Exploring the Impact of Service Learning in Haiti on the Cultural Competence of OTD Students

As society trends towards increased cultural diversity, the need for cultural competence in the field of occupational therapy (OT) becomes more acute. Immersion in another culture within the curriculum offers the student an opportunity to put their knowledge into practice and recognize the need to competently interact with members of another culture. This study explored the impact of a service learning trip to Haiti, providing seating and mobility services, on all four factors of cultural intelligence (CQ; i.e., metacognitive CQ, cognitive CQ, motivational CQ, behavioral CQ) for occupational therapy doctoral (OTD) students. Using the cultural intelligence scale (CQS), a one-group pretest-posttest design with a paired-samples t-test (α \u3c 0.05) rejected the null hypotheses to support service learning as a pedagogy which enhanced the four factors of CQ for the sample. With increased emphasis on producing culturally sensitive OTD professionals, service learning projects in a cross-cultural setting as a pedagogy extend beyond skill development (e.g., wheelchair fittings) to building coping strategies for interacting with clients (metacognitive CQ), enhancing knowledge of culture (cognitive CQ), persisting to overcome any cultural barriers (motivational CQ), and building the behavioral repertoire (behavioral CQ) of occupational therapists. Contrasting the results from this study with research into the efficacy of short-term study tours, service learning positively impacts behavioral CQ, whereas short-term study tours do not have the same impact. This article details the service learning project and provides recommendations for future research

Cross-Cultural Service Learning as Pedagogy for Character Development in Occupational Therapy Doctoral Students

Occupational therapists must demonstrate a broad spectrum of knowledge, clinical reasoning skills, and professionalism to be effective practitioners. Development of ethical practice must begin with the educational process to shape character traits as building blocks of moral reasoning. This article puts forth a cross-cultural service learning curricular module as lived experience for development of character traits in occupational therapy students. This mixed methods study investigated lived experience in the form of cross-cultural service learning as a pedagogy for development of character traits, as measured by the CIVIC, necessary to navigate professional ethical standards. Findings suggest a cross-cultural lived experience for occupational therapy doctoral students providing seating and mobility services in Guatemala significantly impacted character traits associated with professional ethical standards. Similar lived experience embedded in an occupational therapy curriculum may contribute to character development to guide ethical practice for the next generation of occupational therapists

Curriculum resumido no Ensino Médio: as mudanças nos padrões de matemática e os ganhos acadêmicos, formatura do Ensino Médio e a continuação dos estudos universitários dos alunos

Mathematics education is a critical public policy issue in the U.S. and the pressures facing students and schools are compounded by increasing expectations for college attendance after high school.  In this study, we examine whether policy efforts to constrain the high school curriculum in terms of course requirements and mandatory exit exams affects three educational outcomes – test scores on SAT math, high school completion, and college continuation rates.  We employ two complementary analytic methods – fixed effects and difference in differences (DID) – on panel data for all 50 states from 1990 to 2008. Our findings suggest that within states both policies may prevent some students from completing high school, particularly in the near term, but both policies appear to increase the proportion of students who continue on to college if they do graduate from high school. The DID analyses provide more support for math course requirement policies than mandatory exit exams, but the effects are modest. Both the DID and fixed effects analyses confirm the importance of school funding in the improvement of high school graduation rates and test scores.La educación matemática es una cuestión de política pública en los EE.UU. y las presiones que enfrentan los estudiantes y las escuelas se ven agravadas por las crecientes expectativa de asistir a la universidad después de graduarse en la secundaria. En este estudio se investigó si los esfuerzos políticos para restringir el plan de estudios de secundaria en términos de requisitos de los cursos y los exámenes de graduación influyen tres  resultados educativos - los resultados de las pruebas de matemáticas, la graduación de secundaria y las tasas de continuación de estudios universitarios. Empleamos dos métodos complementarios de análisis - de efectos fijos y la diferencia en diferencias (DID)- en un panel de datos para todos los 50 estados de 1990 a 2008. Nuestros resultados sugieren que las dos políticas en los estados pueden impedir que algunos estudiantes completen la escuela secundaria, particularmente en el corto plazo, pero las dos políticas parecen aumentar la proporción de estudiantes que van a la universidad directamente después de terminar la escuela secundaria. El análisis DID ofrece mayor apoyo a las políticas de los prerrequisitos de los cursos de matemáticas que los exámenes de egreso obligatorio, pero los efectos son modestos. Tanto el DID  como el análisis de efectos fijos confirman la importancia del financiamiento escolar en la mejora de las tasas de graduación y los resultados de las pruebas escolares.A educação Matemática é uma questão de política pública nos EUA e as pressões que enfrentam os alunos e as escolas são agravados pela crescente expectativa de comparecimento a universidade após o ensino médio. Neste estudo examinamos se os esforços políticos para limitar o currículo do ensino médio em termos de exigências de cursos e exames de egressos obrigatórios afetam três resultados educacionais - os resultados dos testes em  matemática, a conclusão do ensino médio e as taxas de continuação para a universidade. Nós empregamos dois métodos analíticos complementares - efeitos fixos e diferença em diferenças (DID) - em um painel de dados para todos os 50 estados de 1990 a 2008. Nossos resultados sugerem que ambas as políticas nos estados podem impedir alguns estudantes de completar o ensino secundário, particularmente no curto prazo, mas ambas as políticas parecem aumentar a proporção de estudantes que continuam para a universidade diretamente do Ensino Médio. A DID análise oferece mais apoio às políticas de pré-requisitos aos cursos de matemática do que aos exames de saída obrigatória, mas os efeitos são modestos. Tanto o DID  quanto a análise de efeitos fixos confirmam a importância do financiamento das escolas na melhoria das taxas de graduação do ensino médio e nos resultados dos testes

