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

Where a Vast Global Vaccination Program Went Wrong

After months of struggle, the U.N.-backed Covax alliance will soon have many more doses, promising relief for vaccine shortages in poorer countries. But it faces a deepening crisis: difficulties getting shots into arms as the Delta variant spreads.   Deaths from Covid-19 were surging across Africa in June when 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Chad. The delivery seemed proof that the United Nations-backed program to immunize the world could get the most desirable vaccines to the least developed nations. Yet five weeks later, Chad’s health minister said, 94,000 doses remained unused.   Nearby in Benin, only 267 shots were being given each day, a pace so slow that 110,000 of the program’s AstraZeneca doses expired. Across Africa, confidential documents from July indicated, the program was monitoring at least nine countries where it said doses intended for the poor were at risk of spoiling this summer.   The vaccine pileup illustrates one of the most serious but largely unrecognized problems facing the immunization program as it tries to recover from months of missteps and disappointments: difficulty getting doses from airport tarmacs into people’s arms.   Known as Covax, the program was supposed to be a global powerhouse, a multibillion-dollar alliance of international health bodies and nonprofits that would ensure through sheer buying power that poor countries received vaccines as quickly as the rich.   Instead, Covax has struggled to acquire doses: It stands half a billion short of its goal. Poor countries are dangerously unprotected as the Delta variant runs rampant, just the scenario that Covax was created to prevent.   The urgent need to vaccinate the world goes far beyond protecting people in poor nations. The longer the virus circulates, the more dangerous it can become, even for vaccinated people in wealthy countries.   Without billions more shots, experts warn, new variants could keep emerging, endangering all nations.   “Covax hasn’t failed, but it is failing,” said Dr. Ayoade Alakija, a co-chair of the African Union’s vaccine delivery program. “We really have no other options. For the sake of humanity, Covax must work.”   More supplies are finally on the way, courtesy of the Biden administration, which is buying 500 million Pfizer doses and delivering them through Covax, the centerpiece of a larger pledge by wealthy democracies. The donated doses should begin shipping this month.   But the Biden donation, worth 3.5 billion, comes with a caveat: To help fund it, the administration is diverting hundreds of millions of dollars promised for vaccination drives in poorer countries, according to notes from a meeting between Covax and American officials. Short on funding, those countries have had a hard time buying fuel to transport doses to clinics, training people to administer shots or persuading people to get them.   Even as Covax officials scramble to fill that funding gap, the overriding question is whether the program can move beyond its mistakes, and beyond an imbalance of power that has left it at the mercy of wealthy countries and pharmaceutical companies. Pfizer, for example, balked at a direct deal with Covax this spring, interviews reveal, instead reaching an agreement through the Biden administration, an arrangement that hurt Covax’s credibility as an independent vaccine purchaser.   This text is just a part of the original report by “Mueller, Benjamin, and Rebecca Robbins. "Where a vast global vaccination program went wrong." New York Times 2.21 (2021): A1.”. Para ler a meteria completa, você pode acessar este link https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/02/world/europe/covax-covid-vaccine-problems-africa.html    After months of struggle, the U.N.-backed Covax alliance will soon have many more doses, promising relief for vaccine shortages in poorer countries. But it faces a deepening crisis: difficulties getting shots into arms as the Delta variant spreads.   Deaths from Covid-19 were surging across Africa in June when 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Chad. The delivery seemed proof that the United Nations-backed program to immunize the world could get the most desirable vaccines to the least developed nations. Yet five weeks later, Chad’s health minister said, 94,000 doses remained unused.   Nearby in Benin, only 267 shots were being given each day, a pace so slow that 110,000 of the program’s AstraZeneca doses expired. Across Africa, confidential documents from July indicated, the program was monitoring at least nine countries where it said doses intended for the poor were at risk of spoiling this summer.   The vaccine pileup illustrates one of the most serious but largely unrecognized problems facing the immunization program as it tries to recover from months of missteps and disappointments: difficulty getting doses from airport tarmacs into people’s arms.   Known as Covax, the program was supposed to be a global powerhouse, a multibillion-dollar alliance of international health bodies and nonprofits that would ensure through sheer buying power that poor countries received vaccines as quickly as the rich.   Instead, Covax has struggled to acquire doses: It stands half a billion short of its goal. Poor countries are dangerously unprotected as the Delta variant runs rampant, just the scenario that Covax was created to prevent.   The urgent need to vaccinate the world goes far beyond protecting people in poor nations. The longer the virus circulates, the more dangerous it can become, even for vaccinated people in wealthy countries.   Without billions more shots, experts warn, new variants could keep emerging, endangering all nations.   “Covax hasn’t failed, but it is failing,” said Dr. Ayoade Alakija, a co-chair of the African Union’s vaccine delivery program. “We really have no other options. For the sake of humanity, Covax must work.”   More supplies are finally on the way, courtesy of the Biden administration, which is buying 500 million Pfizer doses and delivering them through Covax, the centerpiece of a larger pledge by wealthy democracies. The donated doses should begin shipping this month.   But the Biden donation, worth 3.5 billion, comes with a caveat: To help fund it, the administration is diverting hundreds of millions of dollars promised for vaccination drives in poorer countries, according to notes from a meeting between Covax and American officials. Short on funding, those countries have had a hard time buying fuel to transport doses to clinics, training people to administer shots or persuading people to get them.   Even as Covax officials scramble to fill that funding gap, the overriding question is whether the program can move beyond its mistakes, and beyond an imbalance of power that has left it at the mercy of wealthy countries and pharmaceutical companies. Pfizer, for example, balked at a direct deal with Covax this spring, interviews reveal, instead reaching an agreement through the Biden administration, an arrangement that hurt Covax’s credibility as an independent vaccine purchaser.   This text is just a part of the original report by “Mueller, Benjamin, and Rebecca Robbins. "Where a vast global vaccination program went wrong." New York Times 2.21 (2021): A1.”. Para ler a meteria completa, você pode acessar este link https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/02/world/europe/covax-covid-vaccine-problems-africa.html   &nbsp

Estimating stocks and flows of electric passenger vehicle batteries in the Norwegian fleet from 2011 to 2030

Retired passenger battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are expected to generate significant volumes of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), opening business opportunities for second life and recycling. In order to evaluate these, robust estimates of the future quantity and composition of LIBs are imperative. Here, we analyzed BEV fate in the Norwegian passenger vehicle fleet and estimated the corresponding battery capacity in retired vehicles from 2011 to 2030, using a stock-flow vehicle cohort model linked to analysis of the battery types and sizes contained in different BEVs. Results based on this combination of modeled and highly disaggregated technical data show that (i) the LIB energy capacity available for second use or recycling from end-of-life vehicles is expected to reach 0.6 GWh in 2025 and 2.1 GWh in 2030 (not accounting for any losses); (ii) most LIBs are currently contained within the weight segment 1500–1599 kg followed by 2000+ kg; (iii) highest sales currently exist for BEVs containing lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) batteries; and (iv) lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide batteries initially constitute the largest overall capacity in retired vehicles, but will later be surpassed by NMCs. The results demonstrate rapidly growing opportunities for businesses to make use of retired batteries and a necessity to adapt to changing battery types and sizes.publishedVersio

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