Will the Adoption of Science Standards Push Maine Schools Away from Authentic Science?

Maine is considering revision of rules that provide guidance to school districts about the science knowledge students are expected to have as they graduate from high school. Some science educators suggest adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as a substantial component of the rules. In this paper, we argue that the NGSS are overly prescriptive and narrow and that a NGSS-based standard would push science instruction toward school science where outcomes are known in advance and away from authentic science where students explore questions that are useful to the community because answers are not yet known. Our experience has been that authentic science learning is more likely to re-engage students who have decided that science learning is for others, not for them. We seek to stimulate a deep, careful consideration of the consequences of moving toward standards based on the NGSS

HORNY TOADS AND UGLY CHICKENS:A BIBLIOGRAPHY ON TEXAS IN SPECULATIVE FICTION

A bibliography of authors, books, stories and other items related to Texas and Speculative Fictio

The Pine Needle, Fall 1948

Libraries and archives collect materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. As a result, materials such as those presented here may reflect sexist, misogynistic, abusive, racist, or discriminatory attitudes or actions that some may find disturbing, harmful, or difficult to view. Both a humor and literary magazine, The Pine Needle was a University of Maine student-produced periodical that began publication in the fall of 1946, the first post-World War II semester that saw GIs returning to campus. The Needle reflected an edginess and rebellion not found in previous UMaine student publications. While past student publications relied on euphemisms for alcohol and dating on campus, The Needle openly promoted the sexualization of co-eds and the use of drugs, tobacco, and alcohol by students who experienced war. Cover art for this issue is by Donald T. Caswell and depicts a man wearing a letterman\u27s sweater chatting up a smiling co-ed wearing a ball cap. In the background, two largely faceless men wearing suits and exhibit hostile posture that communicates jealousy. Don Caswell (1923-2014), was a native of Limestone, Maine and grew up in Brownsville. He joined the U.S. Navy following high school graduation in 1942. He served as a radio operator aboard ships patrolling the Gulf of Alaska throughout the war. Caswell attended the University of Maine on the G.I. Bill, majoring in Art and History. On campus, he was active in the Officer Training Program and was stationed in Tripoli, North Africa as a U.S. Air Force officer during the Korean War. Caswell served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air National Guard

Can video improve grant review quality and lead to more reliable ranking?

Multimedia video is rapidly becoming mainstream, and many studies indicate that it is a more effective communication medium than text. In this project we AIM to test if videos can be used, in place of text-based grant proposals, to improve communication and increase the reliability of grant ranking. We will test if video improves reviewer comprehension (AIM 1), if external reviewer grant scores are more consistent with video (AIM 2), and if mock Australian Research Council (ARC) panels award more consistent scores when grants are presented as videos (AIM 3). This will be the first study to evaluate the use of video in this application. The ARC reviewed over 3500 Discovery Project applications in 2015, awarding 635 Projects. Selecting the “best” projects is extremely challenging. This project will improve the selection process by facilitating the transition from text-based to video-based proposals. The impact could be profound: Improved video communication should streamline the grant preparation and review processes, enable more reliable ranking of applications, and more accurate identification of the “next big innovations”

Questioning short-term memory and its measurement: why digit span measures long-term associative learning

Traditional accounts of verbal short-term memory explain differences in performance for different types of verbal material by reference to inherent characteristics of the verbal items making up memory sequences. The role of previous experience with sequences of different types is ostensibly controlled for either by deliberate exclusion or by presenting multiple trials constructed from different random permutations

Identifying complications requiring re-operation following primary hip or knee arthroplasty: a consecutive series of 98 patients

BackgroundThe number of hip and knee arthroplasties completed is expected to double over the next decade. In public hospitals, regular post-arthroplasty orthopaedic review has commonly occurred for the duration of a patient&rsquo;s life, which requires substantial outpatient resources. However, there is limited evidence regarding the utility of these reviews for identifying complications. The current study investigated when and where complications requiring re-operation were identified following primary hip or knee arthroplasty.MethodsThe medical records of all patients requiring re-operation for complications following primary hip arthroplasty (n&thinsp;=&thinsp;48, 2004 to 2015) or knee primary arthroplasty (n&thinsp;=&thinsp;50, 1998 to 2015) at a large regional health service were evaluated. Data were extracted by one of four investigators using a standardised electronic data extraction tool. Variables of interest included the health setting where the complication was initially identified, how long following the original operation the complication was identified and whether the complication was symptomatic.ResultsRoutine post-arthroplasty orthopaedic appointments identified 15 (15.3%) complications requiring re-operation; all were identified in the first-year post-surgery. For each complication identified in the first-year post-surgery, approximately 1000 orthopaedic outpatient appointments were required. After the first year, all complications were identified in Emergency Departments (n =&thinsp;30, 30.6%), General Practice (n =&thinsp;24, 24.5%) or non-routine orthopaedic outpatient appointments (n =&thinsp;19, 19.4%). All patients with complications reported symptoms.ConclusionsRoutine post-arthroplasty review appointments were an inefficient mechanism for identifying complications requiring re-operation more than one year following surgery. Public health services should consider assessing and redesigning post-arthroplasty review services to reduce the burden on patients and the demand for outpatient appointments.<br /