The Impact of Problem-Based Learning on Students Critical Thinking Skills and Peer Relationships

Education is a field that is constantly in motion. It is changing and adapting as educators and researchers try new concepts or ideas. One shift is implementing mathematics curriculum\u27s that focus on problem-based learning. Throughout researching problem-based learning, there was a theme of its impacts on 21st-century skills that students possessed. Therefore, these research questions were created: How does problem-based learning in mathematics impact the critical thinking skills of middle school students? What is the impact of increased opportunities for critical thinking on students\u27 collaboration with each other? Learners in an 8th-grade Algebra 1 class took a Likert survey at the beginning of the study, and then they proceeded to work through a three-week mathematics unit created around problem-based learning. Students took the same survey at the end of the unit. The results of the survey were compared. The researcher also completed a journal to document informal observations of critical thinking and collaboration in the classroom. The survey showed an increase in learners\u27 viewpoints on their critical thinking skills. Learners went from not actively processing a concept to pausing and analyzing a situation and topic, then collaborating with those around them to preserve through the challenge

Horizontal inequalities, political environment, and civil conflict : evidence from 55 developing countries, 1986-2003

Several studies of civil war have concluded that economic inequality between individuals does not increase the risk of internal armed conflict. This is perhaps not so surprising. Even though an individual may feel frustrated if he is poor compared with other individuals in society, he will not start a rebellion on his own. Civil wars are organized group conflicts, not a matter of individuals randomly committing violence against each other. Hence, we should not neglect the group aspect of human well-being and conflict. Systematic inequalities that coincide with ethnic, religious, or geographical cleavages in a country are often referred to as horizontal inequalities (or inter-group inequalities). Case studies of particular countries as well as some statistical studies have found that such inequalities between identity groups tend to be associated with a higher risk of internal conflict. But the emergence of violent group mobilization in a country with sharp horizontal inequalities may depend on the characteristics of the political regime. For example, in an autocracy, grievances that stem from group inequalities are likely to be large and frequent, but state repression may prevent them from being openly expressed. This paper investigates the relationship between horizontal inequalities, political environment, and civil war in developing countries. Based on national survey data from 55 countries it calculates welfare inequalities between ethnic, religious, and regional groups for each country using indicators such as household assets and educational levels. All the inequality measures, particularly regional inequality, are positively associated with higher risks of conflict outbreak. And it seems that the conflict potential of regional inequality is stronger for pure democratic and intermediate regimes than for pure autocratic regimes. Institutional arrangements also seem to matter. In fact it seems that the conflict potential of horizontal inequalities increases with more inclusive electoral systems. Finally, the presence of both regional inequalities and political exclusion of minority groups seems to make countries particularly at risk for conflict. The main policy implication of these findings is that the combination of politically and economically inclusive government is required to secure peace in developing countries.Population Policies,Social Conflict and Violence,Education and Society,Parliamentary Government,Services&Transfers to Poor

