Science Specialists in Urban Elementary Schools: An Ethnography Examining Science Teaching Identity, Motivation and Hierarchy in a High-Stakes Testing Climate

There are few studies exploring the impact and effectiveness of the science specialist model or its implementation specifically in urban schools. This ethnography explores the roles and responsibilities of science specialists in urban elementary schools, drawing upon interviews with the science specialists, classroom teachers, and building administrators to portray the science-teaching identity and characteristics of the science specialists according to Social Identity Theory (Gee, 2000-2001) as well as classroom teacher science-teaching motivation, according to Expectancy Theory (Vroom, 1964). In this role, specialists provide science instruction, curriculum coordination and communication, and support of classroom teachers. The expectations and limits of leadership from the science specialist are also discussed. The use of science specialists to provide pull-out instruction, wherein a classroom teacher drops off her class for instruction by the specialist, results in a decreased sense of classroom teacher instrumentality. This model of science specialist instruction can also undercut other science-teaching motivation components like expectancy of success, science-teaching identity, self-efficacy and valence for science teaching. Science specialist instruction in a pull-out model can result in teacher disengagement from science instruction. Additionally, hierarchies flowing from school and district-level policy and practice are described and analyzed according to how they mediate and are mediated by a science specialist model

Cultivating Minority Scientists: Undergraduate Research Increases Self-Efficacy and Career Ambitions for Underrepresented Students in STEM

In this study, Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) is used to explore changes in the career intentions of students in an undergraduate research experience (URE) program at a large public minority-serving college. Our URE model addresses the challenges of establishing an undergraduate research program within an urban, commuter, underfunded, Minority-Serving Institution (MSI). However, our model reaches beyond a focus on retention and remediation toward scholarly contributions and shifted career aspirations. From a student’s first days at the College to beyond their graduation, we have encouraged them to explore their own potential as scientists in a coordinated, sequential, and self-reflective process. As a result, while the program’s graduates have traditionally pursued entry-level STEM jobs, graduates participating in mentored research are increasingly focused on professional and academic STEM career tracks involving post-graduate study. In addition to providing an increasingly expected experience and building students’ skills, participation in undergraduate research is seen to have a transformative effect on career ambitions for many students at MSIs. While undergraduate research is often thought of in context of majority-serving institutions, we propose that it serves as a powerful equalizer at MSIs. Building on the institutional characteristics that drive diversity, our students produce scholarly work and pursue graduate degrees, in order to address the long-standing under-representation of minorities in the sciences

Collecting and utilising crowdsourced data for numerical weather prediction: propositions from the meeting held in Copenhagen, 4–December 5, 2018

In December 2018, the Danish Meteorological Institute organised an international meeting on the subject of crowdsourced data in numerical weather prediction (NWP) and weather forecasting. The meeting, spanning 2 days, gathered experts on crowdsourced data from both meteorological institutes and universities from Europe and the United States. Scientific presentations highlighted a vast array of possibilities and progress being made globally. Subjects include data from vehicles, smartphones, and private weather stations. Two groups were created to discuss open questions regarding the collection and use of crowdsourced data from different observing platforms. Common challenges were identified and potential solutions were discussed. While most of the work presented was preliminary, the results shared suggested that crowdsourced observations have the potential to enhance NWP. A common platform for sharing expertise, data, and results would help crowdsourced data realise this potential

Increasing frailty is associated with higher prevalence and reduced recognition of delirium in older hospitalised inpatients: results of a multi-centre study

Purpose: Delirium is a neuropsychiatric disorder delineated by an acute change in cognition, attention, and consciousness. It is common, particularly in older adults, but poorly recognised. Frailty is the accumulation of deficits conferring an increased risk of adverse outcomes. We set out to determine how severity of frailty, as measured using the CFS, affected delirium rates, and recognition in hospitalised older people in the United Kingdom. Methods: Adults over 65 years were included in an observational multi-centre audit across UK hospitals, two prospective rounds, and one retrospective note review. Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), delirium status, and 30-day outcomes were recorded. Results: The overall prevalence of delirium was 16.3% (483). Patients with delirium were more frail than patients without delirium (median CFS 6 vs 4). The risk of delirium was greater with increasing frailty [OR 2.9 (1.8–4.6) in CFS 4 vs 1–3; OR 12.4 (6.2–24.5) in CFS 8 vs 1–3]. Higher CFS was associated with reduced recognition of delirium (OR of 0.7 (0.3–1.9) in CFS 4 compared to 0.2 (0.1–0.7) in CFS 8). These risks were both independent of age and dementia. Conclusion: We have demonstrated an incremental increase in risk of delirium with increasing frailty. This has important clinical implications, suggesting that frailty may provide a more nuanced measure of vulnerability to delirium and poor outcomes. However, the most frail patients are least likely to have their delirium diagnosed and there is a significant lack of research into the underlying pathophysiology of both of these common geriatric syndromes

Science as a “Special”: Navigating the Role of Science Specialist in Urban Elementary Schools

