Supporting Adolescent Metacognition in Engineering Design Through Scripted Prompts from Peer Tutors: A Comparative Case Study

In 2013, developers of the Next Generation Science Standards implemented national K -12 directives and elevated engineering design to the level of scientific inquiry. Teaching design, however, is challenging to educators due to the complex nature of design problems, which cannot be solved via simple algorithms. Solving design problems requires a more reflective and iterative approach that emphasizes metacognitive skills like planning, monitoring, and taking another person’s perspective. Educators are further challenged by children’s immature metacognitive skills, which may be insufficient to engage in the entire design process. A qualitative study of paired seventh graders demonstrated a pragmatic learning activity for enhancing adolescent designs during their earliest phases through guided peer interactions with metacognitive prompts. Four distinct interaction styles were observed among the pairs. Each style varied by which verbal and social phenomena were used to make changes. The metacognitive prompts used in the learning activity can be adapted to any design challenge. Furthermore, an additional, exploratory case demonstrated a restructuring of the learning activity in which the metacognitive prompts were generated naturally by the students themselves. The student-generated prompts were design-specific and timely; delivered in the moment when a student was struggling with a design element. The result was a dynamic co-construction and co-ownership of the designs

Peer-Prompted Engineering Design: How Do Adolescents Interact and Strategize?

Engineering design was integrated into K–12 science education in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013), but teaching design remains a challenge for educators. Design problems are ill-defined, ill-structured, and complex problem-solving tasks. Their solutions require creativity and recursive, metacognitive processes that cannot be taught with simple algorithms. Moreover, adolescents do not demonstrate fully developed metacognitive skills because they are undergoing profound developmental changes. In this comparative case study, we explored how peer-delivered metacognitive prompts supported adolescents during a design challenge. We investigated how scripted prompts sparked reflection and stimulated design changes and identified which prompts were most effective. We also observed four interaction patterns between paired peers. The interaction patterns influenced the quantity of design changes and shaped the strategies that students used during revisions

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Maternal Black Race and Persistent Wheezing Illness in Former Extremely Low Gestational Age Newborns: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Trial.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the relationship between maternal self-reported race/ethnicity and persistent wheezing illness in former high-risk, extremely low gestational age newborns, and to quantify the contribution of socioeconomic, environmental, and biological factors on this relationship.Study designWe assessed persistent wheezing illness determined at 18-24 months corrected (for prematurity) age in survivors of a randomized trial. Parents/caregivers were surveyed for wheeze and inhaled asthma medication use quarterly to 12 months, and at 18 and 24 months. We used multivariable analysis to evaluate the relationship of maternal race to persistent wheezing illness, and identified mediators for this relationship via formal mediation analysis.ResultsOf 420 infants (25.2 ± 1.2 weeks of gestation and 714 ± 166 g at birth, 57% male, 34% maternal black race), 189 (45%) had persistent wheezing illness. After adjustment for gestational age, birth weight, and sex, infants of black mothers had increased odds of persistent wheeze compared with infants of nonblack mothers (OR = 2.9, 95% CI 1.9, 4.5). Only bronchopulmonary dysplasia, breast milk diet, and public insurance status were identified as mediators. In this model, the direct effect of race accounted for 69% of the relationship between maternal race and persistent wheeze, whereas breast milk diet, public insurance status, and bronchopulmonary dysplasia accounted for 8%, 12%, and 10%, respectively.ConclusionsAmong former high-risk extremely low gestational age newborns, infants of black mothers have increased odds of developing persistent wheeze. A substantial proportion of this effect is directly accounted for by race, which may reflect unmeasured environmental influences, and acquired and innate biological differences.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01022580