The Development And Validation Of The Test Of Astronomy STandards (TOAST)

The Test Of Astronomy STandards (TOAST) is a comprehensive assessment instrument designed to measure students general astronomy content knowledge. Built upon the research embedded within a generation of astronomy assessments designed to measure single concepts, the TOAST is appropriate to measure across an entire astronomy course. The TOASTs scientific content represents a consensus of expert opinion about what students should know from three different groups: the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Research Council, and the American Astronomical Society. The TOASTs reliability and validity are established by results from Cronbach alpha and classical test theory analyses, a review for construct validity, testing for sensitivity to instruction, and numerous rounds of expert review. As such the TOAST can be considered a valuable tool for classroom instructors and discipline based education researchers in astronomy across a variety of learning environments

Questioning The Fidelity Of The Next Generation Science Standards For Astronomy And Space Sciences Education

Although the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are not federally mandated national standards or performance expectations for K-12 schools in the United States, they stand poised to become a de facto national science and education policy, as state governments, publishers of curriculum materials, and assessment providers across the country consider adopting them. In order to facilitate national buy-in and adoptions, Achieve, Inc., the non-profit corporation awarded the contract for writing the NGSS, has repeatedly asserted the development of the Standards to be a state-driven and transparent process, in which the scientific content is taken "verbatim", from the 2011 NRC report, Frameworks for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. This paper reports on an independently conducted fidelity check within the content domain of astronomy and the space sciences, conducted to determine the extent to which the NGSS science content is guided by the Frameworks, and the extent to which any changes have altered the scientific intent of that document. The side-by-side, two-document comparative analysis indicates that the science of the NGSS is significantly different from the Frameworks. Further, the alterations in the science represent a lack of fidelity, in that they have altered the parameters of the science and the instructional exposure (e.g., timing and emphasis). As a result the NGSS are now poised to interfere with widely desired science education reform and improvement. This unexpected finding affords scientists, educators, and professional societies with an opportunity, if not a professional obligation, to engage in positively impacting the quality of science education by conducting independent fidelity checks across other disciplines. This could provide a much needed formal support and guidance to schools, teachers, curriculum developers, and assessment providers

Development Of The EGGS Exam Of GeoloGy Standards To Measure Students’ Understanding Of Common Geology Concepts

Geoscience education researchers have considerable need for criterion-referenced, easy-to-administer, easy-to-score, conceptual surveys for undergraduates taking introductory science survey courses in order for faculty to monitor the learning impacts of innovative teaching. In response, this study establishes the reliability and validity of a 28-item, multiple-choice, pre- and post- EGGS Exam of GeoloGy Standards. EGGS addresses 11 concepts derived from a systematic analysis of the overlapping ideas from national science education reforms: NGSS, AAAS Benchmarks, Earth Science Literacy Principles, and NRC National Science Education Standards.  Leveraging best-practices for creating and field-testing items, EGGS emphasizes natural student language over technical scientific vocabulary, leverages illustrations over students’ reading ability, specifically targets students’ misconceptions, and covers the range of topics most geology educators expect general education students to know. EGGS is argued to be valid and reliable with college introductory science survey students based on standard measures, including clinical interviews with students and expert review

Surveying Geology Concepts In Education Standards For A Rapidly Changing Global Context

Internationally much attention is being paid to which of a seemingly endless list of scientific concepts should be taught to schoolchildren to enable them to best participate in the global economy of the 21st Century. In regards to science education, the concepts framing the subject of geology holds exalted status as core scientific principles in the Earth and space sciences domain across the globe. Economic geology plays a critical role in the global economy, historical geology guides research into predictions related by global climate change, and environmental geology helps policy makers understand the impact of human enterprises on the land, among many other geological sciences-laden domains. Such a situation begs the question of which geology concepts are being advocated in schools. Within the U.S. where there is no nationally adopted curriculum, careful comparative analysis reveals surprisingly little consensus among policy makers and education reform advocates about which geology concepts, if any, should be included in the curriculum. This lack of consensus manifests itself in few traditional or modern geology concepts being taught to U.S. school children

