Letter from Representative Burdick to A. C. Stenerson Regarding Garrison Dam, March 28, 1952

This letter, dated March 28, 1952, from United States (US) Representative Usher Burdick to A.C. Stenerson of Van Hook, North Dakota thanks Stenerson for his letter of March 25 expressing concern that Shell Creek would be backed up as a result of the Garrison Dam Reservoir. Burdick writes that he and US Senator William Langer will look into the matter.https://commons.und.edu/burdick-papers/1385/thumbnail.jp

Academic game development: practices and design strategies for creating STEM games

In the last decade, there has been an increase in legislation and funding that aims to get students in the United States interested in fields involving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in order to keep the United States competitive with other countries in these important academic areas. However, making these topics interesting and engaging to students has been challenging. A 2010 report by the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology concluded that schools in the United States lack passionate teachers and adequate tools to teach these subjects. Due to these deficiencies, ``too many American students conclude early in their education that STEM subjects are boring, too difficult, or unwelcoming, leaving them ill-prepared to meet the challenges that will face their generation, their country, and the world\u27\u27 (President\u27s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2010). Therefore, it could be surmised that something further needs to be done in order to promote these fields to students at a young age. The Meta!Blast project was developed to provide a medium that lends itself to the comprehension of cell and metabolic biology by placing the student into a virtual plant cell and allowing them to experience plant biology first-hand (Wurtele, 2011). By taking advantage of existing agile development methodologies, Meta!Blast has been designed to meet many of the challenges of developing video games in an academic environment. Using a special editor, educators and researchers can also modify in-game content in an effort to tailor the game to their specific curriculum needs. Due to the massive, explorative environment in which the game places players, Meta!Blast provides an ideal environment for a variety of other STEM-related mini-games. By leveraging existing methods of current software used to teach computer science, the initial development stage of a mini-game within Meta!Blast called TALUS (Technology Assisted Learning Using Sandbox) has been designed to let players experience different computer programming concepts. The first iteration has shown that an environment can be created that allows players to interact with actual computer code in a fail-safe and non-violent manner; furthermore, it has the potential to augment a player\u27s existing knowledge of computer programming

Letter from Laura Knudson For Representative Burdick to Selma Stenerson Regarding Garrison Dam Flood Land Maps, October 2, 1952

This letter, dated October 2, 1952, from Laura Page Knudson on behalf of United States (US) Representative Usher Burdick to Selma H. Stenerson of the Hunt Oil Company in Dallas, Texas, refers to a request dated September 26 received from Stenerson. Knudsen writes that she is sending a copy of Burdick\u27s brief, Concerning the Legal Authority for the Building of the Garrison Dam at Garrison, North Dakota, but that Burdick\u27s office has no maps of the area to be flooded, and recommends Stenerson request a July, 1950 booklet titled The Corps of Engineers in North Dakota, which has maps and pictures of the Garrison Dam project, from the US Army Corps of Engineers.https://commons.und.edu/burdick-papers/1386/thumbnail.jp

The Conversation of Critical Practice: Pre-service Teachers As Educators for Social Justice

In this paper we examine aspects of the construction of authentic membership, competence, and sense of shared purpose within a professional community of educators accomplished by a class of pre-service teachers during a spontaneous electronic conversation. Implications for teacher education are considered

The Conversation of Critical Practice: Pre-service Teachers As Educators for Social Justice

In this paper we examine aspects of the construction of authentic membership, competence, and sense of shared purpose within a professional community of educators accomplished by a class of pre-service teachers during a spontaneous electronic conversation. Implications for teacher education are considered

Meta!Blast: A Serious Game to Explore the Complexities of Structural and Metabolic Cell Biology

Knowledge of cellular structure and function has increased dramatically with the advent of modern molecular and computational technologies. Helping students to understand cellular dynamics is a major challenge to educators. To address this challenge, we have developed the Kabala Engine, an open source engine based on OpenSG (http://www.opensg.org) and VRJuggler (http://www.vrjuggler.org). This engine is designed to enable biologists, and indeed any domain expert — chemists, artists, psychologists — to create virtual interactive worlds for teaching or research. As a proof-of-concept, we have used this engine to create Meta!Blast, a virtual plant cell containing a prototype chloroplast in which students can enter, activate the light reactions, including electron excitation, and create molecular oxygen and ATP

Power without honor is indeed a dangerous thing: Constructing critical literacy in elementary teacher education

An electronic conversation spontaneously constructed by elementary teacher candidates accomplished the critical reading of text, the connection of these readings to their work as teachers, and the framing of that teaching in terms of socially conscious inquiry and action. The structure of the conversation facilitated the exploration and establishment of the candidate’s identity as critical literacy educators; the implicit rules of engagement facilitated mutual trust, respect and appreciation. This created a safe space in which to engage in a discussion that rendered the teacher candidates vulnerable to self-doubts about critical literacy pedagogy, even as it showcased their intellectual strengths as critical readers. Implications for teacher education are included

Myofascial Trigger Point-focused Head and Neck Massage for Recurrent Tension-type Headache: A Randomized, Placebo-controlled Clinical Trial

Myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) are focal disruptions in skeletal muscle that can refer pain to the head and reproduce the pain patterns of tension-type headache (TTH). The present study applied massage focused on MTrPs of subjects with TTH in a placebo-controlled, clinical trial to assess efficacy on reducing headache pain