(Re)connecting pedagogies: Examining the links between Froebelian and Common Worlds approaches to environmental learning

The purpose of this theoretical paper is to examine the links between the philosophical underpinnings of Froebelian pedagogy (where pedagogy is understood as the basis on which early childhood practices are developed) and the pedagogy of a recent movement in environmental education for young children; the Common Worlds Research Collective. Current concerns about environmental damage highlight the importance of finding ways of engaging children with environmental concerns without placing them in untenable positions as “planet savers.” The global reach of the pedagogies under discussion make them valuable platforms for promoting ecological education in the Early Years. Using levels of pedagogical discourse put forward by Le Grange (2018) – ultimate premises, platform-principles and practice – the paper examines the relationship between Froebelian thinking and the Common Worlds approach. Through a discussion of the common philosophical underpinnings, views of children’s agency and relationship with the natural world, I will argue that the Common Worlds’ critique of pedagogy based on Froebel’s thinking and call for a new pedagogy for young children is based on an incomplete reading of Froebel’s nature pedagogy, and does not pay sufficient attention to the common grounds on which these pedagogical approaches are based- namely a view of the world as being infinitely connected  and the role of education as a means of supporting children to understand their connections with the world as it is, and how they can engage with it ethically.   

School Counseling Services and Student Academic Success

The importance of research in the school counseling field as well as a brief description of school counseling services was presented with attention paid to comprehensive developmental school counseling programs and how they can affect student outcomes. A review of the research literature in individual, small group and large group/classroom guidance counseling was discussed. Data from research done in a middle school on students who received on-going counseling services during the 2007-2008 school year was presented and analyzed as well as compared to the literature found on the subject of counseling and academic achievement. Implications for the counseling profession were discussed as were possible future directions for research

Radial Internal Material Handling System (RIMS) for Circular Habitat Volumes

On planetary surfaces, pressurized human habitable volumes will require a means to carry equipment around within the volume of the habitat, regardless of the partial gravity (Earth, Moon, Mars, etc.). On the NASA Habitat Demonstration Unit (HDU), a vertical cylindrical volume, it was determined that a variety of heavy items would need to be carried back and forth from deployed locations to the General Maintenance Work Station (GMWS) when in need of repair, and other equipment may need to be carried inside for repairs, such as rover parts and other external equipment. The vertical cylindrical volume of the HDU lent itself to a circular overhead track and hoist system that allows lifting of heavy objects from anywhere in the habitat to any other point in the habitat interior. In addition, the system is able to hand-off lifted items to other material handling systems through the side hatches, such as through an airlock. The overhead system consists of two concentric circle tracks that have a movable beam between them. The beam has a hoist carriage that can move back and forth on the beam. Therefore, the entire system acts like a bridge crane curved around to meet itself in a circle. The novelty of the system is in its configuration, and how it interfaces with the volume of the HDU habitat. Similar to how a bridge crane allows coverage for an entire rectangular volume, the RIMS system covers a circular volume. The RIMS system is the first generation of what may be applied to future planetary surface vertical cylinder habitats on the Moon or on Mars

Maternal depressive symptoms and young people's higher education participation and choice of university: Evidence from a longitudinal cohort study

Background: Participation in higher education has significant and long-lasting consequences for people's socioeconomic trajectories. Maternal depression is linked to poorer educational achievement for children in school, but its impact on university attendance is unclear. // Methods: In an English longitudinal cohort study (N = 8952), we explore whether young people whose mothers experienced elevated depressive symptoms are less likely to attend university, and the role of potential mediators in the young person: educational achievement in school, depressive symptoms, and locus of control. We also examine whether maternal depressive symptoms influence young people's choice of university, and non-attendees' reasons for not participating in higher education. // Results: Young people whose mothers experienced more recurrent depressive symptoms were less likely to attend university (OR = 0.88, CI = 0.82,0.94, p < 0.001) per occasion of elevated maternal depressive symptoms) after adjusting for confounders. Mediation analysis indicated this was largely explained by educational achievement in school (e.g., 82.7 % mediated by age 16 achievement) and locus of control at 16. There was mixed evidence for an impact on choice of university. For participants who did not study at university, maternal depressive symptoms were linked to stating as a reason having had other priorities to do with family or children (OR: 1.17, CI = 1.02,1.35). // Limitations: Lack of data on the other parent's depression, loss to follow-up, possibly selective non-response. // Conclusions: Young people whose mothers experience elevated depressive symptoms on multiple occasions are less likely to participate in higher education; educational achievement in secondary school, but not the young people's own depressive symptoms, substantially mediated the effect

Assessment of Young Children on Entry to School: Informative, Formative or Performative?