The utility of micro-computed tomography for the non-destructive study of eye microstructure in snails

Molluscan eyes exhibit an enormous range of morphological variation, ranging from tiny pigment-cup eyes in limpets, compound eyes in ark clams and pinhole eyes in Nautilus, through to concave mirror eyes in scallops and the large camera-type eyes of the more derived cephalopods. Here we assess the potential of non-destructive micro-computed tomography (µ-CT) for investigating the anatomy of molluscan eyes in three species of the family Solariellidae, a group of small, deep-sea gastropods. We compare our results directly with those from traditional histological methods applied to the same specimens, and show not only that eye microstructure can be visualised in sufficient detail for meaningful comparison even in very small animals, but also that μ-CT can provide additional insight into gross neuroanatomy without damaging rare and precious specimens. Data from μ-CT scans also show that neurological innervation of eyes is reduced in dark-adapted snails when compared with the innervation of cephalic tentacles, which are involved in mechanoreception and possibly chemoreception. Molecular tests also show that the use of µ-CT and phosphotungstic acid stain do not prevent successful downstream DNA extraction, PCR amplification or sequencing. The use of µ-CT methods is therefore highly recommended for the investigation of difficult-to-collect or unique specimens.Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The attached file is the published pdf

Musicians Necrology, 1991-2018

Nathan Eakin (1932-2000) first began the Gaylord Music Library Necrology file as a card file in the mid-1980s. In 1991, the project moved to a word processing file and in 1995, became available as a web page. The column formerly published in the Music Library Association’s journal, Notes, called the Necrology Index, was extracted from this Necrology file. Library Assistant Paul Hahn continued to update the necrology on the Gaylord Music Library’s website through 2018

Cross-Cultural Service Learning as Pedagogy for Character Development in Occupational Therapy Doctoral Students

Occupational therapists must demonstrate a broad spectrum of knowledge, clinical reasoning skills, and professionalism to be effective practitioners. Development of ethical practice must begin with the educational process to shape character traits as building blocks of moral reasoning. This article puts forth a cross-cultural service learning curricular module as lived experience for development of character traits in occupational therapy students. This mixed methods study investigated lived experience in the form of cross-cultural service learning as a pedagogy for development of character traits, as measured by the CIVIC, necessary to navigate professional ethical standards. Findings suggest a cross-cultural lived experience for occupational therapy doctoral students providing seating and mobility services in Guatemala significantly impacted character traits associated with professional ethical standards. Similar lived experience embedded in an occupational therapy curriculum may contribute to character development to guide ethical practice for the next generation of occupational therapists

Long-Term Impact of International Service Learning: Cultural Competence Revisited

As cultural diversity continues to rise globally, there is an evident need for culturally competent care, especially within the client-centered field of occupational therapy. Previous research has shown that occupational therapy doctoral (OTD) students who participated in international service-learning demonstrated an immediate positive impact on their cultural competence. The current study revisits these same doctoral students to examine the long-term impact of international service-learning experiences at six-month, one-year, two-year, and three-year intervals following the initial experience. The researchers conducted a mixed methods study with a pre-test post-test design, utilizing the Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS), as well as qualitative responses in the form of written reflection. Results emphasized the significant short-term impact on the CQS, with the entire sample (N=40) demonstrating statistically significant results immediately after the experience on all four factors: metacognition, cognition, motivational, and behavioral. Metacognition demonstrated significant long-term impact at the three-year and one-year intervals. Other factors of the CQS remained above baseline levels, however, were not statistically significant. It appears international service-learning has an immediate impact but does “decay” over time, encouraging additional experience to solidify change. Implications and limitations are presented

Characterizing Mathematics Graduate Student Teaching Assistants’ Opportunities to Learn from Teaching

Exemplary models to inform novice instruction and the development of graduate teaching assistants (TAs) exist. What is missing from the literature is the process of how graduate students in model professional development programs make sense of and enact the experiences offered. A first step to understanding TAs’ learning to teach is to characterize how and whether they link observations of student work to hypotheses about student thinking and then connect those hypotheses to future teaching actions. A reason to be interested in these connections is that their strength and coherence determine how well TAs can learn from experiences. We found TAs can connect observations and future teaching, but that the connections vary in quality. Our analysis suggests future revisions to TA development programs, which we discuss in the conclusion