Impact Of Redesigning A Large-Lecture Introductory Earth Science Course To Increase Student Achievement And Streamline Faculty Workload

A Geological Perspective is a general education survey course for non-science majors at a large southwestern research extensive university.  The class has traditionally served 600 students per semester in four 150-student lectures taught by faculty, and accompanied by optional weekly study groups run by graduate teaching assistants.  We radically redesigned the course to 1) improve student learning and, simultaneously, 2) reduce faculty effort.   Previously optional study groups were replaced by weekly mandatory break-out sessions, run largely by undergraduate peer mentors.  Twice weekly, lectures are brief with a large portion of class time allocated to active learning in small groups.  Completing quizzes on-line reduced grading and allowed students more flexibility.  Evaluation of the redesign (mixed methods, quasi-experimental, two-group, pre-test-post-test, multiple-measures study design) revealed no significant improvements in learner outcomes insofar as the instruments could measure. However, qualitative results reveal that overall students greatly valued their learning experience under the redesign.  In addition, the redesign reduced the departmental cost of the class offering per student by more than half.

Implementing evidence-informed policy into practice for health care professionals managing people with low back pain in Australian rural settings: A preliminary prospective single-cohort study

Objective: To provide access to professional development opportunities for health care professionals, especially in rural Australian regions, consistent with recommendations in the Australian National Pain Strategy and state government policy. Design and Setting: A preliminary prospective, single-cohort study design, which aligned health policy with evidence-informed clinical practice, evaluated the implementation and effectiveness of an interprofessional, health care provider pain education program (hPEP) for management of nonspecific low back pain (nsLBP) in rural Western Australia. Intervention: The 6.5-hour hPEP intervention was delivered to 60 care providers (caseload nsLBP 19.8% ± 22.5) at four rural WA regions. Outcome Measures: Outcomes were recorded at baseline and 2 months post-intervention regarding attitudes, beliefs (modified Health Care Providers Pain and Impairment Relationship Scale [HC-PAIRS]), Back Pain Beliefs Questionnaire [BBQ]), and self-reported evidence-based clinical practice (knowledge and skills regarding nsLBP, rated on a 5-point Likert scale with 1 = nil and 5 = excellent).Results: hPEP was feasible to implement. At 2 months post-hPEP, responders' (response rate 53%) improved evidence-based beliefs were indicated by HC-PAIRS scores: baseline mean (SD) [43.2 (9.3)]; mean difference (95% CI) [−5.9 (−8.6 to −3.1)]; and BBQ baseline [34.3 (6.8)]; mean difference [2.1 (0.5 to 3.6)]. Positive shifts were observed for all measures of clinical knowledge and skills (P < 0.001) and increased assistance with planning lifestyle changes (P < 0.001), advice on self-management (P = 0.010), and for decreased referrals for spinal imaging (P = 0.03). Conclusions: This policy-into-practice educational program is feasible to implement in rural Western Australia (WA). While preliminary data are encouraging, a further randomized controlled trial is recommended

iSTAR first light: Characterizing astronomy education research dissertations in the iSTAR database

There is widespread interest among discipline-based science education researchers to situate their research in the existing scholarly literature base. Unfortunately, traditional approaches to conducting a thorough literature review are unduly hindered in astronomy education research as the venues in which scholarship is reported are fragmented and widely dispersed across journals of varying disciplines. The international STudies of Astronomy education Research (iSTAR) online repository is the result of a concerted international community effort to collect and categorize existing research from peer-reviewed journal articles, dissertations/theses, and grey literature. In a “first light” survey of over 300 U.S. dissertations, we find: (i) work in AER dates back to 1923; (ii) the number of extant dissertations is far greater than anticipated; (iii) research methods definitions have evolved; and (iv) most work has studied participants’ broad knowledge rather than specific learning targets. The surprisingly wide breadth of rarely cited research motivates us to collect more AER from across international and cross-disciplinary sources

