A Framework for Quality K-12 Engineering Education: Research and Development

Recent U.S. national documents have laid the foundation for highlighting the connection between science, technology, engineering and mathematics at the K-12 level. However, there is not a clear definition or a well-established tradition of what constitutes a quality engineering education at the K-12 level. The purpose of the current work has been the development of a framework for describing what constitutes a quality K-12 engineering education. The framework presented in this paper is the result of a research project focused on understanding and identifying the ways in which teachers and schools implement engineering and engineering design in their classrooms. The development of the key indicators that are included in the framework were determined based on an extensive review of the literature, established criteria for undergraduate and professional organizations, document content analysis of state academic content standards in science, mathematics, and technology, and in consultation with experts in the fields of engineering and engineering education. The framework is designed to be used as a tool for evaluating the degree to which academic standards, curricula, and teaching practices address the important components of a quality K-12 engineering education. Additionally, this framework can be used to inform the development and structure of future K-12 engineering and STEM education standards and initiatives

Simulating the methodological bias in the ATLS classification of hypovolemic shock:a critical reappraisal of the base deficit renaissance

Background: The Advanced Trauma Life Support classification (ATLS) of hypovolemic shock is a widely used teaching and treatment reference in emergency medicine, but oversimplifies clinical reality. A decade ago, a landmark study compared vital parameters to base deficit (BD) in trauma patients. The investigators concluded that BD had higher accuracy to detect the need for early blood product administration. BD was subsequently introduced in the ATLS shock classification and has since been widely accepted as a laboratory standard for hypovolemia. The aim of this study is to investigate whether a methodological bias may have inadvertently contributed to the study’s results and interpretation.Methods: In the current study, we replicate the original study by simulating a cohort of trauma patients with randomly generated data and applying the same methodological strategies. First, a predefined correlation between all predictor variables (vital parameters and BD) and outcome variable (transfusion) was set at 0.55. Then, in accordance with the methods of the original study we created a composite of ATLS parameters (highest class amongst heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and Glasgow Coma Scale) and compared it with BD for resulting transfusion quantity. Given the preset correlations between predictors and outcome, no predictor should exhibit a stronger association unless influenced by methodological bias.Results: Applying the original imbalanced grouping and composite allocation strategies caused a systematic overestimation of shock class for traditional ATLS parameters, favoring the association between BD and transfusion. This effect persisted when the correlation between BD and transfusion was set substantially worse (rho = 0.3) than the correlation between ATLS parameters and transfusion (rho = 0.8).Conclusions: In this fully reproducible simulation, we confirm the inadvertent presence of methodological bias. It is physiologically reasonable to include a metabolic parameter to classify hypovolemic shock, but more evidence is needed to support widespread and preferred use of BD.</p

Cardiolipin Synthesis in Brown and Beige Fat Mitochondria Is Essential for Systemic Energy Homeostasis

Activation of energy expenditure in thermogenic fat is a promising strategy to improve metabolic health, yet the dynamic processes that evoke this response are poorly understood. Here we show that synthesis of the mitochondrial phospholipid cardiolipin is indispensable for stimulating and sustaining thermogenic fat function. Cardiolipin biosynthesis is robustly induced in brown and beige adipose upon cold exposure. Mimicking this response through overexpression of cardiolipin synthase (Crls1) enhances energy consumption in mouse and human adipocytes. Crls1 deficiency in thermogenic adipocytes diminishes inducible mitochondrial uncoupling and elicits a nuclear transcriptional response through endoplasmic reticulum stress-mediated retrograde communication. Cardiolipin depletion in brown and beige fat abolishes adipose thermogenesis and glucose uptake, which renders animals insulin resistant. We further identify a rare human CRLS1 variant associated with insulin resistance and show that adipose CRLS1 levels positively correlate with insulin sensitivity. Thus, adipose cardiolipin has a powerful impact on organismal energy homeostasis through thermogenic fat bioenergetics. Sustarsic et al. reveal that synthesis of the mitochondrial phospholipid cardiolipin is a hallmark of brown and beige fat activation by cold temperature. This single lipid species in thermogenic fat not only shapes adipose mitochondrial bioenergetics but also exerts profound control over whole-body insulin sensitivity and metabolic flexibility.</p

Preservice Secondary Teachers Conceptions From a Mathematical Modeling Activity and Connections to the Common Core State Standards

Mathematical modeling is an essential integrated piece of the Common Core State Standards. However, researchers have shown that mathematical modeling activities can be difficult for teachers to implement. Teachers are more likely to implement mathematical modeling activities if they have their own successful experiences with such activities. This paper describes one well-structured framework for implementing mathematical modeling with the Common Core State mathematics standards that incorporates the Standards for Mathematical Practice. One class of preservice secondary teachers engaged in a mathematical modeling activity, reflected on their experience, and discussed how they could implement similar modeling activities. This study describes the preservice secondary teachers’ work on the modeling activity, their impressions of the activity, and how the mathematical modeling activity was effectively structured in connection to the Common Core State Standards

The relevance of the street: An urban integration proposal

Following an analysis of the public spaces and their performative depth, the urban figure of the street emerges as an important urban figure in the city of Skopje. Although, the street, as a figure, has undergone through different interpretations throughout time: In the city’s Old Bazaar, the street becomes a place for meeting and the most vibrant public space in the city; in the pre-earthquake city, patent in its center, the street become a place of display an thus, exclusive, and following the 1963 earthquake the modern city completely detached from its streets. In her thesis ‘The street as a project’ (2014), Maria Giudici defines the street as ‘not a mere functional element, but rather the stage where the public sphere mediates the conflict between private interests (…) The street becomes a place of negotiation, but also a tool for the construction of subjectivity handled through the way in which the space is organized and choreographed’. With this understanding of the value of the streets to the construction of public places (rather than public spaces), an urban integration of the isolated Ss. Cyril and Methodius University Campus is proposed. The integration of the isolated university campus would help to break its univocal nature and help to the construction of a stronger and broader academic and social community that would lead to new ways of knowledge making.Methods and Analysis Graduation studioArchitecture, Urbanism and Building Science