Comparison of Teaching Styles: Traditional Lecture versus a Modified Interteach

Interteaching is an evidence-based instructional practice built on behavioral treatments, such as errorless teaching, to help students reach academic goals in higher education. This study presents a modified interteach session as an extension of research done with standard interteaching. In modified interteaching, sessions are divided into two classes per week, where the first class consists of the instructor giving an introductory lecture to material that will be assigned for students to read. On the second day of class, students work in small groups to first “drill” each other on fluency-based targets then complete comprehensive study guides derived from information in the assigned weekly readings. The instructor(s) travel from group to group to provide immediate clarification on confusing or difficult problems. We examine 28 point evaluation packet scores across modified interteach, traditional lecture, and online-only methods of teaching a higher education course. Results from this study showed that students in the modified interteach sections outperformed students in the traditional lecture and online-only courses. Modified interteach mean scores 24.86 and 24.39 while the mean score for the online only and traditional lecture courses were 13.20 and 13.21 respectively. These results suggest a needed shift in teaching methods in higher education from traditional lecture to alternatives such as our modified interteach method to increase student success

Can a simple measure of vigorous physical activity predict future mortality? Results from the OXCHECK study.

BACKGROUND: As epidemiological studies have become more complex, demands for short, easily administered measures of risk factors have increased. This study investigates whether such a measure of physical activity is associated with the risk of death from all causes and death from specific causes. METHODS: A prospective follow-up study of 11,090 men and women, aged 35-64 years, recruited from five UK general practices who responded to a postal questionnaire in 1989. Self-reported frequency of vigorous-intensity physical activity and data on confounding factors were collected at baseline survey. Death notifications up to 31 December 2001 were provided by the Office for National Statistics. The relative risk (and 95% confidence interval) of dying associated with each level of exposure to physical activity was estimated by the hazard ratio in a series of Cox regression models. RESULTS: After >10 years' follow-up there were 825 deaths among the 10 522 subjects with no previous history of angina or myocardial infarction. Participation in vigorous exercise was associated with a significantly lower risk of all-cause mortality. Similar associations were found for ischaemic heart disease and cancer mortality, although the relationships were not significant at the 5% level. CONCLUSIONS: Simple measures of self-reported vigorous physical activity are associated with the risk of future mortality, at least all-cause mortality in a somewhat selected group. Interpretation of the finding should be treated with caution due to the reliance on self-report and the possibility that residual confounding may underlie the associations. Because moderate-intensity physical activity is also beneficial to health, short physical activity questionnaires should include measures of such physical activity in the future

Those who can, teach. 'A teacher affects eternity; she can never tell where her influence stops'

Teachers can have a profound effect on us all, both good and bad. In this paper the effect two individual midwives had on my evolution as a midwife will be examined. They were very different: one was formal and the other informal. The classroom was the setting for one, the clinical area for the other. Each had her own unique style and way of looking at the world. One was very different from the other in manner and in approach. However they each shared a philosophy of women centred, normal birth which they espoused in all aspects of their working lives

Managing heart conditions in pregnancy

Healthcare professionals are encountering more andmore women with cardiac conditions contemplating pregnancyor when pregnant than ever before. Advances insurgical treatment of congenital cardiac anomalies meanmany more women are now reaching childbearing age andcontemplating pregnancy than would hitherto have beenseen.Due to the fact that Irish figures have not been availablethus far on the effects of cardiac disease on pregnancy andvice versa, we have come to rely on statistics from our nearestneighbour the UK. The Centre for Maternal and ChildEnquiries (CMACE) is an independent charity. Its missionis to improve the health of mothers, babies and children bycarrying out confidential enquiries and other related workon a UK wide basis and widely disseminating the results. Itproduces a report every three years into maternal fatalitiesin the previous three-year period. The most recent reportwas published in 2007, reflecting the deaths that occurredin 2002-2005. In the most recent CMACE triennial reportinto maternal mortality (2002-2005) for the first time cardiacdisease was found to be the leading cause of maternaldeath among women in the UK, with a maternal mortalityrate for heart disease of 2.27 per 100,000 maternities

Caesarean wound care for midwives

With a rise in caesarean births there is a rise in wound care management issues for midwives and the potential for surgical site infections (SSIs). The burden of SSIs include increases in maternal mortality, morbidity, length of hospital stay and cost. Sepsis is currently the leading cause of maternal mortality, with 50 per cent of the women who die having had a caesarean birth (Centre for Maternal and Child Enquiries (CMACE) 2011). Wound management and the prevention of sepsis are therefore issues of great concern to midwives. This article considers the incidence of wound infections and presents the guidance available to help address this problem

All for Nothing?: Executive Authority and Congressional Evasion on Arms Sales

On August 17, 2018, CNN reported that Lockheed Martin manufactured a bomb that killed dozens of Yemeni schoolchildren in Northern Yemen. Saudi Arabia purchased the bomb in an arms deal authorized under the Arms Export Control Act, the statute in which Congress delegates to the President authority to control the import and export of arms. Under the Act, the President must comply with reporting and waiting periods allowing time for Congress to oppose a sale by enacting a joint resolution. However, the Act allows the President to sell arms in an emergency without notice or waiting periods. President Trump invoked that authority in 2019, to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, a transaction Congress opposed. This raises questions about the efficacy of the Act itself. Specifically, given Supreme Court precedent, past practice, and exceptions to the Act, there is some doubt as to whether Congress would in practice be able to halt a sale. This comment explores that question, and employs Justice Jackson’s Steel Seizure Concurrence as a framework. Although Congress likely possesses authority to halt a sale, I consider the legacy of Congress’ decision to delegate authority, and note the complexities emergency provisions and Supreme Court precedent create