Student will be given incentives for their participation.MU Interdisciplinary Innovations Fun

Clark County town advisory boards and citizens advisory councils: Participation rates

Citizen participation rates in Clark County Town Advisory Boards (TABs) and Citizens Advisory Councils (CACs) were assessed. We measured citizen participation by analyzing attendance at TAB and CAC meetings over a two-month period. We designed a survey and distributed it to TAB and CAC meetings to profile volume of attendees, demographic characteristics, and other relevant data. Each member of our group also personally attended two TAB and CAC meetings to collect observations and conducted an interview with the Clark County liaison for that group. We also examined the Clark County website to determine if it could be better used to enhance citizen participation. Our results show that a substantial portion of the demographic in Clark County, including minorities and young adults, is not represented at TAB and CAC meetings. We also find that communication between citizens and government at TAB and CAC meetings can be further enhanced and optimized. We found the Clark County website somewhat difficult to navigate overall, which could impede citizens’ electronic participation capabilities. We recommend that Clark County consider initiatives to reach out to minorities, take measures to enhance two-way communication between citizens and government at TAB and CAC meetings, and solicit and incorporate citizen feedback as they move forward with the restructuring and revamping of their current website

Comparison Of Sealing Methods For Polymer Electrolyte Membrane

The use of flat membrane humidifiers increases efficiency and extends the lifetime of fuel cells by humidifying the inlet airstream. The conditions under which the membranes mainly operate are determined by humidity, temperature, and pressure. The flat membrane humidifier uses the cathode-outflow of the flue cell to humidify the inlet airstream. Commonly available PFSA sandwich membranes are not necessarily designed to suit these operational conditions. Delamination of PFSA and the reinforcement layers may occur due to weak connection between the different layers. A delamination may lead to leakage, which could result in a bypass and pressure loss of the in- and outflow of the fuel cell. As a consequence, delamination of the PFSA membrane may cause failures of the flat membrane humidifier operation. To avoid delamination under such thermal and humidified conditions, it is necessary to strengthen the membrane during preparatory production steps against delamination. This paper examines different methods to strengthen the sandwich membrane against delamination due to water intake. It compares the effect of different sealing processes, focusing on increasing resistance against delamination. The investigated methods can also find application in PFSA membranes used under similar conditions, such as fuel cells. The technology selection process is focused on technologies enabling the flat membrane humidifier mass production for the automotive supplier MAHLE

Fungicide-Insecticide Study on Soybeans

The study was designed to optimize insecticide and fungicide usage on soybean by comparing different products applied at different timings. To explain yield responses, foliar disease severity and aphid populations were assessed throughout the season

Stroke impact on mortality and psychologic morbidity within the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study.

BackgroundPoor socioeconomic and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) outcomes in survivors of childhood cancer can lead to distress and overall negatively impact the lives of these individuals. The current report has highlighted the impact of stroke and stroke recurrence on mortality, psychological HRQOL, and socioeconomic outcomes within the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS).MethodsThe CCSS is a retrospective cohort study with longitudinal follow-up concerning survivors of pediatric cancer who were diagnosed between 1970 and 1986. Mortality rates per 100 person-years were calculated across 3 periods: 1) prior to stroke; 2) after first stroke and before recurrent stroke; and 3) after recurrent stroke. Socioeconomic outcomes, the standardized Brief Symptoms Inventory-18, the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey, and the CCSS-Neurocognitive Questionnaire also were assessed.ResultsAmong 14,358 participants (median age, 39.7 years), 224 had a stroke after their cancer diagnosis (single stroke in 161 patients and recurrent stroke in 63 patients). Based on 2636 deaths, all-cause late mortality rates were 0.70 (95% CI, 0.68-0.73) prior to stroke, 1.03 (95% CI, 0.73-1.46) after the first stroke, and 2.42 (95% CI, 1.48-3.94) after the recurrent stroke. Among 7304 survivors, those with stroke were more likely to live with a caregiver (single stroke odds ratio [OR], 2.3 [95% CI, 1.4-3.8]; and recurrent stroke OR, 5.3 [95% CI, 1.7-16.8]) compared with stroke-free survivors. Stroke negatively impacted task efficiency (single stroke OR, 2.4 [95% CI, 1.4-4.1] and recurrent stroke OR, 3.3 [95% CI, 1.1-10.3]) and memory (single stroke OR, 2.1 [95% CI, 1.2-3.7]; and recurrent stroke OR, 3.5 [95% CI, 1.1-10.5]).ConclusionsStroke and stroke recurrence are associated with increased mortality and negatively impact HRQOL measures in survivors of pediatric cancer