Effects of prenatal exercise on fetal heart rate, umbilical and uterine blood flow: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis examining the influence of acute and chronic prenatal exercise on fetal heart rate (FHR) and umbilical and uterine blood flow metrics. Design Systematic review with random-effects meta-analysis and meta-regression. Data sources Online databases were searched up to 6 January 2017. Study eligibility criteria Studies of all designs were included (except case studies) if published in English, Spanish or French, and contained information on the population (pregnant women without contraindication to exercise), intervention (subjective or objective measures of frequency, intensity, duration, volume or type of exercise, alone [“exercise-only”] or in combination with other intervention components [eg, dietary; “exercise + co-intervention”]), comparator (no exercise or different frequency, intensity, duration, volume and type of exercise) and outcomes (FHR, beats per minute (bpm); uterine and umbilical blood flow metrics (systolic:diastolic (S/D) ratio; Pulsatility Index (PI); Resistance Index (RI); blood flow, mL/min; and blood velocity, cm/s)). Results ‘Very low’ to ‘moderate’ quality evidence from 91 unique studies (n=4641 women) were included. Overall, FHR increased during (mean difference (MD)=6.35bpm; 95% CI 2.30 to 10.41, I2=95%, p=0.002) and following acute exercise (MD=4.05; 95% CI 2.98 to 5.12, I2=83%, p\u3c0.00001). The incidence of fetal bradycardia was low at rest and unchanged with acute exercise. There were no significant changes in umbilical or uterine S/D, PI, RI, blood flow or blood velocity during or following acute exercise sessions. Chronic exercise decreased resting FHR and the umbilical artery S/D, PI and RI at rest. Conclusion Acute and chronic prenatal exercise do not adversely impact FHR or uteroplacental blood flow metrics

Bimolecular porous supramolecular networks deposited from solution on layered materials: graphite, boron nitride and molybdenum disulphide

A two-dimensional porous network formed from perylene tetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI) and melamine may be deposited from solution on the surfaces of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and molybdenum disulphide (MoS2). Images acquired using high resolution atomic force microscopy (AFM) operating under ambient conditions have revealed that the network forms extended orderedmonolayers (41 lm2) on HOPG and hBN whereas on MoS2 much smaller islands are observed

Phase 1/2a trial of intravenous BAL101553, a novel controller of the spindle assembly checkpoint, in advanced solid tumours

Background: BAL101553 (lisavanbulin), the lysine prodrug of BAL27862 (avanbulin), exhibits broad anti-proliferative activity in human cancer models refractory to clinically relevant microtubule-targeting agents. Methods: This two-part, open-label, phase 1/2a study aimed to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) of 2-h infusion of BAL101553 in adults with advanced or recurrent solid tumours. The MTD was determined using a modified accelerated titration design in phase I. Patients received BAL101553 at the MTD and at lower doses in the phase 2a expansion to characterise safety and efficacy and to determine the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D). Results: Seventy-three patients received BAL101553 at doses of 15–80 mg/m2 (phase 1, n = 24; phase 2a, n = 49). The MTD was 60 mg/m2; DLTs observed at doses ≥60 mg/m2 were reversible Grade 2–3 gait disturbance with Grade 2 peripheral sensory neuropathy. In phase 2a, asymptomatic myocardial injury was observed at doses ≥45 mg/m2. The RP2D for 2-h intravenous infusion was 30 mg/m2. The overall disease control rate was 26.3% in the efficacy population. Conclusions: The RP2D for 2-h infusion of BAL101553 was well tolerated. Dose-limiting neurological and myocardial side effects were consistent with the agent’s vascular-disrupting properties. Clinical trial registration: EudraCT: 2010-024237-23