Abstrac

The relationship between adverse neighborhood socioeconomic context and HIV continuum of care outcomes in a diverse HIV clinic cohort in the Southern United States

Retention in care and viral suppression are critical to delaying HIV progression and reducing transmission. Neighborhood socioeconomic context (NSEC) may affect HIV care receipt. We therefore assessed NSEC's impact on retention and viral suppression in a diverse HIV clinical cohort. HIV-positive adults with ≥1 visit at the Vanderbilt Comprehensive Care Clinic and 5-digit ZIP code tabulation area (ZCTA) information between 2008 and 2012 contributed. NSEC z-score indices used neighborhood-level socioeconomic indicators for poverty, education, labor-force participation, proportion of males, median age, and proportion of residents of black race by ZCTA. Retention was defined as ≥2 HIV care visits per calendar year, >90 days apart. Viral suppression was defined as an HIV-1 RNA <200 copies/mL at last measurement per calendar year. Modified Poisson regression was used to estimate risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Among 2272 and 2541 adults included for retention and viral suppression analyses, respectively, median age and CD4 count at enrollment were approximately 38 (1st and 3rd quartile: 30, 44) years and 351 (176, 540) cells/μL, respectively, while 24% were female, and 39% were black. Across 243 ZCTAs, median NSEC z-score was 0.09 (-0.66, 0.48). Overall, 79% of person-time contributed was retained and 74% was virally suppressed. In adjusted models, NSEC was not associated with retention, though being in the 4th vs. 1st NSEC quartile was associated with lack of viral suppression (RR = 0.88; 95% CI: 0.80-0.97). Residing in the most adverse NSEC was associated with lack of viral suppression. Future studies are needed to confirm this finding

Maternal depressive symptoms and young people's higher education participation and choice of university: Evidence from a longitudinal cohort study

Background Participation in higher education has significant and long-lasting consequences for people's socioeconomic trajectories. Maternal depression is linked to poorer educational achievement for children in school, but its impact on university attendance is unclear. Methods In an English longitudinal cohort study (N = 8952), we explore whether young people whose mothers experienced elevated depressive symptoms are less likely to attend university, and the role of potential mediators in the young person: educational achievement in school, depressive symptoms, and locus of control. We also examine whether maternal depressive symptoms influence young people's choice of university, and non-attendees' reasons for not participating in higher education. Results Young people whose mothers experienced more recurrent depressive symptoms were less likely to attend university (OR = 0.88, CI = 0.82,0.94, p < 0.001) per occasion of elevated maternal depressive symptoms) after adjusting for confounders. Mediation analysis indicated this was largely explained by educational achievement in school (e.g., 82.7 % mediated by age 16 achievement) and locus of control at 16. There was mixed evidence for an impact on choice of university. For participants who did not study at university, maternal depressive symptoms were linked to stating as a reason having had other priorities to do with family or children (OR: 1.17, CI = 1.02,1.35). Limitations Lack of data on the other parent's depression, loss to follow-up, possibly selective non-response. Conclusions Young people whose mothers experience elevated depressive symptoms on multiple occasions are less likely to participate in higher education; educational achievement in secondary school, but not the young people's own depressive symptoms, substantially mediated the effect

Accuracy of dopaminergic imaging as a biomarker for mild cognitive impairment with Lewy bodies.

BACKGROUND: Dopaminergic imaging is an established biomarker for dementia with Lewy bodies, but its diagnostic accuracy at the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) stage remains uncertain. AIMS: To provide robust prospective evidence of the diagnostic accuracy of dopaminergic imaging at the MCI stage to either support or refute its inclusion as a biomarker for the diagnosis of MCI with Lewy bodies. METHOD: We conducted a prospective diagnostic accuracy study of baseline dopaminergic imaging with [123I]N-ω-fluoropropyl-2β-carbomethoxy-3β-(4-iodophenyl)nortropane single-photon emission computerised tomography (123I-FP-CIT SPECT) in 144 patients with MCI. Images were rated as normal or abnormal by a panel of experts with access to striatal binding ratio results. Follow-up consensus diagnosis based on the presence of core features of Lewy body disease was used as the reference standard. RESULTS: At latest assessment (mean 2 years) 61 patients had probable MCI with Lewy bodies, 26 possible MCI with Lewy bodies and 57 MCI due to Alzheimer's disease. The sensitivity of baseline FP-CIT visual rating for probable MCI with Lewy bodies was 66% (95% CI 52-77%), specificity 88% (76-95%) and accuracy 76% (68-84%), with positive likelihood ratio 5.3. CONCLUSIONS: It is over five times as likely for an abnormal scan to be found in probable MCI with Lewy bodies than MCI due to Alzheimer's disease. Dopaminergic imaging appears to be useful at the MCI stage in cases where Lewy body disease is suspected clinically

How embedded is public involvement in mainstream health research in England a decade after policy implementation? A realist evaluation

Objectives: To explore how embedded patient and public involvement (PPI) is within mainstream health research following two decades of policy-driven work to underpin health research with PPI in England. Methods: Realist evaluation using Normalization Process Theory as a programme theory to understand what enabled PPI to be embedded as normal practice. Data was collected through a national scoping and survey, and qualitative methods to track PPI processes and impact over time within 22 nationally funded research projects. Results: In research studies that were able to create reciprocal working relationships and to embed PPI this was contingent on: the purpose of PPI being clear; public contributors reflecting research end-beneficiaries; researchers understanding the value of PPI; PPI opportunities being provided throughout the research; and ongoing evaluation of PPI. Key contested areas included: whether to measure PPI impact; seeking public contributors to maintain a balance between being research-aware and an outsider standpoint seen as ‘authentically’ lay; scaling-up PPI embedded within a research infrastructure rather than risk token presence ; and whether PPI can have a place within basic science. Conclusion: While PPI can be well-integrated within all types of research, policy makers should take account of tensions that must be navigated in balancing the moral and methodological imperatives