The Right to Effective Trial Counsel: State v. McElveen

The Right To Effective Trial Counsel: State v. McElvee

The Right to Effective Trial Counsel: State v. McElveen

The Right To Effective Trial Counsel: State v. McElvee

The American political novel in the nineteenth century

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversityFor the purposes of this dissertation, a political novel is any novel concerned with political figures, ideas, or movements contemporary with some part of the author's life. In Parts One and Two I have examined the political novels written in the United States from the beginnings (in 1774) to 1900; I have outlined the political and economic backgrounds and have attempted to determine where the American novelist took his stand in relation to them. Part One (1774-1890) traces the decline of the gentleman-scholar as politician and as political novelist. Such early novelists as Brackenridge, Paulding, and Cooper favored a Jeffersonian agrarianism which would allow the lower classes to vote and the upper classes to rule; in the immediate pre- and post-Civil War period, the novelists (e.g., De Forest and Tucker) primarily rationalized the positions of their own geographical sections with respect to the causes and results of the war. After the war, the country entered upon that period of materialism, speculation, and governmental corruption known as the Gilded Age, the label given it by Mark Twain and C. D. Warner in their political novel of that name. In this twilight of patrician influence and control, three idealists--De Forest, Mark Twain, and Henry Adams--recorded in political novels the disappointment of their hopes for democracy. They looked back with nostalgia upon the agrarian democracy of early America, when honorable men were chosen to manage governmental affairs. Still later, more optimistic members of the upper middle class, now largely on the fringes of politics, offered hope for improvement through election of honest men to office and through Civil Service reform. Conspicuously absent in these novels was criticism of the corrupting influence of big business on politics. Part Two considers the novels of 1890 to 1900. In these novels the case for the laboring man or the farmer was presented and the ubiquitousness of big business in American politics was denounced. Believing that the restoration of morality in governmental affairs did not solve the critical economic problems, the writers of these novels called for such reforms as governmental regulation of transportation and communications, cheap money, and guaranteed employment. Like the early political novelists, they found their ideological roots in the Enlightenment as it was adapted for American use by Jeffersonian agrarianism. Part Two also includes an analysis of a group of "boss novels" which appeared between 1900 and 1908. These novels, in which the boss appeared as a loveable rogue, exhibited a composite of nineteenth-century ideological forces: the boss epitomized the ideas of equality, of the preference for the common man over the gentleman, of humanitarianism, and of the evils of big business; but he also embodied the Darwin-Spencer Alger "survival of the fittest" theory which previous novelists had condemned when used to justify the actions of the business man. Part Three surveys the impact of the political novel upon American politics and upon American literature. I have concluded that the political novel in the nineteenth century had little effect upon politics. However, after 1885 it gave impetus to the movement toward literary realism. The realism in the political novels of the last decade of the century was not only a conscious attempt by writers like Garland and Howells to make American literature reflect American democratic ideals but also an unconscious but inevitable ingredient of the large numbers of protest novels produced by those connected with the Populist movement. Agrarianism as a national political force and its literary concomitant did not survive after the nineteenth century. These movements were superseded by the forces of socialism and economic determinism in politics and by naturalism in literature. However, they left to twentieth-century fiction a legacy: a tradition of literary protest, an awareness of economic and political forces, and a recognition of the possibilities of the ordinary American as a subject for fiction

Wavelength-independent coupler from fiber to an on-chip cavity, demonstrated over an 850nm span

A robust wide band (850 nm) fiber coupler to a whispering-gallery cavity with ultra-high quality factor is experimentally demonstrated. The device trades off ideality for broad-band, efficient input coupling. Output coupling efficiency can remain high enough for practical applications wherein pumping and power extraction must occur over very broad wavelength spans

The effectiveness of an interactive theatre intervention on improving patient adherence to self-management regimens for breast cancer-related lymphedema

Breast cancer survivors are at lifetime risk for the development of breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL), a chronic, potentially-debilitating, and -disfiguring condition that requires life-long symptom management. Adherence to BCRL self-management is critical to preventing BCRL progression and complications; however, barriers to effective self-management, including complexities of treatment, can negatively affect adherence. Preliminary work for this study has identified physiological, psychological, and psychosocial barriers to successful BCRL self-management. One of the main barriers identified was lack of BCRL education and support for both patients and health care providers, suggesting a need for alternative methods of providing education and support. Currently, printed information is commonly used for patient education and support. This randomized study compared printed information about BCRL to printed information about BCRL and attendance at an Interactive Theatre (IT) performance (n = 36 participants; 19/17). Circumferential and perometric measures were taken at baseline to document BCRL status and valid, reliable questionnaires relevant to symptom management, self-efficacy, and self-regulation were administered pre- and post-intervention. An interactive approach to BCRL education and support with self-management has potential to improve patient outcomes of adherence and coping with BCRL

Bowel Perforation in the Emergency Department Related to Bevacizumab Therapy and Recurrent Ovarian Cancer

Case Presentation: We describe the presentation to the emergency department of a patient with recurrent ovarian cancer treated with bevacizumab with the complication of bowel perforation. Discussion: We review the frequency and outcomes of bevacizumab-related bowel perforation. We also report the patient’s imaging findings, including the radiologic presentation of free intraperitoneal air and portal venous gas, both indicative of bowel perforation and the need for emergent surgical evaluation. Our case also illustrates the potentially catastrophic side effects of bevacizumab and other targeted oncologic therapies of which emergecny physicians may not be aware

Yb-doped glass microcavity laser operation in water

A ytterbium-doped silica microcavity laser demonstrates stable laser emission while completely submerged in water. To our knowledge, it is the first solid-state laser whose cavity mode interacts with water. The device generates more than 2 μW of output power. The laser performance is presented, and low-concentration biosensing is discussed as a potential application