STEAM Education and the Whole Child: Examining Policy and Barriers

Whole Child education nurtures five tenets of the child to ensure they are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged during their time at school. STEAM programs coincide with the Whole Child approach as it allows them to expand their critical thinking and problem-solving skills, build their social-emotional needs, and be prepared for the 21st century workforce. STEAM programs are designed to emphasize inquiry and an interdisciplinary approach that reflects the tenets of the Whole Child paradigm. Much of the research that has been done in STEAM and Whole Child education pushes for further implementation of high-quality programs in schools so students can learn in a way that best fits their needs. However, there are many barriers and funding issues that preclude schools from the full implementation of high-quality, Whole Child STEAM programs that foster equity and accessibility especially for marginalized populations. These barriers and suggestions for overcoming them are discussed through a policy lens so curriculum can be flexible and more interdisciplinary and so that students have multiple opportunities to be nurtured in their creativity

Teacher Perceptions of Elasticity in Student Questioning

Elasticity, the capacity for students to explore or investigate their own questions of interest during or after teacher-directed events in the classroom, is highly beneficial for students in terms of their retention and deeper understanding of the content. An elastic environment is childcentered and inquiry-based. An inelastic environment (teacher-directed) results in students refraining from asking, investigating, or exploring their interests/curiosities. Teachers’ perceptions of their classroom environments become an important consideration when evaluating their ability to enact elastic explorations. In this pilot study, teachers (two separate public-school districts) completed surveys describing perceptions of elasticity in their classrooms. Results indicate teachers’ high value for elasticity in learning, inquiry-based investigating, and authentic student questioning. However, most teachers describe their environments as highly inelastic due to multiple barriers including time, standards, testing, stress, and a lack of training. The authors discuss potential pathways for increasing elastic environments including teacher training, professional development, and administrative support. The authors also discuss the relationshipbetween teachers’ beliefs and developing an elastic classroom environment

Improving attainment? Interventions in education by the New Deal for Communities Programme

"The New Deal for Communities (NDC) Programme was announced in 1998 and designed to reduce gaps between some of the most deprived areas in England and the rest of the country... This report presents the findings of one element of the second phase of the evaluation of the NDC Programme: research in four case study NDC partnerships focusing on interventions and outcomes under the theme of education." - introduction

A protocol for isolation and culturing of mouse primary postmitotic photoreceptors and isolation of extracellular vesicles

Here, we present a protocol for isolating and culturing mouse photoreceptors in a minimal, chemically-defined medium free from serum. We describe steps for retina dissection, enzymatic dissociation, photoreceptor enrichment, cell culture, extracellular vesicles (EVs) enrichment, and EV ultrastructural analysis. This protocol, which has been verified for cultured cells derived from multiple murine strains, allows for the study of several aspects of photoreceptor biology, including EV isolation, and cell-cell interactions such as nanotubes (NTs)

A spiking neural network model of rodent head direction calibrated with landmark free learning

Maintaining a stable estimate of head direction requires both self-motion (idiothetic) information and environmental (allothetic) anchoring. In unfamiliar or dark environments idiothetic drive can maintain a rough estimate of heading but is subject to inaccuracy, visual information is required to stabilize the head direction estimate. When learning to associate visual scenes with head angle, animals do not have access to the 'ground truth' of their head direction, and must use egocentrically derived imprecise head direction estimates. We use both discriminative and generative methods of visual processing to learn these associations without extracting explicit landmarks from a natural visual scene, finding all are sufficiently capable at providing a corrective signal. Further, we present a spiking continuous attractor model of head direction (SNN), which when driven by idiothetic input is subject to drift. We show that head direction predictions made by the chosen model-free visual learning algorithms can correct for drift, even when trained on a small training set of estimated head angles self-generated by the SNN. We validate this model against experimental work by reproducing cue rotation experiments which demonstrate visual control of the head direction signal

Modelling Water-Rock Interactions in the Sub-surface Environment of Enceladus.