This ethnography explores the locally defined and culturally negotiated roles and responsibilities of elementary science specialists (ESS) in three New York City schools. Drawing upon interviews with ESS, classroom teachers, and building administrators, this study examines the roles and interactions of ESS with regards to instruction, support, and leadership as analyzed through a distributed leadership lens. The implementation pattern matched the characteristics of the science as a special model of elementary content specialization. While lacking specific qualifications or clearly defined roles, ESS were primary, exclusive, or supplementary providers of science instruction. Urban ESS leveraged relationships with various classroom generalists and faced challenges in navigating science leadership responsibilities such as curriculum coordination, communication, and support of classroom teachers

Contemplation for Educators: Theoretical, Ethical, and Practical Dimensions Drawn from the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

Catholic colleges and universities educate thousands of teachers and school administrators every year to be at the forefront of teaching and leading. The mission and vision of Catholic colleges and universities is unique in higher education while sending their graduates forth into every sector of the wider world. We explore the contribution of the Catholic intellectual tradition (CIT) for colleges of education at Catholic colleges and universities. In this particular piece, we mine the tradition\u27s emphasis on contemplation to cultivate and inform a practice of reflection for aspiring educators

Good Soil: Rooting Educator Preparation in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

An examination of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (CIT) informs the substance and manner of educator preparation, grounding a College of Education in the mission of the University. A CIT-formed educator is capable of critically interacting with both harmonious and dissonant contemporary movements in K-12 education to produce judgments of reform, resistance, resilience, and care within the current technocratic paradigm. The CIT hallmarks of formation, vocation, contemplation, cura personalis, and justice have implications for educator preparation programs at Institutions of Catholic Higher Education (ICHE). An educator who is formed in values, thoughtful in practice, attentive to personal relationships, and discerning of educational justice is well-positioned to grow in the intellectual, interpersonal, and technical competencies that define an exemplary and merciful educator. Colleges of Education in ICHE can find the tensions of the human condition which shape the educational venture gracefully and faithfully addressed within the CIT

Cultivating Minority Scientists: Undergraduate Research Increases Self-Efficacy and Career Ambitions for Underrepresented Students in STEM

In this study, Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) is used to explore changes in the career intentions of students in an undergraduate research experience (URE) program at a large public minorityserving college. Our URE model addresses the challenges of establishing an undergraduate research program within an urban, commuter, underfunded, Minority-Serving Institution (MSI). However, our model reaches beyond a focus on retention and remediation toward scholarly contributions and shifted career aspirations. From a student’s first days at the College to beyond their graduation, we have encouraged them to explore their own potential as scientists in a coordinated, sequential, and self-reflective process. As a result, while the program’s graduates have traditionally pursued entry-level STEM jobs, graduates participating in mentored research are increasingly focused on professional and academic STEM career tracks involving post-graduate study. In addition to providing an increasingly expected experience and building students’ skills, participation in undergraduate research is seen to have a transformative effect on career ambitions for many students at MSIs. While undergraduate research is often thought of in context of majority-serving institutions, we propose that it serves as a powerful equalizer at MSIs. Building on the institutional characteristics that drive diversity, our students produce scholarly work and pursue graduate degrees, in order to address the long-standing under-representation of minorities in the sciences

Tensions in talent: A micro practice perspective on the implementation of high potential talent development programs in multinational corporations

Drawing on the utility of paradox theory and adopting a micro-practice perspective, we explore the implementation of high potential talent development (HiPo) programs in multinational corporations (MNCs). In doing so we take an emergent approach to implementation and seek to cast light on some of the day-to-day tensions that arise, along with key responses that salient actors appear to make when navigating these paradoxes. Through an inductive, mixed method study involving nine MNCs, we found that, over time, actors construed three particular sets of performance paradoxes relating to variations in their goals, in their beliefs, and in their roles in the particular HiPo programs in focus. We also found that these actors responded to the tensions experienced using an assortment of both defensive and proactive actions. Finally, we uncovered that both the tensions and responses in play vary with the implementation phase of the HiPo program. We highlight some key practice implications that arise from our work, acknowledge attendant limitations and identify possible directions for future research

Butyrate utilization by the colonic mucosa in inflammatory bowel diseases : A transport deficiency

The short-chain fatty acid butyrate, which is mainly produced in the lumen of the large intestine by the fermentation of dietary fibers, plays a major role in the physiology of the colonic mucosa. It is also the major energy source for the colonocyte. Numerous studies have reported that butyrate metabolism is impaired in intestinal inflamed mucosa of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The data of butyrate oxidation in normal and inflamed colonic tissues depend on several factors, such as the methodology or the models used or the intensity of inflammation. The putative mechanisms involved in butyrate oxidation impairment may include a defect in beta oxidation, luminal compounds interfering with butyrate metabolism, changes in luminal butyrate concentrations or pH, and a defect in butyrate transport. Recent data show that butyrate deficiency results from the reduction of butyrate uptake by the inflamed mucosa through downregulation of the monocarboxylate transporter MCT1. The concomitant induction of the glucose transporter GLUT1 suggests that inflammation could induce a metabolic switch from butyrate to glucose oxidation. Butyrate transport deficiency is expected to have clinical consequences. Particularly, the reduction of the intracellular availability of butyrate in colonocytes may decrease its protective effects toward cancer in IBD patients