Geological rhythms and cometary impacts

Time series analysis reveals two dominant, long-term periodicities approximately equal to 32 and 260 million years in the known series of geological and biological upheavals during the Phanerozoic Eon. The cycles of these episodes agree in period and phase with the cycles of impact cratering on Earth, suggesting that periodic comet impacts strongly influence Earth processes

School Performance among Adolescents with Physical and Neurological Chronic Illness: Self-Concept as a Potential Moderator of Achievement and Absenteeism

This study expanded upon past research exploring the relationship between self-concept and achievement by focusing on the self-concept, academic achievement, and absenteeism in adolescents with chronic illnesses. Archival data from a public vocational high school district in a suburban area of a northeastern state was utilized to examine the degree to which overall self-concept predicts academic achievement and number of excused absences in high school students with a physical or neurological chronic illness. Data including type of chronic illness, gender, student GPA, number of excused absences, rating of illness impact, and student self-concept were collected on 50 students during the 2018-2019 school year in grades 9-12, who were undergoing special education initial or re-evaluation procedures. Results indicate that lower self-concept and greater number of excused absences does not predict poor academic achievement; however, females with chronic illnesses were found to have lower overall self-concept. Further, individuals with both a physical and neurological chronic condition reported higher illness impact ratings. Future research should look to increase sample size and include a more standardized sample of participants. Further, including more recent measures of student academic achievement (e.g., progress reports, test grades) to determine whether or not achievement does in fact predict lower self-concept in chronically ill adolescents could be beneficial. Additionally, future research may explore adolescents with chronic mental health/psychiatric conditions as well, to examine potential relationships between illness impact and self-concept

What Makes Students With Emotional Disturbance Stay in School and Graduate?

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to better understand why students classified with emotional disturbance (ED) were able to graduate from high school and earn high school diplomas. Students classified as having emotional disturbance have a host of deficits in the areas of reading, writing, math, and social and emotional skills. Despite these stumbling blocks, some students who had these deficiencies were resilient and able to graduate from high school, even in an era of school reform and heightened accountability. Using an extensive literature review, this phenomenological study explored reasons why this targeted population remained in school. Graduates were interviewed to determine the motivational factors that influenced and enhanced their decision to stay in an urban alternative high school. The subjects were classified with emotional disturbance over the age of 18 who were well past the age when they could legally withdraw from school and had graduated from a special education alternative high school in an urban setting. A cadre of administrators and teachers who supervised and taught this population during their 11 th and 12th grades were interviewed for comparison to determine what kept these students in school. The theoretical framework of Alderfer’s Existence, Relatedness, and Growth (ERG) theory was used; findings showed that the growth aspect was key in both the teachers’ beliefs as well as the students’ responses

Blossoms Under Linden Leaves

Sheet music by a former Lindenwood College professor, dedicated to her students

What Makes Students With Emotional Disturbance Stay in School and Graduate?

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to better understand why students classified with emotional disturbance (ED) were able to graduate from high school and earn high school diplomas. Students classified as having emotional disturbance have a host of deficits in the areas of reading, writing, math, and social and emotional skills. Despite these stumbling blocks, some students who had these deficiencies were resilient and able to graduate from high school, even in an era of school reform and heightened accountability. Using an extensive literature review, this phenomenological study explored reasons why this targeted population remained in school. Graduates were interviewed to determine the motivational factors that influenced and enhanced their decision to stay in an urban alternative high school. The subjects were classified with emotional disturbance over the age of 18 who were well past the age when they could legally withdraw from school and had graduated from a special education alternative high school in an urban setting. A cadre of administrators and teachers who supervised and taught this population during their 11 th and 12th grades were interviewed for comparison to determine what kept these students in school. The theoretical framework of Alderfer’s Existence, Relatedness, and Growth (ERG) theory was used; findings showed that the growth aspect was key in both the teachers’ beliefs as well as the students’ responses