Tennessee’s Youth in Juvenile Justice Facilities: Mental Health and Substance Abuse Issues

In order to assess the prevalence of mental health and substance abuse among youth in one state’s juvenile justice facilities, a survey was conducted of 40 Tennessee facilities. A total of 1215 youth were being held on the “one day census” that was taken as part of the survey. The survey documented many mental health and substance abuse issues: 1) 53 percent of the youth in juvenile justice facilities were experiencing mental health problems; 2) 15 percent were taking some type of psychiatric medicine while in the juvenile justice facility; 3) 42 percent were known to have substance abuse problems; and 4) 30 percent had co-occurring mental health and substance use problems. Policy and program recommendations based on these findings are discussed

Working with culturally diverse learners with special needs in STEM

Several trends emerge from annual educational reports related to culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students and school settings. CLD refers to students from racial/ethnic minority groups and students from language minority groups. Many national educational initiatives currently involve science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM). While STEM is not typically discussed as an approach to address the needs of CLD students with special needs, they are an ideal group to target for STEM instruction. This chapter will discuss the learning styles of CLD students, the importance of STEM instruction for CLD students with special needs and instructional strategies that support STEM instruction for CLD students with special needs

Full STEAM Ahead--Using a Problem-Based Curricular Framework to Engage At-Risk Students

The purpose of the session is to discuss the impact of an integrative curricular framework on upper elementary students and their attitudes about learning in math and science. Objectives include: (1) introducing STEAM framework (2) sharing how this framework has been implemented in 1 particular school and (3) discussing ways to begin introducing STEAM practices into other programs. This session would be ideal for practitioners, educators or program administrators

Connecting Instruction, Professional Development and Student Achievement: Partnering for Change

Findings of a partnership initiative designed to improve outcomes of students at-risk by supporting and enhancing instruction and management will be presented. A review of the partnership development process, the procedures used to collect and analyze data, and the development of the implementation plan will be shared along with related students outcomes

Estimating Dispersal and Evolutionary Dynamics in Diploporan Blastozoans (Echinodermata) Across the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event

Echinoderms make up a substantial component of Ordovician marine invertebrates, yet their speciation and dispersal history as inferred within a rigorous phylogenetic and statistical framework is lacking. We use biogeographic stochastic mapping (BSM; implemented in the R package BioGeoBEARS) to infer ancestral area relationships and the number and type of dispersal events through the Ordovician for diploporan blastozoans and related species. The BSM analysis was divided into three time slices to analyze how dispersal paths changed before and during the great Ordovician biodiversification event (GOBE) and within the Late Ordovician mass extinction intervals. The best-fit biogeographic model incorporated jump dispersal, indicating this was an important speciation strategy. Reconstructed areas within the phylogeny indicate the first diploporan blastozoans likely originated within Baltica or Gondwana. Dispersal, jump dispersal, and sympatry dominated the BSM inference through the Ordovician, while dispersal paths varied in time. Long-distance dispersal events in the Early Ordovician indicate distance was not a significant predictor of dispersal, whereas increased dispersal events between Baltica and Laurentia are apparent during the GOBE, indicating these areas were important to blastozoan speciation. During the Late Ordovician, there is an increase in dispersal events among all paleocontinents. The drivers of dispersal are attributed to oceanic and epicontinental currents. Speciation events plotted against geochemical data indicate that blastozoans may not have responded to climate cooling events and other geochemical perturbations, but additional data will continue to shed light on the drivers of early Paleozoic blastozoan speciation and dispersal patterns

Morphological Dynamics and Response Following the Dispersal of Ordovician–Silurian Diploporan Echinoderms to Laurentia

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/172226/1/Contributions Vol 34 No 9.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/172226/2/Contributions Vol 34 No 9 LoRes.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/172226/3/Supp1_Characters_Sheffieldetal.docxhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/172226/4/Supp2_Coding_Sheffieldetal .xlsxDescription of Contributions Vol 34 No 9.pdf : Main ArticleDescription of Contributions Vol 34 No 9 LoRes.pdf : Low Resolution Version of Main ArticleDescription of Supp1_Characters_Sheffieldetal.docx : Supplemental Materials #1Description of Supp2_Coding_Sheffieldetal .xlsx : Supplemental Materials #

Time Scavengers: An Educational Website to Communicate Climate Change and Evolutionary Theory to the Public through Blogs, Web Pages, and Social Media Platforms

Climate change and evolution are topics at the forefront of political discussions, debates, and the public sphere. Regardless of evidence on both topics, the public as a whole still believes they are under debate. It is imperative that the public have access to correct and easy-to-digest information on these topics to make informed environmental and ecological decisions. To date, scientifically accurate digital platforms aimed at informing the public on these topics are overly complex and jargon-ridden. Time Scavengers (www.timescavengers.blog) was created to address these issues and is maintained by a group of academics, graduate students, avocational scientists, and educators. The site includes many informational pages about geology, climate change, and evolution, all written for the public with useful descriptions and figures. To make the process of science more transparent, the site includes blogs to provide insight into data collection and interpretation, field work, and public outreach. The site also includes additional pages with links to relevant content and activities appropriate for K-12 classrooms. The overarching goals of the site are to bridge the gap between scientists and the public through engaging, informational pages and personal experiences and to increase science literacy through easy-to-digest content

Time Scavengers: An Educational Website to Communicate Climate Change and Evolutionary Theory to the Public through Blogs, Web Pages, and Social Media Platforms

Climate change and evolution are topics at the forefront of political discussions, debates, and the public sphere. Regardless of evidence on both topics, the public as a whole still believes they are under debate. It is imperative that the public have access to correct and easy-to-digest information on these topics to make informed environmental and ecological decisions. To date, scientifically accurate digital platforms aimed at informing the public on these topics are overly complex and jargon-ridden. Time Scavengers (www.timescavengers.blog) was created to address these issues and is maintained by a group of academics, graduate students, avocational scientists, and educators. The site includes many informational pages about geology, climate change, and evolution, all written for the public with useful descriptions and figures. To make the process of science more transparent, the site includes blogs to provide insight into data collection and interpretation, field work, and public outreach. The site also includes additional pages with links to relevant content and activities appropriate for K-12 classrooms. The overarching goals of the site are to bridge the gap between scientists and the public through engaging, informational pages and personal experiences and to increase science literacy through easy-to-digest content

Improving our Understanding of Evolutionary Paleoecology: A Celebration of the Work and Career of Tomasz K. Baumiller

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/172912/1/Contributions 34 - Baumiller Sp. Volume.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/172912/2/Contributions 34 - Baumiller Sp. Volume Lo Res.pdfDescription of Contributions 34 - Baumiller Sp. Volume.pdf : Special VolumeDescription of Contributions 34 - Baumiller Sp. Volume Lo Res.pdf : Special Volume Lo Resolutio