Understanding the geochemical cycles occurring at the water-rock interface on Enceladus is crucial for establishing the potential habitability of the subsurface environment. Using data collected by the Cassini spacecraft (2005-2017) and estimates of the starting composition of the sub-surface ocean on Enceladus, we have modelled how the ocean interacts with a silicate simulant representing the rocky interior. The results from these models define a hypothesized modern ocean chemistry and provide an insight into the geochemical reactions occurring at the water-rock interface. The results from this work support observations made by Cassini, suggesting our chosen starting conditions could provide an insight into the history of Enceladus

Thermochemical modelling of the subsurface environment of Enceladus to derive potential carbon reaction pathways

The subsurface environment of Enceladus is potentially habitable: there is a global subsurface ocean [1], energy from hydrothermal activity [2] and bioessential elements [3]. Carbon, as a fundamental bioessential element, is critical for life, so understanding how it is processed within the Enceladus environment is crucial in assessing this moon’s potential habitability. Evidence from the south polar plumes suggests that carbon is likely to be bound within the silicate interior [4] and liberated through water-rock (silicate-ocean) interactions

Thermochemical modelling of the subsurface environment on Enceladus

The subsurface environment of Enceladus is potentially habitable: there is a global subsurface ocean [1], energy from hydrothermal activity [2] and bioesential elements [3]. Carbon, as a fundamental bioessential element, it is critical for life, so understanding how it is processed within the Enceldus environment is crucial in assessing Enceladus’ potential habitability. Carbon is likely to be bound within the silicate interior [4] and liberated through water-rock (silicateocean) interactions. We have undertaken thermochemical modelling (CHIMXPT) [5] of these interactions and tested different hypotheses for the formation of Enceladus. Both models reacted the silicate interior (with a CI chondrite compositon [6]) with a fluid representative of the subsurface ocean: a) a dilute sodium chloride solution, based upon the assumption that the subsurface ocean originated as almost pure water [7]; b) a solution with a cometary composition based upon data collected from 67P [8], based upon the assumption that the water originated from melted cometary ice [9]. We have explored the full temperature and pressure ranges anticipated at the rock-water interface [2]. We will present the outcomes from this modelling, which includes a theoretical compostion for a modern day subsurface ocean, potential carbon cycling pathways and the effect of carbon species on the pH of the subsurface ocean fluid. [1] Thomas P. C. et al., (2016), Icarus, 264, 37-47 [2] Hsu H. W. et al., (2015), Nature, 519, 207-210 [3] McKay, C. P. et al., (2014) Astro-biology, 14, 352-355 [4] Glein C. R. & Waite J. H., (2020), Geophys Res Let, 47 [5] Reed, M. H., Spycher, N. F., Palandri, J., (2010) User guide for CHIM-XPT, University of Oregon, Oregon [6] Hamp R. E. et al., (2019), 50th LPSC 2019, Abstract 1091 [7] Brown R. H. et al, (2006) Science, 311, 1425-1428 [8] Hertier K. H., et al., (2017) RAS monthly notices, 469 [9] Neveu, M., et al., (2017) Geochim et Cosmochim, 212, 324-37

Modelling the Rock-Water Interactions in the Sub-surface Environment of Enceladus

Understanding the geochemical cycles occuring at the rock-water interface on Enceladus is crucial in establishing the potential habitability of the sub-surface environment. The work to be presented focuses on the early ocean’s interaction with the silicate interior, with future work exploring the modern-day sub-surface environment on Enceladus. In preliminary studies we have used thermochemical modelling (CHIM-XPT) [1] to determine the chemical composition of the sub-surface ocean. The modelling focuses on the interaction of an ‘initial’ ocean chemistry with a defined silicate interior [2] to generate a modern ocean composition. We have defined the chemistry for the silicate interior based upon the chemical composition of a CI carbonaceous chondrite [3]. In the preliminary modelling we have used two different ‘initial’ compositions for the sub-surface ocean that represent different theories on its origin. The first uses a dilute sodium chloride solution, based upon the assumption that the subsurface ocean originated as almost pure water [4]. The second is based upon the assumption that the water originated from melted cometary ice [5], with a cometary composition based upon data collected from 67P [6]. We have explored the full temperature and pressure ranges anticipated at the rock-water interface. We will present the results from this preliminary modelling, the output of which will generate a modern-day ocean composition. This will be used in subsequent modelling and simulation experiments. We then plan to model the modern-day sub-surface environment to understand the full range of chemical cycles occurring at the rock-water interface. We will use the subsurface ocean composition determined by the preliminary modelling and the chemistry for the silicate interior that has already been defined. This work will have a specific focus on carbon cycling occurring within the sub-surface environment, gaining a better understanding about the potential habitability of this environment. References: [1] Reed, M. H., Spycher, N. F., Palandri, J., (2010) User guide for CHIM-XPT, University of Oregon, Oregon [2] Hamp R. E. et al., (2019), 50th LPSC 2019, Abstract 1091 [3] Zolotov, M., (2007) Geophys Res Let, L23203 [4] Brown R. H. et al, (2006) Science, 311, 1425-1428 [5] Neveu, M., et al., (2017) Geochim et Cosmochim, 212, 324-371 [6] Hertier K. H., et al., (2017) RAS monthly notices, 46